In an article entitled, 10 Marks of Great Teaching, Josh Hunt shares ways to improve teaching through evaluating yourself in ten areas. The ten areas are his; the commentary about each area is mine. In Part 1, we will look at the first five areas. Evaluate last Sunday’s lesson in these areas:
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PASSION. Did the Holy Spirit through the passage/truth convict you? Did you teach with energy and enthusiam? Could attenders tell you were excited? If you are not excited about the truth of the passage of scripture from which you are teaching, how can you expect your learners to be excited? Your gestures, tone, and body movement add much to conveying how important you consider the message.
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PRACTICALITY. Did you work hard to intersect the truth with learners’ lives? Did you help learners see how the message/truth is relevant? Did you give them handles so they know how to take small, concrete steps toward obedience? Did you lead them to make a decision about what they will do or who they will be this week?
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HUMOR. Sunday School should be fun. It should be something we enjoy. Did the class laugh together? Spontaneous laughter is an important sign of relationships. Laughter is evidence that members trust one another and enjoy spending time together. Humor is more than jokes. Don’t rush past times to smile and laugh as a class.
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PERSONAL. Were you transparent? Did you share yourself with the group? Did you make the truth real? With prior permission, did you tap into the affinities and experiences of attenders? I like the reminder that Josh gives: “Being personal is also one of the best ways of creating interest. People are interested in people — especially the personal lives of people.”
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INVOLVEMENT. Did you involve the group in the lesson? Did they partipate in discussion? Did everyone or almost everyone talk? Did you ask questions, and/or did you divide them into groups and give them assignments? At any point, did you lose their attention?
I like Josh’s grading suggestion. If each of the areas has the potential of 10 points, the total potential would be 100 points. How many points did you score on the first half? Next time we will look at the second half of the ten areas: preparation, background, introduction, inspiration, and focus. When you teach, give your best effort to God and those in your care! Be revolutionary!
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