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Tuesday Morning Epistles
Welcome to "Tuesday Morning"—where good news has
arrived.
For 35 years I was employed in Christian college
work--sixteen years at one school and nineteen at
another. They were some of the best years of my life.
Our children became young adults while we were employed
in college work. They completed their undergraduate work
there. They made life-long friends there. They shaped
their philosophy of life there. They deepened their
faith in God there. They used their college years as
stepping-stones to productive careers. My wife and I are
products of the Christian-college environment. We met at
college and married during college. Our children were
born during our years at seminary. In retirement we
chose to settle down in a Christian-college community.
It has been an excellent choice.
For sixteen years my teaching load required that I
teach lower-division courses in biblical literature. The
classes were large—regularly exceeding 150 students in a
lecture-hall setting. That translates to more than 300
students per year. Multiply that by 16 years, and you
can see that I turned in grades for close to 5,000
students! Periodically I cross paths with some of my
former students. Or I hear from them on FaceBook. They
say nice things. And they often remember things that
went on in class that I don't remember. (There are some
advantages to senility). One former student said that
she was so impressed with my teaching that she took
notes on every word I spoke in class, and that she
kept those notes from that time until now-—twenty-five
years later. Wow! She said she even took notes on the
prayers I voiced at the beginning of each class! Now
that is dedication to note-taking!
I learned many lessons about teaching during those
years—including things to do and things to avoid doing.
I learned to avoid traps into which teachers
occasionally fall. Learning to be comfortable facing 150
students taking a required course in biblical literature
was a humbling experience. This week's "Tuesday Morning"
is entitled "Avoiding Traps in Your Teaching." I hope
you will find it interesting, if not helpful. Read
on whenever you are ready. And go teach!
Tom Barnard
Still Learning to Teach
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Avoiding Traps in Your Teaching Tom Barnard
don’t like to read “how to” books. I admire those who have “done it,” but what works for them may not work for anyone else. You can sell a lot of books to people who long for success and will pay any price to get it. Perhaps the most famous success story that led to millions of books being sold was a book by Napoleon Hill. It was written in the mid-1930s as the Great Depression was winding down.
You may have read a copy yourself. It was inspired by a suggestion by the Scottish-American billionaire, Andrew Carnegie. The book was based on interviews with dozens of individuals who had achieved wealth during their lifetimes. Hill narrowed the principles of success to 13. Can you remember the book’s title?
Think and Grow Rich
The original title was
impressive: Think and Grow Rich: Teaching, for the First
Time, the Famous Andrew Carnegie Formula for Money-Making,
Based upon the Thirteen Proven Steps to Riches. The
publisher was The Ralston Society,
About sixty years later Wes Haystead published a book that didn’t sell anything like Hill’s book, but it contained practical suggestions about how teachers could revitalize their teaching. The title of the book was The 21st Century Sunday School, published by Standard Publishing Company. Although the author focused primarily on Sunday school teaching, his main emphasis was on how to improve one’s skills in communication by dealing with real-life issues while at the same time being faithful to the Scriptures.
Haystead observed that teachers often fall into two common traps in communicating biblical truth that diminish the effectiveness of their teaching.
Trap 1: Dealing with life issues independent of Scripture. I have known teachers who were so committed to involving students in discussion that they allowed discussions to go on endlessly without reference to the Scripture. This is not to suggest that contemporary issues cannot be effectively examined in light of the Bible, but it is very easy to let discussion become an end in itself. The result is that students become mired in problems or issues and not let the Word be the primary source for dealing with those problems.
Trap 2: Communicating Bible content in a way that is unrelated to real-life issues. Haystead said that teachers need to be reminded that the Scriptures were given by the Spirit of God to make a difference in the way people live. “Keeping a distance between biblical truth and where students are in their pilgrimage may result in a distance being created between biblical facts and personal faith.”
The solution? Haystead suggested that teachers develop a teaching methodology that emphasizes both the content of Scripture and clear opportunities for students to respond in ways that positively affect their lives. Haystead pointed to one successful teacher who always began her weekly preparation by asking two questions: (1) What singular, biblical truth do I want my students to understand and take with them from class at the end of the teaching session? And (2) What can I do to create an environment in which my students will be motivated to let the Spirit of God help them make life-changing decisions?
I have taught classes large and small. I have used both the lecture method and the discussion method to communicate truth. I have taught college youth and mature adults. I even taught pre-school children in Sunday school so I could learn first-hand how young children think, act, and react in the classroom. For sixteen years I taught freshmen and sophomores in lower-division biblical literature. I still hear from some of those students. They say things like, “Prof, you made the Bible come alive for me when I was in your classes. I still quote you from time to time in my own teaching ministry.” How did I do that? By avoiding the traps, by being faithful to Scripture, and by creating an environment in which students felt comfortable in making life-changing decisions. You can develop “wealth” in teaching by following these principles. |