Bronze Level WBT Certification

I was pleased to receive the following email which verifies that I have achieved Bronze Level certification in Whole Brain Teaching. I am not ready to pursue Silver Level at present, but I may do so in the future.

Congratulations on your successful completion of the Bronze Level of WBT Certification through your previous earning of certification points!  Not an easy task!  

If it is your decision to continue in the certification process, your next step is to email me a well-composed essay describing why you should be chosen to receive your own personal WBT Guide to assist you in successfully completing the requirements for Silver Certification!  In your essay, please include your email address, grade level/subject, school site, and location.  Mention any Honors you received during your certification journey to this point!  

If accepted, you will be contacted by your WBT Guide with directions for completing Silver Certification, which includes essay questions and short classroom videos.  Upon successful completion, your name will be proudly inscribed on the Silver Leaderboard, making you eligible to work for Gold!

Contact me with any questions!  Have a great Monday!

Nancy Stoltenberg

Director of WBT Certification and International Relations

Executive Board Member Whole Brain Teachers of America

NancyStoltenberg@WholeBrainTeaching.com

Twitter: @NancyStoltenber

Gospel Words and Gospel Deeds

The strategy for making disciples involves Gospel deeds and Gospel words. We must engage in Gospel deeds to show the community that we care.

Gospel deeds do not validate the message. Because we speak the message of God's Word, it comes in the Spirit and in power, and it validates itself in the hearts of those who hear.

Gospel deeds do not validate the message; they validate the messenger. They gain us a hearing, so the Word may do its work.

David Watson discusses this in the eight-minute video below.

David Watson from Roy Moran on Vimeo.

Getting Their Attention, 2

See Getting Their Attention

Marva Collins died last week, and after learning more about her, I can see that she had mastered the art of capturing her students' attention. Although she began her career before the advent of Whole Brain Teaching, I can see some intersections between her methods and WBT.

For one thing, her classroom did not have a teacher's desk. She stayed on her feet and perpetually engaged her students for the whole day.

In addition, she gave what may have amounted to the only positive feedback in the experience of her students. She made them look her in the eye as she praised them and told them not only that she loved them, but also how smart they were.

She even turned praise into a teaching opportunity by commending her students in Latin, Italian or German. This, no doubt, added the element of fun to learning.

Most of all, she captured the class's attention by believing in them and expecting great things from them.  

While Mrs. Collins taught classics and did not seem to approach subjects in terms of a Biblical world-and-life-view, the Christian teacher may profit from studying her methods and asking, "What did she do that conforms to the Bible's approach to making disciples?"

In 1995, CBS's 60 Minutes did a segment on Marva Collins, and examined the impressive results she achieved. You may watch it in two parts, below. To see a movie based on her early career, go here.

Teaching Others in Order to Learn, 3

You have a topic to prepare, you have a class scheduled, and you have a big question. "Do I know this material well enough to teach it?"

If you've asked yourself that, you've focused on the wrong question. You must ask yourself, "Do I know this material well enough that I don't have to teach it?"

What do I mean by this? Well, in many universities, the most experienced professors teach teach the introductory courses. In many cases, they choose to do this so that they themselves master the basics of their discipline. As they assimilate these basics, they achieve a new level of mastery. 

Now the prof does not have to teach the content in order to know it. At this point, a smart teacher will shift focus from knowing the material to the techniques that impart it to his student/disciples. 

In your teaching experience, only at that point do you move from teaching others so that you yourself may learn, to becoming a master ready to make teachers of others.

Hear the Word of the Lord

Whole Brain Teaching gives us an attention-getter, "Class!/Yes!" However, I wanted something to attract special attention when I quoted Scripture.

I came up with the idea of saying, "Hear the Word of the Lord," and having the class respond with, "Speak, Lord, your servant hears."

Here is the script I wrote for teaching this response:

Hey hey, Class!/Hey hey, Yes!

I have a story to tell you from the Bible.

Long ago, before Israel had a king, Samuel's mother took him to live in the Tabernacle with Eli, the priest.

When I say, "Teach," teach your partner the story, so far.

Teach, I say. (Okay, I say)

Class!/Yes!

One night, as Samuel lay sleeping, he heard a voice calling, "Samuel, Samuel."

Teach-aroo! (Okay-aroo!)

Class!/Yes!

Samuel thought Eli had called him so he went to Eli's room, but Eli said, "I did not call you. Go back to bed."

Tee-ee-each! (Oka-a-ay!)

Class!/Yes!

Samuel heard the voice two more times, and finally, Eli said that God was calling Samuel, and he should say, "Speak, Lord, your servant hears."

Teach! Okay!

In this class, God speaks to us through the Bible. When I am about to give you a quote from the Bible, I will say, "Hear the Word of the Lord." (Repeat)

So, teach! (So, okay!)

Class!/Yes!

When I say, "Hear the Word of the Lord," you answer by saying, "Speak, Lord, your servant hears." You are saying that to God, not to me.

Teach! (Okay!)

Class!/Yes!

What do you say, when I say, "Hear the Word of the Lord"? (Speak, Lord, your servant hears.)

Good. Let's practice.

John 3:16. Hear the Word of the Lord. (Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Testing the Techniques

This morning I spoke at a Christian, residential drug & alcohol rehab facility. I used this as my first opportunity to try out the Whole Person/Whole Brain Teaching techniques in a group. With thirteen men present, one had to pair up with my wife Laura.

I started by introducing them to the "Class!/Yes!" and "Teach!/Okay!" responses. They got this very well and needed only a little practice. I also taught them a response that I made up for whenever I quoted Scripture: "Hear the Word of the Lord/Speak, Lord, your servant hears." (More on this in another post)

Some of the men have come from Christian backgrounds, while others have not. In either case, I wanted to give them something that would help them when they left the home to rejoin society. Therefore, I spoke to them about the place of daily prayer and Bible reading in their walk with God.

Here's the simple outline, without all the Whole Person techniques:

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Discipleship: Prayer, Bible Reading & Obedience

1) To be a disciple you must not only believe, but follow and obey Jesus.

Matthew 9:9 - As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, "Follow me." He got up and followed him.

Matthew 28:19-20 - Go and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen.

2) The best way to follow and obey is to pray and read your Bible every day.

I Thessalonians 5:17 - Pray without stopping.

John 5:39 - In this scripture, Jesus says, Search the Scriptures . . . these are they which testify of Me.

3) You also need to ask questions about what you read that will help you see how God wants you to change the way you think and the way you live.

i) What does this passage tell me about the character of God?

ii) Does this passage teach me a good thing to imitate? Does it teach me a bad thing to avoid?

iii) If I really believe this passage is God's truth, how should my life change?

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On the way home, Laura and I evaluated this new -- or at least, new to us -- method.

1. On the minus side, some of the men who had been there a only few days still had to cope with foggy brains and had a hard time with these "strange" procedures. On the plus side, they did not give up, even one man who got pretty frustrated.
2. No one fell asleep. I've had men fall asleep on me before, and I expect this because at first they spend sleepless nights coming off drugs/alcohol plus facing issues of conscience. Today I had full attention and full participation.
3. Even though some did not perform perfectly, by and large, they seemed to enjoy themselves. Teaching accompanied by an emotional response tends to stick in the memory better.
4. The one man who spent the whole time in frustration came up to me afterwards and said, "I've been here eight days, and I'm lost." Now, I'm pretty sure by "lost' he meant confused rather than unsaved, but I'm sure both meanings applied to him. 

I prayed with him, asking God's grace to open his mind and heart to the Word, to give him focus and understanding." If you're a believer reading this, take a moment to pray for Steve. I know he hears the Gospel daily at Home With a Heart. What he needs is the quickening power of the Holy Spirit.

The Discipleship Garden: Planted and Watered

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. (1Corinthians 3:6)

I was my veterinarian's senior English teacher. He came from a Christian home, and his parents had planted the seed of God's Word in his life. They had also nurtured him in the faith.

In school and after his graduation, the Lord granted me the honor of taking part in the watering process. I discipled the young man through his college and veterinary school years, and after he married, I became his pastor. 

Today, he and his wife have children, mostly grown, who carry on a walk with God.

My veterinarian's parents planted and I watered.

About five years after moving to Possum Kingdom, I received an evening phone call from a man who, as a teen, had attended a church I served as pastor. Since that time, he had become a Christian, married and had children. 

He thanked me for my efforts in striving for the souls God had placed in my care. Although I sowed the Word, I did not see any results in his life at the time.

Today he and his wife are my upholsterers. They have a young family whom they educate/disciple at home.

Clearly, I planted but others watered.

Even more clearly, God gave the increase. Whether you plant or water, therefore, give the glory to God whether you sow his seed or water his garden, for discipleship is true life, and  true life belongs to Him.