So, in reading Boice, my overwhelming thought was, "isn't this how everyone does it?"
I don't know about others, but I don't spend copious amounts of time preparing for a class or write out endless notes about what I am going to say. Neither do I stand there lecturing for 50 minutes. Generally I think about what the main goal of the class is, write down some brief points, and then just take the class as it goes.
Partly I have inherited my teaching method from my alma mater, St. John's. There all teaching is required to be done through Socratic dialectics. I teach almost exclusively through dialectics. So I generally start out my class with a question. When a brave soul decided to answer, I will either ask the student to further clarify a point or else ask the class if they agree with the statement. Through the use of questions you can still control the way the class moves, but it is a more involved, gentle touch. Like Socrates, I try to urge my students toward realization. Such moments, I believe, have a much deeper impact than being dictated to, since the realization occurs within the system of thought already present in the student.
Suffice to say, I agree wholeheartedly with Boice in his methodology of teaching. Talking at people is really an artificial method of communication, and not terribly effective.
Well, I'm afraid I didn't teach in a chilled-out sort of way when I first started. I know I still talk way too much "at" my students, but I'm better than I used to be. I used to be terrified when I was standing in front of my classroom. All those eyes staring at me! So I felt safer hiding behind an impenetrable cloud of names, dates, key words, and literary quotations. But these days I can slow down in class, allow myself to think (and breathe!), and actually say things to my students that I didn't write down beforehand.
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