HOW TO TEACH!    DO 1828  Carrie, France 12/10/80

         1. ONE OF MY FAVOURITE TEACHERS WAS A CLASSICAL MUSIC & DANCE APPRECIATION TEACHER IN COLLEGE. He was himself an outstanding ballet artist, especially interested in ballet, so he taught us a lot about ballet. There was no textbook, it was all lectures & music, & you got to sit there for a couple of hours sometimes just listening to beautiful music.
         2. BUT HE HAD ONE BAD HABIT!--Which I guess maybe was a good thing in some ways, because if you were really listening, you should know all the answers!--You didn't know who was going to be called on next, much less know the question, but he would just pick somebody out in the class & ask them a question! If you got it & you knew the right answer, he gave you 100 for the course, & that was the only question he asked you for the course! If you missed it--zero!
         3. YOUR WHOLE COURSE WAS DEPENDENT ON YOUR BEING ABLE TO ANSWER ONE QUESTION, & YOU NEVER KNEW WHAT IT WAS GOING TO BE! So if you didn't know the answer, woe be to you! But if you knew the answer--100! I thought that was the most unfair way to give an examination of anything I ever saw!
         4. I ALWAYS GAVE AT LEAST 50 TO 100 QUESTIONS ON ONE OF MY EXAMINATIONS. That gives you a much better overall average, because then the teacher knows whether you have a pretty good grasp of the subject, & you're bound to know some of'm. In fact, you're probably bound to know most of'm! I used to give them credit for passing if they knew at least 50% of the answers, at least half of them.--And I graded on the curve besides. If the highest grade in the class was 50 & they only got half the answers, I gave them an A-plus & I graded on down the line to zero.--Ha!
         5. BUT I HAD SUCH A DUMB BUNCH OF STUDENTS! I had to assign them the lessons to read, & then we'd go over them in class, & then we'd review'm again before the exam. The first time I assigned them homework, they read it, next time we would discuss it in class, the third time when we were ready for the exam we'd review the same chapter, whatever it was, fourth time we'd give'm the exam, fifth time we would go over the exam again in class & give'm the right answers so they could see what they missed & why. We would go over that lesson & those facts at least five times in any given class, & by that time they should have known them pretty well. So all of those things helped them remember.
         6. WE HAD REPORT CARDS EVERY MONTH & MY FIRST MONTH OF TEACHING I FLUNKED SO MANY OF'M IT WAS PITIFUL! They didn't even hardly know any answers! I turned in my report cards to the Superintendent & he came rushing down almost hysterical! He said, "Dave, if I give these report cards to their parents, we are going to have a war! It's going to be bedlam! These parents are all going to be down here after my scalp! They pay to send these kids here, & they don't pay for grades like this! Now listen, if you had a certain proportion of your students failing, then that would be normal! But when most of the class is failing, or at least half the class got F in the course, then it's not the student, there's something wrong with the teacher!"
         7. WELL, I DIDN'T NECESSARILY AGREE WITH HIM ON THAT, but since he was the boss & I was the employee & the teacher, I had to accept what he said, that there was something wrong with the teacher.--And he said the thing that was wrong with the teacher was that I didn't grade on the curve. He said, "A class only knows & learns as much as the teacher teaches them."
         8. SO I SAID, "OKAY, IF YOU SAY SO, YOU'RE THE BOSS!" Well, I kind of got to where I liked the idea. For one reason, it made our report cards look a lot better, made me look a lot better too, made the poor students look a lot better & everybody was a lot happier, including the parents!--And they weren't sorry to fork over their money every month. But in a way, in that kind of a class it's the only fair way to do it, & the only way to do it at all where they make any kind of a showing.
         9. WELL, I WAS JUST TELLING YOU ABOUT HOW I USED TO GIVE TESTS & how some other teachers used to give tests. I didn't like that one-question-per-semester exam! So I always really tried to be fair to my students. I wouldn't even give'm just 25 questions, I'd give'm 50! It was easy to give a 50-question test & lots of them had simple little answers that they could easily know.
         10. AND WHEN IT CAME TO THE BIBLE, I BELIEVED IN GIVING OPEN-BIBLE TESTS! They had Bible in Christian school & also later in the Soul Clinic course, & I figured this way, that you're always going to be using your Bible when you're witnessing, you'll usually have it with you & you'll usually open it to show them the passage etc. & let them read it, which is the most effective way of witnessing.--Not just quote it to them, not just read it to them, but turn around & say, "Here!"--& hand it to them & let them read it for themselves! It's very effective, because they'll memorise & remember 80% of what they see & only 40% of what they hear.
         11. SO I'D EVEN GIVE'M OPEN-BOOK TESTS! I figured if they had read it, they'd at least know where to find it & they could remember that they'd read it somewhere & they could find the answer there somewhere. And to make it real easy, I'd start right at the beginning of the chapter & start asking questions. So even if they hadn't read it that night, if they were real smart & fast readers, they could find it real quick.
         12. YOU SAY, "WELL, THAT VIOLATES THE RULES OF HOMEWORK ETC., DOESN'T IT?" No, I figured the idea of school was to learn, & it was to learn facts--names, places & dates. I didn't care how they learned them, as long as they learned them! They got kind of a kick out of trying to find them, & you could tell the ones who'd read the chapter the night before because they found them real quick, the really good students. But the ones who hadn't, of course, were really searching the Scriptures to see if these things be true, & it wasn't too easy on'm! So I could pretty well tell who had studied & who hadn't. At least when they found it, they usually remembered it! If they hadn't remembered it from the night before, at least they remembered from finding it that day, & it's amazing how little things like that will help things stick in your head.
         13. LET'S SEE, WE HAD HOMEWORK, CLASS DISCUSSION, REVIEW, EXAM, CORRECTING THE EXAM, & then when they got their paper back, everybody would want to know what was wrong with this answer & this, that & the other, & they'd go over their own paper again, the sixth time they went over those facts! And of course particularly the ones they missed they were very interested in to see what was wrong & how they missed it. So I always tried to give those guys the best deal I possibly could, often open-book tests, & if they had read it, why of course it was pretty easy. If they hadn't read it, well, that was a little difficult, they had to read quick! So they really had no excuse for not knowing the answers.
         14. I FIGURED THAT THE MAIN IDEA OF SCHOOL & OF LEARNING IS TO LEARN, & TO LEARN IS TO KNOW. The sad part about some people is they're "ever learning & never coming to a knowledge", as the Scripture says. (2Tim.3:7) It means they're always being taught & you're trying to teach them, but it never sticks in their heads! It goes in one ear & out the other, or whatever. It just doesn't seem to stick! So I thought that if I went over the answers enough times it would make it easier for them to remember!
         15. SOME OF THE TEACHERS THOUGHT I SOMETIMES MADE IT TOO EASY, GIVING OPEN-BOOK TESTS & THAT SORT OF THING. They said, "Anybody could find the answers that way!" I said, "Good! My purpose is for them to be able to find & know the answers! If I can make it easier for them to do so, then I will. It's not necessarily strictly a memory course, although I do want'm to remember, & the more we go over it & the more they read it, the more they see it & the more they hear it, the more they will remember it!" The law of memory is repetition!--Repeat, repeat, repeat!
         16. I'VE HAD PEOPLE CRITICISE & SAY, "WELL, IT'S FULL OF TAUTOLOGY, REPETITIOUS!" One lawyer that criticised my writings for that, a friend of one of our FFers, said, "But it's true, I'm a lawyer & that's one way to make people remember! We do it in law all the time. We go before the jury & we repeat & repeat & repeat till they have memorised it & they can't forget it! We keep repeating certain facts & points of the case to the jury so they can't forget it!"
         17. AND I USED TO CALL ON PEOPLE FOR ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WHEN I COULD SEE THEY WEREN'T PAYING ATTENTION! It's amazing how, when you're in a class or a church congregation, you may think you're lost & nobody knows what you're thinking, but I could always tell when somebody's mind was wandering. Even if they're looking you straight in the eye, you can usually tell if their mind is wandering, & I would stop & ask a question.--And almost invariably they didn't know the answer because they weren't listening, & I knew it. That's why I asked them, to wake them up!
         18. WHAT'S THE MORAL OF THAT LESSON? I just taught you a lesson, really, on teaching & on learning! (Fam: Make it easy for people to learn.) Try to make it as easy for them as you can. I really used to think some teachers in school deliberately tried to make it as hard for us as they could!
         19. IT'S FUNNY HOW KIDS TAKE GRADES!--Did you ever notice that in school when they'd get their report cards? If it was an A, they said, "Oh, look what I made!" If it was a D or an F, they said, "Look what the teacher gave me!" That's just human nature!--Ha!--And it goes on all through life! If you accomplish something good, "Hm, look what I did!" But if you didn't do so well, "Hm, look what they made me do! It was their fault!"
         20. BUT WE'VE HAD A VERY LOW PERCENTAGE OF FAILURE FROM THIS CLASS, THANK THE LORD, SO THAT SHOULD ENCOURAGE YOU! When people graduated from my Home & went elsewhere, they went on up the scale from this bottom to some higher place & are now running some parts of the World! One couple used to be our gardener & maid.--Well, now they're running the whole Latin-speaking World & doing a tremendous job of it! That's quite a big territory to rule over, huh?
         21. SEE, IF YOU'RE FAITHFUL IN A FEW THINGS LIKE GARDENING & MAID WORK, ONE OF THESE DAYS WE'LL MAKE YOU A RULER OVER MANY THINGS WITH A LOT BIGGER RESPONSIBILITY & A LOT MORE TO DO! They just simply were the lowest of the low, bottom of the totem pole even in our little Colony, but they were faithful & diligent & they sat at my feet & learned & did well & they went on from being gardener & maid to something far greater! They finished their education with me, they finished this course, & are gone on to a greater responsibility, taking care of translation of all the Letters into Spanish & Portuguese!
         22. SO ANYHOW, YOU'RE VERY LIKELY TO GO ON & TEACH OTHERS BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN HERE, & most of the people who have been here with us have learned enough to go on & do a pretty good job in another job or responsibility elsewhere. PTL!--And I hope it's an even bigger job than you have now. You say, "Well, how can I have a bigger job than this? I'm with you, this is the top!" As I used to say, "Oh no, this is the bottom!" This is where you start, more or less.
         23. YOU DON'T WORK YOUR WAY UP TO HERE, REALLY, YOU SORT OF WORK YOUR WAY DOWN! You don't get here until you're pretty well down & broken & humbled & where we're pretty sure the Lord can use you.--You've been tried out in a lot of other places first to see if you are humble enough & broken enough that your ego can stand to work here without getting inflated!
         24. ANYHOW, THAT'S THE WAY I USED TO RUN MY CLASSES, & THAT'S THE WAY YOU'LL FIND ME IN CLASSES WITH YOU AS WELL. I try to make it easy for you to learn.
         25. BUT I CERTAINLY TOLD ONE PROFESSOR OFF AT THE END OF THE COURSE! In fact, that was the end of my college education too! I said, "I have decided that these institutions of yours of higher education are designed to try to make things as complicated & as confusing & as involved & as difficult as you can!" You just think about college & all that stuff! I don't know what kind you went to or if you ever did, but they really make it hard for you to learn & hard for you to be good, & they go into so much junk it's ridiculous! I said, "You make simple things complicated! You could take the simplest thing & make it so complicated nobody could understand it!" I really told him off right in front of the class!
         26. SO THAT'S YOUR LESSON ON EDUCATION TODAY, & I HOPE WHEN YOU ARE A TEACHER OF OTHERS YOU'LL TRY TO MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO LEARN, EASY FOR THEM TO KNOW & EASY FOR THEM TO BE GOOD, BECAUSE THAT'S THE WHOLE IDEA! I want you to know, I want you to learn, I want you to be good. Why make it difficult? Why make it tough? Why make it hard on you? If you can make learning easy, great! Why not?
         27. WELL, I HOPE YOU LEARNED SOMETHING, AT LEAST, ABOUT EDUCATION & ABOUT TEACHING & ABOUT HOW TO BE MERCIFUL TO YOUR STUDENTS SOME DAY. I hope you find I'm merciful to you! I'm pretty easy & even when you make mistakes I think I try to correct you. I even try not to give orders!--I try to make suggestions or ask you to do things or ask you if you would like to do a certain thing. Once in awhile, if I have a little problem, if I'm in a hurry or I feel a little upset or something, I might just say, "Well, you just do it!"--Like I used to do with my kids, "You just do it because I said to do it! You don't have to know why, just do it!" But usually I try to get you to do things more or less on your own & the way you feel they ought to be done without giving you too much instruction.--Unless you do it the wrong way, then I may try to correct you & try to show you a better way to do it. Amen? PTL! GBY!


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