Abstract
In all things, God is Supreme as He is the creator of all and orchestrates all according to His will. My Christian view and career as a teacher is dominated by that belief. To be able to interact properly with God and also function well as a teacher, I rely on scripture as the source of God’s word. Based on inspiration through the Holy Spirit, I derive insight from God through the day to day activities and events. This article represents a combination of actual research from peer-reviewed and other academic sources as well as a careful evaluation of scripture. Using the combination of these sources, the article examines the nature of a learner, the conducive environment for learning, the role of a teacher, and the integration of faith and learning. The result of the evaluation is a summary and discussion relating to the kind of a teacher I aspire to be. In summary, I would like to be a teacher who creates an excellently conducive learning environment for the students then leads them on a journey of learning with God being the principal teacher.
Christian Worldview
My Christian worldview is based on the belief that Christian history and teachings, as reflected in Holy Scripture are the primary source of Christian knowledge. It is through the bible and related teachings that Christians learn how to live their lives, how to interact with one another, and how to relate to God. The three relationships between God, the self, and others in that order, form the totality of all that is life in this world (Graham, 2018). The primary source of knowledge in regard to who is a learner, who is a teacher, and what amounts to education is God through inter alia the bible. It is also scriptural that God created all and also orchestrates and superintends over all creation (O'Callaghan, 2016). It is thus also possible to learn from and about God just by looking around and studying his creation even in modern times. For example, scientists believe that they invent things and develop phenomenon, laws, and principles. However, scientists are in the real sense only seeking to understand what God already knows as He is the one who created all (O'Callaghan, 2016). Similarly, the modern concept of education, even what has not been developed using scripture can also provide insight about God, since the wisdom used to develop it came from humans who have been created in the image of God.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
There are Bible characters who are great learners and others who are great teachers. Most of the great learners also went on to become great teachers, such as Moses in the Old Testament and Paul in the New Testament. The greatest teacher of all, however, was Jesus Christ as he was God and did not need to learn from anyone (McGrath, 2015). It is from these great learners and teachers that I draw my understanding of the concept of education, including the prerequisites of learners, a teacher, and a good learning environment. In the modern world, education has become a bare necessity with literacy being a matter of life and death. Indeed, most people in the developed world encounter situations where being able to read makes a difference between life and death, almost on a daily basis. The situations include taking medication, driving, walking on busy roads, doing shopping, and many others. It is easy to assume that education being a basic need is a modern concept, yet it is a biblical concept. When Apostle Paul made his defense before the Jews in Jerusalem, he indicated to them that he was a Jew who had been born and raised in Tarsus at the feet of Gamaliel as per Acts 22:3. When Paul argued that he had been raised at the feet of a teacher named Gamaliel, he was only trying to prove that he was a Jew, not a leader, not a teacher or a lawyer, just a Jew. In Jewish tradition, education was a basic need, not a means to an end (Feldman, 2017). The fact that modern education correlates with education in the traditional biblical teachings is evidence of the godliness of education through time. It is on this basis that the instant paper will rely on what God says including biblical teachings in its evaluation of the concept of education.
Nature of Learners
A learner is a person who is undergoing the process through which knowledge, attitudes, and skills are acquired. For a start, all learning is godly because the ability to learn in itself came from God. Researchers, scientist, theorists, and philosophers only discover what God as the creator has put in place in the world (O'Callaghan, 2016). There is, therefore, an exponential difference between learning and education. Education, in modern parlance, is the formal process of schooling that results in a form of certification. Learning, on the other hand, is a process that begins at birth and lasts through life (Newman & Newman, 2017). In modern times, the process of learning has been defined through psychological studies, a discipline that deals with how the human mind works. From a psychological perspective, learning is a combination of cognitive and empirical processes. The cognitive process entails the use of senses to garner information (Inhelder, Sinclair & Bovet, 2014). Humans mainly use senses such as sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste to gather information from the world. It is important to note that information is not knowledge. After the cognitive process of collecting information, it is then empirically processed based on other information that is already on the mind in order to develop knowledge. From a purely psychological perspective, a learner is someone who has cognitive and empirical learning abilities. However, having the ability to learn is only one perspective of the nature of the learner, while the second perspective of the learner is alignment with the right teacher and learning environment (Inhelder, Sinclair & Bovet, 2014). Apostle Paul says that he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, who taught him about Jewish laws and the Jewish faith. The ability to learn can only be an advantage if it is used to learn from the right sources. For example, a child who is brought up in a crime-infested gang-run neighborhood, and who happens to be a very capable learner will only learn violence, crime, profanities, and evil (Cepeda et al., 2016). Conversely, if the same able learner grows up in a Christian family, knowledge gained will include kindness, charity, goodness, love, prayers and other positive things. The nature of a learner, therefore, combines the ability to collect and process information, and also the alignment to the right source of information.
Conducive Environment for Learning
Alignment to the right information to learn is the basis for my concept of what amounts to a conducive environment for learning. As indicated above, a great ability to learn becomes a disadvantage when a learner has been placed in the wrong learning environment. It is from the biblical perspective of a good learning environment where learning becomes exponentially different from education. Moses, one of the greatest learners in the bible was taught directly by God and had to have his learning environment altered to suit his learning best. In Exodus 3:1-17, Moses is separated from his family so that God can educate him through the burning bush. Similarly, in Exodus 19:1-34, God separates Moses from the Israelites to the Mount Sinai so that he can instruct him. As the learner-teacher relationship between Moses and God grew, his separation from the community had to be enhanced: “ Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod .” (Exodus 17:5, King James Version). God separated Moses from the crowd to create a better learning environment for him.
A good learning environment, therefore, is the one where the learner is separated from all disruption, negativity, and untowardness, in order to focus purely on learning. The need for separation is based on the fact that learning is always a continuous process. According to psychologists, a child begins to learn at birth and rapidly learns in the initial years of life (Birch & Doub, 2014). The environment within which a child grows, scientifically known as nurture determines what the child shall learn and whom the child will become (Grandjean & Landrigan, 2014). From a biblical perspective, a good learning environment goes beyond books and material to who is teaching the learner and where the learner is when getting the education. As indicated above, Paul was brought up under the feet of Gamaliel, meaning he did not come and go, but rather stayed there. According to 1 Samuel 2: 11, another great biblical student, Samuel had to leave home at a tender age to learn at the feet of Eli. A conducive learning environment as per the bible is holistic in nature and involves all the connections and relationships that a learner has.
Role of the Teacher
A lot about the role of a teacher has already been canvased in the sections about the nature of a learner and the creation of a good learning environment. The biblical role of a teacher differs exponentially from the current professional understanding of teaching. This, however, does not mean that modern teachers cannot advance to become a modern form of biblical teachers. In a nut shell, the role of a teacher combines that of being an instructor and the controller of the learning environment inside and outside the classroom (Waite, 2017). Learning, as indicated above is a holistic process, hence rises above mere instruction. For example, even if the best instruction is given but within an environment where contrary information is all over the learner, then the instruction may not assist the student. Conversely, even if the instruction is not perfect but the environment is kept right, good learners will still excel. Samuel, was a good learner, under a teacher who left much to be desired but placed in the right environment. According to 1 Samuel 3-6, God called out to Samuel, because he was in the right learning environment, created by his teacher Eli. The teacher had not taught Samuel enough to know that it was God who was calling Samuel, however, because of being in a conducive environment, Samuel could still hear God. Based on the above, teachers do not need to know everything. Instead, they are supposed to guide the students towards the truth. A good teacher leads the learners on the path of finding knowledge, so that the learner and the teacher, while in the right environment, can learn together (Brookhart, 2017; Waite, 2017).
The Integration of Learning and Faith
Based on the analysis of the student, the learning environment and the teacher above, it is clear that learning from a biblical context leads to becoming as opposed to merely knowing. The process of learning transforms the learner into the person they are supposed to be. Learning is like molding where a learner is being designed into the end product that God wanted the learner to become. In the words of Prophet Isaiah: “ we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand ” (Isaiah 64:8, King James Version). A teacher is a tool that God uses to mold the learner into what God intended the learner to be. From the perspective of modern education, having a higher education, according to research not only creates a better professional but also a better human being who is less likely to get into trouble with law enforcement or have healthcare complications (Adler et al., 2016) . God wants learners to be people who totally trust and rely on Him (Caldwell & Holloway, 2017). The only way to totally believe in and rely on God is through faith, and the only thing that people need to develop full faith in God, is to get to know Him better. Everything that is ever taught has an element of God in it. Biology is about the bodies that God created, Geography is about the world that God created. To integrate faith, the teacher needs to bring out the God-element of everything taught so that learners learn about God as they learn about everything else. It is noteworthy that “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God ” (Romans 10:17, New King James Version).
How my Christian Worldview is Manifest in my Vocation as a Teacher
As a Christian teacher, the primary basis of my life is to do the will of God as reflected in scripture and as inspired by the Holy Spirit. As per the scripture: “ For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? ” (Matthew 16:26, King James Version), the world and the fullness thereof is fleeting and will soon come to pass. However, humans will endure forever for the soul cannot die (Douglas, 2018). My commitment to the souls of my students is thus greater than my commitment to their minds. I will not merely give them information so that they can pass examinations, get certified and move on to get good jobs and lots of money. Instead, I will lead them in the path of learning, inter alia through the process of education. Together, we shall learn about God, and God’s creation here on earth. As indicated in the Christian Worldview segment above, it is possible to learn about God and the will of God from anything in this world. After all: in 1 Corinthians 10:26, Apostle Paul makes reference to the Psalms of David as he states that this world and everything in it belongs to the Lord. This worldview manifests in my vocation in that every lesson and every moment applicable is used to bring my students to a better knowledge of God. People do not need to be told to trust God or to love God, they only need to know Him. It is my belief that anyone who gets to know God well, will not only have full faith in Him but also love Him fully. Loving God is not an abstract subject but rather manifested in the character of an individual: “ If ye love me, keep my commandments. ” God’s commandments are outlined in Exodus 20:1-17 and can be divided into two. One set of the commandments relates to how believers ought to relate with God, while the other is about how believers ought to relate with one another. It is to attain this end that my Christian Worldview manifests in my vocation as a Christian teacher.
Summary and Discussion
My fundamental, primary, and most essential affiliation in life is that of a Christian with every other aspect of my life, including my vocation as a teacher being closely aligned to my Christian faith. I believe unequivocally in God, as the creator of the world and all that is in it, and also as the Lord and Master of the world. My Christian Worldview determines how I live my life, how I interact with others and most importantly, how I relate with God. How I relate with God is the most important aspect as it dominates all the others. My concept of the nature of a learner begins with myself. As argued above, the greatest teachers of all were also the greatest learners with good examples being Moses, Samuel, and Paul, all of whom have been discussed above. All these great teachers were still learning from God, even at the time they were teaching others.
Being a good learner involves the ability to collect information and process that information into actual knowledge. Over and above the ability to learn is being in the right environment to learn. The right environment to learn is not limited to what happenes in the classroom since learning is a constant process that continues all the time. For example, the modern high school student learns in class, continues to learn through social media, keeps on learning when attending parties, chatting with friends or watching TV at home (Livingstone & Sefton-Green, 2016). The learning environment dominates all these spheres. The ability to learn must be combined with remaining in the right learning environment to elicit proper learning. Before summarizing what a good teacher is supposed to be from a biblical perspective, it would be important to canvass what amounts to a proper learning. A proper learning is the process through which a learner is molded and developed into the kind of a person the learner is supposed to be.
As outlined above, God wants people to love Him and also have faith in Him. Loving God entails having an active relationship with Him and also carefully following his commandments. Faith, on the other hand, entails trusting God fully in all things and relying on Him alone (Caldwell & Holloway, 2017). All these brings me to the point of evaluating what kind of a teacher I would want to be. The same can be represented through the example of Eli and Samuel in the tabernacle after Samuel’s mother Hannah had brought him to live with the servant of God. Instead of merely being an instructor to Samuel, my version of Eli would be a fellow student to Samuel with God being the real teacher. Like Eli, I will use what I already know to teach my students how to be good learners. I would then lead them on the path of seeking knowledge and truth from and about God, from God Himself and also from His creation.
Other than the teaching, I would also create a conducive environment for both myself and them to learn, from one another and from God so that when God speaks to us, we can hear and answer. Irrespective of what modern subject we are learning, whether history, literature, art or science, we would jointly use it as an opportunity to above all, learn about God. Getting to know God can never reach a maximum level but it can attain an optimum level, meaning the best possible level that keeps on constantly being bettered. The above defines my understanding of learners, teachers, a good learning environment and combining learning and faith.
References
Adler, N. E., Cutler, D. M., Jonathan, J. E., Galea, S., Glymour, M., Koh, H. K., & Satcher, D. (2016). Addressing social determinants of health and health disparities. Discussion Paper, 1-16
Birch, L. L., & Doub, A. E. (2014). Learning to eat: Birth to age 2 y–. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , 99 (3), 723S-728S. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.113.069047
Brookhart, S. M. (2017). How to give effective feedback to your students . Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD
Caldwell, C., & Holloway, C. S. (2017). Trust, faith, and commitment: A reasoned action approach. Business and Management Research , 6 (3), 51-57. doi: https://doi.org/10.5430/bmr.v6n3p51
Cepeda, A., Saint Onge, J. M., Nowotny, K. M., & Valdez, A. (2016). Associations between long-term gang membership and informal social control processes, drug use, and delinquent behavior among Mexican American youth. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology , 60 (13), 1532-1548. doi: 10.1177/0306624X15584985
Douglas, K. B. (2018). What's faith got to do with it? Black bodies/Christian souls . Ossining, New York: Orbis Books
Feldman, M. (2017). Approaches to Jewish literacy: An exploration of purpose and values within Jewish learning for Jewish leaders ( Doctoral Dissertation) .
Graham, B. (2018, January 04). 10 guidelines for Christian living. Retrieved from https://billygrahamlibrary.org/10-guidelines-for-christian-living/
Grandjean, P., & Landrigan, P. J. (2014). Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity. The Lancet Neurology , 13 (3), 330-338
Inhelder, B., Sinclair, H., & Bovet, M. (2014). Learning and the Development of Cognition (Psychology Revivals) . London, UK: Psychology Press
Livingstone, S., & Sefton-Green, J. (2016). The class: Living and learning in the digital age . New York: NYU Press
McGrath, J. F. (2015). How Jesus became God: One scholar’s view. In New Testament Seminar, University of Michigan. 1-5
Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2017). Development through life: A psychosocial approach . Hoboken, New Jersey: Cengage Learning
O'Callaghan, P. (2016). Children of God in the world . Washington, D.C.,: Catholic University of America Press
Waite, S. (Ed.). (2017). Children learning outside the classroom: From birth to eleven . Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publishing
