Space: The Final Frontier

Using Space to Enliven Teaching

by David Cassady

Can you picture your Bible study classroom in your mind? Do you automatically know where the chairs, tables, and other items are located? Can you predict where the teacher will be teaching? For most groups, this is an easy exercise, since our rooms seldom change. However, the way we use the space in a room can make a difference in how well people learn and participate.

Think about it––the way a room is arranged suggests something about how we will be taught. If a room is arranged with chairs in straight rows facing the teacher, it is assumed that learning best happens by listening to a lecturing teacher. It is assumed that this teacher has more expert knowledge of the information than others in the room.

If a room is arranged with chairs in a circle, with the teacher positioned as part of that circle, it is assumed automatically that the learners are participants in the learning. The circle implies that everyone in the room brings something of value to the session.

There are other arrangements––and other assumptions––but hopefully you get the idea.

Whether your favorite teaching method is offering lectures, promoting dialogue with learners, or facilitating activities, considering your space can make a difference in the learning experience.

Schooling Attitudes

Most people bring assumptions to church that are formed in other settings of formal schooling. There, the teacher is inevitably an authority and a judge, determines grades, and knows more about the content than do the learners.

In the church, however, our purpose is not just to teach Bible content, although that is an important aspect. We also have the challenge of encouraging growth in faith and changes in behavior. At church, moreover, it is God who grades us, not a teacher. At church, the people in the class bring rich faith experiences, stories, and wisdom to each class. The wise teacher finds ways to involve those insights.

In the same way, how we use space in teaching says a lot about how learning at church is a unique activity.

Tips for Using Space

1) Break out of the zone.

Teachers tend to know where their “expected” location is in a room and feel uncomfortable wandering outside this area. Learners, especially those who have spent years in a school setting, often infer a sense of authority to the person standing in the teaching zone (usually the front of the classroom). However, there are many good reasons for breaking out of the “teaching zone.” First of all, moving around the room communicates energy and makes you more interesting to the learners. Secondly, when making a point that requires extra emphasis, moving closer to the learners, or to one side of them, can serve to underline that point. Finally, moving out of the teaching zone can help encourage reluctant persons to speak up. Standing beside someone, with a gentle hand on a shoulder, can communicate a feeling of solidarity even as you ask, “What do you think?” or “How does this make you feel?”

2) Stand up & sit down.

It sounds simple, but teachers are usually far more interesting and appear more exciting, when standing. There is an energy that is communicated by standing that seems to say, “I’m so excited by these ideas that I can’t stay seated.” Better still, move about as you are teaching, especially when lecturing.

At the same time, there are times when sitting down (outside the “teaching zone”) can help persons feel more comfortable answering a question or offering an insight or opinion. Why? Because the authority figure has now taken a place as “one of the group.” When this happens, participants can feel more comfortable speaking, since no one is standing in the “position of authority.”

3) Make your setting fit the session.

Most rooms can easily be changed from one session to another. If a session involves several helpful “paper & pencil” activities, set up tables to make it easy to write. If a session involves small groups for discussion or tasks, move tables out of the way, and make it easy for learners to move their chairs into circles when needed. If a session will involve a video clip or a lecture, set the chairs so it’s easy to see the speaker or screen (curved rows are better than straight ones). When an activity is part of the session, clear the chairs and tables away, and create a large open space in the middle of the room. Whatever your setting, a little effort in managing your space can go a long way in making a session more effective.

Using space differently is one more way to help learners realize that learning at church is a uniquely wonderful undertaking. Give it a try!

For more great articles like this one, be sure to visit the Learning Matters website!