THE SEVEN LAWS OF THE TEACHER

by mgr Grayna Woosz ELT teacher Publiczne Gimnazjum Wadowice Grne

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. THE LAW OF THE TEACHER THE LAW OF EDUCATION THE LAW OF ACTIVITY THE LAW OF COMMUNICATION THE LAW OF HEART THE LAW OF ENCOURAGEMENT THE LAW OF READINESS

LAW ONE: THE TEACHER

Thought joggers ......there caint nobody teach me who dont know me and wont learn me..... A student ...... I walked into Miss Simons class and the first thing she said when I introduced myself was Oh Howard..... I understand you are the worst kid in this school! Well, what a challenge! A student Message Outline I. Definition of the Law of the Teacher II. A teacher must know two things III. Three basic insights IV. Implementing the truth of this Law I. Definition of the Law of the Teacher If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow. Who fails to grow, they fail to teach II. A Teacher Must Know Two Things A. Content: What they teach B. Constituents: Whom they teach III. Three Basic Insights The Law of Teaching A. Embraces a philosophy. 1. The Teacher is primarily a learner, a student among students. 2. You cannot impart what you do not possess. B. Requires an attitude. 1. An attitude that you have not arrived 2. You learn from the past, but you dont live in it. 3. The greatest threat to teaching is satisfaction, because the good is the enemy of the better, and the better is the enemy of the best. 4. The teacher should not assume interest but create it.

5. Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; Wisdom is humble because it knows so little. C. Involves a relationship. 1. The relationship is a delicate balance between: Content and communication Facts and form What you teach and how you teach 2. The nature of the message determines the nature of the method. IV. Implementing the Truth of This Law A. Have a consistent study and reading program. Readers are leaders and leaders are readers. Most of us read too much and reflect too little. Three suggestions.... 1. If you have an hour, read for half an hour and reflect for the other half an hour. 2. Enroll in continuing education courses. 3. Most important, you ought to devise a personal study program. B. Get to know your students 1. Know their names. 2. Know their needs. 3. Reflect over your students. C. Make an Intensive Personal Evaluation 1. Experience does not make you better. It tends to make you worse unless it is evaluated experience. 2. As you walk out of class, ask yourself: How could I do it better? 3. Ultimately, what you are is far more important than what you say or what you do.

A LAW TWO: EDUCATION

Thought joggers Personally Im always ready to learn, although I do not always like to be taught. Winston Churchill The problem with education today is that most teachers give out the fruit rather than plant seeds. Howard Hendricks It is not what is poured into the student, but what is planted there, that counts. Eugene Bertin Message outline: I. Definition of The Law of Education II. Four Exceptions III. Teaching Goals IV. Four Basics I. Definition of The Law of Education A. Education is the process of exciting and directing the self activity of the pupil. B. There is the ignition phase exciting, and there is the steering phase directing. C. Clarifying the roles:

THE TEACHER Stimulator Motivator Coach

THE STUDENT Investigator Discoverer Player

D. Tell the student nothing that the student can learn for himself. II. Four Exceptions Special circumstances that may impact the way this law of teaching is applied. A. When your objective is to save time. B. When you are confronted by certain types of students.... The beginning student The weak/discouraged student The older student The disadvantaged student C. When you have intense interest. Everything what you feed them they will learn. D. When you have a resource individual. Take advantage you have. III. Teaching Goals - Have clear-cut objectives! Three things..... A. People need to learn how to think. You lead the process. If you want to change a person permanently, change his thinking, not his behavior. 1. Your task as a teacher is to stretch the human mind. The human mind is just like a muscle. It develops with usage. B. People need to learn how to learn. Create the learners. Every moment you live, you learn. Every moment you learn, you live. 1. Learning is always a process. 2. Learning is a logical process. 3. Learning is a discovery process. C. People need to learn how to work. Never do anything for a student which the student is capable of doing for himself. If you do, youll make a student an educate cripple. In order to develop people who are: self-directed, disciplined, do what they do because they choose to do it. Suggestion spend more time questioning answers rather than answering questions. IV. Four Basics Create the hunger for next teaching A. Teach them to read - what good is a revelation of you cant read it? B. Teach them to write give them the opportunity to express their ideas. C. Teach them to listen model them to listen. D. Tech them to speak give them the space to articulate their thoughts.

LAW THREE: ACTIVITY

Thought joggers Overheard in a classroom: Teacher: Johnny, its time to go home, but your picture isnt pasted, your table is very messy, your puzzle is half finished, and you havent learnt your memory verse. Why? Johnny: Well, you made me sit down and be still and you kept telling me to be quiet and listen. Then you teached and teached and teached and teached and teached. I guess I just didnt have time to learn. Message outline: I. Definition of the Law of Activity II. Six Characteristics of Meaningful Activity III. Choosing the Right Approach to Teaching I. Definition of the Law of Activity Maximum learning is always the result of maximum involvement. A. One condition - the activity must be meaningful. B. How would you evaluate these three statements agree or disagree? 1. Practice makes perfect. No, practice makes permanent! 2. Experience is the best teacher. No, evaluated experience is the best teacher! 3. We learn by doing. No, we learn by doing the right things! C. A direct correlation the higher your involvement, the greater your potential for learning. D. A Chinese proverb: I hear, and I forget; I see, and I remember; I do and I understand. .....and I change. E. Some statistics about remembering: 1. hearing only you remember up to 10% 2. hearing and seeing you remember up to 50% 3. hearing, seeing and doing you remember up to 90% II. Six Characteristics of Meaningful Activity A. Meaningful activity provides direction without dictatorship. Students work for themselves not for you. You cant pour education in; youve got to draw it out. B. Meaningful activity lays a constant stress on function and application. How will a student use the material? C. Meaningful activity is planned with a purpose. Every time you teach, ask yourself: What do I want my students to know? What do I want them to feel? What do I want them to do? D. Meaningful activity concerns itself with the process as well as the product. You have two options:

1. If you only give your students a product, then you limit your students by your own limitations. 2. You want to give them a process, because then you launch them on a path with no limitations. E. Meaningful activity is realistic and lifelike. Ask questions nobody asks F. Meaningful activity involves problem-solving situations. Ask questions where the students are, what problems they face. III. Choosing to Right Approach to Teaching Option 1 produce a product. Option 2 teach the process.

LAW FOUR: COMMUNICATION:

Thought joggers Language is the apparel in which your thoughts parade before others Communication is a two-way street, but its often used only for outgoing traffic. Message outline: I. Introduction II. Definition of the Law of Communication III. An Eight-Stage Model of Communication IV. Conclusion I. Introduction 1. Its more difficult than it looks! 2. When it comes to communication, dont assume anything. Just try to explain to someone how to put a coat on without looking! II. Definition of the Law of Communication A. Communication....is the reason for our existence. Its our business. And dont forget what business you are in. B. Communication comes from Latin word communis meaning common. III. An Eight-Stage Model of Communication A. Stage 1: Three essential Components 1. Concept: Intellectual component. 2. Feeling: Emotional component. 3. Action: Volitional component. If you know something thoroughly (concept), if you feel something deeply (feeling), and if you are doing something consistently (action), then you have great potential for being an excellent communicator. B. Stage 2: Communication symbols 1. We think it is a word message that we are trying to communicate, and it is not. It is a life message. 2. Two essential forms of communication:

a. Verbal: two forms Speaking: advantages, disadvantages Writing and audio/video tape b. Nonverbal These two forms (verbal and nonverbal) must be congruent. That is, what you say must correspond with what they see. Some people have a built-in radar screen to sense how you feel. Research on communication by Albert Mehrabian, Yale University: How we communicate: Words alone 7% Tone of voice 35% Body language 55% Ask yourself: 1. Is it more important to witness (communicate) by my lips (verbally) or by my life (nonverbally)?* 2. If you fly what is more important to you: the left wing or the right one?* C. Stage 3: Speech 1. Preparation you need some structure; you need to package your material. a. Introduction begin with a quotation, question, or problem right out of their life that hooks them. b. Conclusion the least-prepared part of most lessons c. Illustrations the windows that let in the light. 2. Presentations three things a. speak clearly. b. vary volume, pitch, speed. c. gestures. D. Stage 4: Distractions two forms 1. Those within the individual (those you cannot control): attitudes lack o sleep, illness, other circumstances; 2. Those within the environment (those you can control): temperature of the room - every time you teach somebody sweats, either you do before or they do during. arrangement of the room, materials you will use.
EIGHT STAGES OF COMMUNICATION TEACHERS PART STUDENTS PART SENDER RECEIVER

Stage 1

Stage Stage Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7 Stage 8 2 3 3 essential Words Speech Distractions Listening Translation 3 essential feedback components components E. Stage 5: Listening 1. Problem: the average person can listen from 4 to 10 times as fast as anyone can speak. 2. Solution: you need to combine your speaking with visualization so that they can see what they hear. Thats why use illustrations and analogies. F. Stage 6: Translation

1. Problem: the words that are heard are often different from the words that are sent. 2. Solution: students must be allowed to translate them. G. Stage 7: Three Essential Components Its not, what do you (teacher) think? Its, what does he ( the student) think? Its not, what do you feel? Its, what does (s)he feel? Its not, what are you doing? Its, what are they doing? thats the test of communication! H. Stage 8: Feedback 1. Ask for questions. They will ask the most perceptive questions to show that you have not put what you want them to know, to feel, to do in a form that they can understand! IV. Conclusion hear me! The purpose of communication is not to impress, its to impart. The purpose of communication is not to simply to convince, but to change. Most teachers communicating are focused on the wrong end of process. They are focusing upon what they are doing as a communicator, as a sender, rather than on what the student, the receptor, is doing! When you think clearly, feel deeply, behave consistently, you have the potential of becoming a very effective communicator! The words below all convey an aspect of communication: Accept, admit, ask, choose, commit, compliment, confess, count, create, decide, direct, discourage, encourage, evaluate, find, give, help, list, listen, look, look up, love, meet, memorize, plan, praise, pray, read, record, rejoice, respond, select, share, show, sing, study, take, talk, talk with, telephone, thank, think, understand, watch, write; * answer: both

LAW FIVE: HEART:

Thought joggers If you would be loved, love and be lovable. Benjamin Franklin The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves, or rather in spite of ourselves. Victor Hugo A good rule for going through life is to keep the heart a little softer than the head Message outline: I. Definition of the Law of the Heart II. The Knowing Component III. The Feeling Component IV. The Action Component V. Putting It into Practice I. Definition of the Law of the Heart A. The teaching that impacts is not from head to head, but from heart to heart. Biblical heart includes: ones intellect, ones emotions,

 ones will. B. Socrates three concepts summarizing the essence of expression and persuasion: 1. (Ethos) involves character, establishes credentials and credibility of the teacher. 2. (Pathos) involves compassion, involves arousing the passions, massaging the emotions. 3. (Logos) involves content, gives understanding and engages the mind. C. How these concepts relate to the learner. 1. The component of character produces confidence. The basis of all effective communication emanates from within. And you need to ask yourself periodically the question: what kind of person am I? 2. The component of compassion produces motivation. 3. The component of compassion produces perception. D. Relationship between teaching and learning TEACHING Teaching is causing people to learn. Teaching is what you do. LEARNING Learning is essentially producing change in thinking, feeling, behaviour. Learning is what they do.

The focus in teaching is primarily upon what you do. The focus in learning is primarily upon what the student does. Therefore, you test your teaching not by what you do, but by what the student does as a result of what you do. II. The Knowing Component A. Your primary task as a teacher is to perpetuate the learning process. B. You cannot behave correctly unless you are emotionally correct. III. The Feeling Component A. All learning begins at the feeling level. If the student has strong negative feelings toward teacher, he or she will never learn. B. Students do not care what you know until they know that you care. IV. The Action Component Exchange words into action. V. Putting It into Practice four suggestions A. Know your students it is impossible to meet their needs unless you know them. sometimes you need to hurt in order to heal. B. Earn the privilege to be their teacher credibility always precedes communication. C. Get personally involved with your students you can impress people at a distance; you can only impact them up close the closer I am to my students the greater and the more permanent is the impact! D. Become vulnerable before your students let them know what you are struggling with. A fundamental characteristics of a master teacher is knowledge of his/her students. The questions below can be used to help you learn more about your class. Name, address, telephone no., family members, hobbies, concerns, needs, interests, abilities, interesting experiences, trips, etc.

LAW SIX: ENCOURAGEMENT:

Thought joggers The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The great teacher demonstrates. The superior teacher inspires. A great teacher has always been measured by the number of students who have surpassed him Message outline: I. Introduction II. Definition of the Law of Encouragement III. The secrets of Motivation IV. Tools for Your Motivational Toolbox V. One Final Statement..... I. Introduction Encouragement the secrets of motivating students. The number one problem in education today is the problem of motivation overcoming initial inertia, getting the student off the dime and into action. It is far more important to determine a persons MQ than their IQ* II. Definition of the Law of Encouragement A. The Law of Encouragement: Teaching tends to be most effective when the student is properly motivated. Wrong motivation can destroy someone. B. A Motive: 1. A motive is primarily that within an individual which causes him to act. 2. Two primary means of motivation: a. Extrinsic motivation any form of motivation that emanates from without. b. Intrinsic motivation emanates from within. What we are trying to do as a teacher, as a motivator, is to develop a person into a selfstarter. As a teacher, the only place you can work is outside of the student. Therefore, the test of all extrinsic motivation is, does it trigger intrinsic motivation? And if it does not, then it is not legitimate. III. The secrets of Motivation What do these things tell you about motivation? Rocks - curiosity, usage; A book on Baby Care - need, availability; A bible - value, benefits; A Rubiks Cube puzzle - challenge; A Tax Document - majoring; Esprit Badges on a Shirt - recognition; IV. Tools for Your Motivational Toolbox How can I do it? A. By creating a need 1. Two kinds of needs

 felt needs ( conscious level) real needs (subconscious level) Your task as a teacher is to take these real needs and surface them ....so that they become felt needs. Two means by which you can accomplish that: by knowledge (the scripture) by experience B. By developing responsibility with accountability. The greater the investement, the greater the interest. C. By structuring experience FOUR MAJOR STAGES OF TRAINING Telling (write, tape) Showing (model) Controlled Real life situations situations HEAR SEE DO You take that which we have built into your life and you build it into the life of another. Then you will really be fully trained. D. By intensifying interpersonal relationship. Most of us are too far removed from our students to make an impact. You cant impact a person across a chasm. E. By providing recognition and approval. If you go to your class tomorrow, you could begin the most transformative work you have ever had by doing nothing else than just putting your arm around a little kid and pulling him to you. Use the motivational tool working externally to the pupil. The fruit of it will be worked out internally. V. One Final Statement..... Everyone can be motivated. But not at the same time. The timing is very crucial. You need a lot of patience to be a good teacher, because teaching is the assembling of a time bomb in the classroom for explosion at a later date.
*MQ-Motivational Quotient; IQ Intelligence Quotient

LAW SEVEN: READINESS:

Thought joggers Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. If at first you dont succeed, that makes you just about normal Students are always motivated by at least two reasons: the reason they tell you about, and the real reason Message outline: I. The Definition of the Law of Readiness II. The Problem: Students coming to class cold III. The Values of Assignments IV. The Characteristics of Good Assignments V. Four Problems in Applying This Law

VI. I.

Wrapping Up the Series

The Definition of the Law of Readiness Readiness is a necessary preparation for maximum profit. Learning tends to be most effective when the student is adequately prepared. II. The Problem: Students coming to class cold You have two options: A. Option 1: start building interest and understanding at the beginning of class. B. Option 2: start building interest and momentum before the class starts here they will continue their interest! III. The Values of Assignments A. They precipitate thinking. B. They provide a background, a foundation on which to build. C. They develop habits of independent study. IV. The Characteristics of Good Assignments A. Good assignments must be creative, not simply busy work. That means: 1. You have a clear-cut objective. 2. You have taken time to prepare. As you prepare, bear in mind that..... 3. People come into class with different sets of abilities. 4. We must put our hooks into the area of their interest. B. Good assignments must be thought provoking. V. Four Problems in Applying This Law A. What happens if they come to class unprepared? Two suggestions: Do the assignment in class. Tap their experience. B. What if they lack confidence? If you are a teacher, youve got to generate confidence. If they have confidence in you, then your job is to take that confidence and replace it in them. C. What if someone dominates the class? - three options: 1. Be sure to express appreciation for his contribution. 2. Ask him to do you a favour: help me get the others involved in the process. 3. Call on him ( so he knows you do value his comments). D. What if the person is afraid to participate? Four suggestions: 1. Encourage people to participate and affirm them when they do. Type of Question Appropriate Response The simplistic question Express sincere appreciation for it. The question you cant answer Say you dont know But will find out. The threatening question Make a hero out of the questioner. Remember: The only foolish question is the unasked question!!!! 2. Graduate (i.e., slowly enlarge) the experience Try to create an atmosphere in which a person who wanted to ask a question for months, years that he thinks is a dumb one finally is free to ask. 3. Exercise great patience By this you will break a barrier.

4. Give them some notes. a. Most people dont know how to make notes. b. Engage them in the training process begin with basic outlines. By using notes, what you are doing is raising a crop of people who know how to listen intelligently. VI. Wrapping Up the Set of Rules

The Laws of the Teacher Teacher - learner Education - stimulator Activity - involvement Communication - common ground Heart - care Encouragement - entire encouragement Readiness - preparation My great hearts concern for you teachers is that God will give you a passion that will never die. A passion to communicate. Because I have discovered that when I find a person who really gets a passion to communicate...... he or she will go to any limit to accomplish that objective. Dr Howard G. Hendricks

Dear Teacher Good luck in your teaching!!!

Bibliography
1. The Seven Laws of Teaching by Dr H.G. Hendricks 2. The Seven Laws of Teaching by J. M. Gregory 3. The Essence of Good Teaching by S.C.Ericksen 4. Creative Teaching Methods by M.D.LeFever 5. Learning is Change by M.Leypoldt 6. Mastering the techniques of Teaching by J.Lowman

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