Student Teachers

I had a really good time in class on Friday. I had prepared a lesson on biblical financial unity, mainly centered on fifteen key thoughts on finances/money/possessions outlined in Scripture. Before class I wrote each of these statements, along with a Scripture reference, on the chalkboard; things like “God owns it all” (Psalm 24:1). After introducing the topic and teaching for about thirty minutes I explained that we were now going to have the students themselves come up to the front of the room one at a time to teach the fifteen concepts to the rest of the class.

It was priceless. They got so into it and so excited! Many of them still struggle with their English, and some of them are a bit shy, but they all did fantastic, especially considering that they had no idea before class they were going to do this, nor did they know which concept they would be teaching until it was time to teach that particular concept. To really get a feel for what it was like you have to understand the seriousness with which West Africans take such opportunities to have an audience. They even used the opportunity to poke a little fun at the “Reverend Doctor,” as they call me. It was great. Not only did they enjoy teaching, they seemed to really respond well to one another’s teaching.

I’ve always heard the best way to learn something is to teach it yourself. That’s definitely been true for me as I’ve busied myself preparing lesson plans so that I would be “thoroughly equipped” (2 Tim. 3:17) to teach. But I also saw this today as the students really wanted to do well as they taught one another, and so they put forth great effort and attention to what they taught, as well as what the others were teaching.  On top of that I got to sit and be fed myself for a change, which I really enjoyed. I’m sure this method is probably something my teacher friends already knew about, but I was thankful for the inspiration to try it today, for I truly do believe it was God’s idea; it worked to well to be one of my ideas. Thanks be to God!