Students do not always avoid a task simply because they do not want to do the work. Sometimes they can be embarrassed by the fact that they do not understand the task or simply do not have the skills to perform the task. Teaching our students to walk in truth includes them understanding that they can do hard things and they can work through their weaknesses instead of running from them.

One reason for students to misbehave is to seek attention. Mrs. Evans used to say, “Why can’t we just give people what they need?” We just need to decide that some students just need more attention. Go ahead and give it to them. Don’t make them seek it. Then teach them how to appropriately seek the attention they need. Teach them how to ask for extra time they need or how to wait and get it later. But teach them about what they are doing and how to correct it.

We can recognize obvious reasons students disobey, like defiance, rebellion, and just plain ole disobedience or foolishness. But there are some reasons some children actually have a problem with self-regulating. This is where we can help students walk in truth by acknowledging the problem and using scripture and strategies to overcome their struggles. Walking in truth is not being perfect. It is knowing who we are in Christ and growing through our faults. 

The Lead me part of our model is the abstract teaching and leading students in their own ability to study and learn.

Jesus used pictorial or representation teaching when He met with Nicodemus and related being born again to our physical birth. We can help students learn with charts, graphs, graphic organizers, and pictures. Some students need to "see" what they are learning with the help of visual aids.

Jesus taught using the concrete method when He fed the 5,000, put mud on the eyes of the blind man, or perform the many miracles during His teaching. We certainly cannot perform miracles like Christ, but we can use concrete items for students to touch, feel or taste for learners that need to use their senses to learn.

Did you know God's Word is full of methods for teaching! Psalms 25:4-5 has three methods that Jesus models for us in the New Testament. Shew me; teach me; lead me. Following Jesus's example, we can see where he used concrete, representative or pictorial, and abstract methods depending on who he was teaching! He knew His audience!

Children may not always remember what was taught, but they remember how they feel. We can help students feel safe and loved through our teaching process.

Adding our senses during an experience will add lasting memories. I love the smell of cut grass. That smell always takes me back to when I was a little girl coming into our small town as we were driving home from camp. Those memories are etched in my mind and triggered through the smell of cut grass. When we add taste, smell, touch, sounds, and smells to a lesson it deepens the learning paths in our brains building long term memories.

Children learn best when they experience something. We can easily set up experiences in order to deepen and lengthen learning for our students.