by Aleta Samford
Synopsis: In her continuing series on teaching, Aleta explores ways of helping children make personal and proper application.
As we continue our thoughts on the Law of the Lesson, we ask: What are the right questions to ask of our students so that we may proceed from their known to their unknown? We pointed out that, to begin with, the question, "What does the story mean?" places children in a teetering position because they lack information.
Imagine two teachers who are leading their classes in a discussion of the story of Ruth, but with different approaches on how to help children think:
Teacher. What did the story mean to you, Debbie?
Debbie. Umm, I can't think.
Teacher. Tom?
Tom. Well, it was exciting.
Teacher. Exciting. What did it mean to the rest of you? Greta?
Greta. The way Ruth helped Naomi.
Teacher. Anything else? Mandy? What did the story mean to you?
Mandy. Well, in the end, what the story meant to me was that two people got married.
Teacher. What happened in the lesson? Eric?
Eric. Well, a lot of things happened. It's about Ruth marrying Boaz.
Tom. And it's about Naomi.
Teacher. Tell me more about Naomi.
Tom. She had two families. Her husband and two sons died, but later Ruth and Boaz are her family.
Teacher. Tell me more about Naomi's family. What happened?
The first example ended with shallow answers. In the second, however, you can imagine the wealth of information discussed as the characters of Naomi, then Ruth, and then Boaz were each developed. "What happened in the lesson?" is a much better approach.
I have been using a stairway to illustrate the progress of our students, whether through life or each lesson. The first teacher began at the top of the stairway when she grasped for the application by asking "What did the lesson mean?" The children had not yet experienced each step.
The second teacher taught with a stairway mentality as she arranged the lesson so that each conquered step of knowledge led easily and naturally to the next. By expecting feedback, she required the students to experience in their minds what the characters experienced by guiding them naturally through the facts of how they compared and interacted with one another. When they personalized the information into higher thinking, the applications became obvious.
Through the years, I have heard a lot of frustration over how to make the application. I admit—there was a time that I was concerned about doing that part right, as well, but the study of these laws has helped me place the responsibility where it belongs. As teachers, we need to say to ourselves, "It is not my responsibility to do all the talking or the forcing of application. I cannot teach three-year-olds to love, or to share, or to obey by just telling them to do so. I cannot make teenagers sit and listen to my conclusions of doing this or doing that. I must help all my students, no matter the age, to arrive at the conclusions themselves. This will only happen if I am well-versed in the facts God has given me within every lesson enough so that I can lead the children through the process of thinking about those facts and coming to His conclusions for their lives themselves."
In my next article, we will look at God's principle of the lesson as well as ways to set the facts of each lesson securely in our minds.
Author Bio: Aleta is the wife of Gene Samford who preaches for the church that meets in Kemp, TX. She has taught Bible classes for 44 years and, to help other women join the ranks, presents a series of lessons based on God's word, The Seven Laws of Teaching, and her own experiences. She can be reached at aletas10@sbcglobal.net.
