A Teaching Handbook for Wiccans and Pagans (11 page)

Although the learner's experience is important, Knowles's other concepts definitely come into play in teaching Pagans. Their motivations are likely driven by their own personal journeys rather than by some outside factor. Pagans want to know why it's important to learn something, how the knowledge can be used, and how it relates to their own lives before they invest time and money; they are very self-directed—which, I believe, is part of the reason it's often said that working with Pagans is like herding cats.

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Chapter 5

Some Basic Teaching Techniques

After reading the section on learning styles, you probably figured out that providing a wide variety of experiences and opportunities for learning is a good way to make sure you address the various learning types of the students you are teaching. And communicating clearly about what you're teaching and why—and how it will help your students, while keeping in mind whatever you know about their personal viewpoints—will help you reach adult learners.

Some of these things might take you out of your comfort zone, but it's important to push your own boundaries a little in order to reach the most students. If, like me, you're not a fan of listening to yourself talk, you'll naturally want to focus more on doing activities or using media in your classes. But sometimes the teacher explaining is exactly what students need to grasp a concept. The point is, don't allow your own biases to keep you from trying a technique or a teaching strategy that might be very useful for your students.

Here is an introduction to some of the basic techniques you might want to use in planning your class. Some of the techniques and strategies will be familiar from classes you have taken, and some might be new to you. In
Chapter 6
, we'll discuss how to incorporate these techniques into a class outline. For many of these activities/techniques, it is important to debrief afterward. For example, if you have groups brainstorm on a topic, have at least some of the groups report what they came up with afterward. Students are more likely to remember the activity and what they learned from it if you debrief, and they also get to hear other students' answers and ideas.

Lecture

Whether you use any of the other tactics or not, a good portion of your class is likely to be lecture, or at least you talking in front of the student(s). In some cases, having the teacher stand up in front of a class and talk is still the best way to deliver information. To keep students interested, keep the lecture sections of your class relevant and only as long as they need to be to convey the information well. Ask students questions along the way, and/or allow them to ask you questions. And be sure to break up lecture segments with activities, discussion, or other techniques, such as think, pair, share (see
page 106
). Consider team-
teaching
or bringing in guest speakers, too! Having someone else to play off of helps alleviate any nervousness you have; it also can be energizing.

Question-and-Answer Techniques

Active Listening

One of the most important things teachers can do is listen carefully to their students. Sometimes teachers assume that because they're the ones delivering the information, they're the only ones who have anything useful to say. But, as I mentioned in the chapter on learning styles, teaching adults is a cooperative experience, and cooperation requires listening.

Active listening is a simple technique you can use to get valuable information from your students and show them that what they're saying is important to you. To listen actively:

• Look directly at the person speaking, and stop doing anything except listening.
  
• Listen to what the person is saying, but also listen for the feelings behind what is said.
  
• Show interest.
  
• Ask questions to make sure you understand, and repeat back what the person said in your own words to show that you understand.
  
• Don't let your own views shut down your listening before the person has finished speaking, and don't express your own views until the person is done speaking.
  

If you are having students work or discuss things in small groups or with a partner, encourage them to use active listening too.

What Do You Think?

In the coven I trained in, the teachers were wise enough to know that they could feed us answers to any question we asked, and we could learn them and parrot them back, but that it would be better if we came up with an answer for ourselves first. So if we asked them a question, rather than answer us right away, they would say, “What do you think?” and require us to give an answer before they'd provide one. This was often said jokingly, with the “you” drawn out to “yooooooooou” for extra drama and the rest of the coven chiming in, but it was a great technique for getting us to consider what we thought about a subject rather than just accepting whatever answer the teachers gave us. I use this technique with my own students all the time, and they hate it just as much as I did. I encourage you to carry on the tradition—not to torture your students, but because it helps them develop critical thinking skills they can apply to Pagan topics.

Along the same lines, it's important to ask students open-ended questions, not just yes-or-no ones. Open-ended questions require more critical thinking from the students, and, of course, “What do you think?” is an open-ended question.

Youngest Goes First

If you're working with a group that includes people at varying levels of experience, when you ask a question of the group, it's a good idea to start with the “youngest” member first. By “youngest” I mean the person who either has been in the group for the least amount of time or who has the least amount of experience. If you allow the “older” people to talk first, the “younger” ones often clam up because they think their answers aren't as good or they wouldn't state them as well. You are much more likely to get a lively conversation going if you make sure the newest members' voices are heard first.

Brian Rowe told me about the benefits of using this technique:

Sarah and I work to ask the individuals who've been in the class the least amount of time what their perception of something is first, so that they don't feel like they need to parrot back or give an answer that an elder has already given, and so we have a better opportunity to bring forward new items or new ideas with regard to that topic.

Everyone Speaks

Since some students are naturally reticent to speak up in class, it's important to have a technique in your back pocket to get everyone to speak. It can be a talking stick or a sharing circle, or you can jot down the initials of students who have answered questions already and make sure to call on someone who hasn't. Whatever way you choose to do it, it's very important to include everyone. Oftentimes the person not speaking has some of the most profound things to say. Brian Rowe comments:

Another teaching technique is going around and making sure everyone has an opportunity to talk. I've done some larger-group teaching and ended up running into individuals that, if not given the opportunity directly, they will not speak up and participate. Having a formal mechanism where everyone is given an opportunity is one of the things I strongly believe in.

Parking Lot

Oftentimes you will be working with a group of students and someone will raise a question that, although valuable, would pull the class off track if you stopped to answer it immediately. The parking lot is one technique for keeping the class moving along but still meeting the needs of people who ask off-topic questions. To do the parking lot:

• Have a sheet of chart paper posted on the wall, labeled “parking lot.”
  
• Write the off-topic question(s) on the parking lot when they come up.
  
• Come back to the questions in the parking lot at a more appropriate time in your class, or save a few minutes at the end of class to answer them.
  

Socratic Circles

The Socratic Method is a method of questioning based on the work of Socrates (and Plato's accounts of it) that is used by teachers and trainers to encourage critical thinking. Using the Socratic Method to its fullest extent is beyond the scope of this book, but the principles behind it can be very useful to people teaching Paganism.

Socratic circles are a teaching technique based on the Socratic idea of encouraging critical thinking. To do Socratic circles:

• Give students a piece of text to read or a question to think over.
  
• Allow time in class for the students to make some notes and analyze the question, or assign this as homework.
  
• When you are ready to do the Socratic circles, divide the class into two concentric circles.
  
• Have the inner circle discuss the question or reading for ten minutes or so, while the outer circle listens.
  
• After ten minutes, have the outer circle give the inner circle feedback on their process, and then have students switch roles.
  
• Debrief. Ask students what they learned and how the experience worked for them.
  

This activity allows students to not only mull over a question together but to think about the way in which they approach the question.

Large-Group Techniques

Group Discussion

It's possible to have a group discussion off the cuff, but they tend to work a lot better if you plan ahead.

• Choose a topic that students already know something about, so they can speak spontaneously, or prepare students before a group discussion by giving them something to read or think about. You can even give them a list of questions to answer beforehand.
  
• Work with students to come up with an agreement about who speaks when and what to do when there is disagreement.
  
• Set up the room beforehand so students can see each other. Don't sit in the front of the room; join the group or sit off to one side.
  
• Try not to intervene unless there is an argument, the discussion has stalled, or it has gotten so circular that the students need to be nudged back on track.
  

These guidelines can also apply to small-group discussions.

Brainstorming

Write a question or a problem on the board or a flip chart and have students call out creative answers. Write all the answers on the board or flip chart. While you are brainstorming, don't do anything to shut down creativity: all answers are good answers! When you have finished generating answers, you can go through each one and assess whether it could really work. Brainstorming is a great way to get the creative flow going, and it also gives everyone a chance to contribute in a nonthreatening environment.

Small-Group Techniques

The Gallery Walk

The gallery walk is a cooperative learning strategy that employs brainstorming and gets people up and moving around. To do a gallery walk:

• Write several questions or problems on separate large sheets of paper, and hang them around the room.
  
• Have students form the same number of groups as there are questions.
  
• Assign each group one of the questions.
  
• Have the groups brainstorm answers and write them on the sheet of paper for a limited time (such as five minutes).
  
• After five minutes, have the groups rotate to the next question and add to what the previous group wrote.
  
• Continue rotating until all the groups have answered all the questions.
  
• Have each group summarize the last question they worked on for the class.
  
• Debrief. Ask students what they learned and how the experience worked for them.
  

The Jigsaw

The jigsaw is a great way to get students to teach each other. To do a jigsaw:

• Divide the class into several small groups.
  
• Give each group a different assignment to be completed in class (usually in twenty minutes or less).
  
• When the assignment is completed, remix the groups so that one member from each original group is in each new group.
  
• Have each person in the group teach the rest of the group what he or she learned from doing the assignment in the first group.
  
• Debrief. Ask students what they learned and how the experience worked for them.
  

Partner Techniques

Think, Pair, Share

Think, pair, share is often used with younger students, but it works well with adults too. It's useful for breaking up lectures and getting students actively engaged in the topic being discussed. To do think, pair, share:

• Have students pair up.
  
• Ask the group a question, and give students a few moments to think of an answer.
  
• Have students turn and tell their partners their answers.
  
• After both partners have had a chance to talk, ask if anyone would like to tell the whole class what they came up with.
  

Peer-Partner Learning and Skill Practice

In peer-partner learning, students work in pairs, with one answering questions or doing a task and the other providing feedback and/or helping. To do peer-partner learning:

• Have students pair up.
  
• Tell pairs to choose which partner will be the “doer” first and which will be the “helper.”
  
• Assign students a task or give them questions to answer.
  
• Have the doer do the task, while the helper helps or gives feedback.
  
• Give students enough time to do the task (usually just a few minutes), then tell them to switch roles, so both get a chance to be the one doing and the one helping.
  
• Debrief. Ask students what they learned and how the experience worked for them.
  

Skill practices are very similar to peer-partner learning, but students practice doing a skill, such as calling the quarters, rather than completing a task or answering questions. Practicing or pretending to do a task is a great way to learn how to do it for real.

Whether you're doing peer-partner learning or a skill practice, circulate through the class and give assistance and feedback to pairs of students as necessary. At the end of the exercise, ask if any pairs would like to report back to the group about their experience.

Debates

Have students pair up and debate a given topic with each other, taking opposite sides. Whether students end up taking a viewpoint they agree with or whether they make an argument for a viewpoint that they don't hold, this exercise will help them sort out why they believe what they do, and it might challenge their basic assumptions about a topic.

An Individual Technique

Reflective Writing

Reflective writing is having students think back over something they have learned and respond to their learning in writing. Rather than just having students respond free-form, give them some questions to answer to help shape their writing and reinforce main points from the exercise. For example, if you had a class where you taught students to write and use invocations for the God and Goddess, you might ask questions like, “What words or ideas did you think it would be important to include in your invocations, and why?” “What did it feel like to invoke the God(dess)?” or “Having tried your invocations, what changes, if any, would you make to improve them?” You might also ask students to keep a journal of reflective writing assignments.