A Tree of Wisdom
Compiled by Teachers and Learners
 

To nurture effectively, whether the recipient is an infant or very old, requires wisdom. The wise sayings that follow are public domain in that they seem to have a life of their own although coming from a wide variety of sources. Students are the major contributors as they reflect on education and search for the wisdom of others.

• Humiliation is a bad way to teach, always
• Children are never average – they are individuals
• The younger the child the more meaningless the rules
• You can teach a child most anything if you will play with the child first
• A learner should never be exploited
• Basic needs (of the whole person) must be met before learning can occur
• It is a sin to bore a child
• The higher the level of involvement the greater the learning
• Rules made by the group are more likely to be followed by those in the group
• Teaching what we later have to unteach is wrong
• Teacher indifference and failure to respond to the child as a person are not inviting stances
• Youth are fully human – not works in progress
• Opportunity to explore, serve, run into wise adults, experience contemplation, play, have time to integrate are virtues of youth ministry
• The best place for learning is where three stories intersect: the youth’s, the leader’s, God’s
• Beware of these attitudes: youth are a threat, youth need controlling, youth are too puzzling to bother with, youth are better seen and not heard, resentment when youth do not respond to programming done for them
• Jesus believed that adults can learn from children
• Children are capable of a profound awareness of mystery, majesty, and the awe of God’s presence.
• Significant faith relationships so critical to growth, are formed in the “by the way” moments, are not usually with one’s peers, seem to be alive among the very young and the rather old.
• Receiving God’s gifts of forgiveness, love and grace is not essentially dependent upon one’s cognitive abilities.
• Little children can receive and respond to God’s gifts with humility, thanksgiving and a deep sense of gratitude.
• Within all adults – all persons – there is a child. That child needs to be free to learn, to celebrate, to hug, to dance for joy, to cry in sorrow, to give and receive tenderness, to give and receive the message “I love you”. Children are  magnificent tutors.
• Children are not simply the church of tomorrow – they are the church now and have significance, worth, unique gifts, and special needs.
• Patiently wait for the wisdom in the oft repeated stories of the older ones.
• To know truth is to allow one’s self to be known as well.
• Dare to explore silence
• Memorization can reap unexpected rewards when the material is chosen carefully
• Recall, memorization, and repetition form links between the past and the present and foster growth into the future
• Trust that the Holy Spirit is always present
• Let a child teach you to see with wonder, with the joy of discovery – the moments when you hold your breath
• Plunge in
• Postpone the simple answer, allow the tension to mount and thus allow the “ah hah!” to happen.
• Learning takes place best in a non-threatening and non-judgmental space.
• Change is threatening, expect resistance, be joyful when learning the new occurs.
• Show up – listen – repeat – care
• Inductive and eductive education is messy, more natural, motivating and familiar to most people.
• If your only tool is a hammer then you approach everything as if it is a nail
• With my vast store of wisdom it seems a shame to not use it all, but Thou, my Lord, knoweth that I want a few friends left at the end.
• The wise teacher trusts in God’s instructing presence.
• Truth is not a statement about reality but a living relationship.
• Eternal verities are best taught by careful attention to worldly incidentals.
• The classroom should be a place of original inquiry and a place of collaboration.
• We make room for truth to enter by creating hospitable space
• Stroll
• Remember to forget so that the garbage gets taken out
• Children learn more than they are taught – and lessons we did not think we were teaching.
• All are teachers, all are learners.
• A child’s language is greater than the child’s understanding, and vice versa.
• Learning for learning’s sake takes a back seat to learning for living’s sake.
• It’s better to nurture children than repair adults
• If the teacher is bored with the lesson the learner will be too
• Quietness does not indicate disinterest.
• If a teacher is feared or distrusted all is lost
• Learning is worship
• The best learning space is one where tension eases as you enter
• In order to teach effectively one must first learn to serve
• To speak is to expound one's self – to listen is a gift
• Success is the strongest motivator over the long haul
• Praise, especially when based on tangible behavior, is superior to criticism in motivating learning
• Teaching one thing at a time is enough – just one. Two is one too many.
• Teaching a few things well is better than teaching even a few more things poorly.
• Consistency (dependability, punctuality, predictability) is a primary virtue in teachers
• Teaching is a natural human relationship and activity. So is learning.
• Just because teaching is a high calling does not mean it is a complicated task
• When Jesus said “Go ye into all the world and teach…” he really meant “Stay in Jerusalem and invite them to come to you.”
• Shy away from thinking that people who don’t respond to the challenge to teach aren’t really committed Christians.
• What you are is much of what you teach
• True interest is contagious – so is apathy
• You can do some things well if you don’t try to do it all
• Lots of our past is worth saving, but not everything
• Start at the shallow end – but eventually go deeper.
• When doing Bible study see the whole pie but eat it a piece at a time
• Memory verses are worth repeating
• What you know by heart keeps teaching you
• Meaning means more than you think
• Learners soak up symbols, mold into roles, put on identities, and make it all theirs by a faith walk.
• Faith: receive it and give it/ hear it and see it/ feel it and think it/ question it and trust it/live it and deny it/ go it alone and together/ both now and later and soon you will have it and it will have you.
• Listen with the heart
• Bathe all teaching and learning in prayer
• Any church that is too small for the little people must seem awfully small to God
• You must have a classroom and you must have a sanctuary and you must walk freely between them
• It is difficult to teach in a church what that church won’t do.
• The challenge of faith is to believe more and more about less and less
• In teaching it takes a lot of luck to make up for a lack of common sense
• "Hope is...not the conviction that something will turn out well, but  the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out." -Vaclav Havel