Thinking like a teacher as a way to learn.

It has been said the best way to learn something is to teach it. While teaching may not be your cup of tea think about this, in personal study if you study like you are going to teach this to someone you will learn more in the process. With that end in mind and if you ever are called to lead a study hear is a little antimony of a bible study. A popular one comes from Lawrence Richards. He proposed a method of lesson preparation that includes 4 key concepts. His method is hook, book, look, and took. A quick explanation of each is in order.

1.)    The hook is an approach to a teaching lesson that draws in and interests the participant.

2.)    The book is the presentation of a biblical story, theme, or concept. 

3.)    The look is the exploration of the material’s implications and applications for the lives of the participants.

4.)     The took is the suggestion of and commitment to actual responses on the part of participants in the light of what has been learned or discovered.

Shelly Cunningham adds to Richard’s lesson preparation outline by adding cook.  Cunningham sees cook as the final step.

5.)    The cook is the final step of learning that fosters the transfer of learning after one teaching session and prior to its successive session. Cook is homework. It is an assignment or other activity that encourages the student to think about the lesson until the next teaching time.

Referances:

"Creative Teaching Methods" - chapter in, Introducing Christian Education: Foundations for the Twenty-first Century textbook, (Grand Rapid; Baker, 2001)

Lawrence O. Richards, Gary J. Bredfeldt,  Creative Bible Teaching, Revised & Expanded  (Chicago; moody 1998)

Robert Pazmino, God Our Teacher: Theological Basics in Christian Education (Grand Rapid; Baker, 2001)