TEACHING BY EXAMPLE

A young boy lived with his grandfather on the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps. Often, just to hear the sound of his own voice echoing back to him, he would go outside, cup his hands around his mouth, and shout, “HELLO!” Up from the canyons the reply reverberated, ‘HELLO . . . HELLO… hello.”

Then he would call out, I LOVE YOU… I LOVE YOU… I love you.

One day the boy seriously misbehaved and his grandfather disciplined him severely. Reacting violently, the child shook his fist and screamed, “I HATE YOU.” To his surprise, the rocks and boulders across the mountainside responded in kind: “I HATE YOU . . . I HATE YOU.

And so it is in life. Children echo their parents and teachers.

The strongest element in Christian education is EXAMPLE. Children are led almost irresistibly by the examples they see and experience. You as teachers and educators help to mold children’s lives. This is called modeling.

What is modeling? Modeling is an “example for imitation.” Like it or not, children play “Follow the Leader.”

Teaching is not just a classroom affair that involves instruction. Teaching should be life-sharing interaction.

Teaching is love

Teaching is guidance

Teaching is encouragement

Teaching is modeling an example worth copying.

Children are naturally great imitators. For better or worse, they imitate actions more than words.

If you get frustrated and yell at your kids, “Shut up” — what are you modeling?

If you gossip about another teacher — what are you modeling?

Being Christlike is important. The more you as a teacher can reflect Christ in your life, the more likely the children you teach will reflect the Christlike qualities they see in you. Because . . . the strongest element in Christian Education is EXAMPLE!