Called to Teach

William Yount

• Publisher: B&H Books
• Year: 1999
• ISBN:
  9781433669170
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Inclusive Education

Written as a textbook for courses on teaching at the college and seminary level, Called to Teach actually reaches out to a much wider audience. Those considering a teaching career, homeschoolers and parents will gain valuable insight and knowledge from Yount's latest book.

Part One

The Teacher as Person

Chapter 1. The Teacher as Dynamic Synergist

The Triad of Teaching

Three-in-One Teaching

Jesus, the Dynamic Synergist

Becoming a Synergistic Teacher

Chapter 2. The Teacher as Mature Person

The Triad of Maturity

The Teacher as Exemplar

The Teacher Growing in Christlikeness

Chapter 1

The Teacher as Dynamic Synergist

The eight of us sat on sofas clustered around a fireplace in the conference room. Beyond plate glass windows lay the verdant countryside of western Virginia—pine trees and Blue Ridge Mountains. A warm fire softly crackled in the background. The staff of Columbia Baptist Church had gathered, calendars and notepads in hand, to dream together about the new year. Our pastor, Neal Jones, had already planned the year's preaching emphasis around the themes of togetherness, mutual support, and the family of God. He captured the essence of the year in the term dynamic synergism—“many elements working together.” Perhaps it was the synergistic effect of lush trees, mountain mist, warm fire, and close staff relationships that filled me with wonder. Even now I can with closed eyes travel back twenty years and still feel the impact of the term.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines synergism as an alloy of elements whose “combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.” The word comes from the Greek ergon, “to work,” and syn-, “with,” and literally means “to work together.” The word dynamic comes from the Greek dynamis, “power,” and refers to a “moving or driving force.” A dynamic synergism is composed of elements that normally exist independent of one another. They push at each other, or escape to go their own way. Holding them together is difficult, but the resulting effect is powerful.

In a previous book, Created to Learn,¹ I described three major learning theory systems: the behavioral (doing skillfully), the cognitive (understanding clearly), and the affective (experiencing and valuing personally). In introducing the Teachers’ Triad, I wrote, “Educational problems do not fall neatly into any one system… . Effective teachers move freely from system to system, engaging learners where they are, helping them to master the subject and grow as a result.”²

But I would go farther now. The best teachers are like parallel processors³ who operate in all three systems simultaneously, conscious in-the-now of behaviors, concepts, and values. Dynamic synergists make the best teachers.

The Triad of Teaching

The diagram represents the three systems of learning. Each circle is independent of the others, and so their relationship to each other is variable. Each circle can be any size, representing varying degrees of importance. Here we see an ideal balance: all three circles are the same size, and all three intersect equally. I'll briefly define the elements, then describe the distortion in learning that's caused when we overemphasize any one of them. Finally, I'll describe the benefits of synergistic teaching.

What Learners Think

The thinking circle represents the cognitive aspect of learning and includes such elements as knowing (recalling) facts, comprehending concepts, solving problems, analyzing case studies, writing conceptual essays,⁴ and judging situations by established criteria. Cognitive learning is objective, cerebral, logical, and rational. Without helping learners think clearly, we open them to confused frustration: “Whutduzallthisstuffmean?!”

How can we help our learners to think more clearly? We will do well if we focus on concepts more than words, ask questions rather than provide answers, pose problems rather than give reasons, and present examples rather than isolated facts. Let's look more closely at each of these.

Concepts vs. Words. I once asked a class to write down at least eight sentences using the word run. Here are some of their examples:

• Johnny runs (moves swiftly) to second base.
• Barbara runs (manages) her business efficiently.
• Tim runs (operates) the printing press well.
• Jeannie has a run (defect) in her hose.
• Peter's team scored a run (score) in the second inning.
• Water always runs (flows) downhill.
• Members of Congress run (campaign) for office.
• Fido was kept in a nice dog run (outdoor enclosure).

The word is singular: run. The meanings are multiple: move swiftly, manage, operate, and so forth. These meanings reflect the different concepts referenced by the word run.

When Jesus said “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matt. 7:1), he was condemning the nagging, carping, censorious spirit of the Pharisees and religious leaders of his time. He was saying that when we live like this, we will be criticized by others. Citizens of the kingdom are to avoid the hypercritical, judgmental spirit of religious bigotry. It is not enough to say “Jesus said, ‘Don't judge.’” Unless you explain what Jesus meant by the word judge, you leave your learners to define it out of their own imaginations. For instance, here's one such misinterpretation: Two people at church are overheard discussing a prominent television evangelist. One of them says, “I would never send money to him. He's just a crook. He's taking advantage of poor people.” The other replied, “Oh, honey, you shouldn't say such things. Remember, Jesus said we aren't to judge people.”

As teachers we must help our learners develop the concepts represented by the words. One day a seminary student of mine led the class in a Bible study of the fruit of the Spirit. He explained “joy” this way: “Joy is another one of the fruits of the Spirit. Joy is the kind of joy that only God can give. It's the kind of joy we'll experience in heaven. Ohhhh. The joy of the Lord is wonderful!”

This student didn't have a clue about the meaning of “joy.” He talked about it. Said nice words about it. Said those words with deep feeling. But in terms of explanation, his words were empty.

If he had compared biblical joy with the similar concepts of fun or pleasure or happiness, he would have accomplished much more in helping his students understand it. All these terms reflect a sense of delight, or bliss, or elation. The distinction is that biblical joy is not dependent on life circumstances. We can experience God's joy whether we meet success or trouble. As we walk with him, he produces joy-from-within by his Spirit, in good times and bad. For example, my first experience with biblical joy in bad times occurred as I sat alone in a hospital waiting room. I had ridden in the ambulance with my mostly comatose wife. From time to time she had sat up, screamed, and passed out. They had taken her back into the emergency area—and pointed me to the waiting room. An hour had passed. I sat in silence, trying to breathe despite clouds of cigarette smoke being produced by nervous floor-pacers. Then in the stillness of my aloneness, out of the quiet, came the unspoken words: “Do not worry. Everything will be all right.” Then she'll live? I asked within myself. “Whether she lives or not, everything will be all right.” And with that assurance, felt from within, came peace. And on the heels of peace, joy. I certainly was not having fun. There was nothing pleasurable about it. I wasn't happy. But I was filled with joy. For the next two hours I sat calmly, eyes closed, at peace, giving thanks for what the Lord would do.

Questions vs. Answers. Help learners think by asking conceptual questions based on their readings or your explanations. A “conceptual question” is one that focuses on the essential meaning of a concept or principle. Answers go beyond fixed or memorized definitions. Different answers can correctly define or explain the meaning of a concept simultaneously. The question “What is a conceptual question?” may ask for nothing more than simple recall of a definition previously given. The question “What is an example of a conceptual question?” requires understanding of the term as well as the ability to create an illustrative example. A hundred different “examples” can all be correct, if, in fact, students give correct examples.

Giving learners pat answers and simple facts can produce little more than noise in the air. As one deaf student of mine once said, “In one eye and out the other.” It's all forgotten by tomorrow's lunch. But ask a thoughtful question after an explanation, and you drive learners into their own understanding for answers. For example, you might ask, “So, how would you explain the meaning of Paul's phrase ‘express image of the Father’ in referring to Jesus?” The idea is to teach, then question. Ask questions and give fewer “pat” answers. Listen to responses and make adjustments in their understanding.

Problems vs. Reasons. Help learners think by posing problems rather than giving reasons. Giving your students “five reasons why Christians ought to forgive” will do less to develop an understanding of “forgiveness” than presenting them with problems that can be solved by a forgiving spirit and then prompting them by asking, “Based on our study this morning, how would you handle this situation?” Listen to their solutions. Correct misunderstandings. Suggest or call for alternatives. Lead the class to see the relevance of “forgiveness” to the contemporary situation.

Examples vs. Facts. Help learners think by emphasizing examples over isolated facts. Paul wrote that love is—and I'm paraphrasing here—patient, kind; it does not envy, boast; it is not proud, rude, self-seeking, easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs; does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth (see 1 Cor. 13:4–6).

These are facts, but what do they mean? Elaborate on patient and kind. Illustrate envy and boasting. Explain “proud, rude, self-seeking, and easily angered.” How might someone keep a “record of wrongs”? Why would anyone “delight in evil,” and what is the “truth” that I am to rejoice with? We must clearly explain the meanings of biblical words—in modern translations, but even more so with the King James Version, which uses language unfamiliar to the modern layman: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth” (1 Cor. 13:4–5 KJV).

Whatever translation of Scripture you use, focus on correctly translating the words on the page so that the message comes through clearly. Paul said it this way: “Do your best...