Teaching Through Guided Discussion Teacher Notes

58 Pages·2013·0.35 MB·English

by  Pastor Bill

Teaching Through Guided Discussion Handbook
created by Dennis McCallum and other Xenos Leaders
edited by Bill Covert for Hope Community Church (12-31-2013)
Discussion as Instruction: Theory!.......................................................3
Technique! 4
Background Factors! 9
Potential Strengths! 9
Potential Weaknesses! 10
Planning a Discussion!......................................................................12
Finishing Touches! 18
Running a Discussion!.......................................................................21
Starting Discussion! 21
Pacing a discussion! 21
Responding to group comments during discussion! 22
Ending Discussion! 27
Infusing energy into discussion! 27
Additional Keys to Effective Teaching!...............................................31
Before! 31
During! 33
After! 36
3 Stages of Teacher Development! 37
Homiletics: Do's and Don'ts!..............................................................38
DO'S! 38
DON'TS! 40
Preparing Your First Few Teachings!.................................................46
At least one month before teaching:! 46
At least two to three weeks before teaching:! 46
At least one week before teaching:! 46
In the final week:! 47
After the teaching:! 47
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Samples!............................................................................................48
Filled-out Homiletics Worksheet! 48
Detailed Preparation Outline! 49
Teaching Outline! 53
Blank Homiletics Worksheet!.............................................................55
Teaching Feedback Form!.................................................................57
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Discussion as Instruction: Theory
Each type of instruction has different strengths and weaknesses. For example:
• Modeling is good for conveying subjective qualities that are hard to describe in
words. But modeling left by itself is easy to misinterpret. The learner may
conclude that someone they model is doing things for reasons other than the real
ones. Modeling also requires very small numbers of learners for maximum
effectiveness. The subjective elements the model seeks to convey (like her
urgency for the things of God) are only apparent to those who are personally
close enough to appreciate what words and actions mean in the context of the
model’s life. This makes modeling extremely time-intensive.
• Lecture is good for conveying large quantities of information to large numbers of
people, but lacks any way to know whether that information is being perceived or
is in useable form. Learners may be cataloguing information that they will never
be able to apply to life situations. Or, for all we know, they may be learning
nothing at all. Yet, when done well, lecture is one of the most persuasive forms of
communication. A good lecturer can arrest the attention of even very large
groups of people. On the other hand, if one lectures in a very small group, it can
seem pretentious and unnatural.
• Written outlines or essays can convey large quantities of information to either
large or small groups, but are easily misinterpreted unless very carefully written.
Such writing is time consuming, but so are all modalities of teaching if done well.
In addition, written material has one great weakness: it must be read to be
effective. On the other hand, if learners don’t understand, they can re-read the
piece as often as they like.
These examples illustrate why good teachers rely on a number of instructional
modalities rather than just one approach.
We will be discussing one of the most powerful channels of instruction—guided group
discussion. Like other methods, this channel has strengths and weaknesses. Compile a
list of what you see as its strengths and weaknesses in the table on the next page.
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Group Discussion Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths Weaknesses
We will be referring often in this class to Mastering the Techniques of Teaching (Second
Edition), Joseph Lowman (San Francisco, Josey-Bass Inc., Publishers, 1995). Lowman
is a recognized authority on college-age instruction. All page numbers at ends of
citations are from this excellent book.
Definition
For our purposes, discussion will refer to leader-guided or moderated group discussion.
This will usually follow a pattern where the leader teaches partly by lecture, or at least
offers an introduction and conclusion. Guided discussion may involve some peer-to-
peer interaction, but most of the interaction will be from learners to the leader or the
group in general. The leader offers a short summary and comment to most, or all,
sharing.
Technique
Introduction
Some discussions seem to drag in fits and awkward silences, creating tension in the
group that further inhibits discussion. Other discussions seem to thrive in eager sharing,
with people actually competing to get their point in. Why is this?
The most likely reason for such difference is the introduction. In our introduction, we
touch on the skills of public speaking, or homiletics. The leader must stimulate and
excite the group about the subject under consideration. During this first part of the
meeting, the burden is completely on the leader to:
• Raise the group's consciousness of the issues: Defining what the issues
are, and why they are urgent
• Emotionally engage the group with the subject and with the leader
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• Achieve arousal: People sit up, furrow their brows, smile, laugh, and in
other ways show that they have been impacted emotionally, whether
excited, disturbed, insulted (be careful with this one), or inspired.
When people come into a meeting, they are not ready to discuss anything. Most people
come to meetings with cold hearts and empty minds. They do not have any thoughts to
share, or any desire to speak. Leaders who try to start out with a discussion question
are mistaken.
Achieving such arousal is not necessarily a long project. It could be accomplished in a
couple of minutes, although you could spend up to 15 or even 20 minutes, if you feel the
need to lay a more complete groundwork. These judgments are based on the subject
matter and the audience. Longer introductions have the potential to lay out more
elaborate content, but may exhaust the audience attention-span.
To become adept at this part, consider taking a class in homiletics.
Probes
The instructor will normally introduce "probes" or questions intended to prod members
toward a particular line of thought. However, discussion is not recitation. Recitation is
when the instructor gives students an opportunity to clarify content or the instructor asks
questions requiring specific knowledge of study content, frequently from assigned
readings (like the teacher in "The Paper Chase"). We are not suggesting such recitation
is wrong or harmful, only that such is not what we are studying in this class.
What, then, are these questions or probes that elicit discussion? Several patterns are
successful. Here is a partial list:
• Set up an apparent contradiction in your introduction, and ask the group how it
might be resolved
• Ask them how a particular truth might apply either to life in general, or to specific
situations you imagine
• Give them a statement from a third party (either imaginary or an authority) and
ask them to react to it
• Ask how someone from x, y, or z perspective would answer a particular question
• Ask whether what you just distilled from a text or narrative is different or the same
as something else with which they are already familiar (e.g. Is this teaching about
letting each person have their own conviction from Rom. 14 different in any way
from relativism?)
• Devil’s advocacy: challenge a position they all seem to accept axiomatically with
some problems
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• Discovery: What do you think this passage is really saying?
• Personal experience: Who wants to share an experience where this truth has
made a difference?
• Comparing and contrasting: Lowman says, "Asking students to compare and
contrast concepts, theories, and individuals orally in class helps to clarify the
relationships within a content area.” 172
As learners answer each question, the leader responds with a short summary statement
and a further probe, until moving on to another subject.
Objectives
After learning the particulars in a field of knowledge (such as vocabulary and grammar
rules in a language), the next stage in learning is to progressively differentiate and
relate the new particulars to existing particulars. Discussion is particularly suitable for
these later stages in learning. [See exercise on Ausubel’s stages of learning, page 30.]
Consider Lowman’s 7 types of thinking best developed in discussion:
1. Personal identification: “What would Paul have felt during his imprisonment in
Rome?”
2. Objective or critical thinking: “What are some problems with the notion of having
no consciousness of sin in Heb. 10?” Or, “How would a Calvinist answer this?”
3. Diagnostic thinking: Ask students to draw conclusions from a data set.
4. Independent thinking: Why did they reach the conclusion they did?
5. As-if thinking: Challenge them to predict a future outcome based on data.
6. Problem solving: Ask them to propose solutions to the problems under study.
7. Increasing awareness of value controversies: “These both sound good, let’s hear
more evidence for each.”
Finally, consider these qualifications on leaders’ questions by Lowman:
• Avoid questions that can be answered by short factual statements or yes or no
responses. Keep queries short and simple. If students must work to decipher
your question, they are less likely to respond to it. Discussion questions should
be easily understandable by students, put forth decisively, and followed by
silence. [Lowman 180]
• The underlying assumption is that as people struggle with concepts and their
own thoughts and feelings, they will become very receptive to new information
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and ideas that help them resolve the questions before them. Research shows
that, when learners struggle for answers in an area, they retain those answers
longer and more accurately. Further, when learners discuss related issues under
skillful guidance, they link the ideas in an associational network. Such networks
are remembered far longer than isolated concepts. 162
• More importantly, such discussion has the potential to develop actual thinking
skills that will never result from lecture. While an audience might admire and
enjoy a lecturer’s thinking, we have no reason to believe they would be able to
imitate such thinking on their own in situations not mentioned in a lecture. As
Lowman observes, "asking learners to apply in your group what they have
learned [through discussion] requires them to demonstrate understanding, not
merely memorization." 162 This is what we want from our people—not just the
ability to do what a tape-recorder can do (spit back knowledge), but to creatively
handle that knowledge in ways that are useful in ministry and Christian living.
Seen this way, we realize discussion is an essential type of instruction where learners
get to try their own wings like baby birds. The guided discussion format is a great
approach for many small groups and home churches. Authorities agree that, even in
large groups of over 100, a skillful lecturer can incorporate periods of interaction with
good effect.
However, guidance is essential. Many discussions lead nowhere, and any conclusions
reached are not memorable. As Lowman says, "Discussion should be for an intended
purpose, not simply to hear students’ voices." The notion that any discussion or
interaction will naturally lead to advancement in learners’ lives is naïve.
Leader's Responses
The leader guides the discussion with responses to what people say. It is common for
the leader to respond to virtually every person who speaks with short responses
calculated to clarify what is being said while keeping the discussion moving forward in
the right direction.
This responding by the leader is a very complicated skill, made more difficult by the
immediacy of discussion. Little planning is possible when it comes to offering
responses. On the other hand, many aspects of this skill are common to good
conversation in general and become instinctual after some practice. Consider what the
leader must do in order to offer good responses:
• Listen carefully to each point, with eye-contact, nodding, smiling, showing
recognition or concern as appropriate
• Immediately summarize in a sentence or two what was just said, and relate it to
the topic if necessary
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• Determine without hesitation whether to challenge the point, to affirm it, to show
reservation, to call for clarification, to move on to another subject, etc.
• Instantly compose and introduce another question, or probe
• Introduce energy, enthusiasm, humor, and friendliness into the discussion
• Watch the clock mentally and keep things moving in a timely way—interrupting
wordy sharing if necessary
• Introducing blocks of content from time to time which can serve as further fodder
for discussion
When the discussion leader learns to do all these things by habit and instinct, leading
discussion becomes an enjoyable and relaxing way to teach. He is able to draw on the
gifts and knowledge of fellow Christians in the group for help rather than feeling
responsible for a solo performance. While not as glorifying to the leader as a
blockbuster sermon, a rich discussion will leave members feeling like they contributed,
learned, and heard God speak to their hearts. Viewed this way, we see that leading
discussion is one of the most self-effacing modes of teaching.
Exercise
How you affirm people has a lot to do with their willingness to participate in
discussion. Take a minute right now to write 5 different possible responses that
would be encouraging to members in your House Church who just shared (2
responses for a good answer, 2 responses for an answer that needs corrected, and
1 response that includes a follow-up probe).
Example: Wow! I’ve never thought about it like that!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Background Factors
To maximize the effectiveness of discussion, leaders should realize the importance of a
number of background factors:
1. Discussion is easier when all the students can see each other and the instructor.
It’s a mistake to set your room up in rows of chairs facing one direction when
your goal is discussion. Have you ever had a discussion with the back of
someone’s head? De-emphasize hierarchical relationship between teacher and
students as much as possible:
2. Avoid hinting that the teacher already has a good answer that the students must
guess. "No, that’s not quite it."
3. In egalitarian discussion, avoid seeing discussion as a chance for the powerful
teacher to test the students’ mettle. Such would be recitation, not discussion.
4. Seating can be suggestive of hierarchical leadership or of facilitating leadership.
Think about how your room is arranged and how the leader presents herself.
5. A podium of any kind is a very questionable addition.
6. Begin with "let’s see what we can discover about. . ." or "What are we to make of
this?" to emphasize that the leader too, is participating in the process.
7. Skillful leaders discourage competition among learners by not encouraging
members to show off that they know it all.
8. Discussion should not be allowed to become an avenue for members to demolish
each other’s comments.
9. Members should be conditioned to participate in discussion from the outset of a
group. Lowman 178
10.Discussion is especially stimulating for students who speak, but thinking is also
stimulated in those who merely listen to their classmates and consider what they
might have said themselves. 163
Potential Strengths
Discussion is uniquely capable of teaching people...
1. To approach a problem or topic rationally,
2. To monitor their own thinking processes, and
3. To question their implicit assumptions.
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It also tells the instructor how completely the information has been absorbed. By
engaging in discussion, the leader is able to appreciate quickly which members
understand in a deep way, and which ones need more help.
Discussion promotes independence because, for the most part, students must come up
with responses on their own during discussion. Such independent creativity is identical
to what they must do when they use the same concepts in real life. Lecture centers on
the speaker’s thinking. Discussion centers on the learners’ thinking.
Discussion is particularly good at revealing students’ attitudes, and these will likely
never come out in other forms of teaching. When we see attitudes, we see our work as
leaders cut out for us. The members themselves may not realize until after a good
discussion what their own attitudes were.
Lowman says, "An instructor who, by means of discussion, asks for students’ opinions
communicates that he or she cares about their reactions. . . Discussion enhances
rapport between student and teacher partly because it gives instructors so many
chances to show acceptance of student ideas." 165 Viewed this way, leading discussion
is an opportunity for leaders (and other members as well) to encourage and build up
people who share. We will often find issues coming up that we can pray for in each
other’s lives.
According to Lowman, "Student comments are offered to the instructor in the hope of
approval and verification of their academic competence. The quality of the instructor’s
response potently influences both the student offering the comment and those
observing the interchange." 165 Leaders are able to motivate whole groups to become
sharper, more effective sharers. Members who see themselves as victorious
contributors to the group discussion will invest more at every level, both at meetings,
and when alone at home. These can, in turn, become the building blocks of future
spoken ministries by members.
It is possible that leading discussion might involve more learned skills than does
effective preaching. Good preaching often seems possible for some, but not for others.
Leading discussion also draws on the abilities of the group, which in our context, include
mature Christians who are ready to help.
Potential Weaknesses
But discussion is by no means always successful. Good discussions seem spontaneous
to visitors, but they are not. Leading discussion is no easier than good lecturing:
• "Discussions must be well planned in order to be effective, but their quality also
depends greatly on how well the instructor performs. Leading excellent
discussion demands just as much stage presence, leadership, and energy as
presenting a lecture—and considerably more interpersonal understanding and
communication skill. Because of these additional requirements, some educators
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