5 Steps for Dynamic Teaching
Seeds of spiritual growth often grow into more mature disciples when teachers put extra time and effort into teaching. However, preparing good soil is more than dumping a truckload of time into preparation. Consider some valuable tips to use during the session itself, techniques that can provide good soil for spiritual growth.
1. Take your time. Presenting information in rapid-fire “shots” at learners often leads to missing the target. Give learners time to process the content. Sometimes just leaving a rhetorical question hanging will allow learners time to ponder and process information. Choose content carefully.
2. Take different perspectives. If you present key thoughts based on biblical content by using illustrations, review the material through questions. Use debates or case studies to engage learners not only with the content but also with one another in the learning process. Allow learners to discuss what they think the material means collectively as well as individually.
3. Summarize often. Allow learners to take away some key thoughts that they can synthesize and share with others. Give them opportunities to “chew” on content by summarizing the implications of what a passage or subject means and how the information impacts not only themselves, but others as well. Move from content to what the content means to individuals.
4. Connect content with life. Deal with life application as much as you deal with background interpretation. Biblical knowledge itself is vital and necessary. Often the principles and concepts we learn now come to life later. But most adults today want to know how God’s Word applies to life right now.
5. Apply content to individuals’ lives. You should be familiar enough with learners to suggest specific applications. For example, if one learner is wrestling with relational issues, offer suggestions for how to apply the content to that specific situation rather than vague generalities that might or might not connect with the learner. Avoid embarrassment, but make Bible study personal.
Merely knowing something does not mean the learner has personally engaged with the material. Real learning requires that we use the material as well as be able to repeat the material.
One vital way to connect learners with content is to teach in ways that more naturally engage them emotionally as well as intellectually, a skill that can be learned by teaching in ways that connect with learners’ natural learning preferences.
We can discover how learners prefer to learn by observing their choices of how to be involved with the material and by discovering how to teach to learners’ preferred learning approaches. Teaching Adults: A Guide for Transformational Teaching offers tips not only for how to use Adult Sunday School resources, but also explains the eight learning approaches identified by many as the ways people prefer to learn. These include:
• Visual
• Verbal
• Relational
• Reflective
• Natural
• Musical
• Logical
• Physical
Think about how the most enjoyable teacher you had in school. What made this class and teacher most exciting? Your answer probably indicates your preferred learning approach. Consider asking your learners this question: How would you describe your most enjoyable learning experience? Their answers will provide you with ideas of how to engage learners naturally.
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