No matter what their ages are, students need to be drawn to the charisma of the instructors, at the same time to get to the core of the lesson itself. The Holy Spirit demands peace but not chaos, so here are the tips for all Christian teachers, especially for those who teach Bible/Theology/ RS.
1. Teaching should be interesting and relevant
Lessons must not (apparently!) appear to be boring and irrelevant to the students specifically the design of the content. Teachers should always try to show the relevancy of our teaching to their daily lives, like adopting good questioning techniques, using very current teaching resources, and allow different types of learning styles to take place by employing different methodologies.
2. People should be highly engaged in different activities
Using the whole-brained, rotational, cooperative, peer-work, interviewing, project-based learning as well as certain amounts of group discussion or debating. Students should be able to recall at the end of each lesson what they have learnt in one or two sentences. That is, they have volunteered their inputs and it is time to bring something back home. Audio-visual materials are for reinforce learning as well.
3. Goal-oriented: Everybody should have a measurable goal that is easy to reach, it can be examination-oriented – boosting grades of class work, homework and statewide test, and ideally speaking his or her spirituality and knowledge on God; subject-based – to enter good-size competitions, forums, church seminars to show his or her ‘expertise’; or career-focused – how is the student’s learning charting his future career path or even ministry direction. However, these must all have a set of planned scheme and measurable results.
4. Relationship is key: We must try hard to encourage and motivate students in such a way that they can cope, or, thrive. Different people absorb data and new knowledge simply at different rates, and any corky push would not help anyone to get anywhere sooner. Yet the main thing is, all teachers should try to establish a good and warm relationship with the students, and to role model faith, love and hope, to enjoy the liberty in Christ.
5. Clear notes with rich content, well-constructed homework and test: All homework should be given with clear guidelines, and request students to hand them in on time. Those who fail their test must have learning support already available – constructive feedback the least; retaking the failed part the most, depending on time and space available. Last but not least, we all want to be master teachers, but we also need to produce master class notes, very up-to-date reference lists and error-free answer keys – which are something frequently voiced out by the students as they need updated road maps.
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