Ron Jackson tries to give some insight on effective teaching in the July/August Youth Worker Journal of 2006. He gives us a few characteristics of what he believes to be good teaching.
Jackson says that good teaching doesn’t always give an answer. I do not agree with this statement at face value in the fact that ‘I don’t know’ is an answer and can be an effective answer because it shows the youth that the teacher is still human and is still growing in knowledge and spirituality. That in itself ought to motivate the youth to desire to do the same. However, Jackson is mostly referring to narrative teaching. The Bible is full of narrative and sometimes the stories are not completely clear of what the whole ‘moral of the story is.’ Rather than trying to force teaching points, it is suggested that we ought to just let the Scripture speak for itself. I truly believe that Scripture is lecterned, it is powerful and God speaks tremendously. However, it can be a different story when there are a room full of unchurched youths. I feel there is a need to dive into the text theologically for sound teaching that gives the youth a good foundation to build upon.
He says that good teaching is comfortable with tension. Jackson is referring to answering difficult questions. How do we respond to these difficult questions is how we measure the effectiveness of our teaching in this area. I believe the teacher ought to create tension in order to stretch the minds and thinking of the learners. An example would be if it is appropriate to interpret the second commandment to say that a picture of Jesus is idolatry. A healthy tension is always good in a learning environment.
Good teaching happens in a safe place. A teacher is responsible to create an environment where the student feels safe physically and mentally. A youth ought to feel comfortable to ask questions that they may not bring up at the lunch table at school. However we need to understand that everyone has things that they won’t share in front of a group, including the teachers. That’s why accountability groups/partners are so important for spiritual growth.
Good teaching occurs in community. I really don’t know why Jackson even listed this in his article. I guess he just wanted five points. This goes sort of hand in hand with the point made about the safe place. I guess he wanted to have a sentence where he used the word ‘discipleship’ to attempt to make the nurturers happy. Yes. Discipleship is a good thing. Thanks Ron Jackson.
Finally, good teaching creates a place where truth is practiced. Jackson is referring to the place where the youth group would meet. It is a place where the kids can put into practice all they have learned in how to worship. That is definitely very important. We want our youths to understand proper worship. But I suggest to take this point a step further. The youths ought to put into practice all they have learned outside the church walls or wherever they meet. The youth are a part of the Body of Christ and they too have responsibility to share the Gospel. Because of the teaching they receive at youth group, they can in result share their faith at the lunch table at school, and even with their grandparents at Thanksgiving.
To make it simple, good (Christian) teaching requires love of God and love of people. However, outflowing of this love comes obedience, where disciplines come into play, which equip the teacher to be effective.
Article Submitted by Clay Huffman, a Junior Youth Ministry Major at Ohio Christian University.
4 comments:
Sound (good, well founded, appropriate) teaching is necessary in our day and age. There is so much information that people share that they have no clue at times how to proceed about it. It is our duty, job, and calling to be good teachers. The challenge is to be good stewards of what was entrusted to us. We need to be like the ancient Jews in Deuteronomy 6:4ff and pass on to the next generations all that we know about God. It might involve discipleship, it might involve classroom education, and even it might involve preaching. But what will make it a good and effective teaching? Is it something that we do? Is it something that we think should do?
Jesus set an example for us all. When one spends time of studying Jesus’ teaching method, it becomes obvious that he had a good teaching method that reached beyond one’s imagination. Are we to follow that pattern? Certainly. Are we supposed to adapt to the new changes in education? Certainly. We want to be effective. That requires being prepared in season and out of season. (2 Tim 4:2)
Good teaching is a must especially when you are teaching unchurched people. They need to be told what the particular passage is saying. I think this is a problem that has happened when we let unchurched people interpret the Word in what they think it means. Everyone is afraid to offend the other person and tell them they are wrong. That is what a teacher is suppose to do.
I agree with Clay when he said, "A teacher is responsible to create an environment where the student feels safe physically and mentally." I know that I still am intimidated when it comes to the class room.
I think that this article is great because I don't think that we think about being teachers sometimes. I think that we, as youth leaders, only consider ourselves to be preachers, but all in all we are both. Like Viktor said, Jesus was a great teacher. I think that he did all of the things that Clay was talking about except I don't know if he made people have tension when he was teaching them. I think that it is good to teach with retorical questions that makes our youth think, but I don't think we should make them feel tension. Maybe I am taking this word wrong and maybe that is what you are trying to say, but when I think of the word tension I think of making someone uncomfortable and I would never want my teaching enviroment to be uncomfortable because I would want my students to be able to be open with me so that I can really teach them. Also if I make them uncomfortable will they really want to have a relationship with me? I mean I guess if they are challenged in the right way, then they will respect me and this could be a postive thing, but if you are going to do this I think you need to be very careful.
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