Alyssa Borton

January 26, 2013

Ed. Psychology: Seven Laws of Teaching

Dr. Sturgill

Gregory, John Milton. The Seven Laws of Teaching. New ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book

House, 1954. Print.

The Laws of Teaching

Teaching is the communication of knowledge in which the teacher is painting the

mental picture in their mind into the student’s mind. Teaching hopes to shape a student’s

thoughts and understanding to comprehend a truth that the teacher knows and wants to

communicate.

The teacher needs to know the lesson attempting to be taught while the learner must

be attentive to the lesson. A common language is to be used so that the unknown can be

made known while the teaching is interesting and interactive. Teacher’s need to build

upon the students’ background knowledge to help them assimilate or accommodate the

information gained. The proof of one’s knowledge of the newly acquired information

must be a reviewing, rethinking, reknowing, reproducing, and applying of said

knowledge.

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“The world’s best work is done by the calm, steady, and persistent efforts of

skilled workmen who know how to keep their tools sharp and to make every

effort reach its mark. “

The Law of the Teacher

Since teaching is communicating knowledge, before we teach anything to anyone, we

must have a great knowledge of what it is we aim to teach. If there is not a sufficient base

of knowledge to back our teaching, the attempt to teach is lost. If we do not truly know

what we are teaching, how are we then to teach it to others? We must be ready to

recognize and know when a student begins to understand and to help remove the

obstacles that stand in their way, and then to encourage and give aid when necessary. By

being aware of this, the teacher offers confidence to the student. Students will follow a

teacher that is knowledgeable and confident, but will hesitate with a teacher that is

unsure. That is why it is not enough only to be knowledgeable, but teachers must have the

ability to gain interest from the students so they will follow.

The Law of the Learner

The learner must be willing to focus his or her attention on what is ready to be

taught. If the student is unwilling to push past the passive state to the active attention, he

will not learn much, if anything. However, this task cannot be left only to the student.

Knowing what students are interested in and the developmental stage that the students are

in is part of the teacher’s duty. The teacher needs to be creating incentives for students to

continue learning. Scaffolding comes into play here.

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If teachers leave their students in disequilibrium, the natural response is to desire

the rest of the knowledge to achieve equilibrium once again. Have students want to learn

something by using the problem method so that when the systematic study has to take

place, students are interested and excited to continue learning. By using these methods,

students will be able to increase their concentration time, allowing them to achieve the

secondary passive attention state.

The Law of the Language

The language used to depict the lesson being taught must be common and

understood by both the teacher and learner. Although the teacher will most likely have a

much larger vocabulary than the student, the teacher must bring the verbiage used down

to a level the student can comprehend. The language used also needs to be chosen

specifically and in advance to create the clearest images in the child’s mind. A teacher is

responsible for ensuring that the student not only gains more knowledge and vocabulary,

but that the student has mastered that and is capable of expressing their thoughts with

said vocabulary.

The Law of the Lesson

The lesson or truth being taught must be learned through knowledge or truth

already known. Teachers need to be aware of what background information students have

and are capable of using, reviewing old information yet still pushing students to increase

their base of knowledge. Comprehension is always tainted by the students’ own

experiences. To have a successful classroom, teachers need to be aware of students’ past

experiences and know how to build upon that.

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The Law of the Teaching Process

Teachers are expected to gain the interest and attention of students in order to

guide the activities of students without teaching them anything that students can learn on

their own. Each student has the ability to increase the knowledge base, but sometimes is

unable to make sense of the information. Teachers can help organize and connect the

dots, so to speak. Teachers must remember that students cannot be forced to learn or

retain knowledge, but that encouraging them to take ownership of their learning is the

best way to teach.

The Law of the Learning Process

Learning is not just memorizing and repeating, but the learner has to interpret the

information, apply prior knowledge and experience, and then comprehend and produce

the information in his or her own way. The peak of learning is when the student is

assessing and challenging himself. There are many stages in between satisfaction with

memorization and self-evaluation and it is important to remember that children will be at

different stages as their developmental stages occur. As teaching and learning coincide,

students need to be continuously pushed to investigate further than what the textbook

says, to find answers for themselves. In doing so, students will learn to value the ability

to think for themselves.

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The Law of Review and Application

At the end of the learning process, students need to confirm the work of teaching

by reviewing and applying the lesson learned. Although reviewing and being able to

repeat information is helpful, one must be able to use the knowledge in daily life to truly

have ownership of the knowledge gained.