Teaching: Dealing with Wrong Answers

August 17, 2011

Teaching: Dealing with Wrong Answers

Sometimes, when asking a question, a teacher will be given an obviously wrong response. One might be tempted to jump on that learner and “correct” him or her. But, if that happens regularly, learners will not participate well in discussion. Think about some strategies to use in this situation.

1. Do not embarrass any learner. If you value the learner, the learner will trust you and open up to you. If you embarrass her, she will not respond again and most in the group will learn not to respond as well.

2. Ask the responder to clarify her response. As the learner talks you may be able to guide her to a more suitable answer.

3. Ask, “What do some of you think about this answer?” However, this may not work if you have not generated a safe and nurturing environment that encourages risk-taking in the discussion time.

4. If you must re-state a more appropriate answer, then do so lovingly and graciously.

5. If the situation becomes sensitive, show respect for that learner by following up privately.

6. Keep a broad focus in mind as you teach. Even wrong responses show that learners are trying to engage and discuss. That means there is at least some level of success in the learning environment.

7. Develop skill in designing questions so that your questions will likely elicit more appropriate responses.

8. If calling for facts or recall of information, make sure that you have taught in a way that enables learners to answer the question appropriately. They cannot provide an answer they have not been taught.

9. Receiving consistently wrong answers from multiple learners may indicate that the teacher is not communicating effectively. Reconsider what you are doing in teaching and frame your presentation to enhance successful responses to your questions.

Scripture:

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” Ephesians 4:15 (ESV)

Prayer:

Ask God to teach you how to respond to wrong answers with grace and love.

Dig Deeper:

Check out William R. Yount’s Called to Teach (ISBN: 978-0805411997).

Learning: Your Peers Can Help

August 14, 2011

Learning: Your Peers Can Help

As the great Southern Baptist educator LeRoy Ford, used to say, “When you quit learning, you will quit teaching.” Many Bible study group leaders continue the motions of teaching, but they have ceased because they have quit learning. We must never quit learning. One area that Bible study leaders cannot quit learning about is teaching skills. An effective teacher is constantly updating and improving his or her teaching abilities because his or her audience and teaching environment is constantly changing. One often over-looked resource for improving teaching skills is to learn from one’s peers.

Just recently I had the privilege (and honor) to sit down with a former head football coach from a major NCAA college program. I have often wondered about the similarities of coaching a sport and discipling a believer. I got to ask all sorts of questions about his philosophy and practice of coaching. And, my hunch is right: coaching is very similar to discipling. I could not write notes fast enough. I came away from that interview a much better teacher. I have already redesigned some aspects of one of my college courses based on that new insight.

Who is an effective teacher in your life? Look around you at teachers in your church or your sister congregations nearby. Look at effective school and college instructors. Many of the same principles used for success in school teaching have application in your Bible study group. Take an effective teacher you know out for lunch and quiz him or her about  personal study, delivery approaches, evaluating learning, favorite internet sites for teaching support, a list of key resources he or she uses, how he or she learns and ministers to learners. These only scratch the surface of what growing teachers and Bible study leaders can learn from one another. There is a good chance that the effective teacher you know will learn something from you as well.

Scripture:

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Ezra 7:10 (ESV)

Prayer:
Ask God for opportunities to pick the brain of an effective teacher you know.

Dig Deeper:
Read Chapter 2: “The Teacher as Mature Person” in William R. Yount’s book, Called to Teach, (ISBN: 080541199-2).