A Teaching Handbook for Wiccans and Pagans (13 page)

Here are some things to consider when choosing an activity or exercise to teach an objective:

Can you explain the activity instructions well?
If you're not sure you can do it clearly, either practice on some friends or choose a different activity.

Will the activity work with the number of people you have in your class?
Some activities, such as the jigsaw, don't work very well in very small groups.

Does the activity clearly help meet the objective?
Do you know for certain that doing the activity will help get the point across? Another way to look at this is, is the activity relevant to the group and the objective you're trying to teach?

Does everyone in the group have the right skills or background knowledge to do the activity?
As you observe your students, if you think one or more of them might have trouble with an activity because of lack of previous experience, think about ways you could help. Having the less-experienced student work with student(s) with more experience is one way you might be able to solve this problem.

Do you have enough time to do the activity?
Remember that you will need to explain the activity, do the activity, and then, in many cases, debrief.

Is the amount of time you will spend on the activity proportional to what students can learn from it?
If you're planning a long activity to make a small point, you might wish to reallocate the time toward a more important objective.

This is also a good time to consider using media, if you can find it. Do you have access to a video demonstration of what you're trying to teach? Or is there a section of a film that you might want to show the class that pertains to your objective? For example, when we teach about mythology, we often use clips from the Joseph Campbell
Power of Myth
interview series. Media is a great way to add variety. It also appeals to and works for multiple learning styles. (There's more about media in
Chapter 7
.)

Remember, too, that if you're teaching Paganism, there's a spiritual aspect to choosing your activities or teaching techniques too. It's not just a matter of using teaching techniques and activities to make your material accessible to people with multiple learning styles. There are spiritual learning styles as well. Christopher Penczak discusses balancing the intellectual with the spiritual:

I like to make things participatory, and I find myself using more ecstatic techniques to balance out the intellect. I am using more specific herbs and incense, chant, and dance whenever possible.

Don't be afraid to work in more spiritual participatory activities, as long as you feel comfortable facilitating them. Some ideas are:

Drumming.
Even if you don't see any way to incorporate drumming into the middle of your presentation, using it to open your session can help the group gel and set the tone for the class.

Dancing.
It never hurts to get people moving, even if it's just to keep them awake. A basic spiral dance can be a great way to close a class too.

Arts and crafts.
Depending on what you're teaching, it might be appropriate to have students draw something relevant to the class. Art can be great way to express things that are not easy to say in words, even for people who aren't particularly artistic. You might also want to have a craft project in your class, such as having students create a “tarot” card about the subject of the session or make a tool, such as a wand.

Meditation or
guided
journeys.
Most students can benefit from doing a mediation—and it can certainly help quiet a rowdy group—but it's especially good for people who are intuitive and need time to process what you're saying during your class. A guided journey can help students access information on your topic from their own inner voice/guide/subconscious, rather than just listening to you. Both techniques are great ways to give students a chance to experiment with or explore the information you're giving them before they leave the class.

Once you have chosen and written down how you're going to teach each objective, think about and make some notes on how you'll transition from one section or objective to another. These transitions are the glue between the sections of your class. Together with the sections, they form the full core, or part 2, of your class.

Step 5: Adjusting the Scope

Look at what you've written down, and try assigning an amount of time to each item on your list. You'll need to guess, and yes, you might guess incorrectly. Remember that you as the teacher can and should decide how long an activity or lecture segment can take. But remember, too, that sometimes things take on a life of their own, such as a debriefing after a particularly useful activity. Students can become very engaged in what you're doing and unintentionally pull you off track. It is times like the latter when it really helps to have a plan. If you know how long everything should take—or if you have at least assigned every element a specific time, whether you know the amount of time is “right” or not—you can shorten some other part of your class to allow more time for a discussion or something else that the students are finding particularly helpful.

Some things to take into consideration when estimating how long it will take to do an activity or technique are:

• Generally speaking, the larger the class, the more time you need to allow for an activity.
  
• You should allow a little more time for activities that require moving around, especially if you have to rearrange any furniture.
  
• Remember to figure in the time it will take you to explain the activity, pass out any materials (such as markers for a gallery walk), and answer questions.
  
• Be sure to allow time to debrief after activities.
  

I highly recommend that you get friends to help you try out one or more of the teaching techniques you've chosen before you use them in an actual class. For example, if you think you might like to do a gallery walk (see
page 105
), see if you can get four friends to do it first. Give them a time allotment—ten minutes, perhaps—and see if they can finish the activity in the established time frame. Don't forget the debriefing!

Once you've assigned times to each segment and tried out an activity or two with friends, look at your list of objectives and activities again. If you were planning on teaching a single three-hour session, do you think you can fit all the material into one class? Remember that you'll be adding an introduction (part 1) and a closing (part 3) to what you've already got. This is the “cut or fluff” stage; cut a little if you have too much, or fluff up your content if you don't think you have enough.

There's a saying that writers use that is attributed to Ernest Hemingway: “Kill your darlings.” Sometimes, in order to make a class cohesive or to get it to fit into a certain block of time, you have to cut, and that can mean cutting the parts you like best or are most proud of. But remember: if you cut something, you can always keep it in your back pocket in case the class goes more quickly than you thought and you find yourself with extra time. Along the same lines, if you don't feel you need to cut or fluff, it doesn't hurt to have an extra activity or discussion ready to go in case you overestimated how much time presenting your content would take. Personally, I prefer to have a little too much content than not enough. I keep an eye on the clock, and if I think things are going long, I shave a few minutes here and there until we're back on track. But many teachers feel the opposite way and would rather slow things down to fill time rather than cut. You'll need to think about this for yourself and decide which makes you feel more comfortable. Either way, you'll have to be “in the moment” with your students, monitoring what's going on and adjusting appropriately. This, to me, is the core of the art of teaching.

Once you've completed steps 1–5 and cut or fluffed, you might have something like this for a three-hour class on calling the quarters:

Note that I've planned this class for three hours, with twelve beginner students, and I've left thirty minutes for the introduction and closing. I included debriefs and short transitions between segments where necessary. I also had to cut this down from my original plan; I chose to trim out a planned mini-lecture on the historical correspondences of the quarters in favor of having more time for hands-on practice. If I were planning the class for more advanced students, I might add more history and have fewer brainstorming sessions. We're still covering a lot of ground in this class—like I said, I like to have a little too much content rather than too little—and as I look at this schedule, I think I might need to watch the clock carefully, especially around the brainstorming sessions, to keep the class on track.

Building a Great Beginning:
Part 1, the Introduction

The introduction to a class sets the tone for the entire session. The introductory segment can be used to do the following things:

1. Introduce yourself and your credentials
   
2. Tell students what they are going to learn in the class
   
3. Go over logistical stuff (Where's the bathroom?
   Did I park in a no-parking zone?)
   
4. Set up ground rules, if necessary
   
5. Do an icebreaker or lead a meditation or blessing
   
6. Do student introductions
   
7. Set the intent of the class
   

At the bare minimum, the introduction should cover items 1–3. But items 4–7 are important for a good class, too, especially if it's an all-day session or multi-session course.

Introducing Yourself

It's important to introduce yourself and your credentials to adult learners because they will want to know why you want to teach them and why you are qualified to teach them. As mentioned in
Chapter 4
, adult learners are very self-directed, and they select classes that will teach them something they either want to know or need to know. Spending a couple of minutes introducing yourself and your credentials will help them feel more at ease, both because they will understand your background and because they will be getting to know you a little bit.

Telling Students What They Are Going to Learn

Adult learners like to know ahead of time what they're going to learn in a class and, if possible, a little about how they're going to learn it. They want reassurance that they're in the right place, that they've taken the right class, and that what you're going to give them will be worth their time. Letting them know up front what you're going to cover allows them to think about it and ask any questions before you dig in. Write your objectives on the board or a flip chart. Go through them with the class and explain each one.

Going Over Logistical Stuff

Whether you're teaching in your home or some rented or borrowed space, it's a good idea to explain to students where the bathrooms are, where they can park (if applicable), and where they can get water or coffee (also if applicable).

Setting Up Ground Rules

It can be very helpful to take some time at the beginning of the class to work with students to set up ground rules. It might sound silly, since you're supposedly working with grown-ups; however, ground rules can be very useful in keeping you from being the “bad guy” if things start to go wrong. If two students start arguing, or if someone is being disruptive, you can point to the ground rules and remind everyone that you all agreed to follow them. Students can do this too if they're having a hard time with another student. Creating ground rules can serve as an icebreaker and help you begin to learn students' names. They can be whatever the class needs them to be. They should always be created collaboratively and never imposed by you, although you can make suggestions and help shape others' suggestions. Here are some example rules:

• We will treat each other with respect.
  
• We will listen to each other's ideas with respect.
  
• We will return from breaks on time.
  
• There will be no cross-talking.
  
• There will be no interrupting.
  
• Only one person speaks at a time.
  
• We will limit critical comments to ideas, not people.