Howard Hendricks has held many titles-pastor, seminary professor, radio host, author-but through all of them he is an educator. For the last thirty-six years he has taught at Dallas Theological Seminary.
When asked to list his favorite books on teaching, this was his response:
The Seven Laws of Teaching
Revised Edition (Baker)
by John Milton Gregory
First published in 1884, this template for teaching continues to cut accurate patterns. The book jacket promises “a clear and simple statement of the important factors governing the art of teaching,” but the book delivers much more. Here is teaching tonic to be taken in strong doses by those who want to rejuvenate their teaching.
For three dozen years I have seen more permanent and pervasive changes through the use of this text than from any other I have assigned. Undiluted cream, it bears continual and repeated reading.
The Essence of Good Teaching
(Jossey-Bass)
by Stanford C. Ericksen
Sorry, but this one will test your motivation. It’s not primarily a “how to” but a “what for” book, not popular reading but provocative. Ericksen tackles the unanswered questions in education: What sparks motivation to learn? What tools and techniques promote meaningful learning and strengthen memory? How do we best assess what students have learned?
Ericksen does provide some how-to’s, such as organizing a course to build student interest, presenting lectures that stimulate rather than bore, and encouraging better class participation. This book is written primarily for the serious-minded instructor who wants to break some fresh ground in his pedagogical patch.
Creative Teaching Methods
(David C. Cook)
Marlene D. LeFever
Creativity and teaching are indivisible. This treasure trove includes chapters on creative methods such as drama, role playing, simulation games, case studies, art, and many more. It’s a resource every teacher should have in the fingertip library at lesson plan time.
The book is both motivational and stretching, not another book on the theory of creativity but a handbook on its practice. Probe it and become an uncommon teacher.
Learning Is Change
(Judson)
by Martha Leypoldt
Teaching is causing people to learn, and learning is a process of change-in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Leypoldt details the many ways by which adults can become actively involved in the learning process, and thereby dramatically changed. This is a hands-on book whose most valuable contribution is the personalized plan for relating truth to the readers’ experience by means of exercises and reflection.
The Holy Spirit in Your Teaching
Revised and Expanded Edition (Victor)
by Roy B. Zuck
Communication presupposes content; without theological substance, Christian education cannot hope to be effective. But all too often Christian teaching is conceived only in humanistic terms; the supernatural distinctives are conspicuous by their absence.
Zuck sees the Holy Spirit invading the teaching-learning process-the teacher, the learner, the curriculum. He includes chapters on often-evaded topics, such as the Holy Spirit as a Teacher, the gift of teaching, and the relation of the human and the divine in learning. This book is meant to transform teachers.
Mastering the Techniques of Teaching
(Jossey-Bass)
by Joseph Lowman
Excellence in teaching rises out of two arenas: the dramatic and the interpersonal. Joseph Lowman holds these public and private tensions in balance with this clear analysis. Few have defined so well the process of teaching and provided so understandably an uncluttered description of what supports it.
Practical and stimulating, this writer teaches us to present material in bite-sized portions, to make every class hour earn a high grade. Although the book is designed primarily for college teachers, its value goes far beyond that rare breed.
Leadership Summer 1987 p. 137
Copyright © 1987 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
