teaching tips

[asma]

:salam:

good advice, [slightly edited], by a christian sunday school teacher.

tNews Item: : A RULE for teachers
(Category: Odds & Ends)
Posted by Rob
22 Jul 2004 - 15:40

The following is written from the perspective of a Sunday School teacher and equipper of Sunday School teachers, but with a little adaptation, I expect you can make it apply to any sort of teaching that you, gentle reader, happen to be engaged in. Folks often spend so much time focusing on how teachers deliver the lesson that they forget that delivery is just the last step in the process. It really is the tip of the iceberg.
For every hour of classroom instruction, the teacher will ideally have spent a combined total of several hours actively researching the topic, passively reflecting on it, and putting it to use in his own circumstances. We can look at the teaching process from beginning to delivery as including at least the following four things, which just happen to form an acrostic:

1. Read - Rather obviously, the teacher must first read the material to be covered. What is perhaps less obvious is that the need is just as great the fiftieth time talking about the same passage or topic as it was the first. Every time, the teacher needs to come back to it and look at it as if it were the first so that he will understand the excitement and the challenges that the student who is seeing it for the first time will have.

2. Understanding - Secondly, the teacher has to come to an understanding of the topic. In the case of teaching the [Qur`an...], it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have understood something when you can paraphrase it. That's a good step; at the least, it indicates that the teacher understood all the words in the original, but it doesn't necessarily mean that he really grasped what those words mean. Any worthwhile literature (and this is especially true of Scripture) challenges the reader to change how he thinks, how he feels, or what he does. Until the reader knows what a passage challenges the readers to do and how it issues that challenge, he doesn't really understand it.
Incidentally, what is true of worthwhile literature is true of worthwhile teaching. You might have been told in the past that teaching is the dissemination of information. That's just plain wrong. If you don't think that the information you are passing on to people is somehow going to change their life, then you might as well get in front of your class and start reading a list of names from the phonebook.

3. Living It - The noble profession of teaching has acquired a credibility problem during the last century or so. You've all heard the old saw, "Those who can't do, teach". Sadly, somewhere along the way our society seems to have decided that this wasn't a description of a state of affairs that shouldn't be, but a prescription for the culture we wanted to build. Those who can't do, can't teach.
In the case of [Muslim] education, the outworking of this is pretty straightforward. It simply means this - until you can see how the passage or topic plays out where you live and submit to it, your students won't believe you when you tell them how it should work out where they live.
In the case of something other sorts of education, this step might better be called Living With It. If you are teaching about Homer's works, it's not necessary to buy yourself a black ship to sail across the wine dark sea to recapture an unfaithful wife. It is necessary to spend some time coming to grips with the way the Greeks looked at the world and try to grasp how that differs from our worldview and that of the folks around us.

4. Explaining - Explaining or delivering the teaching is the step where you as a teacher actually stand up in front of folks and tell them what they need to understand. Alternatively, it might be you sitting in a circle with them and asking the right kind of questions to help them come to understand the insights you've gained on your own.
The key thing about this step is that the explanation has to be the fruit of the first three steps. The worst "teachers" I've ever sat under are those who lean so heavily on a book or study guide written by someone else that they don't invest their own time in the first three steps. Sadly, in the Church, we sometimes encourage this sort of sloppiness by focusing all of our attention on trying to create perfect materials that "only require an hour of preparation the night before!".
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:salam:

[UmmIbrahimIsa]

assalamu alaikum wr wb

sounds like pretty good advice, probably why they are able to control the students in the teaching environment class more than we are.

[Raeesa]

That is some brilliant advice... Jazkallah Khair

[Hypermodestmuslima]

I'll give some personal advice

Be cool with the students but don't totally mix in. Keep that status of the teacher at the same time as being nice.

Also, don't show softness too much. Once in a while is nice. but seriously nowadays kids, esp. teens, need to know what they're supposed to do and what they're not

Also, it would be best if you practice what you teach....in fact thats a prerequisite, especially if you're teaching in an Islamic Sunday School...and the next day your students see you at the mall buying some Sean Paul items

[eat-halal guy]

:jazak:. Good advice.

Also agree with Sr. Hypermodestmuslima, though I found it extremely hard at first to keep a fine balance. Actually, when I taught kids for a bit at my original madrasa, it was fine. But when I dealt with non-madrasa kids, it was really tough since I found that they had no limits to their behavior.

Probably goes back to the point about not mixing in totally. The madrasa students knew, in one way or another, that while I was a student like them, I wasn't exactly like them (since I was most senior at the school) and they know how much I would tolerate and when I'd drop the axe. Yet the masjid kids just saw me as some chill Molvi over whom they could walk all over.

That changed one day, of course, when I dropped the axe - hard - a few times. But I still tried to keep a balance by joking around sometimes and being a bit more relaxed than the other teachers, and giving more individual emphasis and advice. I tried my best....

Now that I'm not there, I think they miss me. :)

Being a teacher, especially for little kids, can be *really* hard. Sincerity is important, and :insh: one day they'll remember everything you used to teach them.

[VeiledOne]

:jazak:. Good advice.

Also agree with Sr. Hypermodestmuslima, though I found it extremely hard at first to keep a fine balance. Actually, when I taught kids for a bit at my original madrasa, it was fine. But when I dealt with non-madrasa kids, it was really tough since I found that they had no limits to their behavior.

Probably goes back to the point about not mixing in totally. The madrasa students knew, in one way or another, that while I was a student like them, I wasn't exactly like them (since I was most senior at the school) and they know how much I would tolerate and when I'd drop the axe. Yet the masjid kids just saw me as some chill Molvi over whom they could walk all over.

That changed one day, of course, when I dropped the axe - hard - a few times. But I still tried to keep a balance by joking around sometimes and being a bit more relaxed than the other teachers, and giving more individual emphasis and advice. I tried my best....

Now that I'm not there, I think they miss me. :)

Being a teacher, especially for little kids, can be *really* hard. Sincerity is important, and :insh: one day they'll remember everything you used to teach them.



Yes, I agree being a teacher for kids is difficult. There are always a few troublemakers that cause disturbance in the class..I'm trying to find ways to deal with them.

[asma]

:salam:

I discovered a few months ago that noisy/troublemaking kids straighten up when they're given a constant sort of responsibility to perform during classtime -- for example, choosing the most distracting kid to pass out papers and pencils for you, to go around the room with a bag to collect trash from the other kids, to erase the board for you.. not as a chore or punishment, but as a responsibility. Often their noisiness is due to attention deficit / boredom, so giving them these sorts of tasks keeps them in line and prevents them from distracting the other kids. It sort of enfranchises them in classroom maintenance. And who couldn't use another set of hands? ;)

:salam:

[Julius]

Graduating from a Islamic Sunday School myself here are a few guidelines for you all.

1. Make the program interesting. I got bored sick when we had to read stories of the Prophets every single Sunday out of a kids book. No offense or anything but it needs a little bit of spice to keep the kids in control.

2. Kick the bad kids out of class. Most kids who act up in Sunday School do it for the sole purpose of knowing the fact that it won't count towards life or college or anything.

3. Be charismatic. It works, trust me.

4. If you are teaching kids in their late teens, BE OPEN. They use to treat us like 9 year olds and only talk about stuff 3 graders do in class. I once had a substitute and the topic was about sex and it got everybody engaged and its an important issue that young muslims need to be educated about, especially in the West. Sorry to all the conservatives. :$

[qalbkhaalis]

:salam:

I discovered a few months ago that noisy/troublemaking kids straighten up when they're given a constant sort of responsibility to perform during classtime -- for example, choosing the most distracting kid to pass out papers and pencils for you, to go around the room with a bag to collect trash from the other kids, to erase the board for you.. not as a chore or punishment, but as a responsibility. Often their noisiness is due to attention deficit / boredom, so giving them these sorts of tasks keeps them in line and prevents them from distracting the other kids. It sort of enfranchises them in classroom maintenance. And who couldn't use another set of hands? ;)

:salam:

As-salaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullah,

I definitely agree with Sis Asma... the really bad kids are usually just starved of attention or bored... and I've found that the ones that act up the most are usually the most creative and thus intellectually starved... so giving them responsibility definitely helps. Also give them a little extra attention, I think... like if they're younger and they're making a lot of noise, address them and say, "So-and-so, I know you have very good things to say, masha'Allah, so what do you think about this?" and ask them some question that engages their mind... then look to the class and be like, "Masha'Allah, so-and-so said a very good thing... can you add to it?" Or something like that.... this applies more for younger kids though.


As for....

Most kids who act up in Sunday School do it for the sole purpose of knowing the fact that it won't count towards life or college or anything.

Unfortunately a lot of kids really do think this way. Insha'Allah the goal in teaching these particular kids (which sadly are the majority in most areas) is to make them realize that what they learn in those 2.5 hours, once a week will not only count *significantly* towards their life, but their Afterlife as well... and the stuff they learn the other 5 days of the week won't have as direct an effect on their eternal life as will this precious knowledge. It's very hard to instill this in kids when they go home and see/hear the opposite there... but that's the whole struggle I suppose.

Weekend school teachers have hundreds of hours of public schooling, hoards of non-Muslim friends, popular culture plus usually not-so-practicing parents to battle against... it's a very tough battle. But the key is, as mentioned explicitly in the article and elsewhere in this thread, to implement the stuff you teach in your own life so that when you say it your words have an effect.

In one of Shaykh Muhammad Yaqoubi's classes he was teaching us that in order to give da'wah you have to have something to give out... the heart is a vessel and it only gives out what it contains... if it contains only love of this dunyaa, then love for Allah and yearning for the akhirah probably won't come across in your teachings. Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed (db) once said, "Knowledge in the head is just facts... knowledge in the heart leads to action and love." So insha'Allah if we ourselves have internalized whatever little knowledge we have our words will have a greater effect on the hearts of the kids... like a sister once said to me, "knowledge of the Deen is passed from heart to heart."

And really try to feel what you're teaching... so if you're explaining to them about the Day of Judgment, really imagine yourself standing before Allah 'azza wa jal with all the shame of your deeds before you, which are all you have to present to Him... if you yourself have to choke back tears when telling them something, they will listen... and insha'Allah it'll have an effect.

May Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala grant us the tawfiq to act upon whatever little knowledge we have, and not allow our sins to effect the words which come out of our mouths.

Was-salaam ma'al ikraam,
Zareen

[Julaybib]

Salaam.

Very good Tips mash'allah.

[Julaybib]

Salaam.

Here are some tips from reknowned Child Psychotherapist and Teacher Dr Hiam Ginott.

Between Teacher and Child

I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis
will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.

Haim Ginott



"A modern teacher educates children to value their emotions."

He helps them recognize and respect their inner feelings. Above all, he is cautious not to confuse children about how they feel. he does not tell an angry child, "You have nothing to be angry about," or a frightened child, "There is nothing to be afraid of." He does not advise a child in pain to smile, or a bashful child not to be shy. he does not tell his class, "Pretend you are happy when you are not."

When a child is told, "There is nothing to be afraid of," his fear increases. The child gets thrice frightened: In addition to his original fear, he is now afraid to be afraid and fearful that he will not be able to hide his fright. Fear does not vanish when banished. It does not disappear when its existence is not recognized. When a child is afraid, it is best to acknowledge his fear openly and with respect.

Children resist hasty help. They experience it as a threat to their intelligence. Retrospectively, it makes them feel stupid. Neither is the child helped by quick reassurance:

"It's not such a big problem." "You don't really have a problem." "Everyone has such problems." "Don't worry about it."

The teacher listens to the problem, rephrases it, clarifies it, gives the child credit for formulating it, and then asks, "What options are open to you." Often the child himself comes up with a solution. Thus, he learns that he can rely on his own judgment. When a teacher hastily offers a solution, children miss the opportunity to acquire competence in problem solving and confidence in themselves.

[Bint Mas`ood]

Jazakallah, this was a good reminder. One of my colleagues at work had started off one of our training workshops with that quotation that you stated above. That was really effective and deep. Subhanallah...but so true.

[GardenOfParadise]

jazakallah

[Sparkles]

Masha Allah, very good tips. As eat-halal guy said, sincerity is very important. When ever we go in the class room, we must always check our intention. Is it realy for the rectification of the kids, our is it a wordly benefit for us. Also it is very important that we make duaas for each of our student,mentioning their names..., especially the weaker ones.

[Julaybib]

Salaam.

An Inspirational Story from Pamela Elliott:

This past school year I was pleased when a student I had in third grade came back to personally invite me to his wedding. He said I was the only teacher that had believed in him. It made me feel so wonderful that he would remember me and think enough of me to share the most important day of his life. I can t tell you how great that made me feel. It made not only my day but also the rest of my school year.

Then the day of the wedding arrived. I sat on the aisle seat so I could at least see the groom. When he came down the aisle with his new bride, we exchanged smiles and it made me feel special. I went through the receiving line and got big hugs from his sister, then from him and next his father and his mother. His mother was crying, don't all mothers cry at weddings?! I told her how pleased I was to share this special day and she said, "You've done so much for our son." I answered by saying that I was glad if I had, even though I wasn't sure what. His mother then said that she'd like to tell me what sometime and I responded that I'd like that and sat back down. Soon after the head table was seated I felt a tug on my arm and it was the groom s father. He said, "You're wanted down front." I couldn't imagine why. As we approached his table he told me the groom wanted me to sit with his parents. I couldn't believe that on "his" special day he would even be thinking about me, let alone want me to sit with his parents. Then the groom got up and came down to my table and presented me with roses. I was in such disbelief! I think I said something like, "This is your day, what are you doing?" He just grinned and went back to sit with his bride.

Then his parents said they wanted me to know "what" I had done for their son. They said that after he was in my class he had a really bad year where a teacher constantly put him down. He began writing that he was stupid, he was dumb and that he hated himself. Then one day he went out into their barn with the intention of hanging himself. He thought of me and my faith in him and couldn't do it. His parents then thanked me for their son.

Needless to say I was overwhelmed with emotions. After I left the wedding reception, I cried all the way home. I have always promised myself that I would retire when I no longer enjoyed getting out of bed and heading for school. On that trip home I made a silent promise to this young man that as soon as I couldn't support my students I would quit.

That didn't seem enough somehow and a friend suggested I write this down and share it somewhere in order to affect a lot of teachers. Letting teachers know that they DO make a difference was a way for both the groom and me to really use this to help make a difference in someone else's life.

Someone suggested using the word "inspire" and I initially thought that was a good idea. But, after thinking awhile, the word inspire means to me to move toward something and I think this whole incident SHOUTS that we ALREADY make a difference whether we ever know it or not. So keep up the good work and have a great year. This message comes from the groom and myself.

[Julaybib]

Try something different...!

An Inspirational Story from Jackie Carter Breeden:

I am presently teaching 8th grade English at Albritton JHS on Fort Bragg in North Carolina. I started teaching in my own classroom in 1979, at Welch JHS in Welch, WV. The three years I spent there will remain in my memory forever.

I taught 7-9th grade Remedial reading in a school with no textbooks - just supplementary materials. This was my first full-time teaching experience. The students in my class had reading levels from Pre-Primer stage to 6th grade. I had my work cut out for me.

There is one student who stands out more than most. His name was "John." "John" was the best checker player I had ever encountered. He could barely read on that Pre-Primer level at age 14, but he could play a mean game of checkers. He absolutely hated to be beaten - especially by me. I realized I could use this to my advantage.

I made up some checkerboards that had reading skills on each square. I put things like; "Give me a word with a short a sound", Which word has a long e sound - bet, beet, bat", and so on. The rule was - before "John" could make a move, he had to perform the task. He had problems at first, and I would beat him every time. Eventually, "John" got to where he could perform the tasks, and was back to winning. I would let him keep those tasks he mastered on the boards for a while so he could beat me. Then I would replace those with harder skills.

I am proud to say that after two years with me, "John" was able to read on a third grade level. We played checkers like this at least twice a week. I don't know if he ever got any better with his reading as I have lost contact with him since I moved away. I will always remember the checker king, and I hope that he has continued to be a successful reader.

[Sparkles]

Lol ...Thanks for sharing.