The Seven Elements of Teaching

The process of teaching can be divided into seven elements: 

1. the teacher  
2. the learner  
3. communication  
4. the lesson  
5. the work  
6. the review  
7. the accountability

The Teacher

The teacher must know the subject material and set a good example.

Knowing the material is being able to readily explain, illustrate, and apply the material. A teacher's ready and evident knowledge helps to give the student needed confidence.

The teacher must set a good example, possess an honorable character and hold to acceptable morals.

The prepared and knowledgable teacher is no longer a slave to the textbook. Thus, free to concentrate on the student's progress and assimilation of the material.

The Learner

The proper training of the intellectual capacities is found in the acquisition, elaboration, and application of the knowledge and skills.

The first goal of teaching is to stimulate in students the love of learning, and to form in them habits and ideals of independent study.

Gain and keep the attention and interest of the pupils upon the lesson. Do not try to teach without attention.

The Communication

That teacher will be cold and lifeless who only half knows the subject he would teach; but one fired with enthusiasm will unconsciously inspire his students with his own interest.

Use words understood in the same way by the students and yourself -- language clear and vivid to both.

The Lesson

Begin with what is already well known to the student about the subject and with what he has himself experienced -- and proceed to the new material by single, easy, and natural steps, letting the known explain the unknown.

The lesson must be mastered in the terms of the facts already known by the learner -- the unknown must be explained by means of the known.

The Work

Stimulate the student's own mind to action. Keep his thought as much as possible ahead of your expression, placing him in the attitude of a discoverer, an anticipator.