My senior year in high school the dean of students, Mr. Griffith, whom I'd had in Civics in ninth grade and History in eleventh, asked if I would be willing to tutor a tenth grade student who was failing his math class. I was taking Calculus in the honors prograrn and it would be arranged for me to meet with this student during study hall. I can't recall if it was once a week or more than that, though I do remember that up till then he had failed every test or quiz since the beginning of the year.
When we met after the third week he was genuinely surprised to have gotten a D on a math test, his first passing grade. The following week he got a C. I was surprised at how quickly he was improving.
The next week, though, he didn't show up. For whatever the reason, we stopped meeting. Occasionally I've wondered if there were something going on in his home life. He seemed smart enough to "get it" with a little personalized attention, but I never found out what happened.
In simple terms here's the essence of the book: know your subject, engage attention, speak in words the student understands, connect new ideas to things already understood, guide discovery, require expression, and reinforce through use. Gregory’s key insight is that teaching works best when it aligns with how people naturally learn.
Another memory comes to mind about public school and learning. My next door neighbor, Kenny K, was failing all his classes in fourth grade and the school wanted to hold him back. His mother went to the school and insisted that this was not the solution to his failing grades. I don't know if testing was done or if she was simply persuasive, but instead of being held back, he was placed in sixth grade, skipping fifth grade altogether.
What happened? Kenny became an A student. He was no longer bored to tears by the pace of the class.
When we homeschooled our children for a few years we worked hard to find the right curriculum and the right pace. We saw they had a hunger to learn that we called "learning rage." The time to throw logs on a fire is when the fire is hot.
How does learning happen? It isn't magic.
Learning happens when experience meets attention and gets reinforced over time. It isn’t a single event but a process—taking in new information, connecting it to what we already know, practicing it, and then using it in real situations.
Whether you are a teacher or leader of any kind, you will find the principles in Gregory's book to be helpful. Here are the "laws" as Gregory presents them.
1. The Law of the Teacher
The teacher must know the lesson thoroughly. You cannot teach what you do not understand.
2. The Law of the Learner
The learner must attend with interest. Without attention, there is no real learning.
3. The Law of the Language
The teacher and learner must use a common language—clear, understandable terms.
4. The Law of the Lesson
The new lesson must be connected to what the learner already knows.
5. The Law of the Teaching Process
Teaching is not telling—it is guiding the learner to think and discover.
6. The Law of the Learning Process
The learner must restate or express the idea in their own words to truly grasp it.
7. The Law of Review and Application
Knowledge must be reviewed, reinforced, and applied to become lasting.
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