I really enjoy teaching. This term I am teaching two
classes: a "Bible Book Study" on Matthew for second-year certificate students, and a
Discipleship class for first-year diploma students.
Because this is my first time teaching these (or any) courses,
it takes longer to prepare for each class period than it would if I had more
experience. I probably spend at least two to three hours preparing for
every one hour in class. (I read an article a couple months ago that suggested
that 1 ½ hours of preparation per hour of class is a reasonable amount of time,
but I think that amount might assume that the professor is given a fairly
detailed course plan. I don’t know. Perhaps some of my more experienced
professor friends can chime in down in the comments or via email.)
Of course, I also grade the assignments
that I give. English is
a second language for all of my students, though most of them are quite good.
My classes are small, which helps, but I’m learning a new
grading system (where “normal grades” are 50-70, rather than 70-90). Even so, grading is taking more time than I think it should. It will come
eventually, I’m sure.
Many of you know I have been interested in discipleship for
a long time. For those of you less familiar with the word, discipleship has to
do with the process of learning how to live life as a follower of Christ—and as
part of that learning, actually doing it. [Jesus’ first disciples were the
relatively traditional type of disciple in first-century Palestine: he taught a
relatively small group of people over the course of three years, until they
were ready to teach others. Those first disciples, of course, were the
beginning of the spread of Christianity, and that general model of discipleship still works pretty
well today—when it is used.]
Some of that process involves learning what Jesus taught, and
how the early Christians lived it out, but a lot of the process is learning how
to overcome your own weaknesses and temptations so that you can live a fruitful
life in service to God and other people. “Learning to live like Jesus” is no
simple task, and it’s a lifelong pursuit. From the point of view of the early
Christians, it was expected that all believers would seek to live out what they
said they believed with their heads/hearts, but in the Church today many people
have all sorts of reasons why they don’t think [normal] Christians should be
expected to try. On the other hand, there are also many people who don’t offer
much help (i.e. training) to people who want to live according to Christ’s
teachings, but when someone messes up, they’re quick to condemn or kick them
out. Somewhere in between these two extremes, we need to set the expectation
that Christians should actually seek to live out the gospel in daily life, yet
extend grace to all of those genuinely trying but who do it imperfectly (which,
of course, is all of us who are genuinely trying). And because we’re
Christians, we recognize that we couldn’t really live out Jesus’ way of life
without the empowerment of God in the first place, so there’s no room for pride
or arrogance. The sad thing is that most Christians have never had a more
experienced Christian pour into their lives in that kind of an intentional way.
I’ve mentioned that I spend a lot of time in preparation. Long
ago I heard that if you really want to learn something, you should teach it to
others. Teaching [well] forces you to learn at a deeper level than if you were
just taking a class. So I get to study discipleship in an intense, formal way
so that I’m ready to teach it. There’s reading, organizing, prioritizing, and
writing involved, among other things. I often wish I had even more time to
study it. I’m blessed with students who seem to care about the course
content, too, and believe that it will help them to better serve their
respective denominations and congregations. [Incidentally, none of my students
this term are connected with my own denomination.]
The other class I’m teaching is on the book of Matthew, so I
get to study the book first and then teach some of what I’m learning and have learned
over the years. Along the way, I’m also trying to reinforce healthy and helpful
ways of studying the Bible that can be used when they study other biblical
books. Most people know that the Bible can be twisted to support or attack all
kinds of things—meanings that the authors never intended. It takes
intentionality and discipline (and God’s help) to seek out what the verses
really mean, and we want our students to get used to taking the time to do
that, instead of using the Bible’s words to support whatever they happen to already
think, or whatever they heard from someone else.
The gospel according to Matthew is a great book to study and
teach, and it’s fun to do that alongside of a class on discipleship—they really
work well together. It forces you to deal with the life-changing implications
of what Jesus is teaching—it involves changes in action and behavior, but even
more importantly, involves changes in the way we think. The kingdom of
heaven/kingdom of God just doesn’t play by the usual human rules.
In addition to teaching the two classes, I also lead a counseling
group of four students. We meet about once a month, but each week they also
update me on their progress in various programs: scripture reading/reflection,
Thursday afternoon ministry (hospital visitation, for example), and weekend
ministry (students are each assigned to a church, where they are to seek out
ways that they can serve the congregation, whether “up front” or on an
individual basis). When my counselees are assigned to lead morning devotions, I
go over their plans with them and make comments and suggestions as needed.
Beyond that, I’ve led morning devotions once and will lead a
chapel service later this term. There are campus activities such as daily devotions, daily tea, weekly chapel, weekly campus prayers, and sports & fellowship afternoon once per term. (The picture at the top of this post is my weekly schedule, with afternoons, Mondays, Wednesdays, and half of Friday currently going to class prep and grading.) I also have a preaching schedule for Brethren
in Christ churches in the surrounding area. So far I’ve preached twice, but I’m
scheduled five more times before the end of the year. (I’ll say more about that
in another post…)
There are the occasional nights (or early, early
mornings!) when I wish I could just build a database and go home and not think about work--instead of trying to
figure out how to best teach some passage or concept, but it doesn’t happen
often. I’m getting better at preparing during daylight hours, so that I can get
a healthier amount of sleep. But just the other night, when I thought I
couldn’t think any more and just had to sleep, I read something in a commentary
that helped to explain a verse in a way I hadn’t considered before. Right away,
I was wide awake, and the verse made much more sense to me than it had before.
(Of course, now I have more incentive to read a number of other commentaries to
evaluate other interpretations of that verse…but that may have to wait until
after this academic term.) It’s moments like that which seem to indicate that
this really is a good field for me… A classmate said to me about ten years ago,
“Everyone is a nerd in something. It
might be math, music, literature, politics, sports statistics, or video games,
but everyone gets just a little too excited about something.”
Teaching is more than preparation. I’m slowly getting better
at leading class discussions, and I’m learning to write on the board more to
highlight the most important points. (It may be quite some time before Powerpoint
presentations will be standard lecture material here.) Certain topics or ideas
catch the students’ special interest, and natural discussion just flows without
much effort on my part. Best of all is when a student tells me how a topic
we’ve just covered will be helpful in their home congregations, or when a
student describes how he/she used an idea from class to share at church, and
the congregation was hungry for more.
I’m too much a beginner for such small successes to go to my
head, though; my teaching skill is quite far from what I hope it will someday
be. I share them only because they are some of the little surprises that
brighten my day and confirm to me that I’m right where I should be. They help
to make up for the “face-palm” moments, when I realize I’ve messed up—like the
day I forgot to record the quiz grades before returning the quizzes to the
students. :)
Ahh! 7:20 AM!?! Well, this is Malawi - get the learning in before it gets too hot, I guess! I was told in college (as a student) that we should expect to do 3 hours of homework for every 1 hour in class. So it's only fair that the professor should do the same! (Actually, I wish it weren't so, but I think David may be on a similar time schedule...I'll have to let him answer for himself! Certainly he was his first year....or maybe more!)
ReplyDeletegretta
Johnathan,
ReplyDeleteSo good to hear a few snippets of how (and what!) you are doing! As a seminarian many days I feel "lost in the forest of knowledge" as one of my professors is fond of saying, so it is encouraging to hear these stories of practical application and some of the fruits of both yours and your student's labors--thank you for sharing!
In the teaching workshops I have been to, where expectations of scholarship for the participants at their institutions are very high, the recommendation is two hours their first year. There MAY have been some lectures where I was able to do that. These folks also probably only had one class each semester!
ReplyDeleteAlso, be sure that you have (as much as possible) measurable/observable objectives, which will help to drive what you cover and expect your students to know.
Since you expect to be around for a couple of years, keep a journal of sorts (I keep brief comments in a spreadsheet) so that you know what to fix/add/delete for next time.
Now, over a month later, I've finally found time to put a comment here! (I actually did read this a while ago, but just never took the time to comment.)
ReplyDeleteI think I still (after 5 years now) spend at least 2 or 3 hours--too much time--preparing for a lecture I haven't given before. But I get through the weeks by including lab days that I prepare for much faster. Maybe that's analogous to you finding ways to increase discussion time?
One of the big challenges, I think, is to let go of the "I have to be able to do this or...what will people think of me?" feelings and focus on what students need to do in order to build confidence and understanding. Sometimes it actually takes less time to do a better job--because it's what they can do, not what I can do, that really matters. At least that seems to be the way it is when you teach something like Computer Science.
Oh well, I better go to bed! Either that or get to work preparing for classes :)
David