Tag: student

Categories
motivation teaching

Teaching to Learn

 

Photo of mountain landscape with the following quote, "When one teaches, two learn." Robert Half

I love this quote from Robert Half because that is essentially why I wanted to make blogging a regular practice. I have learned several lessons as I have taught over the years.

  • The preparation to teach is almost as important as the lesson.
  • If I can’t adequately explain it to someone (especially a nine-year-old), I probably don’t adequately understand it myself.
  • It is okay to veer from a lesson plan. It isn’t the Gospel.
  • All learning needs a little entertainment. If I am boring, I am not really teaching.
  • I can learn much more from teaching elementary than adults.
    • Grown-ups will hide if they are not engaged.
    • I child will have no problem telling me if I am boring
  • No matter how much I know about the subject, there is always something more to learn.
    • New discoveries make learning fun for the teacher and the student.

I am taking a hiatus from teaching elementary kids and I am already missing it. I get so much from teaching and engaging with others. If you have never tried to teach another, I would encourage you to give it a try.

Categories
baby children cartoons children's ministry cartoons

When is too Early for Traveling Sports Teams?

Cartoon of two babies. One says, “As soon as I can walk, my parents want me on a traveling soccer team.”
Copyright © Kidzmatter and Kevin Spear

Cartoon of two babies. One says, “As soon as I can walk, my parents want me on a traveling soccer team.”
Copyright © Kidzmatter and Kevin Spear

 When I drew this cartoon I was thinking about the pressure to perform that some kids face. I am not from a sports-minded family and I probably passed that same lack of interest on to my kids. It’s not that I wasn’t interested in competition. It’s just that there weren’t very many traveling art competitions and ultra competitive writing conferences at my elementary school. (sure, there were spelling bees. I never made it past “pneumonia.”)

Continue reading “When is too Early for Traveling Sports Teams?”
Categories
webcomic

Space aliens need parking too!

“How much do you charge to park in your back yard?”
Copyright ©2014 Kevin Spear

I have a hard enough time finding parking in a strange city. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to find a decent parking spot on the next planet.

Continue reading “Space aliens need parking too!”
Categories
children's ministry cartoons

Why We Need More Unorthodox Children’s Ministry Teachers

Close up of cartoon 1388

Cartoon of a man talking about a teacher. He says, “Mrs. Jones is an unorthodox Sunday school teacher, but the kids love her sword swallowing act."Standardized tests have become the bane of school teachers for a good reason. It’s difficult being creative when you are hammering your students with facts and figures for the next critical test.

Thankfully, standardized tests haven’t come to children’s ministry. Now there is a need for scripture memorization and biblical literacy. However, we must balance the need for knowledge with the need for creative storytelling.  Children’s ministry workers need to remember when we tell a story creatively, it can bring the lesson to life.

We are all wired to tell and hear stories. After all, Jesus taught in parables as he also taught the scriptures.

As I look my old cartoon, I’m wondering what Bible story would involve sword swallowing. I’m not encouraging any student or teacher to take up sword swallowing. I’ll leave that up the professionals like Mrs. Jones. All the same, if you had the opportunity to use a sword swallower, which Bible story would you think could fit the bill?

Categories
webcomic

Trouble on the Ceiling

Cartoon of a boy on a ceiling

Cartoon of one boy staring at another boy who is upside down. The boy on the ceiling says, “Today in class, I got in trouble for doing this.”

Kids can get in trouble for the most interesting things. There have been times when outwardly I’ve said, “Stop that!” but inwardly, I was thinking, “That’s amazing! I would’ve never thought of that!” Kudos to kids and their creativity!