Teaching is not like a dump truck

Christian education has in many ways taken on some of the characteristics of the dump truck. Many classrooms and pulpits are filled each week with a teacher/preacher who has spent several hours the previous week gleaning from several commentaries and surfing the web for as much theological material as possible on the scriptures concerning this week’s lesson. There is nothing wrong with this in and of itself. In fact these leaders are to be commended for their commitment and effort. However, the downfall comes when they stand behind the pulpit or in front of the class. We have gained so much knowledge and insight to this set of scriptures that we do not want our students to miss out on any part of it. Therefore, we back our truck up in the classroom each week and raise the bed and dump it all on our students. Most of the time it is like my first few tries with the dump truck. It all comes out in one heaping pile. Like the limestone, it is not usable in one huge pile.

Information, facts, and knowledge do not create learning. They do create an unpleasant and unsightly mound that is not applicable in the lives of our learners. Most of us do not have the luxury of having a clean-up crew coming in behind us to work the mound into a usable surface of transforming wisdom.
George Yates, Teaching That Bears Fruit