I have been teaching Sunday School since I was 16. Well, I got baptized in a small Methodist church and immediately they asked me to serve in a small Sunday School class. I didn't know anything, but was willing to learn, so I started teaching. I felt bad for my students because I really didn't really know much and my poor students had to listen to me. I may have had just read the lesson word by word. But I remembered that I had a personal relationship with those kids after class. I was a new driver and my first car was a black Ford Escort that overheated often. But with it, I took those kids to movie and pizza and we did all kind of fun stuff with the parents' permission. I wouldn't trust myself if I were a parent with young children, but they trusted me...either that or they were desperate. Boy, without knowing I had quite an influence on those kids.
When I got here in Taiwan, I didn't speak much Mandarin, so needless to say, I didn't get involved in teaching kids. Besides, as I observed, the kids here are different. They don't talk much. You ask them a question and you can hear crickets. I don't know if maybe they were too scared to speak up after being discouraged too many times by harsh teachers? So for a while I told myself, maybe teaching isn't for me. After all, I had lots of adjustments and language/culture to learn when I first came. But in early 2025, I was recruited to be a helper in Sunday school and this other school program that goes weekly to their school to tell stories. I love stories, who doesn't? So I gave it a try. The ministry leader saw that I can be much more than a classroom helper and she puts me to work everywhere. I guess I am a floater that served weekly. Suddenly I got busy...... sometimes my shoulder hurts, and my left heel with the spur always hurt now.... and I wonder if I'm too old to work with kids. I wasn't completely sure if I am supposed to keep getting so involved with kids, when I am involved with other ministries. Kids are tiring....
Then during my fast, I randomly grabbed this book called "Teaching to Change Lives" by Dr. Howard Hendricks. It truly rekindled my passion to teach and influence the next generation. Even if your profession/title is not a teacher, you are an influencer. This isn't just a term for youtubers. We all can influence others for good. So I decided to summarize the 7 main points of the book for my own benefit, because I want to remember these points and how important teaching is.
T: Teacher
The law of the Teacher, simply stated is "If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow."
"Effective teaching comes only through a changed person. The more you change, the more you become an instrument of change in the lives of others." We need to keep learning, be lifetime learners. For our jobs, we have continuing education. Whatever area we want to grow in, we can get better at it by learning. I recently joined Toastmasters speech class here in Taiwan. It isn't something I have to do or comfortable doing, but I want to grow and learn to communicate better, especially my Mandarin. It's one of the ways I grow. Also this year 2026, I want to read one book a month at least. I am a slow reader and I know I don't read enough, but I do listen to lots of podcasts. I also sighed up for Dr. Cloud's membership "Boundaries.me" to learn more about all emotional mental issues. It's a fairly inexpensive way to keep learning.
E: Education
The law of education says, "the way people learn determines how you teach." Know your students and how they learn.
When I want to find a good piano teacher, I go to her student recitals and see how her students play. Because you can have a super talented musician that doesn't know how to teach and impart her skills to her students. That's not the teacher I wanted. The success of a teacher depends on how much the students learn from him/her.
Teach them how to fish and not only to give them a fish. Don't just give them information, teach them how to learn. "Though it may take time, once you get people over the barrier and into the true joy of discovery and learning, they can never again settle for education that's less exciting. "
A: Activity
The law of activity says "Maximum learning is the result of maximum involvement." If they do it, they learn it. so teach them to do it and let them try.
If you hear something, you can remember up to 10%. Most people remember less than that. Sadly. If you hear and see something, it's up to 50% retention. If they do it, then it's up to 90%!! You and I both know those college classes where you remember a bunch of facts to take the test and immediately after the test, you give it all back to the teacher. Unfortunately, that's most of my classes. Haha.... so much for my 4 years of expensive higher education. That's not learning. In a Sunday school example, if the student had to act out the story or solve a problem using some Biblical principles, they will remember it much better. I think this is an especially hard one as a mom, let they learn through their own failure, if not too costly, that is.
C: Communication
The law of communication says: "To truly impart information requires the building of bridges."
I remembered going to a geology class in college knowing nothing about geology. In fact, I thought it was geography. Haha.... that's how bad my English was. Anyway, it turned out to be one of my favorite classes. Why? Because the teacher was so passionate about what she taught. She was excited! That passion is contagious. "The most effective communication always includes an emotional ingredient." You all know that our words only account for 7% of communication. The other 93% is body language. It needs to come through how you feel about your message. Then after that, "As a teacher I want to find out what the learners know, how they feel, and what they're doing." Get lots of feedback from students. Build that bridge of communication.
H: Heart
The law of the Heart says Teaching that impacts is not head to head, but heart to heart.
If they trust you, you can teach them something. The more they trust you, the more you communicate to them. If I sense that you love me, I'll be eager to do all kinds of things you want me to do. The famous quote, "No one cares what you know until they know that you care. " That is so true. The people that had the greatest impact on my life let me feel that they are with me, they love me and I am important to them. I feel their love somehow, so whenever that spoke to me, I was all ears!! On the contrast, those tho were just passerby or didn't get too involved in my personal life.... their opinions meant nothing. It's like the wind, or Charlie Brown's "Wawawawawa.....", or like a mosquito circling around "ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
So earn the right to be heard. Credibility always precedes communication.
However, don't strive to be too perfect, at the same them let them know you are also human just like them.
E: Encouragement
The law of Encouragement says: Teaching tends to be most effective when the learner is properly motivated.
The student must want to learn what you are trying to teach them. What that means is that the learner themselves have chosen to do it and if not, help them become aware of their needs. If he is not thirsty, he isn't going to want your bottle of water. Some improper motivation way are such as short term rewards and guilt. We can take a horse to the water but we cannot make it drink. Since God motivates people in different ways, we need to be creative and use various methods to try to motivate. Why?: Because motivated people become change agents.
I remember a story Dr. Cloud told often about one of his clients. A concerned Dad came in to see and and wanted Dr. Cloud of fix his son, who flunked out of colleges 3 times and had drug issues....etc. But at this meeting, he was nowhere to be found because he was skiing in Vail, Colorado, and the Dad had provided a new condo and plenty of money for this son. Well, Dr. Cloud concluded that the son had no problems, but the Dad did because he was owning his son's problems. So some things needed to be done to help the son to own some of his own problems. Nothing can be taught until the student increases his motivation for change and learning, and realizes that he needed to change and is choosing to learn.
R: Readiness
The law of readiness: The teaching-learning process will be most effective when both student and teacher are adequately prepared.
Preparation is so important, I always knew that. I can tell when a teacher is not prepared and I stopped listening as a student. I know that I teach more confidently when I am well prepared, and I can be more passionate. But what I learned here is that the students need to be adequately prepared too. How? By giving them assignments/homework if you can ahead of time. The nature of the assignment must be creative, thought provoking and doable. This gets them into thinking and being in the right mentality to learn. And there would be better interactions in class. There are those who do not participate much, like me oftentimes. When students are afraid to participate, encourage them to do so and affirm them when they do. Shower them with compliments and delight! Tell them, "There are no dumb questions. "
Well, no matter if you are a teacher of not, I think these principles make all of us a better influencer and as a disciple of Jesus. Pastor Tim used to say that we are all in ministry because there are people that we can reach in our daily lives that he could never reach. We may be the only Bible someone will every read. So go forth and influence and love someone in the name of Jesus!
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