Teaching via dialog
Classical education emphasizes dialog rather than lecture. What’s so great about dialog? Here are some thoughts based on David Hicks’ lecture mentioned in the previous post.
Dialog implies that students are important. It gives the teacher the opportunity to model showing respect for a subordinate. It conveys a sense that what you’re talking about is important and worth exploring carefully.
Dialog is not an easy option. It is not simply letting students talk. As David Hicks put it, the trick to great teaching is to get the students to ask the questions you want them to ask. That takes hard work. It’s much easier to lecture.
Hicks challenged us to read through the gospels noticing the ratio of questions to statements in Jesus’ teaching. If Jesus asked a lot of questions while teaching, shouldn’t we?
Tags: teaching
