Right Story, Wrong Lessons

By Dr Bryan Cowling

Posted on 02 December 2009

It's almost Christmas time and no doubt those of us who teach will be retelling the story of the birth of Jesus. If we follow the text of the gospels and don't go adding myths (like that of three wise men) or mixing it with accumulated traditions, we'll probably tell the right story.

But will the lessons learned by our students be the ones most needed. Especially at Christmas time.

We make a big mistake as educators if we think that just because we have taught something that is true, it has been learned. It may have been heard (physically) but that does not mean it has been understood in the context of the day to day reality of the student. This is a mistake that Christian educators, indeed educators in general have been making for decades and it will be made again this Christmas.

Take the narratives of Jesus' birth as an example. If we're faithful to the biblical text, what will be the key messages that our children and young people will consider and what change in understanding will occur as a result of our teaching? I encourage you to revisit the gospels and write down in plain, student-speak language, what these lessons are.

If, the following day you were to ask your students what they had learned, it is likely that some of them will be able to recall what you have shared with them. The real test, though, of the efficacy of your teaching is not to be found in their verbal response words but in the choices made, the words spoken, and the behaviours displayed by your students outside the classroom in subsequent days.

Despite the ‘purity' of one's  transmissional teaching about the meaning and significance of the incarnation of Jesus, the vast majority of children and young people will continue to treat Christmas the same way as the culture around them. They'll connect the birth of Jesus with a Christmas that is about giving and getting, a Christmas characterized by families getting together, a Christmas exchanging cards, a Christmas that is mainly about eating, drinking, partying, making merry, singing quaint and sentimental songs, embracing fantasy and pretending peace and goodwill prevails. These can be most enjoyable and societies across the globe participate in these activities and celebrations, regardless of their faith. Was it for these purposes that Jesus became truly human? Is this the legacy Christ left us?

We may teach the right story but the intended learning outcomes will only be seen in the lives of our students when our actions are formed by the story itself. Given the actions and values of society as a whole and their impact on children's reality of what it is to be human, it is essential that our lives reflect the biblical text. This is not easy.

Therefore, it is important that our teaching be deliberately transformational. We set out not just to tell stories or to convey information for its own sake but to challenge our learners to think, to reflect and then to speak and act differently. As Christians we set out to equip our students to grow mature in Christ (Colossians 1.9-12). Christmas is a good time to be a transformational teacher.