Chris' Practicum Post #9-Teaching Report

Hours this week-4 (1-Sunday school, 1.5-Worship, 1.5-Class preparation)

My Lesson

This week I talked about unity and how unity is the only way that we, as Christians, can experience true community. The goal of this lesson was to give biblical examples of what community looks like and the aspect of unity that must be present to create this community.

The points I used were as follows:

Apart from God there is no community

What is Community? What does this community look like? What steps do we need to take in order to achieve this form of community?

Christ is the only way to achieve community and strength

Christ came and took down these walls/barriers between Jews and Gentiles allowing them to become a community of unified believers for the good of the Kingdom. 

Community creates a dwelling place for the power of the Holy Spirit

All people are meant to be together as one unified body of believers in order to fully function for God

B.The Response

There were about ten people in class today. 

C.Supervisor Evaluation

My supervisor was very supportive and thought I did a very nice job. The one big thing that he constructively criticized was that I like to use the words, “like and um” in almost all of my talking. He said it can get rather annoying if people start to pick up on it. He also said that I should have something to help engage the class more at the beginning. He did like the fact that I incorporated prayer into the class as a way of building relationships, which also tied into my lesson. One of the things he said was that I did not make much eye contact with my “audience” and that I looked very stiff. He said I needed to relax and make myself feel comfortable. If I am tense the class can pick up on that and it will in turn make them feel uncomfortable also. The vibe of the room is based off of the comfort of the teacher or leader in the room. 

Did Well

Well prepared. 

Did a good job of incorporating prayer that is common to the class into the lesson. 

Able to relate to those I was teaching. 

Had good biblical points that were backed by the text. 

To Improve

Eye contact

Comfort while teaching

Engaging the class more than just at the beginning

Maybe move around a little bit and not be so stiff.

Questions

Being prepared is a big part of teaching, but being comfortable in front of one’s peers and friends is also big in teaching. What are some ways that I can get past this fear/uncomfortable feeling in front of my friends and peers?

How does a teacher keep the attention of those they are trying to teach for more extended periods of time? How do you keep it from becoming boring and too much like a lecture?

Not relying on notes all of the time will free up a teacher to adapt to how the lesson if flowing and allow them to not be tied to a podium while teaching. Is it feasible for a teacher to memorize their lesson every week? Or maybe at least memorize the main points? 

Why am I afraid to speak or teach in front of my peers? What do I have to lose?