Happy Monday!
I’m curious about your thoughts on this edition of word-of-the-week…
Learn
It’s a simple word, especially for a guy who spent thirty-five years as a teacher. Everybody learns, right? What’s the big deal?
It’s sad to admit that for about half of my teaching career, I didn’t have a working definition of what it meant to “learn.” Learning was just what happened in school—sort of. Amazingly, it just wasn’t something I thought about.
Somewhere along the way I understood that most of what my students were doing had little to do with learning—whatever that meant. And I realized that a lot of what I was doing had little to do with teaching—whatever that meant. Over time and a lot of liquid refreshments, some colleagues and I developed some ideas that crystallized into this principle:
Talking isn’t teaching, and listening isn’t learning.
That was an eye-opener, since most of what happens in school involves teachers talking and students pretending to listen. So as teachers we weren’t really teaching. And even when the students did what we asked (listen) they weren’t really learning.
You might imagine that this revelation prompted a good deal of soul-searching. My conclusions impact how I perceive my current work, and perhaps they can help us challenge some of our thinking related to faith and church.
A few weeks ago I talked to an old friend who pastors a small church. He lamented that so much of his time was occupied by stuff that kept him away from his most important role: teaching. In my very large church we have a “teaching team” of pastors. I conclude that pastors view themselves, to some extent, as teachers.
I presume that these folks intend that their “teaching” results in some form of “learning.” I wonder how they define teaching and learning. Do you think they’d agree that “talking isn’t teaching, and listening isn’t learning”?
I think it matters because so much of traditional church structure looks an awful lot like school. I wonder if we tend toward some of the same assumptions that make school work well for some and not-at-all for others.
I want to explore this a bit over the next few days. For now, a few questions to spark your thinking and generate some discussion.
- Do you agree that “talking isn’t teaching, and listening isn’t learning”?
- How would you define learning? How do you know if you’ve “learned” something?
- Do you need to learn something this week?
I wish you a great Monday and a wonderful week.