Teaching For Learning
Now let's talk about INVOLVEMENT. Why is this important? The answer is both simple and complex. Simple in that if we expect to change a person's behavior, we must get him involved in this change. Complex in that learning and the reason a person learns — is very complicated to define and/or determine. Suffice it to say at this time that virtually no learning of the type we are interested, informal classes, takes place without some kind of involvement on the part of the student. And this involvement is more than just hearing someone talk!
Later we will talk more about the use of visual aids, and at that time the subject of involvement will come up again. Briefly, though, let us notice that one reason for getting the student involved is that we are constantly competing for time in the thinking process of the learner. When we are doing something that involves him, he is not thinking about something else. On the other hand, when we are doing "all of it" ourselves, the student can listen to us and still think about something else! Another way to think about it is to note that we usually speak at about 125-150 words per minute. But we can easily comprehend 300 words or more per minute, if someone could talk that fast.
(There is a thing called "speech compression" where the spoken word is compressed without the usual "Donald Duck" effect. With this it is possible to produce speech that is intelligible at speeds up to several hundred words per minute more than the normal speech rate. Experiments with college students show that they can comprehend rates up to 600 words per minute with only a little amount of practice.)
If we say that a person talks at 150 words per minute, and the students could listen at 300 words per minute, then theoretically they could listen only half the time and spend the other half thinking about something else. What really happens though, is that they listen for awhile, then think for awhile, and end up concentrating on what interests us the most. The trick for the teacher is to find a way to get the other half of the students "thinking time." This is where "involvement" comes in, for even when they aren't thinking about the subject at hand — when they are bored and not involved — they are thinking about something. The instructor is competing for thought-time that is going to be used by the student in some way. The successful instructor is one that finds ways of involving as much of this time as possible in the subject at hand.
There are different ways of getting this involvement, some mental, some physical, and some combination of the two. One thing is pretty certain: the dull, monotone lecture is almost a guaranteed way of losing of giving up the teacher's half of the thought time. The alert teacher will constantly be on the lookout for ways of changing pace, using visuals, getting involvement, etc., to keep as much interest as possible. Note that we said the ALERT teacher. This isn't the one that just thinks that being in the room is equivalent to having the students learn. The strange thing about getting the students involved is that the teacher must first be involved. He must have the desire to send the students away better able to handle some part of the Bible, or some Bible subject better than before they came. He must be so involved that he will test the various methods of teaching he is using and determine which produce the best results. He will know whether his students are really learning and what it is that is hindering or helping. He cannot be satisfied to come into the classroom, make his presentation, do his "baby-sitting", then leave.
Of course, the involved instructor may not like what he sees when he becomes involved. The techniques he is using, the visual aids, the timing, the attitude of the class, everything, may be wrong. But it is up to the teacher to correct his own shortcomings. It should not be the problem of the student to adjust to a poor teacher...the teacher should make every effort to adjust to the learning conditions best suited to the student.
Just how does an involved teacher look and act? He comes to the class prepared, notes in hand, subject under control and with his own little "bag of tricks" aimed at getting the student as involved as he is. He will know what part of the lesson is likely to be less interesting to the students and change his approach accordingly. He will be alert for the spots when things are dragging and try to alter the pace or do something differently. One sure test: his involvement will always cause him to try to get the students involved.
But it is easier to suggest getting the students involved than it is to get them involved. Just how does a Bible teacher get the students involved in class activity? He must do more than wave a magic wand or try to get by on his great charm. He must consciously work at the task and know what and why he is doing what he is doing. Let's look at some ways and then let each teacher who reads this, add to the list by things he or she is already doing. Remember that the student will like the class a lot better if he is involved, but he probably won't get involved voluntarily. Just asking the class a question and sitting back and waiting for them to all become quickly involved isn't the answer. The chances are, the students won't answer out to a question asked right at first, even if they know the answer. (This varies with age groups, but is generally true of the older and more "sophisticated" the group becomes.) Of course, a provocative question may get an answer where a straight one may not, but be sure that the end result leads to involvement in the subject at hand, and not some other topic such as politics or football. The participation must be meaningful and directed at specific learning, and not just an end in itself. Until certain techniques become a habit with the teacher, the efforts to get involvement probably should be preplanned. In other words, a conscientious teacher will come to class with specific things in mind to try in an effort to get the students involved.
For example, a teacher in the lower grades may have a sand box in which she expects the children to recreate the story being told. She needs to let them do as much of this as possible, even though the sand may not be as smooth, nor as neat as she would have done it. When we are using a child's imagination, the rough sand becomes the blazing desert and crude cardboard cutouts become walls of great cities. All we have to do is to provide 5% of the reality; the students at this age will make up for the other 95%! But the important thing is to see that they help make the desert and the city. If we use the box to tell the story, they will be more interested than if we didn't, but much more so if they get to take some part in the building and expanding of the story.
Another equally effective involvement at this age is to have them act out the story. No need for fancy stages, elaborate sets or expensive costumes. The whole thing is done in the typical classroom. Again we use the imagination of the students and that's about all that's needed. With grown-ups, in large corporations, we call it "Role-playing" and do it with no sets and it works. (Considering that by this time in a person's life most of the imagination has been wrung out of him, and considering the success of this type of thing, it's bound to work with children!) Each teacher can work out his own method for getting the "acting" going, but again the idea is to lean toward simplicity. One way is to ask them to act out last week's lesson. Once the pattern is established, they will know that if they weren't present they won't be allowed to participate in the acting. Also, if they don't listen or study their lesson they won't be able to be in on the acting. Remember to keep the acting simple in length, too. Usually a whole lesson is too long for them to try to remember, so pick out small parts, especially those parts that are the heart of the lesson. (Ask yourself: If they don't remember anything else from this lesson, what one thing do I want them to take home with them? Another way to look at it is by saying to yourself: If their parents were to ask them — as quite often happens — "What did you learn today?" What would you want them to answer?)
One other way to get this age group involved is to simply have them tell the story over again when you are through. Or, again, you may prefer to have them tell last week's lesson. This adds the feature of having them try to remember and try to be present each time so they can tell the story. In order to have each participate, it's a good idea to break the story down into smaller parts. This way, you will have a clearer view of the natural breakdown of the story, and probably do a better job of preparing your lesson. But remember! All of the things we have talked about will be successful only if the teacher prepares ahead of time to get the students involved. It's not fair to the students to come to class with only a faint idea of what she is going to let the students do. It's even a good idea to have particular students in mind to do certain parts of the things talked about here.
One final word for this article...many of you are already doing this kind of thing. To you we say, "Wonderful!" But to you we also point out that what you are doing is getting the students involved. That's why you are doing it; not just because it seems to work. What we're saying is that it's important that the teacher know why he does what he does, and why he doesn't do other things. The best teacher is the teacher that has a level of competence, we call him the "conscious competent"... he's good and knows why.
In the next article we plan to discuss additional ways of getting involvement, dealing with older groups. In the meantime, be thinking about some ways to get students involved who are in late grade school and high school, as well as the young adult and the mature adults. The job gets harder, but not impossible!
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