D’FIRST LAW OF TEACHING: The primary reason for schools is to make rules. This can be restated, “The primary reason for schools is to make small needless rules to give someone a sense of power.”

D'SECOND LAW OF TEACHING: School and Education are not necessarily related.

Teaching is one of the most difficult jobs. Next to policemen who have people shoot at them and Ministers who have people call them at three in the morning with horrific problems, teaching is one of the most difficult jobs in America. I say America because in many countries, I am thinking of China, teachers are revered. In Wuxi I regularly drove around a 10 metre statue of a teacher, not a special teacher, but just a normal lady teacher in the round European type intersection. This is almost unimaginable to one steeped in American culture.

One who would be a teacher must be generous. You can use the term loving, kind or any number of other words. A teacher needs to give a student a break, occasionally. Education is hard work. We say, "Grades are your paycheck for studying" But then grade them on arbitrary rules like, "did you complelete every dot on your homeowrk or you don't get credit." We put questions on a test we think are important, the student on the other hand, may be off on a tangent curing cancer. We consider if fair to give grades on this arbitrary check and flunk system.

I learned this lesson in Seminary. Dr. Hermon Austel gave me an "A" in a course, I did very poorly at the beginning of the course on the first number of quizzes in Archeology. I liked the course topic, but I had to ratchet up my learning skills to keep up with him. I went to his office and asked, "How can you give me an "A" in the course when I failed the first half-dozen quizzes so miserably?" He said something like, "Look you did miss nearly every question on the first quiz, but every quiz you improved. You came and talked to me individually, your grades continued to improve and you got nearly every question correct on the final." And his final thought, "Any instructor worth the name must be generous."

I was in teaching in China a number of years ago and my roommate gave a Chinese woman a "B+" because she hadn't dotted an "i" and received 89.9% I still remember this point these years later. I can't form one letter in Chinese, but this woman was speaking to me and this teacher in pretty decent English. She was the English writer for the local Chinese paper and simply wanted to improve her English. A "B+" for this woman was to "loose face" and in China this is almost the worst thing that could happen to her. Never forget an "A" is simply a letter of the alphabet. A "B" is the second letter of the alphabet. They mean what you want them to mean. They have been used and abused for centuries. The bottom line in grading is to sit back and say, "What did this person learn in my class?" Be generous, they may cure cancer, win the olympics or be your principal one day.

While I Don't suggest this, it is a true story I read in the newspaper on the point of generousity. A teacher would tell each class of students, "When you become a millionare, buy me a Porche." One day during class, a previous student, from maybe 20 years before, walked into the class, and handed the teacher two keys. The class walked out to the street and there was a $80,000 Porche. The student started and was successful in business and he followed through with the teachers request. Be generous.

One who would teach must be a student. If you have been teaching for many years. You know an administrator that left the classroom one to a thousand years ago, but has all the answers ... that don't match the problem. I believe every administator must teach a class or be a student. I believe every teacher must be a student in order to remember the frustrations of a unclear teacher. To remember how frustrating it is to "not get" an important concept. To remember what is is like to fail a test. To remember-- well to remember what it is to be a student. Minds tend to remember what we want them to remember. Education is not fun and believe it or not, teaching is more fun (at least knowing the answers) than being a student. Come on...Do you use the Teacher textbook with the answers or the student text without the answers? Most of us forget the frustrations of trying to take care of life and meet the teachers deadlines and demands. We need to be students to remember where those sitting in front of us are at cognitively and emotionally.

One who would teach must teach to the individual. You may have 25 or 30 students in a classroom but you need to reach to each of those students and find what makes them tick and get the point through not to a class but to the individual. You may reach 20 of your 25 students in your lecture in class, but you need to reach the other five at lunch, after school, call the home and encourage them on the Internet. These are the souls of the future. You have been entrusted with their minds, but you also have their souls you must give account before God.

As a teacher, making up courses to become a credentialed teacher in California, my teacher at the University expected 25% of the students to fail. She would bring it to my attention each time I submitted a goal, "I expect at least 90% of my class to be able to recite the Pledge of Allegance by heart on September 1." She would chide me and say, you will burn out, no one expects more than 70 to 75% of your students to gain the knowledge you expect. The public school in California expects 1 or 4 students to fail. I think when we consider the nature of our calling, we are dealing with the minds and souls of the future, 90% is quite low and 75% is completely unexceptable. If it was my child or grandchild, failure would not be an option in education. I believe the Lord Jesus expected everyone to succeed. He stated his goal, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. However, years of teaching has taught this teacher some kids want to fail and I set my scale at 90% and make sure all that want to learn, have a cognitive grasp of the material.

One who would teach day school has many bosses. Most schools have a school board that while not usually noisy can hire or fire you in short order. There is your principal who in most cases does the placing and removing of teachers from the classroom. In the school I taught in for some years the hands on administrator was the lead teacher and if you didn't perform to her specifications you will not be teaching in her department the next year. And you have between 60 and 120 parents and grandparents of those 30 students who can complain. It is interesting in most schools, if someone complements it is worth a quick comment but if someone complains your job is frequently on the line.

If you succeed they will expect more of you the next year and after all this is your job. I frequently wonder why anyone would be a teacher. There is very little thanks and a world of grief to being a teacher. It does not take long to get discouraged teaching. But then you see the eyes of the students that light up. You realize you are changing the future. You see the friendship of those that realize you are on their side and you want them to win. You want them to succeed. Suddenly, it is not the money but the value of the children in your care. This is the real pay for your work. You are reaping souls into the kingdom. Yours is the world and all that is in it for a topic. You my friend, every morning are reaching into the future and changing it.

Dr. Margaret Bridges in orentation frequently indicated that if you teach one year, and have 30 students, and they marry one day, and have several children, who will have several children to the fourth generation, your work will have changed around 1000 people. If you teach for 30 years, you are changing future generations not yet thought of to the tune of 30,000 people. You are underpaid and overworked because the results of your work will not come to completion until years after you have been packed under the sod.

There are several inspirational quotes that keep me going.

"Keep on keeping on" Dr. Bob Jones
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Finis Lyles

LADDER OF ACHIEVEMENT
100% I did
90% I will
80% I can
70% I think I can
60% I might
50% I think I might
40% What is it?
30% I wish I could
20% I don't know how
10% I can't
00% I won't

We all know about the famous men of history like Joe Slivy right? Oh, you don't know Joe? He found things were hard so he quit! No one remembers quitters.
"The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, longsuffering..."
Jesus was not a quitter. He loved us this much, and he held out his hands and died.

AUDIO-VISUALS

METHOD	CLASS/HOMEWORK	AGE GROUP
01. Bulletin Boards	C	PS-A
02. Chalkboard	C	P-A
03. Chalk talk	C	P-A
04. Charts	C	P-A
05. Collage	C-H	..
19. Demonstration	C	..
06. Diagrams	C	..
07. Diorama	C	..
08. Dolls	C-H	..
09. Films (16mm)	C	..
10. Film Strip	C	..
11. Computer Games	C-H	..
23. Field Trip	C-H	..
12. Flannel graph	C	..
13. Flash Cards	C-H	..
14. Flip Boards and Charts	C	..
15. Friezes	C	..
15. Globes (see Map)	C-H	..
16. Graft	C	..
17. Interest Centers	C	..
17. Internet	C-H	..
18. Magnetic Board	C	..
38. Magic	C	..
20. Maps	C	..
22. Murals	C	..
24. Models	C	..
25. Finger puppets	C	..
26. Overhead Projector	C	..
27. Paintings	C-H
28. Pictures	C	..
48. Power Point	C	..
29. Puppets	C	..
30. Puzzles	C	..
31. Radio	C-H	..
32. Rebus	C	..
33. Record Player	C-H	..
34. Sand Table	C	..
35. Scrapbook	C-H	..
36. Slides	C	..
37. Strip Chart	C	..
39. Tape Recorder	C-H	..
40. Videos, VCR/CD	C-H	..
40. Videos Camera	C-H	..

Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy

Hunter's Goals

Maslow (no link yet)

Home page

Astronomy!

On Creation

On Writing

Harry Potter

Say So

Science Project

Sixth Grade General Readiness Guidelines

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." (William A. Ward)