Learning to teach: clinics shape effective leaders
Michele Perez-Santos
By Tim Hill
The Discipleship Ministries Agency exists, in part, to train and develop effective Christian leaders. Teacher Enrichment Clinics, or TECs, are the primary avenue through which the Discipleship Ministries office accomplishes this goal.
TECs are workshops held in churches across the country to help Sunday School teachers, small group facilitators and other church leaders improve and expand their teaching abilities.
In November of last year, Michele Perez-Santos attended a Christian Education Teacher Certification TEC in New York, led by non-employee consultant, Daniel Baez. This certification process was developed by the Discipleship Ministries office to help equip and prepare teachers in various Christian education ministries.
During the workshop, Baez led Perez-Santos and the other TEC attendees through the Christian Education Teachers Reference Manual as he discussed relationship building, teaching techniques, learning styles and numerous other topics. According to Perez-Santos, the clinic is well worth it.
As a team leader for Kidzone Kidz Ministry at Crossway Church in New York, Perez-Santos has found the information she received about learning styles to be especially helpful in her classroom. “Teaching the monthly BGMC lesson is easier for me and more interactive for the students,” she states. “I use visuals such as a tri-fold project board with information and pictures on each of the countries we are learning about. I use food from the different countries to help the children learn through touch. We play games with a globe in order for the children to learn about the country they are praying for by using movement.”
For Perez-Santos and her students, being aware of the different ways individuals learn and the different methods for teaching them has helped make their class more interesting.
“I find that I and my students are excited about learning in different ways,” she says. “I try to engage them in many different ways so that they can absorb the lesson.”
Perez-Santos is one of more than 2,500 teachers who have participated in and benefitted from a Teacher Enrichment Clinic since 2006. As she puts it, “My time at the TEC was well spent and I would suggest that anyone who wants to take their teaching to another level should attend.”
There are a number of different TEC topics available ranging from teacher certification, which Perez-Santos participated in, to developing an effective Sunday School, to Student-Focused Learning and more.
For more information on Teacher Enrichment Clinics, visit www.tec.ag.org, or contact the Discipleship Ministries Agency at 417-862-2781 ext. 4013 or discipleship@ag.org.