MR. D'S NOTES ON TEACHING
Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.
COPYRIGHT 2001

Chapter 3

MOTIVATIONS TO LEARN

1. GOOD GRADES: How many do you know that are excited when they get good grades and very low when the grades are poor? A normal human trait. Possibly an adaptation of this concept might be used in the Sunday school.

2. INVOLVEMENT: If you can get the student into the swing of things he will naturally learn and be interested in what is going on.

3. VISUAL AIDS: This helps in the above. It moves the learning into another channel to the brain. It also plugs that channel up to outside interference that might tend toward lack of interest in the lesson.

4. INTEREST: A bored student is lost to anything that you have to say no matter how good it is. You have to pick up that interest in some way.

Changing your method of teaching either on the spot or the next session.

Insert some humor now and then. It they are way out, just stop and insert a joke that relates somehow to what you are teaching.

Moving around tends to keep attention. It gives their necks some exercise at the same time.

Use of visuals keeps things moving along. Even daily use of the overhead seems to stir some activity in the student.

5. CURIOSITY: A catchy title will stir some attention. Mentioning something catchy about your conclusion may keep them looking till the end. When I was in about the fourth grade I was in an after school class where the teacher promised us all a Missouri canary if we came the next day. I WOULD NOT HAVE MISSED IT. I dreamed all evening and the next day about going to Bible club to get my little bird. I was very upset the next day when he gave us each a plastic mule.

A good well-prepared outline with parallel points on an overhead may help with older students.

6. SATISFACTION OF NEEDS: Each student has needs within themselves which they will try to meet.

There is the body needs movement to keep stiffness away and kids have more stiffness to ward off than the older people.

There is the mind - it is constantly trying to make sense out of the world so help them think about the lesson as it relates to the real world.

7. HAVING QUESTIONS ANSWERED:

The teacher needs to discern the underlying need that prompted the question. Is an inner factor trying to get out? Be sure to give honest answers to every honest question. Always answer simply and accurately. You should never ridicule a sincere question. Look further if the question seems superficial.

There are some further motivations that need not be explained. Fun, food, and encouragement

All teaching should be practical and applicable for the student.

REMEMBER - EVERY CHILD IS LEARNING IN YOUR ROOM. IT MAY BE WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO LEARN OR IT MAY BE SOMETHING COMPLETELY FOREIGN TO YOUR TOPIC OR INTENTIONS.