Tag Archive - Education

Thursday Book Club: The Teacher

November 18, 2010 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Daniel J. Estes, Hear, My Son: Teaching & Learning in Proverbs 1-9, (Inter-Varsity Press, 1997), 174 pages.

In this post, I plan to finish out my extended review of  Hear, My Son that I’ve been working through for much of this year.    The final three chapters of the book unpack the educational process and the role of the teacher and learner in that process.  In Estes’ observations of Proverbs 1-9, he finds three primary roles for the teacher that correspond with three primary modes of instruction.

Teacher as Expert Authority. Estes presents the teacher as a reliable transmitter of tradition who is qualified to speak with expert authority when he uses directive modes.  In these modes, the teacher is central, and the learner is expected to accept the teaching on the basis of his authority.  But, even when the teacher’s authority is most prominent, his most direct instruction is  crafted as part of a literary devise.   This demonstrates the Teacher’s own wisdom and humility.  In two passages where direct address is used, the speaker is not the teacher at all, but personified Wisdom (Proverbs 1:20-33; 8:1-11), a prophetic character that the teacher describes and recommends to his student.  In these texts, Wisdom speaks openly in the streets, and she denounces evil with accusations and threats of judgment.  She boasts of her own authority and the gifts that she can bestow.  She is the authority that the teacher recommends, but he is subversively recommending himself and his own tradition.  Similarly, the teacher paints a negative portrait of the evil person and evil activities that the LORD hates in Proverbs 6:12-19.  The teacher gives direct commands without literary subversion or substantiation (see below) only in Proverbs 6:1-5.  In this passage, the debtor has risked his own impoverishment by rash pledges, and the teacher directly commands him to free himself from debt.  The directness of the commands are appropriate to the conditions. Continue Reading…

David and Sally Michael: Nurturing the Faith of the Next Generation

April 30, 2009 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

Children Desiring God  Pre-Conference, Session 3
Nurturing the Faith of the Next Generation: A Heart Response Centered on the Gospel
David and Sally Michael

Our goal is to reach a child’s heart through the instruction of his word (Colossians 1:9-10).
“It is your job to make clear how the truth you are teaching is practiced experientially.”—Lou Priollo

5 Levels of Learning—Lawrence O. Richards, Creative Bible Teaching, (Moody Press).
(1)    ROTE—Ability to repeat without thought of meaning
(2)    RECOGNITION—Ability to recognize Biblical concepts; comprehension; can answer a multiple-choice question.  Often this is as far as we get, but we must go beyond facts to meaning and application.
(3)    RESTATEMENT—Ability to express or relate concepts to biblical system of thought.  Can answer “why” questions about the story.
(4)    RELATION—Ability to relate biblical truth to life and see what a biblical response would be.  Can make a connection to one’s own life.  Can answer the question, “What difference does this make in my life?”
(5)    REALIZATION/RESPONSE—Actualizing response: to apply biblical truths in daily life.  Application can best be done by questioning.  This is the way that they learn to think and understand.  Share from your own life experience.  Know your children, and it will help you guide them.  Children need to know what they need to do in response to what you have heard today.  This is a knowing that possesses us.

We must be faithful with the truth—beginning with the truth—then affecting the heart and emotions, and then moving the will.

Parents Seizing Opportunities
Parents are in the best position to help children apply to truth to the trials of life, that is, the homework that God gives them.  God gives parents a unique position of influence in the lives of children.  Parents must be clear on what their children are being taught so that they are in a position to apply these things to their lives.  Parents who love God and his word seek to bring God into every situation.  Take home sheets can be the difference between life and death for a child, because these are words of life for the child to believe and live or disbelieve and experience judgment.  One of the best ways to bring a child to the point of response is to respond to it myself.  This may require humbling myself, admitting my need, etc.  One of the privileges we have when we teach children is that the Scriptures grip us.

Teach In Such a Way that Children Understand What Proper Responses Are
It is so much better for a child to learn a heart lesson though it cause her temporary pain than to experience eternal pain.  Experience is a good teacher—both bad and good experiences.  God brings these life experiences in order to teach our children that He is good.

14 Educational Benefits of Children’s Ministry

December 11, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Over at Children’s Ministry Online, Tony Kummer has posted an article entitled “68 Benefits of Children’s Ministry.”  One section of his article addresses “14 Educational Benefits of Children’s Ministry.”  Kummer’s entire article is helpful, and this section is particularly valuable.  I have listed it here for your benefit.

14 Educational Benefits of Children’s Ministry

  1. It accommodates the unique educational needs of children. We all know that children learn differently than adults. Targeted teaching for kids helps accommodate these differences.
    – Children’s Ministry Tip: Learn about cognitive development and know the limitations of your learners.
  2. It allows teachers to target multiple intelligences in their teaching. New research in education points to various types of intellect. Typical children’s ministry curriculum already addresses these different learning needs.
    – Children’s Ministry Tip: Use a variety of learning activities that appeal to distinct learning styles.
  3. It allows for age-graded instruction. A tried and true way to promote learning is to teach on different maturity levels. Children’s ministry programs (like Vacation Bible School and Sunday School) have been doing this for years. Continue Reading…

Creative Diversity

October 17, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

On Tuesday, October 14th, the Sojourn staff was privileged to sit down with Dr. Harold M. Best, emeritus professor of music and dean emeritus of the Wheaton College (Illinois) Conservatory of Music.

Sojourn pastor, Mike Cosper, began the time by stating our desire to see the next generation embrace creativity that is informed by the gospel.  In a Leadership U lecture, “Creative Diversity, Authenticity and Excellence, Best writes about the kind of creative pluralism that should be fostered in church communities.  He states that children are natural pluralists who must be cherished and nurtured:

These wonderful and inherently creative people are the true naturals at diversity.  They are multi-lingual; the width of their perceptual and cognitive proficiencies is astonishing.  They are our intrinsic pluralists, the ones in whom the first day of creation is summarized.  Continue Reading…