Methodical Principles
EVALUATING
Methodical Principles
EVALUATING
“I know that a teacher should always evaluate his lesson after he has taught it. What are some areas that should be evaluated?”
Evaluation – A Discouragement?
Teachers who are sincere and conscientious often find that evaluating a lesson can be a discouraging process. Possibly you have had the same experience when judging your teaching sessions. While thinking about the lesson you taught, perhaps you saw some discouraging things: mistakes made; poor attendance; lack of interest; disrupting influence of a few class members. Maybe to you the appraisal of your class presents little that was good and much that was bad. So, you decide you should quit teaching.
But don’t.
1. Remember God’s promise: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Is. 55:10).
2. Remember God’s way of working: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. For we are fellow workmen for God; you are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:6‑9).
3. Remember God’s power: “When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling; and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:1‑5).
God’s Evaluations
God’s evaluations and our evaluations are very different. While we are prone to judge a person by their knowledge or skill, God judges the heart. He asks of you as a teacher only that you be a faithful servant: Faithful – In dedication to Him; In loving concern for others; In prayer and meditation; In studying His Word; In careful preparation for sharing His Word; and In planting the Seed in the hearts of others.
When the Word is faithfully proclaimed, the Lord will not permit it to return empty. He will bring forth the harvest even though you who teach are inexperienced, make mistakes, have a limited knowledge, and sometimes feel like a failure. God’s Word is power. It will work in men's hearts. Your confidence must not be in your own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word.
Basis for Evaluation
Even though the process of evaluation may sometimes be discouraging, as a teacher you should learn to evaluate each teaching session objectively. It is one of the best means of helping gain insight into your problems, helping you grow as a teacher. A teacher’s evaluation and student's evaluation of a lesson may be different. That is why you need to learn to be objective and analyze the lesson from both teacher and student’s point of view. The following may serve as a guide:
Areas for Evaluation
1. In terms of purpose: Did you accomplish the major objectives of Bible study – Getting people into the Word? Helping them gain insight into the truths? Encouraging them to share insights with others? Challenging them to apply the truths to their lives?
2. In terms of organization: Were you as well prepared as you could have been – Did the lesson seem to progress easily from one step to another? Were your teaching notes prepared in such a way that they were easily handled? Were all materials in readiness?
3. In terms of presentation: (a) Approach – Did it reveal your aim for the lesson? Stimulate interest? Give background? (b) Message – Did your class observe basic facts in the passage? Were the facts interpreted in such a way that the meaning seemed clear to them? Did you emphasize the most important truths? Did you help your class observe more and gain deeper insights in the Bible passage than they could by themselves? (c) Illustrations – Were they fitting? True to the text? (d) Language – Did you use simple enough terms so that your class could understand what you said? (e) Methods– How effective were your methods? Too much lecture? Too much discussion on nonessentials? What did your questions contribute to the lesson? How much did you involve the group in study activity? What use did you make of visual aids? Maps? Pictures? How effective was your chalkboard work? Did your presentation really challenge students to think? (f) Challenge– In what way were truths applied to the lives of your students? Could there have been a more spiritual challenge? More practical applications?
4. In terms of student needs and response: Were the personal needs of students met? Were you able to encourage class response? Did you give them a chance to ask questions? Was there evidence of the Holy Spirit working in the hearts?
5. In terms of student‑teacher rapport: Were you able to feel relaxed and at home with your class? Did you create a climate of good will and friendliness so the class could relax and feel at ease?
Other Questions Teachers Should Ask Themselves
Was the lesson rushed too much?
One temptation which often faces you as a teacher is to rush your class through a lesson resulting from a shortage of time or a lesson too long. Even though pressed for time, the teacher should try to avoid transmitting tensions to the class. If you try to cover more than the members of your class are capable of receiving and try to move faster than they are capable of comprehending, you will create frustration and hinder learning. On the whole, students prefer less to “eat” and more time to digest the food they do receive. Rushing will only produce indigestion. When you know that covering your material is not possible, choose the most important and let the rest go.
Were too many references used?
The use of cross‑references is necessary in order to interpret passages and explain meanings of terms, but if too many are used they can be a hindrance rather than help to the lesson. If you are teaching an entire book, stay in the book. Your first aim should be to give your class as clear and thorough a picture as possible of what this particular book teaches about the wonderful truths of God. Students find it disappointing if so much time is spent looking up other references that there is not enough for thoroughly studying the book itself.
If your study is topical in nature, you will need to use many references, but even in this case you should select references wisely. It is better to discuss a few verses thoroughly than to skim over many. This does not mean that you may not have many listed in your study notes, but you should use only those for which you have time.
Was God’s Word permitted to speak?
Drifting into extemporaneous sermons is one of the greatest temptations facing any Bible teacher who also does a great deal of public speaking. Sermons have their place, but if you as the teacher do so much “speaking” that the Word is not given a chance to “speak,” it is disappointing to the students. People are hungry to know what the Bible is saying. The reason that many lose interest in “Bible study” is because the lesson was not a study but a sermon. Be sure you give your class a chance to observe what the Word is saying, everything that it says. The more the Word speaks and the less the teacher speaks, the greater the blessing.
TRY IT YOURSELF
1. The only way to learn how to teach is to practice. A good activity for meetings of teachers is to have practice teaching sessions. Divide the teachers into groups of four. Each one in the group plans a ten minute Bible lesson to be taught with the use of questions and guided discussion (Review the lesson on Preparation for an outline of a lesson plan). In ten minutes your teachers may not have time to complete a lesson but it is long enough for them to find out how effective their questions were to stimulate discussion. After the teaching sessions, evaluate the lessons: (a) Regarding the approach: Did it reveal the aim? (b) Regarding the effectiveness of the questions: Did they encourage observation, interpretation, and application? Were they “telling,” “trying,” “testing” or “teaching?” (c) Regarding the message: Were the main truths emphasized? (d) Regarding the conclusion: Was it summarizing? Challenging?
