hero default image
Understand the foundational matters in education: educational philosophy, learning theory, learning design, program administration, etc. If you don’t know the educational basics, you’d better find out, fast! Effective educational programs are grounded in the fundamentals.
2. There’s a difference between success and performance.
Many people focus on being successful and having a successful program. And just as many people can’t come up with a definition or criterion of what defines success. That’s because success is a product of external recognition. You’re only successful to the extent other people say you are. It is not measurable by any criteria or standard. Performance and effectiveness, on the other hand, are measurable. You can assess your performance based on your own goals and criteria. You can measure to what extent your educational programs are effective, meaning in what ways and to what degree they make a difference in the lives of your participants. Choose effectiveness over success.
3. Decide who you are before deciding what you’ll do.
That’s good advice for living as well as for Christian education. Christian education flows out of who you are in relation to God and others. Deciding who you are as a church, your corporate identity, shared values, culture, and mission—should inform what you do. Process is more important than content. ‘Nuff said, for now; more on this later.
4. No curriculum will solve your program problems.
“If we can only get the right curriculum for our church, we would have an excellent Christian education program, and all our problems would be solved.”
This is one of those amazingly tenacious myths that never disappear. Curriculum writers are like horoscope writers. Ever wonder at how your horoscope seems so accurate (That is, if you care to admit you read it, well, on occasion . . . just for fun, you know. Not that you’d believe it anyway . . . right?)? Try reading someone else’s horoscope on any day. They are written so generically that, more than likely, you’ll still feel they are talking about you.
Because they have to sell to such a broad audience, curriculum publishers write in ways that appeal to the average “person in the pew.” Whatever that means! I always thought we were all created “unique and special.” I tend not to think of my church’s teachers, children and youth, or adults as “average.” I think we’re pretty special and above average in our church. Don’t you believe that about your church?
What a good curriculum will do for you is: provide structure, offer ideas for learning, give some biblical interpretation and cultural background information, and suggest a starting place for your teaching.
But here’s what it won’t do for you: inspire you or your students, make you a better Christian, meet the particular needs of your learners, or solve your classroom problems. Curricula are written to be sold to the widest possible audience. You’re special. Your class is unique. They don’t write curriculum for you.
5. You can’t teach anybody anything.
But people learn—good teachers facilitate learning, and great teachers inspire learning. One of those foundational educational truths is that the agent of learning is not the teacher; it is the student. Do your programs foster agency for learning in your participants?
6. People don’t remember lessons.
They do remember relationships. More significantly, relationships mediate faith and spiritual formation. Do your educational programs facilitate building deep and meaningful relationships? Are you concentrating on lessons or relationships?
7. There are just so many ways people learn.
People have only five senses through which they learn (well, actually 9, or 12, depending on who you talk to, but that’s beside the point). While “learning styles” remain a popular notion despite a lack of confirmation from research, the theory of multiple intelligences is a helpful framework for designing learning experiences. In addition, “creativity” and “innovation” only go so far before they become ineffective; there’s much to be said about routine and familiarity. Consider the powerfully formative and effectiveness of the Liturgical Year and its cycles.
8. Cultivate Lifelong Learners.
Lifelong learning is a value; programs and lessons are experiences. There is a direct corollary between lifelong learning and maturity in spiritual and emotional growth. Tap into what motivates meaningful participation: meeting a perceived or unrealized need. What needs (spiritual, mental, emotional, existential) do your programs provide an answer to?
9. There is no perfect program.
So quit trying to find it. There are good and better, valid and sound, great and good enough. And any one of them is only good for it’s time because people grow and times change.
10. Learning is change.
Teaching is not entertainment, learning is not always fun. Change is difficult, sometimes painful, often resisted. Yet, learning is change retained over time. What changes are your programs designed to bring about? How are those changes manifested in the lives of your learners?
Adapted from Israel Galindo, The Craft of Christian Teaching (Judson Press, 1998).
~Israel Galindo is the Associate Dean for Lifelong Learning.
