I’ve thought quite a bit lately about what it means to be a teacher. I have always enjoyed teaching, but most of my teaching experience is in a small group setting. It hasn’t been until recently that I have taught in front of a large group of people with a more formal delivery style. What I do in on Sunday mornings is very different than what I do in a Home Team (small group) at Brazos Pointe Fellowship. In a small group I am more a part of the learning experience rather than driving the learning experience – I am just a participant in the conversation.
Maggi Dawn is an Anglican priest and Chaplin at King’s College Cambridge in England and she teaches in the college context. Here’s what she says about teaching in a large group setting:
“In a lecture you stand six feet above contradiction (or down in the safety of the auditorium stage); you are in control of the material, you prepare beforehand, you say what you have to say and no-one gets to ask you anything.”
Sometimes that’s what Sunday morning feels like … “six feet above contradiction”. And that is why I like teaching in a small group setting as much as a large group and sometimes more. Listen again to Maggie Dawn this time about the small group setting:
“…you talk for a while, and then other people pile in. They discuss … They ask questions that range far and wide; great questions that would take twenty minutes to address properly, or sometimes aggressive questions based on an adverse reaction to a text. In a class(small group), the teacher is just as likely (perhaps more likely even) to learn something new than the students.”
To be in a small group is to engage with fellow travelers in this journey of life as a follower of Jesus; it's to understand others and be understood. It's to engage other Christians so that you can more readily engage the world around you.
Teaching teaches me and that’s why I like to teach. But my hope for those of you who listen is that you would engage as a fellow learner, and if you ever think “I don’t know if I agree with Tommy”, then nail me with it. I may not come around to your way of thinking but I would love to have the conversation.
Again from Maggie Dawn’s blog; she quotes someone named Joseph Joubert:
"To teach is to learn twice."
“Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love the truth.”
For more from Maggie Dawn click here -> link
1 comment:
Right on! Unfortunately I think I love mysylf more than truth- OUCH! Yuu know, once my opinion is out there its like it takes on a life of its own. One that I am hesitant to retract. I work on that a lot. If I wasn't so opionated this wouldn't be such a problem-ya know?!
Post a Comment