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The Seven Laws of Teaching - Chpt 6 · The Grammar of Classical Education

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hello!
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to The Grammar of Classical Education, a podcast that covers the foundations as well as the philosophical and theoretical ideas of classical learning in a user-friendly and, may I even say, interesting way.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr. Darlene Gomes from Leading to Wonder, and I'm so glad that you could join me today.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we are picking up today with law five, and this is the second part of the law of the teaching process.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: So as we've started every podcast, let's go back through really quickly just to review the laws.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Law number one, the law of the teacher.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: the teacher should know that which he would teach number two the law of the learner the learner must attend with interest to the facts being learned again teacher's job to attract that attention
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Law number three is the law of the language, where language that's used must be common to both, where the students must understand what's being said by the teacher.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Law number four was the law of the lesson.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Truths to be taught are known to the unknown, teaching what they don't know based upon what they already do know.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're finishing up law five,
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: The Law of the Teaching Process which is to excite and direct the self-activities of the learner to tell the student nothing that he can learn himself.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now in a more detailed fashion John Milton Gregory explains it with the following statement
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Behind and beyond all of the telling, explaining, and lesson giving, there lies the essential aim of it all.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And of all that the teacher does, the awakening
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: and setting into action the learner's mind and the arousing of his self-activities, as they have been called, those faculties of cognition, imagination, and reasoning whose actions must always be voluntary and self-impelled.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: In the simplest terms, the law of the teaching process is awakening the student's mind to learning.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: and by way of quick review remember a teacher as John Milton Gregory says is not that which gives knowledge but which stimulates the pupils to gain knowledge and again as John Milton Gregory says he teaches best who teaches least
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now we've been using the cave analogy for both law four the law of the lesson and law five the law of the teaching process so leading our young adventurers through this amazing cavern of learning law four step by step knowing the known to the unknown must be used and then law five
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Presenting the wonders before them, guiding their focus and encouraging their thoughts and imagination and logic to begin to spark their own learning.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: We are presenting the wonders of knowledge before them as a grand feast, not a green, healthy, gross smoothie.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And we ended last week with the reminder that we're also dealing with the moral intellect in even our youngest scholars.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: We are calling them to the higher goals of truth, beauty, and goodness, or as we would say in the classical arena, we're helping to order their loves.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: While that kind of wraps up the foundational elements of the Law of the Learning process, John Milton Gregory reminds us that unfortunately we can't see this law at work like we can say Law 2, the Law of the Learner.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: We can somewhat tell if a student is attending to the lesson.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: But in the law of the teaching process, it takes place completely out of sight.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: As he says, quote, no one can know what any mind contains or what labor it performs, save as that mind imperfectly reveals it by words or acts.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, for us to see that we have completed the law of the teaching process successfully, you have to get the students talking and showing their understanding.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love the analogy that he uses with, quote, into the sealed workshop of the soul, no spectator enters.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: What the occupant does there, no one but himself can tell.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Working by his own light on materials furnished by his own senses and gathered by his own intelligence, it is his to mold, shape, combine, and construct as he will.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that for a second.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: You are spending a class period giving facts, but you have absolutely no idea what happens to those facts when they get into the workshop of those little learners' minds.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: No idea at all.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: With that thought in mind, do you see the importance of having them talk, discuss, and demonstrate what they've constructed from the materials or facts that they have taken in?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: John Milton Gregory gives one of those ouch statements when he says, it is only the unskilled
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: and self-seeking teacher who prefers to hear his own voice in endless talk rather than watch the working of his pupil's thoughts.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Ouch!
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: I honestly have to admit that this was one of the hard ones for me, is one of the hard ones for me.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: I can tend to be one of those teachers who thinks if I explain it enough, my kidlets will get it.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: But in doing so, I'm not allowing them the opportunity to show me that they've gotten it or not.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: We really have to see ourselves as guides, full of knowledge and passion , attracting their attention , using language that they understand , and drawing them toward information one step at a time .
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: and then igniting their desire to learn more by directing their focus and allowing them the time and opportunity to construct the ideas in their own mind.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I love how John Milton Gregory describes this when he says, speaking of a teacher, he may for a little lift the child to his own strong shoulders to give it a clearer view of the path it has traveled.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: or an inspiring and guiding glimpse of the roadways yet to come.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Only he must take care not to substitute telling for true teaching and thus encourage lazy listening where he needs to call for earnest work.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So all of that is well and good, but how exactly
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: How can we accomplish this?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'll wait a moment for you to think.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: See, right there.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right there, I demonstrated the how.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: We accomplish this by using the greatest tool at our disposal when it comes to law five.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that is the power of the question.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: John Milton Gregory put it this way, quote, the true stimulant of the human mind is a question and the object or event that does not raise any question will stir no thought.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: He basically is saying if we aren't leading our students to more questions, then we're actually not encouraging thinking.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: All good teaching will present the facts and in getting the facts you want the students to realize that there is so much more beyond that.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many more questions to be explored.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in the movies, when the climber reaches the peak of the mountain only to look beyond and find massive peaks ahead, peaks he couldn't see until he had reached the top of his current one.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, out of the cave and to the mountaintops, we help our scholars to reach the summit.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Only then to ignite the joy of the greater mountain ranges before them, not to overwhelm them, letting them know that those peaks are for another time, but stirring within their souls a yearning to see and to know more.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: On this side, I did a little research and you would not believe what amazing inventions and innovations began with questions.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the question then becomes, what wonderful knowledge will you stir in your students?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: As we wrap up Law 5, as always, John Milton Gregory goes through some rules for teaching regarding Law 5.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Rules 1, 2, and 3 can be summed up with the statement, know your students.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, have you noticed how often that comes up in John Milton Gregory's rules?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Must be kind of important if it is repeated over and over again.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: You first of all have to know their maturity level.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Younger students are drawn in by their senses and by their imagination.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Older students are drawn in more by reason and reflection.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: You need to know their present needs and wants and think can you tailor some of the lesson to that
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: That partially works with the going from the known to the unknown, things that they know that might be leading to questions that they already have.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: You also have to know their interests.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: What can you appeal to that will attract them?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is knowing your students.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, rule number four is you need to start with a hook
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: and continue to use hooks periodically throughout your lesson.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: It can be a question, it can be a statement, it can be just a glimpse of the coolness of the things to come.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that goes back to making the students attracted to what you're learning while at the same time lighting a spark for them to really think about.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, rule five is one of my favorites.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Join in with the wonder.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Don't fake interest, but you should honestly be excited to find and share some things new.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: There are a few rules that state and restate the idea of allowing the students time to think.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be impatient.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Don't speak for them.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let other students speak for your quieter ones.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let them have a chance to construct the idea in their own little workshop before presenting it to you or to their fellow workmen.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And one final rule.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: that we will look at to teach your students is to really learn to ask questions.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: They should be asking the basic ones like in where, when, by whom, but you want to encourage them to ask the deeper questions like why and how.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, it is okay.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's good if you don't know all the answers.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Be willing to say, I'm not really sure.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Challenge them to search for answers.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let them know that you will search and then follow through.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, if technology is available and I'm relatively sure that I know that I can do this and find an answer quickly, I have used the, well, let's find out,
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: which will lead to a quick google search and some cool fact that we now all have a mountain peak as it were that allows us all to get a glimpse of the amazing mountain ranges yet to come by the way in case you were wondering one thing i found in just such a case as that
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: is the average adult has between 28 and 36 trillion cells in their body men are in the higher range and a 10 year old has an approximate count of 17 trillion cells see
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: That was a cool fact that led me and my students to see just how much more there was to experience and learn and lit a spark.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing more beneficial than the students seeing the teacher become a true learner.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's close with the violations to avoid, which are pretty simple to understand now that hopefully you have a good grasp on what the goal of Law 5 is.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: The first violation is best stated by John Milton Gregory when he says,
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Poor teacher, can you not remember that knowing comes by thinking and not by telling?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot force lessons into your students' minds.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: The more I talk, the less they process it in their own heads, which means that idea is mine and not theirs.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's the first violation.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Another violation is just blaming lack of memory.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: and lack of memory is actually lack of thought by the student which is often not always but often the result of not having made the thoughts their own and that takes time and communication back and forth between the student and the teacher now that
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Back and forth communication allows me as the teacher to understand if they have all the pieces they need to construct the thought in their own little workshop.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: If what they say comes out garbled,
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Darlene Gomes
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: The Law 5 key is you are awakening the student's mind.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to close this law with one final a little bit larger quote from this chapter that seems to sum up all of John Milton Gregory's thoughts on this matter.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: It is the teacher's mission, by sympathy, by example, and by every means of influence,
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: by objects for the senses by facts for the intelligence by pictures for the imagination by stories for the fancy and the heart to excite the mind stir the curiosity stimulate the thought and send them forth as warriors armed and eager for the conflict
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: and he ends the chapter with this.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: The teacher does but lead the march.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: The student's mind awakens to its high birthright and the scholar of the school time becomes the student of a lifetime.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: What a high and lofty goal.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: What an amazing responsibility.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: And what a joy to play a small part in every student's grand adventure.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: So whether you are all in with classical ed or you're just kind of curious,
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: or even You Just Want to Be a Better Teacher.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you'll stick around and join us for this next podcast.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: To get the latest episode as well as a fun little teacher's newsletter complete with a couple of classroom freebies, please sign up for the Leading to Wonder newsletter.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: or you can subscribe to the podcast directly on Apple podcast or Spotify or wherever you listen.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about me and Leading to Wonder, you can visit my website at leadingtowonder.com.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: No spaces.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, to reach out to me directly with questions or comments or
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Even for information regarding in-house or virtual teacher training workshops, feel free to email me at Darlene at LeadingToWonder.com Have an amazing week!
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, as E.B.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: White said, always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.