SPEAKING AND TEACHING

There is a general belief that all the new stuff is better than all the old stuff.

We just bought a new refrigerator. I wonder if it will last 50 plus like the one we bought just after we got married. While we were at the store we also replaced our dishwasher which quit on us last year. I wonder if it will last the 40 plus years like the old one. We just donated our 1994 Saturn to charity. I wonder if our Prius will still be running when it is 18 years old.

I don’t intend to spend my limited thoughts on appliances and junkies, but the old stuff I really want to write about is why speaking in church has been replaced by reading, why teaching in Sunday School has been replaced by showing videos and having students read prepared statements.

I don’t know when it started; maybe it was with the advent of Teleprompters, but somewhere along the timeline of my life, eye contact and speaking what was in one’s heart got replaced by eyes glue to text resting on pulpits and reading a series of quotes which originated with someone else.

Hint # 1 – A few words spoken under the influence of the Spirit are of more value than volumes ramblingly read.

Hint # 2 – When you look into the eyes of the congregation their attention level increases dramatically.

Somewhere along the line, assigned times for speaking got lost in the necessity of reading all I have prepared as if it were my ‘last lecture.’

Hint # 1 – A double spaced type written page takes a minimum of three minutes to read. If I have 7 pages of single spaced material it will take me 42 minutes to read them.

Hint #2 – If there are three speakers assigned and only 36 minutes left in the meeting I have a maximum of 12 minutes to speak (read) my talk.

Somewhere along the line, elocution got replaced by run-on sentences, mumbling and speeding through the words on the page.

Hint # 1 – Communication only takes place if words are understood and have meaning in their context.

Hint # 2 – Speaking in church is not an intimate conversation in a car and microphones do not make up for hushed mumbled phrases.

While I have your attention let me leave the pulpit and go into the Sunday School classrooms. I don’t know when it started. Maybe it was with the mesmerizing effect of the tube or maybe it waited for flat screens. It seems that sometimes, meaningful teaching has been replaced with an attitude that baking cookies for refreshments and putting on an entertaining show were the most important attributes in the classroom.

Somewhere along the line, talented Sunday School teachers got replaced by video operators and assigners of reading from slips of paper.

Hint # 1 – Teaching is an art which when done properly will cause students to think, internalize and expand upon the original thought given by the
teacher. Without meaningful exchange between the teacher and student learning cannot exist.

Hint # 2 – Meaningful thoughtful questions about what is read or viewed are more important to the learning process than the material in the video or what is written on the slip of paper.

Somewhere along the line, audio/visual resources became time fillers rather than stimuli for learning exchanges.

Hint # 1 – Before showing any video or reading any material the teacher should ‘sign post’ what the student should look for in the video or in the written word.

Hint # 2 – After any video or reading the teacher should have follow up questions to make sure the message of the material was understood and become meaningful to the student.

Somewhere along the line, lecturing has replaced the meaningful Socratic exchanges between teachers and students.

Hint # 1 – No other method will ever replace the effect of meaningful exchange of ideas between two people.

Hint # 2 – Students will remember more about who teachers are than what they might have taught.

Well there you have it. Along with appliances and cars I believe it is strongly possible that new methodologies of speaking and teaching may not be better than the old methods.