BYU EDUCATION NOTES #6

These two men, Hilton and Sweat, have written a few books that I love.  And I was excited to find out if they are as good in person as they are in their books....  They are!  Scott and I especially liked Sweat.  Then directly after the class, we had another teaching class with Kevin Miller.  Both classes were of "great worth!"  Of course, the Master Teacher is our Savior.  He's the teacher I want to emulate most.  Here are my notes.

Teaching With Spiritual Impact
John L. Hilton III and Anthony R. Sweat

The aim of spiritual teaching is to inspire students to THINK, FEEL and DO something.

Richard G. Scott:  “As students verbalize truths, they are confirmed in their souls and strengthen their personal testimonies.”

Things that invite the Spirit:
                Intellectually Enlightening
                Applied Religion to Life
                Explicit Mention of Feeling the Spirit
                Teacher has a Positive Demeanor
                Engaging Pedagogy

Things that don’t invite the Spirit:
                Ineffective Class Time
                Poor Assessments

Teach Ye Creatively: Facilitating Gospel Learning
Kevin Miller

Teachers are Thermostats – If they are hot, the class it hot.  If they are cold, the class is cold.  Etc.

Andragog:  the art and skill of teaching adults

True learning changes:  F.A.T.
                F=Feelings
                A=Actions
                T=Thoughts

Three things are needed to invite the Spirit to a class:  Content, Method and Learner

1.        5 Key Principles for Teaching the Gospel
Ask, seek and knock spiritually
Teach from the Scriptures
Teach by and With the Spirit
Help the learner assume responsibility for learning
Testify

2.       Transformational Teaching – 10 Concepts for Gospel Andragogy
Begin with a Vision: Use a compass, not a clock!
Invite all to come unto Christ
Teach by the Spirit
Teach as Christ taught
Teach to the unique nature of adults
Teach to all learning domains and styles
Establish the environment
Connect to the heart
Care Enough to be CREATIVE
End with a powerful application and your testimony!

3.       What and How We Learn:
Adult Learners Retain (72 hours later)
     10% of what they hear
     20-30% of what they see
     60% of what they see and hear
     75-85% of what they see, hear and do
Our Learners:
     70% are visual learners
     20% are auditory learners
     10% are kinesthetic learners
     Danger:  We tend to teach how we like to learn and may lose many of our participants!

4.       Some TIPS for Teaching Adults
Change your teaching method or what you are doing ever 10 minutes.
Don’t just lecture!
Use colorful, large type visuals.
Ask yourself, “How can I help them learn this for themselves?”
Have plenty of application challenges and questions.
Ask open-ended questions.  Don’t insult with simplistic questions.
Be vigorous and excited about the subject.
Resist apologizing for yourself or your efforts.
Validate responses.
Expect them to be prepared… assume preparation.
Bring objects and use symbolism.
Ask for personal stories, examples and applications.
Consider having them keep a year-long learning journal which you retain in class for them to pick up each week.
Use humor and ice-breakers.
Start with a challenging question on the board.

5.       Some TOOLS for Adult Learning
Small group discussions or pair shares.
Three-minute papers
Post-it Note Brainstorms
Learning journals
Brainstorming
Socratic discussions
Application challenges
Comparing/Contrasting
Mind-mapping
Object Lessons
“Guest” Visitors