Lay Speakers Teach Adults (Advanced Course) Now Available From Discipleship Resources

Lay Speakers Teach Adults
Advanced Course
By Diana L. Hynson
Discipleship Resources, 2006
$5.00. Ten or More: $4.25 each

Lay Speakers Teach Adults by Diana L. Hynson is a study guide that uses as the main text Start Here: Learning and Teaching With Adults by Barbara Bruce. This resource is prepared with the requirements for the lay speaking advanced course in mind, but is an appropriate teacher-training tool for people who are not lay speakers.

The Welcome section is followed by introductory information for both the course participant and the course leader. These pages describe how the study guide can be used by Lay Speakers and teachers or other leaders in educational ministry. The participants are advised about what they are likely to experience over the five-week course, what is expected of them as learners, purposes and learning goals, areas of ministry in which they may be called or find opportunity to serve, and likely sources of support. The course leader is advised about the pattern and expectations of the course format, some ways to prepare for teaching, teaching tips, course requirements, and a summary of the basic text and how it will be used.

Lay Speakers Teach Adults includes some educational theory, and it also employs the teaching practicum as a main element. Student teachers learn about the seven intelligences and other content helps in preparing lesson material that is suitable for working with adults.

Sessions 1 and 2 cover an introduction to adult learning and faith formation, including the explanation of multiple intelligences and learning preferences from Start Here. These two sessions include activities that model each of the seven intelligences so that student teachers will have an example to think about as they prepare their practicum. Session 5 wraps up the study with preparation and information about the vision and mission of transformational teaching.

Sessions 3 and 4 provide a format and instructions for how the student teachers will teach their segment in the practicum. A very helpful chart is provided to guide the study leader on how to organize and schedule Sessions 3 and 4 into twenty-minute teaching segments for class sizes of seven to eighteen participants.

These two sessions are potentially the most creative ones and must not be skipped, because here the students integrate their learning theory with practice. This is a significant part of the course — and one that makes it different from many other courses — because no one learns to teach only by watching or reading. At some point, all teachers must take their place, front and center, and lead a class. Ideally, each student teacher would practice by preparing and presenting a whole teaching session. In a five-week/10-hour study, that is not feasible; so students are given a Scripture passage and must lead one activity using two or more of the intelligences.

When teaching is done so well that the class is a seamless, integrated experience, the specific strategies, intentions, and practices that make it so often seem invisible. Therefore, in all the sessions, the final portion of the learning time is devoted to analyzing what teaching methods and strategies were employed, why, and to what effect. This is a step often ignored in teaching settings, and therefore an important and necessary part of the learning experience.

This course offers Christian educators an already-prepared ten-hour training that would be especially helpful for new teachers. People new to Christian education leadership may also benefit from taking the course for the experience before leading it.

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