Page 84 - Teaching Principles and Methods Student Textbook short

The Bible shows us that the disciples were more than learners; they were apprentices. As Jesus was
engaging in ministry His disciples were with Him. In fact, the majority of His ministry was to the disciples.
Beyond the disciples, notice how Jesus interacts with others. More times than not, Jesus taught with
questions. He rarely lectured; He was always pushing and challenging the learner. This sets the bar high!
But face it, the people who you are teaching are intelligent and can think for themselves. If the teacher
is talking too much, they are still thinking for themselves, but often about something else rather than
the lesson.

5. Effective teachers utilize the learning environment
One often ignored aspect of the teaching ministry is environment. In most cases a teacher is assigned a
space in which to teach. It may be a class room, a lecture hall, a living room, or even a large assembly
area. It would be beneficial for the teacher to consider how the teaching space affects the learners. As a
classmate once said, “The environment often dictates the expectations of communication”. When a
learner walks into a church’s worship center, he can expect no dialogue-- in most cases. Yet, when the
learner walks into a small group study in someone’s living room, he can expect a more intimate level of
communication in the discussion. When it comes to the ‘middle ground’ venues, the teacher often
approaches the lesson as if it were a lecture, ignoring the potential for intimacy.

Jesus often used his environment to communicate great truths, such as, “Look at the birds of the air:
they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
of more value than they? “(Matt. 6:23) While the teacher may not have many options when it comes to
environment, how a teacher arranges that environment can change the whole ‘mood’ of the lesson. To
illustrate this, reflect on how chairs are often arranged in a classroom, usually they face forward, in
straight lines. This often blocks the learner from having comfortable dialogue with other learners.
Imagine if the chairs were placed in a u-shaped arrangement, would this not promote more
involvement? (Principle 4)

6. Effective teachers assess the needs of the learners
Assessing the needs of learners can be crucial to knowing exactly how to reach those who are listening
to you. Most likely the learners who gather together are there for a common reason---for the
curriculum, because of life stage, etc. It would help to begin by figuring out who the ‘target group’ is, by
asking yourself, ‘Who are these learners? What are their needs? Are they physical, cognitive, social,
spiritual, etc? “Knowing these essentials will allow the teacher to be more precise in applying the lesson
to everyday life (principle 3). Discovering the learners’ interests, abilities, and concerns help the teacher
to focus the lesson on what really matters.

Think of it this way: a group of people who are in their 80’s are going to have different needs than a
group of young married couples in their 20’s. These two groups are at completely different life stages
and have different experiences---personal and shared. The young couples do not have the shared
experience of living through the depression, so they could not connect with that experience. The older
generations are not concerned with how this lesson affects their parenting philosophy; it’s too late for
them to change that!

7. Effective teachers consider how each learner learns
All of us learn differently. If a teacher confesses that a lesson is learner-centered (Principle 2), then it
would be beneficial to consider the learner in this process. Human beings are complex, and no one
model of teaching is as effective to one as to another. Some people tend to be realists, some
pragmatists, some idealists, and some even learn in more existential ways. It’s important to observe

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