Customer Reviews

Start Here: Teaching and Learning With Adults

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I read this book in preparation for an advanced Lay Speaking course I was taking. I lead a variety of adult Christian education courses at my Methodist Church in the Washington D.C. area. This slim book was and is the only required text for the weekend workshop.

"Start Here" offers useful suggestions for laity leading adult Bible study and Christian education. It intersperses the chapters with self-diagnostic quizzes and discussion/thought questions that can help any lay adult education leader strengthen their ability to facilitate Bible and related studies.

I was glad to see at the end some brief discussion of harnessing technology - computers, Internet, remote learning. Capabilities in these areas will likely grow, especially with the advent of social media, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs, etc. These tools may offer creative new avenues for use in delivering or supplementing adult Christian education.

As a mild criticism, I would have liked to have seen discussion on very real classroom small group challenges, such as:
* Managing the "over-sharer" who dominates discussions
* Engaging those who are non-participative
* Battling group attrition
* Corralling the "joys and concerns" discussions in ways that allow it to flow but prevent it from getting out of hand
* Ways adult education leaders can avoid burnout themselves

This book does not pretend to be a comprehensive guide to leading Christian education. Overall, though, author Barbara Bush's book is a useful and practical guide for those, especially lay leaders, who lead Adult Christian education offerings.

I was hoping I could find something useful for a college level course entitled Teaching Adults that represented the Christian perspective on adult learning theory and practice. I found this book quite shallow. Perhaps it can be used in a church setting--which is unfortunate to say. We expect so little in terms of academic rigor from fellow Christians.