Teaching to Change Lives [Paperback]

Dr. Howard Hendricks (Author), Howard G. Hendricks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1988

One of the most effective and influential Christian teachers of this century reveals how all teachers -- from parents to Sunday school leaders, from pastors to professors -- can make the most of their priceless opportunity to inspire, to instruct, and to permanently impact lives for the kingdom of God. Based on seven proven, easy-to-grasp laws any teacher can apply, Howard Hendricks's classic teaching manual is a must-read for anyone who wants to teach with power and passion, excitement and excellence.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Howard G. Hendricks is distinguished professor and chairman of the Center for Christian Leadership at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books and has been widely published in periodicals such as Decision, Moody, and Christianity Today. Dr. Hendricks has served on the boards of numerous ministries, including Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, Promise Keepers, The Navigators, and Multnomah Bible College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books (October 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880702710
• ISBN-13: 978-0880702713
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource for the Beginning or Veteran Teacher!, June 1, 2004

By 

Michael Taylor "Michael Taylor" (Indian Trail NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Teaching to Change Lives: Seven Proven Ways to Make Your Teaching Come Alive (Paperback)

Hendricks has written a gem containing valuable information on how a person can become a more dynamic teacher. Among the important points the author covers include:

1. If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow.
2. Convince your students that you believe in them!
3. Maximum learning is the result of maximum involvement.
4. Preparation is the key to good communication.
5. The teacher's character, compassion, and content are what motivates the learner the most.
6. Teaching and learning are most effective when both teacher and learner are prepared.
7. The teacher needs to be creative in the ways learners are motivated.
8. Tension is an important part of the learning process.

While Hendricks writes from the viewpoint of a seminary professor, anyone involved in any kind of teaching environment will greatly benefit from the book.

Read, enjoy, and be challenged to be a better teacher!

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Basal Book from an Evangelical Icon, December 7, 2006

By 

Stuart Dauermann "Bookaholic" (Los Angeles Area) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Teaching to Change Lives: Seven Proven Ways to Make Your Teaching Come Alive (Paperback)

Howard Hendricks is something of a Conservative Evangelical icon, a teacher of teachers, who for more than forty years shaped the teaching ministries of students at Dallas Seminary. Regardless of what one might think of Dispensationalism, it is undeniable that Dallas Grads are formidable teachers. More than any other figure, the credit for that reality goes to Howard Hendricks.

Using the acronym "TEACHER," and basing his approach on Gregory's "Seven Laws of Teaching," Hendricks seeks to outline the basic skills, attitudes and characteristics of good teaching and of the good teacher. Clearly he seeks to transform not only the teaching but also the teacher. He does this by devoting one chapter to each of seven characteristics , in an anecdotally- and wisdom-rich format.

Chapter One - The Law of the Teacher-- Stop growing today and you stop teaching tomorrow. He begins by emphasizing that the teacher can only teach as he/she continues to be a learner. When the learning stops, the well runs dry. In addition, people will become conformed to the image of the teacher. Therefore, a teacher must take care to be worthy of imitation, especially in the area of character. For Hendricks, the best candidates for the role of teacher are faithful, available and teachable. Other people need not apply. The teacher must be developing in the intellectual, physical [practical], and social dimensions.

Chapter Two - The Law of Education--How people learn determines how you teach. People are only candidates for learning when they know they don't know and when they care about that. After Maslow, Hendricks speaks of four levels of learning : unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence. Our job is to help our students to see themselves in this continuum and to get them moving, and this will often involve exposing them to their ignorance in a motivational manner. Then we must be alert to "teachable moments." Then, by precept and example, we must teach people how to think, to learn and to work, and develop in them four master skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. All of the foregoing components help assure that those who sit in our classes will truly learn rather than merely observing.

Chapter Three - The Law of Activity--Maximum learning is always the result of maximum involvement. Over and again in his book, Hendricks decries passivity and dependency: we are working to make our students active and independent or at least interdependent [thank you, Steven Covey]. That being the case, students will learn best as they are most active in the process. They need to be guided in their practice, taught to properly evaluate their experience, and learn not by repeating their mistakes but by doing the right things. Hearing is the most inefficient means of learning--people only retain at the most ten percent of what they hear. But they will retain up to fifty percent of what they see and up to ninety percent of what they do.
In the doing department, one must make sure that the activities are meaningful--providing direction without dictatorship, stressing function and application, having a planned purpose, and concerned with process ["the why"] as well as product ["the what"]. And, as much as possible these activities should involve solving realistic problems, if possible, those arising within the experiences of the student. .

Chapter Four - The Law of Communication--To truly impart information reguires the building of bridges. This means really knowing one's students, which in itself means spending time with them outside the classroom. Communication will be more effective to the degree that it is something the teacher deeply knows, feels and does. Therefore a breakdown in any of those three components will vitiate the teaching event. Words are important as teaching tools, but cannot be apart from personal investment and example. Then the teacher must prepare, even over prepare, and then guard his delivery from poor enunciation and poor use of the voice [vary your pitch and speak loudly enough to be heard in the back of the room!]. One must also seek to eliminate distractions, as in poor attentiveness to the teaching space and equipment, and provide for feedback that insures that teaching will be on target and ever-improving.

Chapter Five - The Law of the Heart--Teaching that impacts is not head to head, but heart to heart. Referring to Plato's triumvirate of ethos [character/credibility], pathos [compasssion] and logos [content--note the alliteration!], Hendricks treats them like a pyramid, where each is dependent upon the previous. Without the foundation of character/credibility, there will not be the confidence in the teacher which is foundational to the implicit contract between teacher and student. Second, the student needs to know that the teacher cares about him [I question this], and third of course, is content. All learning is in the direction of change, and needs to be motivated by felt need. Finally, to sum up, in order to be a person of impact, a teacher must know his students, earn the right to be heard, and be willing to be vulnerable with his students.

Chapter Six - The Law of Encouragement--Teaching tends to be most effective when the learner is properly motivated. Having hinted at motivation in the earlier chapters, Hendricks treats it more directly here. Primary is developing a strong sense of felt need: people will not learn what they have no felt need for, and will invest themselves in learning that for which they do have a felt need Having created that felt need, the teacher, if administering training, needs to honor the time-honored cylce of telling, showing, supervised doing, and unsupervised doing.

Chapter Seven - The Law of Readiness--The teaching-learning process will be most effective when both student and teacher are adequately prepared. I very much see Bobby Clinton of Fuller Seminary, another master teacher, in this chapter, as he insists on this kind of approach, giving students much work to do to prepare for each class session. In accord with this philosophy, Hendricks believes in giving students the right kind of assignments, since they precipitate thinking, develop a background for class sessions, and help develop habits of independent study. He then concludes this chapter with some practical suggestions for dealing with either unprepared or over-zealous students.

This book should be required reading for all clergy and teachers, especially in the field of Judaeo Christian religion. It provides a foundational orientation to a spiritually significant and competent teaching ministry. Above all, this is a wise book, and as the Book of Proverbs tells us, it is only fools who despise wisdom and instruction.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hendricks hits a homerun - must read for every teacher, June 26, 2006

By 

Dan Panetti "Worldview Director" (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Teaching to Change Lives: Seven Proven Ways to Make Your Teaching Come Alive (Paperback)

The great Dallas Theological Seminary professor Dr. Hendricks shares with others his basic principles for passing on to his students the knowledge and passion for God's Word. Basically the book can be boiled down to one primary principle - you must have passion for what you know to transfer what you know to others. The book was originally released as The Seven Laws of the Teacher, but has since been repackaged and re-released under this new title with a new cover and design - but the truths shared by Hendricks are timeless and powerful - and should be read by EVERY teacher!

The first law of the teacher was the best, in my opinion - if you ever stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow. Dr. Hendricks challenges the teacher to remain a student, to always continue learning, pursuing truth and knowledge - and to pass that thirst on to their students - far more important than any particular lesson or tidbit of information is the thirst for knowledge and truth - and that is something that is modeled for students in the lives of the teacher. If the teacher is stale, the lessons and information can't be fresh!

The Seven Laws of the Teacher are as follows:
* The Law of the Teacher - if you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow.
* The Law of Education - the way people learn determines how you teach.
* The Law of Activity - maximum learning is always the result of maximum involvement.
* The Law of Communication - to truly impart information requires the building of bridges.
* The Law of the Heart - teaching that impacts is not head to head, but heart to heart.
* The Law of Encouragement - teaching tends to be most effective when the learner is properly motivated.
* The Law of Readiness - the teaching-learning process will be most effective when both student and teacher are adequately prepared.