7 Essential Skills for
Great Teaching
A Seminar on Teaching
With Materials
Developed by
Dr. Bruce Wilkerson
&
Thom and Joani Schultz
Presented by
Elder C.L. Wright
Church Ministries Department
Southeastern Conference of SDA
Ephesians 4:11, 12
11 And he gave some, apostles;
and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors
and teachers; 12 For the
perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ:
The Teacher’s responsibility is:
• Perfecting the saints - faithfully reproducing
the original [likeness or character].
• Edifying the body - to instruct and improve
esp. in moral and religious knowledge : UPLIFT
also : ENLIGHTEN
In order for Teachers to do that. . . .
• ALL GREAT Teachers are filled with the
Holy Ghost. It is one thing to have the
Spirit. All born again Christians have the
Spirit, but it’s quite another experience to
enjoy the fullness of His presence. To
have the Spirit and to be filled with the
Spirit are not the same. . .
• God wants us to understand that the Spirit of
God can and MUST BE resident in us. Notice
what Paul wrote to the church in Rome about
himself. In Romans 15:29 he said, “I know
that when I come to you, I will come in the
full measure of the blessing of Christ”.
• When we teach the Bible, we too must have
the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
You may have this experience
• All you have to do is ASK for the Holy
Ghost.
Matt. 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek,
and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you
Matt. 21:22, And all things, whatsoever ye
shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive
• But to have the Spirit fully demands a
price.
I must be willing to crucify my
sinful desires and be led by the
Spirit moment by moment.
• When so much is at stake, how can we set up
idols in our hearts? How can we be indolent and
trifling, vain, proud, and careless? We have foes
to fight within; we have victories to gain over our
own sinful propensities. The lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are seeking
continually to weaken our spirituality. We must
crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts.
{Signs of the Times, June 2, 1881 par. 23}
• Note the commands of scripture:
*
*
*
*
Live by the Spirit - Gal. 5:16
Be led by the Spirit – Gal. 5:18
Sow to please the Spirit – Gal. 6:8
Set our mind on what the Spirit desires –
Rom. 8:5
*Keep in step with the Spirit – Gal. 5:25+
Skill #1
Great Teachers Put the Learner
FIRST
Christ, who is our Savior and Guide was the ultimate
Teacher. Teaching lies at the very heart of Jesus.
Not only was Christ The Truth, but He taught The
Truth! As you search the Gospels, you discover that
Jesus was always teaching: Teaching a nobleman at
night; teaching a woman at the well; teaching the
5000; teaching the Disciples, and teaching the inner
circle. Jesus was a teacher; the Master Teacher.
• Jesus made teaching a part of our calling!
• 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost:
• 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world. Amen.
How Many Great Teachers. . .
Did you have in your life?
Did most of your Teachers care if you
learned your lesson or were they only
concerned in covering the material and
giving you a test?
• When we teach the Bible, we should have two
•
•
•
goals in mind for those we teach.
*How am I going to bring about a change in this
person’s life so he or she can become more like the
Savior.
*How do I help them to become more proficient in
order for them to accomplish something
great for Jesus Christ.
The work of teaching; instructing and
communicating is a gift from God that carries a
solemn responsibility.
• Is it the Teacher’s responsibility to cover the Lesson,
•
•
and the student’s responsibility to learn what the
teacher gives?
Can we divorce teaching from learning? Is it the
student’s responsibility to learn, or should the teacher
shoulder some of that responsibility?
If a student doesn’t learn, is that the student’s fault?. .
. . . the teacher’s fault?
• A 55 year old man decided to go back to
school, and get an MBA. The first class
session, the teacher sat on the edge of her desk,
folded her arms and said, “Over 50 % of you
will fail this class!” The businessman said to
himself, “Wow, she must be a tough teacher. ”
• What does the Bible say about
Teaching?
• Deut 4:1
• Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the
statutes and unto the judgments, which I
teach you, for to do them, that ye may
live, and go in and possess the land which
the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
• Deut 5:1
• And Moses called all Israel, and said unto
them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and
judgments which I speak in your ears this
day, that ye may learn them, and keep,
and do them.
• Both “teach” and “learn” come from the same
root word lamad – which mean
• To TEACH
• In the Hebrew grammar, Lamad means:
To busy oneself eagerly with the action
indicated by the stem. The stem means to
learn. Further, it means to urge to learn,
and to cause others to do the same.
Teacher
Subject
Speaker
Student
Listen
Lecture
Cause to Learn
• So God is telling us, you haven’t taught, if
your students haven’t learned.
• Teaching then, is what takes place in your
student’s heart.
• So the question is, how do you know if
you have a great teacher?
• Answer: If you learned a lot!
• So as a Teacher, I am supposed to
•Urge You
To Cause You
To Chase after You
Until you start learning.
Guy Rice Doud once said,
• “I suspected that this teacher would feel
that if I had failed, she had failed. And she
seemed bound and determined to teach
me. She gave me back my hope.
National Teacher of the Year
How Important is Teaching?
• Teachers will stand accountable to God for their influence.
• James 3:1
• My brethren, let not many of you become teachers,
knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
• Heb 13:17
• Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for
they watch out for your souls, as those who must give
account.
Teachers will stand accountable
• Because they control:
• The subject
• The Style
• The setting
• The Speaker
“The Secret to being a successful
teacher is. . . . .
To accept in a very personal way the
responsibility of each student’s success or
failure. Those teachers who do take
personal responsibility for their student’s
successes and failures tend to produce
higher achieving students.”
Shirley M. Hufstedler (Former US Sec. of Ed.)
• 1. To Prepare
• 2. To Listen
• 3. Know your students and develop a
relationship
• 4. Self application
• 5. Presentation
• 6. Motivate students to learn
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
7. Feed back is necessary
8. Teacher should have a passion for teaching.
9. Encourage students to learn.
10. Give your students assignments.
11. Have a time for testimonies.
12. Give each a study buddy.
13. Visit your students.
Let’s Take a Break
• Dr. Bruce Wilkerson, the author of the
book The Prayer of Jabaez tells the story
of his first Teaching Job.
• He gives a test after lecturing for 20
minutes.
• How many systems are in teaching?
• There are 3 systems.
• The Scholar
• The Communicator
• The Friend
• The Scholar deals with the Subject or
“the what”
• The Communicator deals primarily
with Style, or “The How”
• The Friend deals with the Student
• Which of these three systems is the
biggest problem in teaching?
• 5% Have a problem with People
• 15% have a problem with subject
• 80% of people world-wide have a
problem with style. How the subject
is given.
• When you get up to teach, you must play
a role.
• We all are role players.
• This is the first way we can teach to make
a student learn.
PRINCIPLES
• 1. Love those you teach consistently and
unconditionally.
1 Peter 4:8
• And above all things have fervent love
for one another, for "love will cover a
multitude of sins."
• 2. Teach the subject material in terms
of your students needs and interests.
• 3. Alter your style reguarly according
to each situation.
• 4. Embrace your talents and gifts and
be yourself.
• You’d be amazed how many people
crave the other person’s gifts.
5. Be aware of your students attention,
attitudes and actions.
• We must speak in more than one
language. As a matter of fact, we all
are bi-lingual.
• Speaking Language and
• Non-speaking language (Body
Language)
• There are over 120 body languages
we use.
• And always remember!
• Excel by using your strengths to
compensate for your weaknesses.
• Professor’s lack of people skills
Rely on the Holy Spirit
• For teaching that is supernatural!
STUDENT
SUBJECT
HOLY GHOST
SPEAKER
STYLE
What does the Holy Ghost do with the
Subject?
• He Illumines it
• What does the Holy Ghost do
with the Speaker?
• He anoints him/her
What does the Holy Ghost do with the
student?
• He convicts him/her
• What does the Holy Ghost do with
the style?
• He empowers it
• God can use you to help
inspire, teach and mold His
children.
Skill # 2
Great Teachers have Great
Expectations
• You’ve Been Given Section 2 –
THAT’S NOT FAIR!
What Was the Difference?
• The only difference was in his head!
• What one privately thinks in their
mind about the students and the
class they teach has a great deal to
do with what the student does in that
class.
How to have a Section 2
• What is the normal mindset of the
learner?
• What I privately think in my mind
doesn’t have any impact on you.
• However, what you privately think
has an overwhelming impact on
everyone you meet.
Hebrews 10:24,25
24 And let us consider one another in order
to stir up love and good works, 25 not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together, as is the manner of some, but
exhorting one another, and so much the
more as you see the Day approaching.
• NKJV
Hebrews 3:12,13
• The Negative is also possible.
• 12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any
of you an evil heart of unbelief in
departing from the living God; 13 but
exhort one another daily, while it is called
"Today," lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.
• Consider means to brood over; to think, to
analyze; to watch.
• I must have my antennae out. I’m always
watching you, trying to read you. Trying
to pick up what’s going on.
=
• I’m supposed to stir you!
• The Normal Tendency is: To fill up my
thoughts about myself and my life.
We are to exhort one another
• How often? DAILY
• Consider always. . .Pay Attention
The word Exhort
• Comes from the same root word as
Paraclete (Para-ka-let-o)
• It means to “stand along side of.”
• Who is the Paraclete?
• The Holy Ghost
• The Holy Ghost dwells inside a person,
and works from the inside out.
• We cannot dwell inside another person,
but I can paraclete you by what I say and
how I say it.
How to Exhort One Another
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Visitation
Phone Calls
Special Days
Socials
Praying together
Play games together
Share foods and recipes
8. Show concern for children
9. Buying books for the children
10. Share info by networking
11. Be concerned with the elderly members
12. To encourage others
13. Volunteer to help those who need help
14. Be a companion to someone
Skill # 3
• For Great Teachers
Application is the Key
7 Trends of Youth
• 65% of all Christian High School youth are
•
•
•
•
sexually active
75% of all High School students cheat regularly.
30% of high school seniors have shoplifted in
the past 30 days.
45-50% of high school pregnancies are aborted.
3.3 million teenagers are alcoholics-1 in every
nine teens.
• 1,000 teenagers try to commit suicide
daily.
• 10% of high school students have
experimented with or are living a
homosexual lifestyle.
Things haven’t changed a little bit.
• Things have changed a lot!
• The thing that’s alarming is when you
study the traits of Christian young people
compared to non-Christian young people,
they have found that the differences are
almost indistinguishable.
We have a problem. . . .
• The problem is not Christianity, or the
Bible or the Holy Spirit or that people
aren’t saved.
• Something else isn’t working right. What is
it?
Back in the 80’s
• USA Today ran an article
comparing the problems of high
school teenagers in the 40’s and
those in the 80’s.
TOP PROBLEMS OF. . . .
• 1940s
1980s
1.Talking
1. Drug Abuse
2. Chewing Gum
2. Alcohol Abuse
3. Making Noise
3. Pregnancy
4. Running in the Halls 4. Suicide
TOP PROBLEMS OF. . . . .
5.Getting out of Line
6. Improper Clothing
7. Not putting paper in
the wastepaper basket.
5. Rape
6. Robbery
7. Assault
2Tim. 3:16, 17
• 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness,
• 17 that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work.
That in the Greek language is
• iva (henna) which means:
“In order that” or “for the purpose of”
God gave the Scriptures, not for the
purpose of doctrine, or reproof, but for
the purpose that
• The man of God (The Christian) may be
1. Complete
2. Equipped
Scripture is given so that a change can take
place in a person.
Word of God
Given
Inspired
Man of God
Character
(Who I Am)
Conduct
(What I Do)
• When we teach the Bible, we should have two
•
•
•
goals in mind for those we teach.
*How am I going to bring about a change in this
person’s life so he or she can become more like the
Savior.
*How do I help them to become more proficient in
order for them to accomplish something
great for Jesus Christ.
• So when you analyze this passage, and
boil it down, you find that:
• God gave the scriptures:
• so that the man of God may be
complete and equipped.
How Do You Get From the Word of
God to the Man of God?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Doctrine (Right Belief)
Reproof (Wrong Belief)
Correction (Wrong Behavior)
Instruction in Righteousness (Right
Behavior)
THIS IS THE METHOD
The “Man of God” is the GOAL.
• When we focus on the Method and not the
Result, there is no change in the life of the
people.
Websites for SS Preparation
1. www.sabbathschool.com
2. www.gobible.com
3. www.ssnet.org
These websites are good for Teachers to
help them to develop their SS
information.
• So God said, I gave you the Bible so that
the Believer may be changed. . . may be
complete.
• Complete in this text means “mature” or
“Perfect”. It is God’s desire that our
characters may become perfect in the
likeness of Jesus Christ.
This happens because of. . . .
Application!
APPLICATION is the central reason for
God’s Revelation.
D.L. Moody once said,
• “The Scriptures were not given for our
information, but for our transformation.”
• So many Teachers feel like they have
accomplished the goal of teaching when they
have explained, even correctly the gospel
lesson or message. However, our teaching
must aim for transformation.
• Timothy also said in that text, so that we
also may be equipped.
• The Bible is not given for information. It
was given so that you and I can have
change take place in our lives.
• This is important, because the Bible
was given for Life Transformation.
TRUE OR FALSE?
• Application is the responsibility of the
Teacher.
Jeremiah 11:6-7
6 Then the LORD said to me, "Proclaim all
these words in the cities of Judah and in
the streets of Jerusalem, saying: 'Hear the
words of this covenant and do them. 7 For
I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the
day I brought them up out of the land of
Egypt, until this day, rising early and
exhorting, saying, "Obey My voice."
• Jeremiah 11 links the words hear and do.
• The word hear and the word obey is the
very same Hebrew word, Shamaw.
In other words, if you really hear, you will
obey.
Jeremiah 23:21-22
21 “I have not sent these prophets, yet they
ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they
prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in
My counsel, And had caused My people to
hear My words, then they would have
turned them from their evil way, and from
the evil of their doings.
• According to these verses, Application is
the responsibility of the Teacher.
Look at these points
• Application that has impacted the
Teacher tends to impact the student
more effectively.
• Application must ultimately lead the
student from studying the Bible to
obeying the Lord.
The Goal of this Skill is to:
• “APPLY FOR LIFE CHANGE”
The Teacher stimulates life change in
students by properly applying the
Scriptures.
nd
2
Bring the Bible from
Century
Palestine to
st
21 Century Southeastern Conf.
LESSON 13
*Mar. 19-25
Partnership With Jesus
Skill #4
Great Teachers help their
Students to
UNDERSTAND
“We have a lot of evidence that teaching
content alone, and hoping it will cause
students to learn to think, doesn’t work.
The teaching of content alone is not
enough.”
ARTHUR COSTA
Notice what the Bible says about
Understanding
“When anyone hears the message about the
kingdom and does not understand it, the
evil one comes and snatches away what
was sown in his heart”
Matthew 13:19
• Understanding is the key. Without
understanding, the seed we teachers plant,
though perfect in every respect, falls along the
hard packed path. There is sits briefly on the
surface until it is snatched away.
To one degree or another, we’ve all
been lulled into believing that
content alone is the focus.
We’ve all grown up in
An Educational System that has elevated mere
facts to idol status. Since Elementary School
we’ve been drilled on the facts:
• What are the primary colors?
• What’s the capital of Wisconsin?
• What is water made of?
• What years encompassed World War I?
But what is success?
• Is it truly the ability to temporarily
retain multitudes of miscellaneous
facts, that may earn good grades?
Look at the findings of a study of 81
valedictorians & Salutatorians
Study done in 1981 in Illinois High
Schools.
*All continued to achieve well in
college
*By their late 20’s most had found
only average success in their chosen
professions
Findings of a study of 81
valedictorians & Salutatorians cont.’
*Only 1 in 4 had kept pace with others
of comparable age in higher levels of
success
*Many were doing much poorer than
the average
“Learning without wisdom is a load
of books on a donkey’s back.”
Zora Neale Hurston
1. Focus learning on Understanding
• 4 year old Matthew and the Pool.
• Loved the water before he knew how
to swim
• Always wore arm floaties
• “I just wanted to wear my swimming
suit this time”
• He didn’t understand
An Experience of Understanding
• I’ve Counseled many couples before their
•
•
Marriages.
I wanted them to understand what the
Bible means when it talks about being
faithful to one another.
I use a sheet of paper and ask them. . .
2. Use Plain Language
• How often do we use words that we assume
are understood by those in our Sabbath School
classes?
When teaching God’s Word to children, we can
take two simple steps.
1. Select a Bible translation with a lower reading
level. One that uses simpler, more
understandable words.
2. Always take time to explain all Bible
passages, taking special care to clarify the
meaning of the words.
Words that cause Adults to Stumble
• The advice on the previous slide goes for
youth and adult audiences as well. There
are times, more times than we think, we
use words that sail over the heads of
grown-ups. Children will tell you they
don’t understand, but adults are usually
too embarrassed to admit they don’t
know.
Definitions by Adults
SANCTIFICATION:
RAPTURE:
“praise in groups”
“wrath”
“salvation”
“singing and dancing”
ABSOLUTION:
“broken heart”
“a mathematical
Problem”
“positive all the way”
• NARTHEX:
“chemical warfare”
“a small hole in the ground that worms
live in”
Notice the communication style of
Jesus.
• He never tried to impress others by
using lofty words. He spoke plainly.
He used common terms that
connected with common people.
3. Use good questions to deepen
understanding.
• Church teachers and leaders can ask
quality questions that cause people to
think and enrich their understanding. But,
sadly, most teachers and leaders use
questions merely to check students’
knowledge of facts.
• Jesus modeled great question-asking
for us. He asked lots of questions.
More than 200 are recorded in the
Gospels. But very few of His
questions were used to quiz listeners
about facts.
Roy B. Zuck writes:
• “Seldom did Jesus ask recall questions,
merely asking for a recital of facts. If He
did ask a ‘What-do-you-remember’
question, it was to lead on to interaction
on an important issue. More often he
challenged his students with ‘What-doyou-think?’ questions.” Teaching as Jesus
Taught
Jesus asked great questions, the kind
that encouraged thinking.
• “If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it
•
•
be made salty again” Matt. 5:13
“Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do
good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”
Mark 3:4
“If you do good to those who are good to
you, what credit is that to you?” Luke
6:33
Characteristics of Good Q’s
1. Open-Ended. These are questions that cannot
be solved with a yes or no answer.
They require students to think.
Example: Jesus asked,
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in
your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the
plank in your own eye?” Matt. 7:3
2. Nonjudgmental Ques.
There’s no single right answer with this
type of question. In order to answer,
students need to search themselves.
Example: Jesus asked,
“Why are you troubled, and why do
doubts rise in your minds?” Luke 24:38
3. Emotive and Intellectually
Stimulating
• These questions stir and challenge. They
electrify students to grapple and seek
understanding.
• Example: Jesus said,
• “If satan drives out satan, he is divided
against himself. How then can his kingdom
stand? And if I drive out demons by
Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive
them out.” Matt. 12:26-27
Asking Good Ques. Is Hard Work
• However, we can help people develop a
•
fuller understanding of God’s Word by
asking good questions.
Spend some time devising great
questions. Your questions are at least as
important as any other part of the lesson.
Skill #5
• Great Teachers Help their
students Retain the Word
Is learning taking place among our
people?
• When I was a teenager, during MV
period, we would sometimes play Bible
Search, or Scripture Elimination.
• One church conducts programs where
children recite Bible Texts each week,
and receive badges & pins for their
accomplishments.
The Bible states,
• “But since they have no root, they
last only a short time.” Mark 4:17
Many of our members are suffering
from short-term memory loss.
• We teachers need to find reliable
ways to help people authentically
learn, retain their learning long-term,
apply that learning, and bear fruit.
Are children the only learners with
short-term memory loss?
• Thom & Joani Schultz, Researchers in
the area of Learning and Growing One’s
Faith conducted a poll of adult
churchgoers about what they remembered
from recent sermons. On Wednesday the
adults were asked from many different
churches what they could recall about the
precious weekend’s sermon.
• Some could remember the general topic.
A few could remember a point or two.
But the overwhelming majority could not
remember a single thing. It was as though
their memories were stripped clean of
everything the Preacher had said just a
few days earlier.
Research shows that:
• 40% of a spoken message is lost
from a listener’s memory after just
two minutes.
• 60% of the message is gone within a
half day.
• 90% of the message has leaked out of
the memory forever after one week.
• Is short-term memory only the plague of the
church? No! Our public schools have built
entire systems around the temporary
accumulation of information. Schools spend
thousands upon thousands of hours drilling
students on the names of all the presidents,
state capitals, and dates of historical events. Is
all that effort paying off?
Use yourself as a test case:
• *Can you name all the presidents?
• *Can you name all the state capitals?
• *Can you remember when the Louisiana
Purchase took place?
How the Brain Works
• Neural networks at several different brain
locations may handle a single act of memory.
• The content of a learning event (What
happened) is processed in a separate place
from the event’s meaning (how it felt).
• The names of things may be stored in various
locations.
Long term Storage
• There’s a small part in the center of the
brain called the “hippocampus” which
acts as gatekeeper that sorts information
that will be held either in short-term or
long-term memory.
Ronald Kotulak writes:
• “The hippocampus is the Grand Central
Station of memory. It dispatches arriving trains
of thoughts to either short commuter runs that
are quickly forgotten or to more permanent
destinations in the brain where important
things like your home address, spouse’s name
are stored.” Inside the Brain
How do Memories become
Permanent?
• It’s largely dependent on how
strongly the information is registered
in the first place. That’s why it’s so
important to learn in ways that
involve hearing, seeing, speaking and
doing, along with positive emotions.
The Power of Association
• Jesus used the power of association constantly
in his teaching. He knew the workings of the
brain.
• Jesus knew people would understand and
retain the learning longer if He began his
lessons with what they already knew. He
linked the commonly known to His new
concepts.
How Jesus used Association.
• You are the salt of the earth
• You are the light of the world
• For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also
• No one can serve two masters
• All who draw the sword will die by
the sword.
Example: Rubber band
• The brain moves information into
long-term memory when we start
with what people already know.
The Rubber Band Example Cont.’
Have two volunteers come up, and hold a
rubber band with their partner. Instruct them to
alternate telling obvious lies, stretching the
rubber band tighter between them each time
they lie. They’ll discover what happens when a
rubber band is stretched too far. As you
discuss this exercise with your class, you’ll
discover that. . . .
Exercise Cont.’
• the knowledge they already know about what
happens to stretched rubber bands is linked to
the new insights about the destructiveness of
lying.
• The brain moves information into long-term
memory when we start with what people
already know.
• Sometimes, coverage of the entire lesson
doesn’t have to be the goal. Our time might be
better spent covering less material, but
covering it in a way that moves the material
into long-term memory. In other words,
teachers don’t need to plant more seeds, but
frequently water the appropriate number of
seeds. That’s interval reinforcement.
Skill # 6
• Great Teachers know that
Emotion enhances learning
“Human beings are full of emotion,
and the teacher who knows how
to use it will have dedicated
learners.” Leon Lessinger (Former Dean, School
of Education, USC)
The work of
The Hippocampus
The hippocampus tends to push
information toward long-term memory if
it can associate the data with something it
already knows. But association is not its
only filter. Scientists believe the other
major filter is emotion.
The hippocampus is located in the
Temporal Lobe.
The Hippocampus
• We tend to remember more when our
emotions are engaged. The brain is
more prone to retain the sensational
than the mundane.
• Emotions drive what we remember!
God created us all with. . .
Feelings and emotions. And those
emotions influence our behavior.
Scientists know there are more neural
connections going from the emotional
part of the brain to the intellectual part
than vice versa.
Logic vs. Emotion
Regardless of what the cold, hard
facts might indicate, people often
tend to do “What feels right.”
Daniel Goleman, author of the popular
book Emotional Intelligence writes
“In a very real sense we have two minds,
one that thinks and one that feels… These
two minds, the emotional and the
rational, operate in tight harmony for the
most part, intertwining their very
different ways of knowing to guide us
through the world. . . .
• Ordinarily there is a balance between
emotional and rational minds, with emotion
feeding into and informing the operations of
the rational mind, and the rational mind
refining and sometimes vetoing the inputs of
the emotions… But when passions surge the
balance trips: it is the emotional mind that
captures the upper hand, swamping the rational
mind.” pages 8 & 9
Robert Sylwester concurs,
“We know emotion is very important to
the educative process because it drives
attention, which drives learning and
memory…It’s impossible to separate
emotion from the important activities of
life. Don’t even try.” Robert Sylwester,
Professor, Univ. of Oregon
Emotion is the glue of learning
and retention.
• Many years ago I pastored in the city of
Jacksonville, FL. While driving on a part of
the interstate that went through a residential
area, without warning, a young boy ran across
the highway in front of my vehicle. I just knew
I had hit him. He was rushed to the hospital.
The Officer who investigated the accident did
not ticket me. . .
• He noticed how shaken I was as a result of the
accident. He told me, “Mr. Wright, you
weren’t at fault. We have had many incidents
of this kind with people using the interstate as
a short-cut.” I was pleased to find out later that
the young boy was alright, and resting at the
hospital. That was 16 years ago, but the
emotional intensity of that experience has
never left my memory.
• I remember it all because of the
powerful impact of the emotions.
• People connect with their
emotions to help cement
important Biblical truths to their
hearts.
• As you study for next Sabbath’s
Lesson discussion, why not design
learning activities that evoke
particular emotional responses in
your students.
Jesus and Emotions
What does the Bible say about emotions in the
learning process?
The sadness of the rich young man
(Matt.19:16-22)
The indignation of the disciples when the woman
anointed Jesus with expensive perfume
(Matt. 26:6-13)
• The frenzy of Martha (Luke 10:38-42)
• The discomfort of the disciples when
Jesus washed their feet (John 13:1-17)
Emotional involvement causes the roots of
learning to penetrate deeply into longterm memory. God created us as
emotional beings. Jesus evoked strong
emotions.
Skill # 7
Great Teachers Know How to Build
the Need to Learn in their students
Bro. Reginald Moore told me he
loves to fish. How about you?
• God has called us to be fishers of men.
We must help our students want to learn
what we’re going to teach them.
Trout fishing in Colorado. . .
Master fishermen know how to catch fish,
and likewise master teachers know how to
catch their class.
1. Find the Need
• You cannot meet the need, until you find
the need. HOW DO YOU DO THAT?
• ASK
• GIVE AN ANANYMOUS QUESTIONAIRE
1. The biggest struggle I have at work is…
2. When my spouse and I have an
argument, it’s usually over…
3. When I get depressed, it usually follows…
4. If I could change one thing in my life, it
would be…
5. I guess you could best characterize my
spiritual life as…
6. When I get frustrated at God it’s because
He…
7. The sin that seems to always trip me up,
no matter how hard I try is…
People will tell you, because most come to
church to find an answer to their needs.
They want to know what God can do for
them.
• Go to your place of study alone, and read
the answers to those questions. After that,
begin to categorize them. Then you can
formulate what the top ten needs are.
• Take your Sabbath School lesson, and
when you can, use the Lesson to help
supply an answer to the needs of your
class.
2. Focus on the Need