Capturing Minds by Capturing Hearts—Part Two

INTRODUCTION

“Whatsoever things are: true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, of any virtue, anything praiseworthy…meditate on these.” – Philippians 4:8 (The Bible)

In writing this book, I hope that I am simply whetting your appetite to make you think. I try not to assume that you have already read or know the things that I am presenting in this book. But I hope, instead, that by reading this book, you will create your own philosophy of learning and teaching. I also hope that you will be drawn closer to God and you will see how much you need His help every day.
I know I don’t have all the answers. I can only share with you what I have learned and experienced during 40 years of being in the classroom.
This book is written in workbook format so that it can be used as an individual study guide or a group activity study guide. At the end of each chapter is a list of questions to ponder. These were written to help you think and discuss with others if possible the concepts that were presented in the chapter.
Teaching has been my life’s work. I knew as a small child that I wanted to be a teacher. Not until many years later did I realize that I had a God-given talent for being able to explain complicated math problems and procedures very clearly and could get just about anybody to understand how to do math. I have taught thousands of students and tutored everyone in my neighborhood. All of this is a miracle. For you see, I was a high school dropout. I am quite sure that my teachers wrote me off as never amounting to anything. By the age of nineteen, I was divorced with a small child left to rear alone. I have to give my parents a lot of credit, for they never gave up on me and God never gave up on me. I lived with my parents while I went to college and they helped to take care of my young daughter. They gave me a gift which gave me success for the rest of my life- my education. But my education alone has not made me an effective teacher. It is the grace of God.
Because of the circumstances that I went through as a young person, it gave me a compassion and understanding for young people. One of the biggest things that I try not to do is judge what a student is capable of or not capable of doing or learning. My job is simply to help the student get from where they are to where they need to be. On my list of past students has been a NASA engineer, a designer of corvettes, cadets to West Point (Army), the Naval Academy and Air Force Academy, physicians and surgeons, pastors, lawyers, accountants, nurses, airplane designers, bridge builders, moms, dads, chefs, policemen, first responders, heating and air conditioning experts, mechanics, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, teachers of all ages and all subjects, etc., etc., etc. Did I know, when I was teaching them, that they were going to end up being these things? No, I did not know. But they all ended up doing greater things than me.
I believe every student deserves a chance to learn. I believe if our students are given excellent instruction that they can learn. I have experienced this fact with my own students. I also know personally that a student’s education will be one of the single greatest accomplishments that will help them succeed in this world and it will change their life forever. If you are a Christian educator, you will also have many opportunities to share Christ with your students. This fact alone goes way beyond the scope of just an education.
Are you ready to help change lives forever?

Chapter 1
TEACHING IS PSYCHOLOGY

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…”-Proverbs 23:7 (King James Version)

Learning is definitely a head game. After teaching mathematics, going on forty years, I have learned that you have to make people believe that they can learn whatever you are trying to teach them. A teacher can make or break a subject for a student. As a teacher of mathematics, I have realized that math causes trouble for a lot of people. “Math anxiety” is not just slang phraseology; it has been identified by experts as a real fear.
So how are you going to get people to learn? There is a kid in my neighborhood who I taught in high school, and then he went on to a prestigious college and got his engineering degree. He still stops me when I go on my walk in the neighborhood and says, “You were still the best math teacher I ever had; you made me believe I could do it.”
So how did I make him believe he could do it; and how did I help thousands of students with varying abilities believe they could do it?
It all started with my philosophy of learning. My philosophy of learning started way back, when I was a child. I grew up playing school in my neighborhood. I had a chalkboard. I was the teacher. When my friends would say, “I want to be the teacher now,” I would say, “I don’t want to play anymore!” I guess you do need to be a person who likes to be in control. So I definitely enjoyed playing teaching. But what really shaped my philosophy of teaching was a teacher in elementary school who took a special interest in me. I still don’t know why. I remember her name and her face to this day. She taught social studies, so I thought I wanted to be a history teacher. Half way through college, I took a calculus course-I don’t know why. I made an A+ in the course, and said to myself, “I can do this stuff; I am switching majors to become a math teacher.” So I guess it was destiny. God was working in my life even when I did not realize it.

Questions to Ponder

• Can you make people learn?
• Think back to your own schooling. Was there a person who had a big influence in your life?
• Do you have a philosophy of learning?