Teaching as a Way of Life

By Darrell Baughn

Every chapter of this book opens with the same one-word verdict: blasphemy. Not blasphemy against doctrine - blasphemy against teaching itself. The boring lesson, the merely academic lecture, the unkind correction, the sermon read off notes, the class run by micromanagement: each, for Darrell C. Baughn, is an irreverence against something sacred, because Teaching as a Way of Life holds that teaching - in a classroom, a pulpit, or a Sunday school - is an art and science of the whole person: heart, mind, soul, spirit, and will.

In thirty-nine short, sustained essays, a Mississippi attorney who teaches for a living works out a complete philosophy of the teaching act - civil, kind, and didactic by design. Teaching, he argues, is a moment in-between worlds, never merely academic but always spiritual; it lives on nuance and on unpacking the meaning of meaning; and it belongs to everyone, because everyone is a teacher and James 3:1 warns the teacher rather than restricting the stage.

Inside the book:

Why teaching must never be academic but always spiritual - and why it is neither entertainment nor boredomThe craft, chapter by chapter: the opening, one idea, organization, repetition, building to a crescendo, applicationTone of voice, delivery without notes, the beauty of silence, and teaching with kindnessKnowing your hearers - considering the audience, reading the audience, listening to the heart of the matterFreedom for the teacher: against micromanagement, against the crutch of commentaries and textbooks, and for never teaching the same lesson twice

Darrell C. Baughn is a Mississippi attorney, former Army JAG officer, poet, and Belhaven University adjunct. He writes about law, faith, teaching, and poetry from Jackson, Mississippi.

A philosophy of teaching for classrooms and pulpits alike - not a curriculum, a textbook, or a collection of lesson plans.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CP1SK5H3
• ISBN13: 9798869996435
• Release Date: November 2023
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 102 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"