The Big Picture

Do you remember the feeling of being lost? Have you been in a corn maze where every cornstalk at every turn looks the same and you have no idea how to find your way out? Or how about hiking when you wander off the trail and you attempt to find your way back and all the trees look the same?

As a child, I remember one of my favorite attractions at Pacific Ocean Park (it is long gone), was the House of Mirrors. In the maze of mirrors, I remember having no idea which way to turn. Yet, everywhere I turned, I saw the same thing- ME!- Along with the myriad of available directions I could turn that reflected around me. I guess somehow, seeing myself in the midst of it all, it gave me the false assurance knowing that I could see myself and therefore, I knew where I was. 🙂

Being in any type of a maze, where you can only see the one step before you, can be un-nerving. We like to know what is around the corner, in both our footsteps and our lives. This myopia leaves you with the feeling of not knowing which direction or even how big of a step to take. It rings of the classic saying, you can’t see the forest for the trees, or the story of the children all touching a different part of the elephant and describing something very different.

Not Knowing What Is Coming Helps You Trust God

Yet, sometimes there is an advantage. When you don’t know the future, it can force you to trust more in God. When you really know God’s character, you may not know the future, but you know the person who does. He not only knows the future, but He also holds it in His hand and He will guide and direct us! That is more comforting than simply knowing the future, but being left to our own navigation!

But what if we have both? What if you trust God with your future and have a roadmap to tell you where you are going and what is up ahead? A roadmap can give us the “big picture” which can be very helpful in preventing wrong turns and wrong decisions. We can learn lessons more easily when we have a roadmap.

I know when I am learning something new, trying to grasp unrelated, solitary facts is very difficult. Often, they don’t make sense. It is only after I see how the pieces string together, that I begin to understand where the thoughts are going.

They Need to See the Big Picture

Kids are no different. They need to see the big picture to understand the smaller pieces of knowledge, as well. Scripture is very interrelated. For instance, you can’t understand God’s love and mercy until you understand his sinlessness. You can’t understand His justice until you understand His holiness. You really can’t fully comprehend the New Testament without understanding the Old Testament. These relationships are best seen when you show the whole picture. For an example, when you teach the character of God, first step back and teach about God generally. Then teach the attributes individually and interrelated.  Then teach them again as a whole. You will have the kids understand them far better then just teaching them separately.

As you teach, you can keep this in mind and give a roadmap of where you are going before you set out, so your students have an idea of the big picture. If they know where they are going, it will make more sense to them. Then you need to be sure the individual pieces of knowledge are broken down sufficiently to be understandable. It is always useful to conclude with the big picture again in order to help them pull all of the facts back together. It is like the zoom effect on your camera. You zoom out to see the whole story, then zoom in to see the individual parts, then zoom out again to conclude the thought. You may do this several times throughout a lesson.

I have used this concept in my newest children’s picture book called, To The Rescue, which are vignettes of God rescuing His children throughout the Bible (including us). Children need to see that God in the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament and also the God they know now. This rescue theme that runs from the beginning to the end of the Bible will be more powerfully understood when the individual stories of the Bible are also viewed as the main story that threads through all of the Bible.

As you are bringing together your next lesson, remember the big picture! Don’t let your kids be lost in the house of mirrors. Remember…Big Picture… Zoom… Big Picture!

What is Your Teaching Style?

Have you ever thought about the following question? What is your teaching style? Do you need to plan everything out to the smallest detail, or are you the type that likes to go into a new situation and “wing it?” Do you write out every word of your lesson, or do you improvise as you go along? While I don’t think either extreme produces the most effective teaching, I do think that there are advantages to both, knowing exactly what you want to say and being improvisational and spontaneous. Let’s look at both.

If you find it necessary to write out every word when you are teaching, especially in front of a group, it will probably sound like you are reading- because you will be reading. It is much harder to have good eye contact and connection when you read the material. If you spend the time to memorize the material, you risk forgetting something, losing your place, or you may sound like you are giving a speech, none of which aid in connection to the student. Connection really is important in keeping the students’ focus so they don’t fall asleep or get distracted. Your teaching style matters.

On the other hand, if you come into the classroom and just begin talking without a plan, your presentation will most likely be scattered and hard to follow, which will not be effective either. You may even miss the main point because you spend most of your time on rabbit trails!

Your presentation needs to sound as though it is fresh and you are newly putting these thoughts together, and at the same time, it needs to be polished as though you have taught it forever. How do you do that? How do you make it fresh and polished at the same time?

I believe it is in your preparation. Your teaching style needs to be defined before you enter the classroom. There is a phrase (I think first coined by Benjamin Franklin) that says: If you Fail to Plan you are essentially Planning to Fail. So we do need to make plans. We need to know exactly where we are going or it is likely we will not get there.

Here are some teaching style tips I have implemented when I have put together a presentation.

• I always start with an outline. It is a sort of roadmap to keep me on track.
• I write down the points and sub-points so I know exactly what I want to cover. I don’t write down every word I plan to say, but I make sure I have written the key points to keep me on track.
• I may write down all of the details of a list if I I have a list to share, because I am not great on remembering lists.
• There might be some other things that I want to say that I will include in my notes.
• I may run through my notes in a “practice teaching time” and if there is something that trips me up, I write down the beginning of the sentence I want to say, to get me started.
• I type my notes out in large font so when I present, I am readily able to read them.

For me this really works because then I am free to look into the eyes of the students when I am teaching. That eye contact can help to hold their attention. Again, teaching style. I want to come across with fresh inspiration and discovery but be planned and confident as though I have known it all forever.

Anything that is worth doing, is worth putting a little preparation time into. If you are new to teaching, this may take a little practice to find the balance, but it will be so worth it—for you and your students! And please don’t forget to follow the Lord’s leading by the Spirit and pray! And define your teaching style!