Learning how to Teach

I am almost at the end of the first module of this semester: “Creative Teaching”. It is a topic that is very dear to my heart as I believe it is an important function of the church and a role that I have been personally called to play. Just one and a half years ago, I would never have imagined myself to be a teacher as it is not in my nature to speak publicly to large groups of students about what I believe. However, upon receiving God’s call, I am trusting that he can work through my imperfections to impact lives around me.

One of my key takeaways from this module is from reading the text book by Israel Galindo. Reminded me that teaching is really more than the impartation of truth, but it is to help students to know God in a deep and personal way. And often times, it is the way the teacher acts and behaves that leaves a greater impact on the student than the content of the lesson. When the students observe Godly qualities in the teacher such as patience, hospitality, faithfulness and servanthood this leaves an impression on the student and encourages them to also be likewise. When our lives contradict what we teach, we lose all credibility. Now and then, statements such as “we teach according to God’s standard, not according to the standard that we are living in reality”. And while such statements are true as we are not perfect vessels and yet Christians should be taught God’s truth as it is. However, it becomes bad when teachers see this as an excuse for living less than perfect lives as our message is only credible when it is backed by the life of the messenger. Even if we are not able to fully live out the fullness of what we are teaching, we need to be authentic in our struggles and not be seen as hypocrites. As such, we become more effective teachers not only when we expand on our knowledge, but more importantly, when we draw closer to God in our daily walk with Him.

The second thing I took away was to include more learning channels in my teaching. By nature, I am an auditory learner. Visuals and diagrams rarely help in my learning process, and I rather hear points delivered in full sentences rather than in short punchy phrases. Back in university, I never printed notes for lectures and learned effectively from just hearing what the lecturer says. Subconsciously, this has also become the main way that I deliver my lessons – through verbal communication and seldom, if ever rely on visual aids in my teachings. To become more hospitable in the classroom, I should teach not as how I would want to learn, but rather in a way that would benefit the students. Though this currently seems like a lot of effort to me, it is really the easiest part of bringing hospitality into the classroom. To be an effective teacher, we have to understand the students’ needs and how our lesson is able to speak into their lives. This allows our lessons to be relevant to the students and helps us to be able to speak into the lives of the students. Of course, we as human teachers could never fully understand what would be relevant to a student and how we can help them in their walk with God. As such, we have to rely on the irreplaceable work of the Holy Spirit, and trust that He will be able to work through our human efforts.

Lastly, I like the Hook, Book, Look, Took model that helps me to organize my teaching. The first segment, the “hook”, draws the attention of the student into the lesson. The second, the book, is where the class analyses the text and interprets it. In the “look”, having derived the original message of the author to the biblical audience, as well as God’s eternal message to all believers, the class will discover the modern day implications of the text. Finally, the “took” is where students explore how they can apply the learnings into their lives in a personal and tangible way. Left to my own instincts, I am inclined to leave out this portion of the lesson and jump straight into the lesson. Also I tend to spend most of the time on book and look segments, leaving little time for personal reflection. Since learning does not occur when knowledge is transferred, but when students reflect on the knowledge that is gained and contend with any new information that does not agree with their current understanding, the last segment is imperative for life transformation. This structure thus forces me to become more balanced in the way time is allocated, which would in turn allow for a better platform for lives to be transformed.