Who You Gonna Believe—Me or Your Lyin’ Eyes?

June 7, 2019

Back in the day, some friends talked me into trying Line Dancing lessons. The leaders threw a lot of stuff at us, moved on, and said that eventually we’d get it through repetition. It didn’t work for me.

Much later, I took a martial arts course. They threw stuff at us, moved on, and said that we’d get it eventually. It didn’t work for me.

Last night I went to a folk-dancing session. They threw stuff at us, moved on, and said we’d get it eventually. Judging by the people I was watching—it didn’t work for them, either.

And yet, people still keep using this method. It’s as if, a long time ago, someone said, “This is how to teach.” And so people say, “This method must work! It’s what we were taught to do.”

(To be fair, it does work with some people, but I tend to think that they’re natural athletes to start with. If you’re going to open an event to all comers, be prepared to teach all comers.)

In several churches, I’ve seen people give Children’s Sermons. They always use the same playbook: Ask a question; have an object to use as a demo; then move on to the sermon. The problem is that, almost universally, they lose control of the situation after they’ve asked the question; and the kids don’t make the connection between the demo object and the point of the sermon. Almost every time.

Again, people keep using these techniques, even though it’s apparent to everyone else that they’re not working. They’ve been told that they work, so they believe it, against all the evidence. The ghosts of teachers past are saying, “Who you gonna believe—me or your lyin’ eyes?”

So the next time you’re teaching something, take an objective look at what’s happening. If you’re getting frustrated that people aren’t learning what you want them to, it may be because what you’ve been taught about teaching is -gasp- incorrect!

Your eyes aren’t lyin’. Ditch the old method and go with what works.