A teacher once asked a child, “Do you know how to read?” The child replied, “I don’t know how to read, but I do know how to write.” The teacher was greatly surprised and asked him to write something. The child made a scribble, and the astonished teacher said, “Let’s see, read what you wrote to me.” The child, surprised by the question, replied, “But I already told you I don’t know how to read.”
This story, though humorous, represents a reality in education: IT IS ESSENTIAL TO LISTEN TO AND UNDERSTAND CHILDREN IN ORDER TO TEACH THEM.
The focus upon which the teacher must concentrate is not how much their students learned about a particular topic, but how much good that learning did for them. Based on this, the teacher must understand that communication is not just speaking, but transmitting the message in the best possible way so that it reaches the child. And that best way depends entirely on the characteristics of the child. That is why listening to and understanding them is essential, because the key is not how to make them understand the teacher, but how to make the teacher understand them.
One of the great dangers teachers face is when they set out to deliver the class they prepared and fail to realize that the best class is precisely the one that breaks the prepared framework to some extent. Why can this be the best way to conduct a class? Because this model of methodological freedom will allow the teacher to take advantage of every situation and personality in their class to guide them to the content they need.
Parallel to this, the teacher may face a problem when wishing to exploit the full potential of their classroom: humans learn from a very young age to hide the characteristics that make up their character and personality. Therefore, the teacher will need resources to help them explore their pupils—a kind of X-ray of their inner selves. This resource, for any age, is play.
However, one thing must be very clear: there are two ways to play: when the game has no definitive end, and when its purpose is defined for teaching. Despite what many suggest, both must be understood as very important. The first is the one that helps explore each class member, while the second is the one that helps teach through practice or interaction with situations related to the content to be taught. That is, any game under the conscious supervision of the teacher will always have a goal to reach.
On one occasion, a teacher had to teach about a rectangle and was prepared to draw it on the board through a song that described the lines and angles. When drawing on the board, all the children began to sing, saying: “The rectangle has eyes, it has a mouth and nose, it has ears and arms and it looks like you.” The teacher asked who taught them this, and they pointed to one of the children in the classroom. Faced with this, the teacher had two alternatives: demand that they stop and scold them because the classroom was no place for this, nor was the professor worthy of mockery; or simply start singing along with them and learn their song. The teacher chose the latter. The next day, the teacher asked them, “Do you remember the song we sang yesterday?” and they replied, “Yes!” Then, he told them with a cheerful face and a mysterious tone, “Well, I know another one, do you want to learn my song today?” The children replied in one voice, “Yes!” Now they were willing to listen to his plan, because he was astute enough to learn their song first.
Based on the above, we must start with some advice to get to know the child in these stages of life. This does not mean that all children will have every one of the following characteristics at the same time, but that at some point in their life stage they may identify with some of them. So, let’s start with a question that will help us understand children: Why do they say what they say and do what they do?
- When someone is learning, especially children, their brain is developing as an organ. You cannot expect the child to learn something when their brain has not created the necessary connection for it. The teacher must see themselves as a sculptor working on the child’s brain to help it develop.
- The most natural thing for a child is to learn, but at the same time they will be limited in learning everything. The teacher must discover what they are learning at this moment in their life and then add the new content from there.
- It must be clear that the child will always choose what is more about having a good time than about trying to understand something.
- For the child, “having a good time” translates to the word ‘play’. Play for them means: decisions, trying things out, interaction, refinement, discovering the environment and others.
- All children are different, which implies the need to use different methods and content with each one. This is not about having a different class for everyone, but about granting the freedom to give each one what they need in the way they best assimilate it. For example, if you teach the parable of the wheat and the weeds, some will want to know about the farmer, others about the wheat, others about the weeds, and some even about the tool used to till the land. The important thing for them is not the main theme of the passage as the center of attention, but the special teaching that each of them is interested in. This must be used as a vehicle to transmit the main theme.
- Every child has abilities and talents, so it will be extremely important at this age to stimulate each of the pupils in these areas. And, above all, re-focusing them on the Kingdom of God. The church does not need everyone to be missionaries or pastors, but people who collaborate with excellence in specific areas that have been consecrated to God.
Advice for Child Tutors and Supervisors:
- Unlike the toddler stage (0–2 years), in this stage there is one portion for each week, the same as the adults, for a three-year cycle.
- Since the portions are based on a text from the Torah, this favors the regular and natural learning process, as this message has its own continuous, varied, and rich thread on real-life topics. In the case of this life stage, each portion must be adapted to the learning characteristics of the children. It is not necessary to delve into every detail presented in the portion, but to select what is most necessary for those specific students.
- At Way Up, tutors work in pairs (Shoel and Mashgiaj), although if this is not possible, each institution can use a tutor and a student supervisor who work as a team.
- Teachers must be distinguished by generosity, because the child learns more from their educator and how the educator relates to them and others than from the content itself. Once the child values their teachers, they will appreciate and apply the content in their life.
- Teachers must try to capture the student’s attention before trying to transmit any content. Class does not begin with the schedule, but when this has been achieved.
- It is extremely important that the “appearance” of your class’s learning process be less important than the result of the process itself.
- At this stage, the goal should not be that every answer from the students matches the teacher’s, but the honesty and humility of their positions on every situation or topic. Students must be made more committed to biblical holiness than to the teacher’s opinion. And one thing will bring the other.
- Teachers should not miss the need of their pupils for personal advice, because this has more value than any class content.
- Teachers should try to have the pupil see them as older children and not as adults who do not know who they are, or whom they will never reach.
- Teachers must be very clear that, although we have an educational program at Way Up, the best school for learning to teach is the classroom itself. Remember that the best teaching method is to follow the learning capacity of the children themselves. The educational program for teachers will only allow them to understand and focus what they have already experienced in their classroom.
- Teachers must take the child’s emotions seriously, because their brain will not remember anything without emotions. They should also know that the type of emotions under which something was learned will affect their future desire to use what they learned. Someone who learned to read under scolding and humiliation will find it much harder than others to maintain enjoyable reading. Teachers who fail to create an enjoyable environment in their classes will be poorly forming the intellectual future of their disciples.
- At Way Up Foundation, we suggest concluding this life stage with a ceremony in which the student demonstrates their maturity and capacity for making spiritual decisions. This is not referring to conversion, although that would be wonderful, but rather the culmination of a life cycle. This ceremony is known as B’nei Mitzvah.
It should be remembered that it is very important, especially at this stage of life, that the church can involve sports and arts in the educational process. We suggest implementing class time with these characteristics, taking into account the themes corresponding to that portion. We also suggest participating in the Way Up art festivals as a class, as this is a time that allows for classroom teamwork.