20. The Interview as a Teaching Technique

We as teachers must increase the out-of-class involvement of our students. We cannot satisfactorily communicate God’s truth if we are limited by existing structures to only one hour per week, and in some cases, even that rather irregularly. So we bolster our minimal classtime by trying to involve our students in learning activities during the week. The more closely we can link these outside activities to classroom methodology, the more unified the learning experience will be.

The use of interviews in class is inseparably linked to a discussion methodology. It emphasizes however, that the input for the class time can be brought to class by the students rather than the teacher. It sends the students out to deliberately confront other persons with the intent of securing information from them that will be helpful to the class.

The objective of the interview is to solicit information about a specific topic so that the class may have the opportunity of responding to this information. But there is an added dimension in using the interview: the student has the responsibility for making an approach to his informant and bringing back the information in a form that can be used for class discussion. This removes the passive element from student involvement and sends him actively into confrontation with the subject matter, as well as with personalities having to do with the subject matter.

Values of Interview Teaching

One positive point has already been mentioned, the matter of participation. If we are really committed to the principle of involvement, then we will want to select teaching methodologies that will tie the students in to the entire process of teaching and learning. This is not always the case, even with some participational approaches to teaching. For example, the question and answer method is participational, but involvement only takes place at the actual classtime. This is also true of the general discussion method. But the student who interviews must be involved right from the point of assignment, through the securing of the information, to the presentation, discussion, and evaluation in the class.

Another valid plus in interview teaching is the opportunity to plug in a vast amount of information to the classroom setting. The teacher must do enough significant study so that he comes to class with a reasonable depth of knowledge. But in interviewing, the student or students will pick up different points of view and new approaches to an issue which the teacher might not have thought of while preparing the lesson largely from one point of view.

And that really suggests a third value, namely, the broad outlook on questions and issues which can suggest sources of information which have not occurred to the teacher or students up to that point. Most educators agree that a broad perspective on an issue generally results in a stronger learning experience.

Problems in Interview Teaching

To successfully utilize this classroom approach, the teacher must build genuine motivation in the students. Frequently, particularly m Sunday School settings, students are quite happy to let the teacher do the work for them. Interviewing is an attempt to delegate the responsibility for learning back to the student. At first some may be very hesitant to accept this responsibility, and the teacher will have to encourage them as well as help them carry out successful interview sessions.

Another drawback is that the student may be somewhat incompetent to formulate satisfactory interview questions. The success of the interview largely depends on the clarity and comprehensiveness of the questions used. Poor interviews then result in poor classes. Sometimes, too, it is hard to find key people who can contribute something of significance to the subject which the class is studying.

However, we too often limit interviews to so-called authorities. Surely we can get valuable points of view from ordinary people such as fellow students, friends, neighbors, adults in the church, or just the man on the street.

Perhaps the most dangerous problem of all is that the interview method may find us at classtime with nothing more than scattered human opinions on subjects of great importance. However, this only becomes a problem if we do not seriously recognize that all we sought in the first place is human opinion. It is our task in class to pour all of this information through the sieve of God’s Word so that truth may come out the other end.

It is quite possible in any given class session where interview information is used that we will want to reject more of the data than we accept. This depends of course on the kind of people who were approached for the interviews. Think of the class session somewhat in the manner of the diagram on page 104.

Principles for Effective Interview Teaching

Think over a class situation in which you might want to use interviews. The controversial subject for discussion is the issue of abortion. It is your purpose in the next class session to come to grips with the question, “Should Christians defend or reject the current liberalizing trends in abortion laws and practices?” You have 12 teens in your class, and you want to send them out for interviews in the intervening week.

First of all you must discuss the kind of people who should be interviewed. Of course, you could send the class out “blindly,” simply asking them to contact people they think would have something to contribute, but it is more effective to discuss who should be approached on the subject. There are at least four possible choices in setting up the interview structure: one student may interview one person; one student may interview several persons; multiple students may interview one person; or multiple students may interview several persons.

Let us assume that after your preliminary discussion, you and the class have decided to opt for plan four. Annette will approach an attorney, Sue will be interviewing the pastor, Dick will be going to the hospital to try to make contact with a doctor who has been involved in some legal abortions, and Liz wants to contact a Christian psychologist. The class and teacher then agree on the questions to be used and whether the same questions should be used for each interviewee.

The class also agrees to share the expense of Liz’s contact since she will have to call the psychologist long distance and record the interview by means of a telephone hookup on her cassette recorder. Each class member will have approximately 10 minutes to present the information which he obtained so that 20 minutes of the hour can be left for open discussion.

After all of these careful plans have been laid, share with your students some of the following basic principles of handling the interview itself.

1. Avoid being bothersome or impertinent to the person you are contacting. Let him know right from the start that you appreciate his giving his time in this way and that you will be happy to meet at his convenience and follow any “ground rules” he lays down. For example, he might want to speak so candidly that he will not want his name to be used, or he may reject the idea of recording his statements.

2. Assume the role of an inquiring reporter, but do some basic homework on the subject before you approach the interviewee. This will avoid the embarrassment of having to stop and ask definitions of terms or clarifications of ideas which could have been learned simply by doing some background reading. Incidentally, there should be essential background reading assigned to all of the class in preparation for the discussion next week.

3. Keep the interviews short. It certainly will not take long to get enough information for a 10-minute presentation. The quality of the information is not dependent upon the length of the interview, but rather the significance of the questions.

4. Do not expect the interviewee to offer an organized lecture. In fact, this is precisely what we want to avoid. If he is speaking about the subject broadly, he might avoid the questions which have been assigned and somewhat distort the specific nature of the information which we want.

5. Keep the inquiry flexible enough to take advantage of clues that arise in the course of the conversation. There might be a very strategic path that was not covered in the initial questions but which will be of great interest to the class. If the pattern of the interview is elastic, the reporter will be able to “play it by ear” in order to incorporate this key information.

As their teacher, you will want to contact your interviewers sometime during the week to make sure that all is proceeding on schedule. Nothing could be more disastrous for next week’s class than to have all four of the students turn up with no information at all. You should be available as a resource person to suggest an alternate personality if they have trouble getting in touch with the one selected.

Let me caution again that all of the information must be subjected to the evaluative light of the Word of God. We would certainly expect all of the persons selected in the plan above to be competent authorities on some phase of the problem of abortion. But we should never teach the ideas of men as substitutes for the revelation of God. We will want to compare the information we get with what the Bible says about the subject of abortion. This is where you come in as the teacher. It may very well be that the pastor will offer strictly biblical information to the inquirer who approaches him. But you cannot rest on that possibility. All effective discussions must have a leader who can refer opinions and ideas to the Word of God so that they can be tested by its absolute truth.

You may also discover that the class becomes so alive and interesting that the students want to continue the discussion for another week. Try to be flexible enough in your curriculum plan to allow for expansion on a topic that has really raised what we have come to call a “teachable moment” in the life cycle of a class. Interviews may very well spark teachable moments and you will be happy that you left some of the more traditional methods behind to experiment with interviews.

Related Topics: Teaching the Bible

21. Teaching with Case Studies

One of my students suggested that in his view the use of case studies in teaching is merely an extension of the discussion method and not a method in itself. I believe he was at least partially right, especially if we are thinking about written case studies.

Actually the use of the case study approach can proceed at either the written or field levels. We can bring case studies into class in printed form and use them as the content of a discussion, or we can actually send our students out to do the field work of observation, analysis, and reporting on the thoughts and behavior of real, live people. Even though the second may be more difficult to activate, it seems to me that it is a very valid approach to learning.

Thinking about the use of printed cases, we should have no difficulty at all in securing the raw material. Information on the lives of people appears in newspapers, biographies, autobiographies, and frequently in fiction stories. A common prompter line in such a discussion might begin: “Say, did you read that story in this morning’s newspaper about . . . ?”

Cases can also be taken out of personal experiences of either the teacher or student. Students do not have to take the role merely of analyzing cases presented to them, but may actually prepare cases individually or collectively as a group project.

The case study approach can be used to analyze a Bible character. A good example of this would be a class session devoted to an analysis of the character of Philemon and an inductive study of the book which bears his name. Obviously the provocative questions emerging from such a case study would center on the issue of slavery as well as on the role Philemon had in the Early Church.

Values of the Case Study Approach

The basic objective of the case study method is to confront the student with a real life situation. This can be achieved more easily if the subject of the study is a person confronted by the student in his own setting, but to a lesser degree it also works in the written case study. The intent is to force the application of biblical truth to a life problem. Too often we spend our time teaching propositional truth but fail to make clear-cut applications of that truth to the lives of our students.

Case study work is also usually of great interest to students. Medical schools and schools of education have popularized the approach, and management science has used it widely in the training of executive leadership. Most teachers who have experimented with it in the church have reported a high degree of enthusiasm among the students, because it provides them a reality situation against which they can measure the truth of God’s Word which they are learning.

Study work is geared to teach problem-solving methods. Some Christian teachers spend classtime solving problems for their students rather than showing those students how they can solve their own problems by utilizing information in the Word of God and the creative power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The teacher thus becomes a sort of “answering service” which the student can dial every time he has another problem or question. Such teaching fails to build initiative and independent investigation of God’s truth on the part of maturing students.

When we use live case studies instead of printed ones, we take a big step forward in the development of maturity on the part of our students. Later, this chapter will illustrate one way in which live case study teaching can be used in the context of the Sunday School. When it is used, it requires the students to involve themselves in a responsibility that will of necessity help them to mature more rapidly in a number of ways, and that is good.

Problems with Case Study Teaching

The validity of the case study approach is directly related to the reality which the cases have demonstrated. If we fail to present meaningful contemporary cases for our students to deal with, we have diminished the value of the approach. Not only that, but our students will be quick to detect the “plastic” figures we are using and will lose interest in any serious discussion of the issues.

Sometimes the discussion of a case study can degenerate into nothing more than a pooling of ignorance. That is why the group leader must be plugged in to the Word of God so that he can identify a biblical explanation and interpretation of the issues in the case.

In the use of field study cases, we might run into a problem if students are too immature. Juniors might well handle written cases in class discussion, but the use of field observation might be restricted to teens and above, or at least, to an advanced class of Junior High students.

The teacher’s inability to write satisfactory cases, or even choose adequate field cases for study might also be listed as a pitfall in this method. The discussion leader is an important component part of the case study approach, but the writer of the case study is even more strategic.

Principles for Effective Case Study Teaching

Sometimes it takes a while to come to grips with the crucial issues in the analysis of a case study. This can be true of written cases, but it is certainly true of field study cases. We might say that the first principle is do not rush the study. Martha Leypoldt suggests that in the process of analysis and problem solving, so essential in case study work, there are nine “relevant facts” which must be gathered by students (40 Ways to Teach in Groups, mentioned earlier):

1. The people involved

2. The historical background of the situation

3. The relationships among persons or groups involved

4. The religious background and perspective of the situation

4. The sociological factors involved

5. The economic factors involved

6. The educational backgrounds of persons involved

7. The ethnic origins of the persons involved

8. The tensions causing the problem

Another principle is to encourage our classes to concentrate on learning to share their points of view. To put it another way, students ought to be learning from each other’s cases as well as from cases they are studying directly. In the discussion of each case there will doubtless be insights and ideas offered by other class members which will help the person who is handling it to deal with it more effectively and thoroughly.

A third principle in the use of case studies is the necessity for trying to formulate specific solutions and analysis once the real problems have been identified. Stay away from muddy thinking or rash commitments and avoid criticism of the person in the case, particularly in field research and the study of living personalities. A constant question to be asked in the analysis and discussion of case studies begins with the word why?

How can field study analysis be used in the context of a Sunday School class? Meet Jack Thorpe, a teen student (a high school junior) in a Sunday School class at an evangelical church. His class has been discussing the relationship of the Jews and the Samaritans, and he has learned something of the historical background—how these people were forced to live together after the postexilic return of the Jews.

This discussion gave birth to a comparison of Samaritan problems with the relationship of majority and minority groups in Jack’s own city. Obviously there are some features of Jewish-Samaritan relations which did not fit, but Jack’s teacher urges each student to select a young member of a minority group in the city and try to learn everything about that person that can be learned within a month. One month after the original assignment, the class will begin analyzing their findings, taking the next month or two to discuss the kind of ministry their church can have to members of minority groups.

Jack selects Manuel Lopez, a young Chicano boy, who lives down the block from the church. Though Jack’s church is adjacent to the Mexican-American community, Manuel knows very little about the church except that it is a building on a certain corner in his neighborhood. Within the next month Jack will spend as much time as he can with Manuel. He will go to his home. He will visit his school. He will spend time with him discussing how he feels about life, his family, his school, and what the future might hold for him. Jack will interview his parents and perhaps some of his friends. He may even ask Manuel to write a brief biography describing how he sees himself as a resident of the Mexican community in the city.

Along the way Jack will attempt to share the Gospel without being “pushy” or impolite. He realizes that Manuel is graciously allowing him to study something very private, his own life, and wants to win his confidence and friendship during this period of the study.

Other students in Jack’s class will be doing the same thing with members of the Negro community, the Chinese community, and other minority groups in the city. Their purpose, besides sharing their faith with these other young people, is to put together a report on how their church can minister to minority groups within the city while still keeping its theological and denominational distinctions. To put it another way, what can the church do and what can Jack’s Sunday School class do to win boys and girls like Manuel to Christ and help them grow to be disciples of the Lord Jesus?

Difficult? Yes, to be sure. But also practical and very interesting for students. Now the class is theirs! Now they are involved in the teaching-learning process! How much better this is than just having an imaginary case study prepared by the teacher for purposes of discussion in the class. It will take creativity, and perhaps in your church, a healthy measure of courage. But it can be done. And it certainly is worthy of your consideration as a creative and progressive teacher of the Word of God.

Related Topics: Teaching the Bible

22. Drama in the Classroom

Some have suggested that drama teaches us about life in a way that is clearer and more vivid that we normally live it. It tends to sort out complex problems in human lives, not by simplification, but through selection. Drama can make stories and ideas come alive, and, because of its vital and creative nature, it is often a significant educational technique.

When we are thinking about the educational context of church and Sunday School, we are thinking almost exclusively about “religious drama” and more specifically “Christian drama.” Kaye Baxter defines religious drama as dealing with significant and vital themes of life. It “presents characters in action—in situations where faith and belief are tested” (Contemporary Theater and the Christian Faith, Abingdon, Nashville, Tenn.).

Remember we are thinking here about effective methods for the communication of an absolute message. One must not be swayed by the fallacious argument of guilt by association and thereby conclude that because drama and theater have been improperly used to convey error and sin, the method is corrupt and ought to be avoided. Drama as a technique is amoral; it has no inherent characteristics of good or evil in itself. How we use it makes the difference.

The Old Testament provides ample precedent for this kind of teaching. Consider the prophet Ezekiel designing a model of the city of Jerusalem and then laying siege to it at the command of Jehovah. Or the behavior of Elijah on Mount Carmel as recorded in I Kings 18. It was not necessary to call for all those extra buckets of water or to taunt the prophets of Baal about the vacation patterns of their gods. But all of this added to the climactic moment when Elijah drove home the point of the exclusive power of the God of the Bible. Dramatic demonstrations on the part of the prophets were a basic format of instruction during those days.

We should not confuse drama with role playing, which as presented in an earlier chapter, can be utilized in less than a half hour period with virtually no preparation on the part of the participants. Such is rarely the case with drama. Here we are talking about a method we might employ only once or twice a year. The long rehearsals, costuming, stage layout, and other preparations tend to make us think that drama as a teaching method is really “not worth it.” But we should not be too hasty to condemn any teaching methodology—at least until we have tried it. The impact which effective drama can have on the lives of the participants as well as the audience may be well worth the time invested.

Values in the Use of Drama

Drama can be very effective in pinpointing solutions to problems which people face in real life. Emotional involvement is a common experience when one is viewing an effective play. He may see himself reflected in one of the characters and recognize that the same solutions explored in the play are applicable to his own life and problems.

Drama can also be used to enhance worship experiences. James Warren reminds us, “Drama has always been closely related to the worship of the church. For example, interpretive reading, chorus speech, artful pageantry, dramatic movement, tasteful decor, and imaginative lighting are but a few techniques that can bring a congregation into a mood of worship. Drama is not only to be found in these recognizable techniques, but it can be discovered as an impetus in liturgical worship (i.e. when a service of worship steadily progresses toward movements of adoration and commitment)” (“Art in the Church,” Religious Education, Marvin J. Taylor, ed., Abingdon, Nashville, Tenn.).

I shall never forget an experience I had at a Good Friday service some years ago. Instead of the usual choral selections and sermons, the church utilized a film on the Crucifixion. The impact of that drama upon my life at that point was far more significant than many other services attended in previous years.

Another helpful feature of drama is its ability to stimulate thought on significant issues. In this way, drama could be used as a catalyst to group discussion. Used in such a manner, we would probably avoid many of the problems of costuming and rehearsal since we would want such a drama to be short enough in production that effective use of discussion time could immediately follow its presentation.

For example, a Junior High class studying Paul’s missionary journeys in the Book of Acts might prepare a dramatic presentation of the experience of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail. Two or three rehearsals with very limited use of costuming ought to yield a profitable presentation of 15 or 20 minutes length which could then be followed by total group discussion.

Drama can help reveal insights into the character and personality of persons portrayed in the play. Think of the impact of a carefully planned and executed play probing the attitudes of Job during his time of suffering.

Drama can aid the church in evangelism. Non-Christian parents who might never come to a regular service of the church might be enthusiastically responsive to an invitation asking them to come and see a play in which one or more of their children is acting. The impact of the message of the play could be aimed at a clear presentation of the Gospel. The wide acceptance of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Mm ministry is sufficient justification for the role of drama in evangelism.

If the church ever uses television on a large scale, it may very well discover (as some major denominations have already shown us in their television work) that Christian drama is a more effective technique in the communication of the Gospel through television than more traditional approaches.

One further point should be made with respect to the use of creative drama with children. Eleanor Morrison and Virgil Foster devote a chapter to this and point out how drama can be effective even without long rehearsals and expensive costuming. “Creative drama is a favorite activity of children because they make up their own dramatization. The material may be original or it may be based on a story that the group is studying. There is little or no scenery, costuming, or properties. The dialogue, because it grows out of immediate interaction, varies with each repetition. Emphasis is on free and spontaneous participation by as many children as possible rather than on acting excellence. The cast may be changed each time that a scene is played, for all the children should be involved” (Creative Teaching in the Church, mentioned earlier).

Problems in Using Drama

In attempting to make a case for using drama, I have already mentioned most of the potential problems. Surely our hesitancy in using the method is based on the negative associations we have concerning theater in general. Add to that the horrifying prospect of weeks or months of rehearsals, accompanied by the expense of costuming and staging, and the combination is enough to drive any teacher back to the lecture method!

One of my students, writing a paper on the use of drama, suggested a pattern for introducing drama as a teaching technique in the church. He listed eight steps which should be taken as a group can handle them.

1. Lecture—the present status of many classes

2. Discussion—a first step into involvement procedures

3. Discussion of how a character thinks, or how a person should react to what was discussed

4. Discussion of religious plays and how they may help explain situations in the Christian life

5. Role playing—the dimension at which participants take on a certain characteristic and act it out with others

6. Improvisations—short original sketches portraying some idea or mimicking some personage

7. Short scenes—introduce scripts and maybe begin to think in terms of costuming

8. One-act plays—fully scripted and with rehearsals before the drama is played to an audience

The result of these eight steps would culminate in full length plays and the use of drama as a regular medium in the church’s education program.

Principles for the Effective Use of Drama

Be patient with participants who have not had experience; patient with adults in the church who are a bit leery of the method; patient in seeing the results of drama as a teaching technique.

If you anticipate using drama outside your own classroom or group, check with all necessary authorities in the church to make sure you have full clearance for developing the play.

Exercise great care in the choice of the play. Make sure it is not too difficult for the age group and that its essential message conveys precisely what you intend to achieve in meeting the objectives of the teaching situation.

Choose a director who can competently guide the development of the play. If you are to be the director yourself, study some helpful resource books to enhance the effectiveness of your leadership. Here are a few suggestions:

Drama In The Church, Fred Eastman, Samuel French Inc., New York, N.Y.

Religious Drama—Its Means and Ends, Harold Ehrensberger, Abingdon, Nashville, Tenn.

Stage Scenery and Lighting: A Handbook for Nonprofessionals, Samuel Selden and Hulton D. Sallman, Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, N.Y.

Related Topics: Teaching the Bible

23. Creative Writing as a Teaching Technique

When my wife was the superintendent of the Junior Department in our Sunday School, she asked her Juniors in the 15-minute worshiptime to write a paragraph describing their understanding of what God is like. Here are a few samples of the results:

“Well, I think He is a bearded man with long hair, brown, loving eyes, and raggedy clothing.”

“God is a great man. God is joy and happiness. He is tall and kind. He is a great man-shaped light sitting on a throne in a cloud.”

“God is a nice person who has feelings. I think God looks like the pictures they show. God probably looks somewhat like we do because it says in Genesis that we were created in His image. He must be very beautiful with soft curly hair. He’s real happy up there. He laughs too because it says so in the Bible ‘He that sitteth in heaven laughs’ (or something like that).”

Think of the value of these expressions to both the students and the teachers in that Junior Department! The students are forced to verbalize their ideas about God and thereby get some idea of how developed or undeveloped those concepts might be. The teachers gain insight into the theological needs of their students and what specific misconceptions about God need to be broken down before the inculcation of biblical theology can gain a solid foothold.

Of course, creative writing as a teaching technique covers a great many more activities than just a descriptive paragraph in the Junior Department. It does not have to take place with the pencil in the student’s hand. In the earliest years of the Preschool Departments, children can talk about their experiences and reactions to pictures as a teacher writes down some of the responses and later reads them back to the children.

Older children may work on diaries, record books, stories, rhymes and poems, descriptions of pictures, and writing plays.

Teens and adults can participate in creative writing by developing poems and stories which illustrate certain biblical truths being studied in class.

Values of Creative Writing

Perhaps the most significant value of creative writing is the exploration into self which it provides. When we ‘articulate our feelings or ideas about a certain matter on paper, we tend to discipline our minds into orderly thinking about that subject. That is why college teachers so frequently assign term papers and other writing projects which call for the discipline of organized thought process.

Actually we have already pinpointed three values: insight into self, discipline, and organization of one’s thinking.

Wright Pillow suggests that transposing a Bible story or finishing an open-ended life situation story both help the writer to find in the experience of his subject some solutions which are helpful to him. “The usefulness of this kind of experience becomes even more apparent when we evaluate it in terms of ‘learning at the intersection.’ Visualize two streets coming together at an intersection. One of the streets we can label ‘The Gospel,’ that which is true and unchanging. The other we can label ‘Life Situation,’ that which must change constantly. Where these two intersect, Christian education can take place. When the Gospel is allowed to clarify and redirect the life situation of an individual, a new person is born” (Creative Procedures for Adult Groups, Harold D. Minor, ed., Abingdon, Nashville, Tenn.).

Creative writing is sometimes used as an effective response to some other kind of methodology such as a sermon, lecture, or discussion. Phyllis W. Sapp includes the following example of a poem written by a 13-year-old boy after listening to a sermon on the transfiguration of Christ (“What is Death?” Creative Teaching in the Church School, Broadman, Nashville, Tenn.).

What is Death?

Death. What is Death?
To an atheist but an end,
A trip out of life and to the end.
People cry over this one,
For they think he’s gone forever.

Death. What is Death?
To a non-Christian, a terror.
A trip out of life to hell,
And he knows it,
A desperate call for a minister,
And then slipping off in a terror.

Death. What is Death?
To Christians but a joyful end,
From an earthly trek to see their Lord.
They slip away in happiness,
For they see their Lord coming for them.
There is no sadness in their home.
For by and by they shall meet again.

Problems in Creative Writing

Some teachers do not use creative writing simply because they think it is a waste of time. After all, is not our job as Christian teachers to inculcate the concrete propositions of objective truth? How can we justify allowing students to pour out their own undeveloped ideas when they should be filling their minds with the kind of biblical information which only the teacher can provide?

No doubt creative writing (like any other method) could become a waste of time. The unskilled teacher attempting to preside over an undisciplined class, would almost certainly be guilty of wasting time regardless of what method he chose. We must understand that methodology is merely a vehicle or transportation device by which we want to convey propositional truth to students. The very fact that the student takes into consideration as he is writing what the Bible says about his subject is a good step toward helping him to make application of important truths to his life.

It is not our purpose merely to parrot truth into the air. As teachers we want to see that truth takes root in the lives of our students and, in turn, brings forth fruit in the behavior of those students. Wright Pillow suggests that “creative writing has endless possibilities for making the ‘Gospel learned about’ into the ‘Gospel acted out.’ The writer’s reactions when he sees his thoughts on paper may even create a desired change.”

Like any other method, creative writing should not be overused. It is an excellent supplement to other methods and therefore can render an effective supporting role.

Principles for Effective Use of Creative Writing

Make sure the writing project has a clear-cut learning objective. It is not just time filler nor an attempt to secure physical participation in the classtime. The objective of the paragraph about God was to get students to think honestly about what they understood God to be like (no child signed his paper). Perhaps our goal will be worship or analysis of a given passage by asking for an interpretive paraphrase. Whatever the objective, we should be clear in our minds as teachers so that we can communicate proper direction in giving the writing assignment.

Use variety in creative writing. How about writing a newspaper or developing an entire worship service with songs and themes? Teen-agers could write a radio script or a narrative for a slide presentation. How about writing a choral reading, psalm, folk song, or doctrinal statement? The possibilities are almost endless.

Do not get hung up on style or grammatical excellence. The main purpose of creative writing is content. No doubt there is some virtue in disciplining students to write everything in proper form, but such an inhibition might stifle the kind of creativity we want in an honest reflection of student attitude.

If you begin to use creative writing on a fairly extensive scale, hold on to the masterpieces you get from your students. Perhaps some day you will be able to publish a best-seller, or at least contribute a column on creative writing to a Christian periodical.

Related Topics: Teaching the Bible

24. Developing Instructive Assignments

Twelve-year-old Marty does not like Sunday School. He comes, but only because his parents force him. And his attitude clearly shows all the while he is in class that he does not really want to be there. Occasionally he gets excited about a Christmas party or a contest of some kind. But the general week-by-week activities hold no interest for him. From all outward appearances, he is learning very little about the Bible and the Christian faith. One thing is sure. Whatever exposure Marty has to eternal truth comes exclusively in the one hour on Sunday morning because he does not spend five minutes in God’s Word during the week!

The great tragedy is that Marty is only too typical of countless young people in many evangelical Sunday Schools across the nation. His parents are Christians, which means to them that they attend Sunday School and church on Sunday morning but somehow does not seem to include any responsibility for Christian nurture of their son at home. Their interest in Sunday School however, seems to be sincere, and they are very careful to ensure Marty’s attendance week by week.

A wise teacher could do something about this difficult situation,. No doubt visitation and a counseling ministry with the parents would be a positive step. Short of that, a teacher who really became serious about his students’ responsibility to study at home could develop assignments which would double or even triple Marty’s exposure to the Word of God.

The wise teacher will remember too, that it is the parents’ responsibility to make sure work outside of the classroom gets done, and he would enlist the support of Marty’s mom and dad right from the beginning. He would find allies in Marty’s parents for they would help the boy with the assignments and at least provide some leverage at home to see that the work was completed each week.

Values of Assignments

One value should be already obvious. If Marty’s parents are helping him with his assignments, they are also being exposed to God’s Word and that Junior High teacher is having a ministry to parents as well as to his student. But effective securing of parental support depends upon whether the Sunday School teacher has really accepted the premise that be alone cannot handle the task of Christian nurture. Findley Edge makes it very plain when be says, “The church cannot accomplish the task of religious education alone. That may seem like a shocking and extreme statement to some; nevertheless, it is true. The sooner church leaders and parents face this fact the better it will be” (Helping The Teacher, mentioned earlier).

The use of assignments also puts “more school in Sunday School.” It raises the academic level of church education, and, even though you might have difficulties in getting your students enthused about “doing homework” at first, a careful system of reinforcement coupled with parental support can and will win the battle. As mentioned above, a carefully planned assignment program can, double or triple the classtime, and every Sunday School teacher ought to be excited about it for that reason if for no other.

One of the most significant values of assignments however, is their ability to relate to life outside of the unreal situation which we call “class.” This implies that the assignment is more than just filling in the blanks or memorizing the names of the books of the Bible. If we can design “life-related assignments,” we can assist the student in putting into practice those things which he has learned in class.

Finally, we ought to use assignments because of their capacity to stimulate inquiry which might result in spiritual growth. If we really believe in the supernatural power of the Word of God, then we must believe that the more time a student genuinely spends in studying the Word of God the more spiritual growth will result. A spirit of inquiry will also lead to teachable moments in the classtime as the student raises questions or problems which he has encountered in the work he attempted to do at home.

Problems in Using Assignments

Perhaps the most common problem we face in attempting to get Sunday School students to work at home is the problem of negative attitudes. Somehow the idea of homework seems to correlate well with schooling during the week. But we have portrayed the image that Sunday School should be easy and not have any effort connected with it. It is bard to shake an image, particularly when it is a bad one. But this is one we will simply have to lose if we are going to minister God’s Word effectively at acceptable levels of education in the evangelical church. We may have to start out slowly with simple assignments and try to make them as interesting as possible, but we should get serious about the importance of assignments as a method.

Time is always a problem. The students are busy, and the activities of school and community tend to crowd out the time necessary to “work on the Sunday School lesson.” That is why good teachers will make occasional telephone calls during the week to offer assistance with the assignment or even to build in some kind of reward system. A teacher I know has a standard procedure whereby he calls one member of his class each week, but no one knows in advance who will be called. If the selected student has done his lesson by the time of the call (usually Thursday or Friday evening) he gets 10 bonus points in the current class contest.

Another common difficulty is that some printed curriculum materials do not offer challenging and attractive assignments. Sometimes the level is below the students for whom it was Written, and sometimes it is too difficult. It is possible to have both of these problems with the same material in the same class because of varying backgrounds of the students.

This is where the teacher comes in. He can add to or vary the regular curriculum plan because he alone knows the specific needs and problems of his own class. Let us by all means use the best curriculum materials we can buy, but let us never give up by default our right as classroom teachers to determine what is best for our particular students.

Principles for Effective Use of Assignments

Involve the students in selecting the assignment initially. This is simply the process of adopting a positive use of peer pressure. Rather than banding down the assignment each week, let the students talk in class about what kind of carry-over activities would be meaningful and interesting to them. A worker is always more thorough in following through on a plan, if he has had a significant role in making it.

Make the assignments life-related. Get away from the traditional “knowledge storehouse” kind of study, and have your students touch life in the context of the subject matter. Some of the earlier chapters discuss the methods which would adapt themselves well to life-related assignments (for example, using interviews in your teaching).

Always check the assignment after it has been given. The old adage reminds us that “the worker does what the boss inspects and not what he expects.” This will take time, but if we are going to commit ourselves to a methodology which includes assignments, we are going to have to accept the responsibility for checking the work. Nothing will kill the progress of achievement faster than ignoring the work that a student has done in preparation for his Sunday School class.

Use good principles of motivation. There are a number of ways to build motivation in students and most of them are perfectly acceptable. The idea of peer group involvement was mentioned above. Competition is an extrinsic motivator, but at certain age levels it can be used very positively. Ultimately we want to build intrinsic motivation, which causes the student to study God’s Word because he knows it is important for him to do so.

Vary the types of assignments. Use reading and research, interviews, prepared questions, projects, observation work, reports, preparation of panels and debates, and any other approach which will lead the student into the Word during the week. Obviously, assignments can be coupled with other kinds of teaching methodology to make an interesting and effective class.

Reinforce all efforts the student makes to work outside of class. Reinforcement can take the form of verbal commendation or extrinsic rewards such as stars on a chart which will ultimately culminate in winning some kind of competition.

But, let me say it one more time all of this work is futile unless the teacher deliberately, carefully, and thoroughly involves the parents in overseeing, helping, and expediting the work at home. In the final analysis, Christian nurture is the task of the parents, and the Sunday School teacher is only a supporting and assisting worker. We must help parents see this responsibility and act positively upon it.

Related Topics: Teaching the Bible

25. Testing as a Teaching Method

In a very real sense testing evaluation is always going on. But it does not always take the form of a teaching method. Sometimes tests are used as evaluation instruments (that’s good). Sometimes they are used as a threat (that’s bad). Rarely are they used as a means to convey truth (that’s unfortunate).

There are a number of ways that students’ learning can be tested. Almost all of them are adaptable for use as a teaching method. The way we use a test makes it a teaching tool, so we can get double mileage out of any given evaluation instrument simply by adapting it for both evaluation and teaching.

Here are some types of testing which are commonly used in most levels of education and certainly would be very usable in church education as well:

Matching Questions. On this kind of test the student links up the items in one column which go correctly with the items in another column.

(SAMPLE)
a. David	1. Was taken captive to Babylon _________
b. Daniel	2. Ministered to the Jews in exile _________
c. Jonah	3. Was the youngest son of Jesse _________
d. Ezekiel	4. Preached a revival in Nineveh _________

True-False Test. This is perhaps the easiest to construct and the quickest to administer. Its major weakness lies in the temptation to use trick questions (never a good procedure if we want the test to be a teaching tool), and the fact that a student has a 50 percent chance of getting the answer right even if he never studied the material at all.

(SAMPLE)

Mark T or F after the following sentences to indicate whether they are true or false.

1. Jesus was born in Nazareth. ___________

2. Jesus baptized many disciples Himself. ___________

3. Jesus cast the beggars out of the Temple. ___________

Completion Tests. In the completion test the student fills in the information indicated in a blank space or spaces.

(SAMPLE)

The name of Abraham’s wife was___________ and the

name of his favorite son was ___________

Multiple Choice Tests. A multiple choice test is one in which the student reads a question and then selects his answer from a list of alternatives (usually four) which are provided for him.

(SAMPLE)

When God confronted him in a bright light, Saul of Tarsus was on his way to what city? _________

a. Jerusalem

b. Damascus

c. Babylon

d. Rome

In one of my books I have indicated four guidelines for the use, of multiple choice questions.

1. Avoid listing obviously wrong alternatives

2. Make sure that one of the alternatives is distinctly better than the others

3. Place all of the essential information in the question

4. Be sure that each of the alternatives grammatically fits into the sentence

(Understanding Teaching, ETTA, Wheaton, Ill.).

Essay Questions. This kind of test takes more time because a student must respond to the questions by writing the answer in his own words. Although it takes more time to grade and more time to complete, the value of having the student verbalize truth is a desirable gain.

(SAMPLE)

Write three or four sentences describing what the Bible says about Christ’s coming again (you may use your Bible in answering the question).

Values of Testing as a Teaching Method

A teacher who accepts the responsibility to teach also accepts the responsibility to evaluate learning. Paul Lederach suggests four areas of evaluation which are important in Christian teaching:

1. We can test persons in the area of knowledge and understanding.

2. We can evaluate habits that contribute to a Christian personality such as prayer, Bible study, honesty, self-control, and loyalty.

3. We can evaluate changes in values and attitudes.

4. We can evaluate a person’s participation in the gathered life of the church and his participation in the mission of the church as a witness and servant when the church is scattered (Learning To Teach, mentioned earlier).

Stimulation is another value of testing. Sometimes I will give a complete test the first day a class convenes. The purpose is to show students what they know and what they do not know about that particular subject. Hopefully, this awareness motivates learning.

The teacher who tests his students regularly can be a source of information on the progress those students are making in the Christian life.

Problems in Using Testing

Just as in making assignments, the biggest problem we face in testing is the problem of poor attitudes. It is not easy to “sell” the idea of the importance of testing. This is a problem faced in au education even though no serious educator would discount the importance of evaluation of some kind. Lederach quotes the old guideline, “We test our teaching to be sure we know what we are doing and are doing what we know!”

Sometimes testing becomes a problem because we have poor test instruments. Fortunately, most of the major curriculum publishers are now producing standardized Bible knowledge tests to coordinate with the curriculum at most age levels. Please remember, though, that these are strictly content-knowledge tests and do not measure attitudes and behavioral change. These things must be evaluated by subjective observation over a period of time.

Principles for Effective Testing

Test for more than memorization. Although Bible knowledge is a basic area, the teacher should also try to test attitudes, choices, and conduct.

Always build your test on the basis of your teaching-learning objectives. If you have clearly stated objectives at the beginning of a quarter and also before each week, you will have some basis upon which to develop a test. It is foolish to try to test students to see if they know what you never specifically set out to teach them in the first place.

Always explain the test content and procedure carefully. Let the student know precisely what is expected of him, how he should prepare for the test, and what kinds of things he should do in writing the test.

Try to remove the element of threat as much as possible. In the early days you may forego the collecting of papers and let the test be a personal experience of the student’s measurement of his own progress. Above all, never use a test as a form of punishment.

Involve the parents. Remember that theme? Let the parents know when a test is scheduled so they can help at home in the preparation and study.

Make good tests. You may not have access to standardized tests provided by a publisher. Or, you may for some reason choose not to use them or supplement the standardized test by tests which you make yourself. In preparing a teacher-made test try to observe the following positive characteristics:

1. Objectivity—try to develop tests which have specific kinds of information feedback even when that information is of an understanding or comprehension type rather than fact memorization.

2. Clarity—questions should not be vague or capable of more than one correct interpretation.

3. Comprehensiveness—a test is comprehensive when it touches on each of the major areas of the unit studied.

4. Validity—test what is supposed to be tested. If we intend our tests to measure a student’s understanding of what salvation is, the test is invalid if we only get back a series of memorized facts which may not tell us anything about how well he understands the process of conversion.

If testing is really to become a teaching technique, we should take one further step after the test has been taken and graded. We should bring it back into class and discuss it thoroughly with our students so they may have on opportunity to see where they made mistakes and what kinds of things will be necessary for further study.

Related Topics: Teaching the Bible

1. Facing the No-Baby Blues

"I think I just need to relax," I told my ob/gyn after my annual examination. "We're putting in long hours with our youth group, I work full-time, and my husband just finished seminary." I had believed the myth that the cure for infertility is relaxing.

"How long have you been trying?" he asked.

"About 18 months." He rolled closer and spoke gently, "No. Perhaps it's time to 'stop relaxing.' We can try a few simple procedures; the pace is up to you."

I did not know then that I had already met the textbook definition of infertility: the inability to conceive or carry to term after one year of unprotected intercourse. (Some patients say it's also the chance to determine mood by a thermometer, hear every home remedy imaginable, and endure bankruptcy in injectable form.)

Since I cringed at the idea of joining the one in six Americans of childbearing age with fertility problems—people I considered "obsessed with getting pregnant"—I left his office and stayed away for another 18 months. "If God wants us to have kids," we told ourselves, "He'll make it happen."

When we returned to the doctor, we began a journey which would take us through three years of no conceptions followed by eight early pregnancy losses and then three failed adoptions in our quest for a child.

God's grace and some information drove us forward. First, we learned that infertility is usually a symptom that something is physically wrong. Perhaps there's a thyroid problem or an infection. In 95 percent of cases, doctors find a diagnosable medical problem. Second, we learned that for those entering medical treatment, about 65 percent go on to give birth; for those avoiding treatment, the number drops drastically. Medicine and faith do not have to be mutually exclusive.

So we started the process of Love Life by Calendar Rule (which brought about as much joy as a mopping floors). A few times we had to "get together," then rush to the doctor's office to learn whether our bodily fluids were "hostile" to each other. We turned into pincushions, stuck with daily injections either to help me conceive or keep a pregnancy going. And we fought with our insurer, who lumped our heartbreak in the same category with tummy tucks.

The emotional toll astonished us. "The depression and anxiety experienced by infertile women are equivalent to that in women suffering from a terminal illness," says Alice Domar, Ph.D., director of the Behavioral Medicine Program for Infertility at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Why? We're not talking about a new living room set here. We're talking about a child—a child who might make daisy chains, throw her arms around us, even throw up on us. It's not that we were "stuck on genetics," as some accused. Proverbs 30 told us this drive, this longing, was normal. God included the "barren womb" in His description of four things which are never satisfied.

I always hesitate to tell our "sad story" because I don't like to engage in what I call the Suffering Olympics—going for the gold in competing over who's hurt the most. Many people have endured much worse. Yet during that decade (which ended—thank God!—in the miracle of a successful adoption) the Lord taught us these and a few other things that helped us:

Infertility involves a normal grief process. The loss is intangible, but it is real. First there's denial. One woman insisted, "I'm not infertile; I'm just having trouble getting pregnant!" Other responses include crying, bargaining, depression, anger, isolation, and resolution. Look at Hannah (1 Samuel 1); she exhibited almost all of these.

Unfortunately, infertility is a grief cycle within a grief cycle: the monthly cycle of hope and despair interrupts the greater grief process, often leaving couples wondering if they will ever stop hurting.

Spouses grieve differently. Because infertility occurs during the childbearing years, it's often the first major loss husbands and wives experience as a couple. It can be a shock to discover they grieve differently. Many researchers have concluded that gender-based differences significantly complicate the crisis. One sociologist observed that, in general, "Wives saw their husbands as callous and unaffected by infertility while husbands saw their wives as 'overreacting' and unable to put things in perspective. While wives felt their husbands were unwilling to talk about infertility, some husbands wondered what there was to talk about." In another study, half of the infertile women said their infertility was the hardest thing they had ever experienced; only fifteen percent of their husbands said the same thing.

Yet it's not always she who feels more pain; in some marriages, he does. And infertility is not a "woman's problem." Its causes are about evenly split between the genders.

One solution to the emotional disparity is for both partners or the one feeling more emotional pain to connect with a support group or find an Internet buddy. Some psychologists estimate that even happily married couples should expect only about 25 percent of their support to come from their spouses. The rest must come from family, church, friends and support groups.

Remember: children are a gift, not the gift. When people quote verses about children being blessings from God, it's easy to feel you're being punished. Of the thousands of infertility patients we have talked with, I've met only one person who told me she's never wondered whether God was punishing her (She was an atheist.) Children are among God's many blessings, but they are not the only blessing.

Read up and speak up. As believers, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. So we must manage them well. Christian ethics here require thought and investigation. Will the clinic show respect for your convictions? (Most will.) If you do high-tech treatments, will you limit the number of potential embryos to those you are willing to carry to term? Take responsibility for your treatment.

Let God strengthen you. This is most important. Keep asking yourself, "Do I believe God is good?" and "Will I trust Him?" Resist the temptation to cry out, "My stupid body!" knowing God made you fearfully and wonderfully in love, mysterious as His reasons may be. When Job hurt, he fell on his face and worshipped. Worship your Creator in your pain. He cherishes you.

This article first appeared in HomeLife.

For more information on infertility:

Drawing on Glahn’s decade-long struggle with infertility treatment and Cutrer’s medical expertise, these books explore the spiritual, marital, emotional, medical, and ethic issues surrounding infertility. The authors bring their unique male/female, doctor/patient, and clinical/theological combination of perspectives.

Infertility Companion

When Empty Arms Become a Heavy Burden: Encouragement for Couples Facing Infertility

Related Topics: Parenting, Women's Articles

2. A Hearts Desire: Encouragement for Couples Facing Infertility

Why Does It Hurt So Much?

A couple sat to eat lunch with me after I had spoken at an infertility symposium. As we began to talk, I asked the wife, “When you grieve over your infertility, what is your greatest loss?”

She didn’t have to think about her answer. “It’s the loss of a dream; my heart’s desire is to have my husband’s child and raise it together.”

I turned to the husband and addressed him. “And you?”

He looked at her, then back at me. After hesitating a moment, he spoke to her gently, and stroked her arm, “Don’t take this wrong, honey, but…” Then he looked at me. “It’s the loss of my wife—she is not the same woman I married. Infertility is really taking a toll on us.”

“You’re normal,” I assured them. After enduring a decade of infertility treatment that included multiple pregnancy losses, three failed adoptions, and an ectopic pregnancy, my husband and I had talked to numerous couples. And I recognized their stress, which—though different in each couple’s case—was still a normal response to an abnormal experience.

Infertility is hard stuff. In fact, “The depression and anxiety experienced by infertile women are equivalent to that in women suffering from a terminal illness,” says Alice Domar, Ph.D., director of the Mind/Body Center for Women’s Health in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School .

Why is it so difficult? We’re not talking about buying a new living room set here. We’re talking about having a child—someone who will throw her arms around you, even throw up on you. The idea of conceiving child as the product of two people’s love is a precious dream, and a deep longing. Thus, what a comfort it often is for couples to discover Proverbs 30:16, which tells us that a “barren womb” is among four things on earth that are never satisfied. The intense desire to have children is part of the way God structured the world. The drive, the longing, that “unsatisfied” feeling—these are part of the design.

What Causes Infertility?

Infertility is the inability to conceive or carry a child to term after one year of unprotected intercourse. There can be many causes, but don’t believe the myth that “infertile couples just need to relax and they’ll get pregnant.” In ninety-five percent of cases, there’s a diagnosable medical reason. About sixty-five percent of couples seeking treatment eventually have a biological child, but the percentage drops significantly for couples choosing not to pursue medical treatment.

“It seems there are as many causes of infertility as there are people,” says Dan Underwood, who has a low sperm count. “Some of our infertile friends have antibody problems, some don’t ovulate, some have tubal damage. In about a third of couples, both husband and wife have fertility problems. A lot of people think it’s a ‘women’s issue.’ But fertility problems are just as common in men as in women. The hardest seems to be when it’s unexplained. That happens about five to ten percent of the time. It’s tough to go through treatment month after month when all the tests indicate there’s nothing wrong.”

The number of couples diagnosed with fertility problems appears to be on the rise due in part to delayed childbearing and sexually transmitted diseases. Environmental factors may also play a role.

What Can Couples Do About It?

Couples today face a variety of options for satisfying their desire to parent, depending on how comfortable they are with them.

Medication – In the case of a thyroid problem or infection, medications are often the solution. For women with ovulation problems, fertility drugs can help, too. Some couples believe it’s wrong to use “unnatural means” to treat fertility problems. Others see taking medication as the equivalent to using chemotherapy to treat cancer or insulin to treat diabetes. Those choosing to use drugs should be monitored carefully by skilled medical personnel.

Surgical intervention – Diagnostic surgery can uncover hidden causes of infertility. And corrective surgery often helps. Surgeons may, for example, correct fallopian tube blockage or endometriosis, which affects the uterine lining. In men, surgery can reverse vasectomies or repair structural damage and varicose veins in the testicles.

High Tech Options – Most Christians believe it is ethical to use artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, and other high tech procedures, provided doctors mix sperm or eggs of the spouse (as opposed to a donor) and take precautions to honor life even at the one-celled stage. Couples using in vitro fertilization should consider limiting the number of eggs fertilized to the number of babies they are willing to carry to term. This keeps them on the ethical high ground of avoiding selective reduction of “excess” embryos or pregnancies in which six or seven babies vie for the available resources in utero. Some couples opt for freezing embryos in this case, but others such as myself have reservations about cryopreservation, feeling that it takes unnecessary risk to the embryo and that it presumes on the couple’s future.

Embryo adoption – A Christian woman I know had three embryos implanted in her uterus and five frozen following an in vitro procedure. After she had triplets, she faced emergency surgery to remove her uterus. That left her with three choices—destroy the additional embryos, find a surrogate to carry them to term, or find someone willing to adopt the embryos.

Embryo adoption is relatively new—developed in response to the more than 100,000 embryos that sit cryopreserved, suspended indefinitely in frozen oblivion. The Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program works like a full-service adoption agency connecting couples wanting to carry frozen embryos with couples not wanting their frozen embryos destroyed. At the moment this costs about $6,000. However, some Internet services charge less than $75/month for couples on both sides of the embryo adoption equation to advertise and connect with each other. It is left to the couples to negotiate the details after that. No matter what you believe about the ethics of cryopreserving embryos, embryo adoption is an option that is emerging as an alternative to destroying them.

Adoption – Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses. A family member adopted Esther when her parents died. And God calls all those who believe in Christ his children through adoption. Thus, the Bible draws a beautiful picture for us of the adoption relationship.

However, adoption is the solution for only one of the many losses in infertility—the loss of the ability to parent the next generation. Most experts encourage couples who pursue infertility treatment to exhaust medical options before pursuing adoption, as the two experiences require working through separate sets of losses. This is why so many infertile couples find it aggravating when their friends encourage with, “You can always adopt.” Some couples deeply grieve the loss of a jointly created child, the pregnancy and breastfeeding experiences, and a continuing family line. For them, adoption will never fill these voids. However, once they reach the “resolution” stage of their infertility, other options look more appealing. Only then can adoption become a wonderful solution for the longing and the loss.

This article first appeared in ParentLife magazine.
Check out these books by Sandra Glahn and William Cutrer, M.D., which also explore pregnancy loss:

Infertility Companion

When Empty Arms Become a Heavy Burden: Encouragement for Couples Facing Infertility

3. A Journey through Miscarriage

"A person's a person no matter how small . . ."

—Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who

Six hundred thousand U.S. women experience miscarriage each year.

One in every 50 couples trying to have children experience multiple miscarriages.

As many as 120,000 couples each year suffer at least their third consecutive miscarriage.

Typically, when a couple faces a pregnancy loss, they find themselves constantly analyzing what they could have done differently. They chide themselves with "I shouldn't have used that disinfectant," or "I shouldn't have gone camping." "Grandma told me not to lift my arms above my head, but I did."

To better understand some of the anguish, we need to begin with some medical facts.

What causes it? There is no evidence that excessive work, reasonable exercise, sexual intimacy, having been on birth control pills, stress, bad thoughts, nausea, or vomiting are responsible for miscarriage. The most common reason for pregnancy loss is random chromosomal problems. Knowing this, people often say, "Miscarriage is God's way of taking those children with serious birth defects." This is both cruel and unhelpful. At a time like this, logic doesn't help. It only raises more questions: "So why couldn't God take this child before I found out I was pregnant?"

Other factors include uterine structural imperfections, environmental causes, infections, blood incompatibility, and immunologic problems. While a single pregnancy loss is more likely the result of chromosomal abnormality in the fetus, maternal factors are thought to trigger repeated losses. But in most cases, the specific reason remains unidentified. Nevertheless, it is extremely difficult to convince a woman who has lost a pregnancy that she could not have somehow prevented this tragedy.

What are the types of pregnancy loss? In the case of a biochemical pregnancy, the "pregnancy hormone" (hCG) is detectable in the blood. In a biochemical pregnancy loss, the pregnancy has ceased to develop in the early weeks. A so-called "blighted ovum" occurs when the placental portion of the embryo develops, but not the fetus. Using the term "blighted ovum" is both sexist and inaccurate, as it blames the female (ovum), when technically, once fertilized, it isn’t an "ovum" any longer. "Miscarriage" is a more appropriate label.

And the case of an ectopic or tubal pregnancy, the embryo implants in a fallopian tube or extra-uterine site, necessitating removal, if possible, before the tube ruptures. An ectopic pregnancy can be life-threatening to the mother, and is virtually always fatal to the child. There are the rare instances of implantation on the intestines (abdominal pregnancy) and occasionally a baby can make it, but this is very risky and highly unusual.

Unfortunately, it is currently impossible to take an embryo from the tube and "re-implant" it into the uterus. Well-meaning people who suggest prayer and waiting upon God to "see if the pregnancy will ‘migrate’" are misguided. This is the equivalent to telling someone with crushing substernal chest pain to pray and wait for the pain to move. If cholesterol plaques clog your arteries causing a heart attack, hopefully you rush to the emergency room for angioplasty or bypass. An ectopic pregnancy is just as dangerous to a mother’s life, and close medical observation is required. In addition, the embryos don’t move from the tube to the uterus.

Although seventy-five percent of miscarriages occur before the end of the twelfth week, they can occur at any time during the gestation period. Some couples experience added grief because they've believed the misconception that "once you get past the third month, you're home free."

Why do we feel so terrible about it? Depending on personality and background, each person's response differs. Men and women in general have different feelings about these losses as well, with women tending to feel more of a bond with the lost child. The intensity of pain depends on a number of factors, the most significant of which is the psychological investment in the pregnancy. Often the longer couples have been trying to conceive, the greater their sense of loss.

According to one psychologist, the wave of grief often crests between three and nine months after the loss, although some report that it takes between 18 months to two years for the scars to heal. And the healing process can be disrupted by other life difficulties.

Those who have experienced failed IVF cycles, failed adoptions and the loss of one or more children in a multiple pregnancy have identified many of the same feelings as those who have miscarried.

If you are called upon to support someone who has just lost a pregnancy, the key here is not to be the "answer person," but to provide time, empathy, patience, informed care, compassion, kindness and the encouragement to talk without trying to find solutions. Ethics here require the appreciation for the sanctity of life—respect for the life lost, concern for the pain, and the need for healing through community.

For more on pregnancy loss:

Books by Sandra Glahn and Dr. William Cutrer, The Infertility Companion and When Empty Arms Become a Heavy Burden

Check out www.hannah.org (Hannah's Prayer), a Christian online support organization for couples experiencing infertility and pregnancy loss. Sandra Glahn serves on their advisory board.

Other books by Glahn and Cutrer:

For a fast-paced medical thriller that explores embryonic stem cell research, check out Lethal Harvest, our best-selling Christy fiction finalist in the mystery/suspense category.

Deadly Cure, the sequel to Lethal Harvest, explores adult stem cell research and postpartum depression.

False Positive, another compelling story, touches on sanctity of life issues including RU-486.

4. Baby Blues: The Second Time Around

Couples with Secondary Infertility Face Unique Challenges

When Charla and Bob Boyl tried to have a second child, they were shocked to discover they had a fertility problem. The Boyls have plenty of company; at least one in twelve couples of childbearing age experience secondary infertility. They have one child, maybe more, then find that after a year or more of trying, they have been unable to conceive or carry another pregnancy to term.

Fort Worth fertility specialist, Kathleen Doody, M.D. says, “Secondary infertility appears to be undertreated. Research reveals that while half of all couples diagnosed with primary infertility pursue treatment, only one fifth of couples with secondary infertility seek medical help.”

“Primary and secondary infertility patients experience almost identical medical problems and treatments,” says Dallas physician, James Douglas, M.D. “We look for the same causes. In addition, childbirth can leave fertility problems behind. And naturally couples are older when they try to have children again. The chances of conceiving per cycle drop off drastically in the upper 30s.”

Psychologists confirm that both primary and secondary infertility evoke feelings of guilt, denial, anger, depression, and frustration. But differences exist, too. Secondarily infertile couples are at an in-between place. The fertile population generally perceives them as having no problem because they have a child. And when they are with primary infertility patients, they often feel too ashamed to ask for support for fear childless couples will resent them.

Debra, who returned to fertility treatment after having a high-tech baby, says the second time she felt a different kind of pain: “Now that I have one child I’ve exchanged the anguish of having no children for the pain of knowing exactly what I’m missing the second time.”

Another mom finds that an activity as common as picking up her daughter from kindergarten brings unexpected grief: “You notice you’re the only mother who is not pregnant, carrying an infant, or holding a toddler’s hand,” she says. “Your child asks why she’s the only one in her class with no brothers or sisters. You listen to everyone in your play group discuss how far apart they want to space their children, and then you watch them conceive according to plan. Meanwhile, you continue with temperature charts, medications, and doctor visits. You wonder if your child will be emotionally scarred by your deep desire to have another. You struggle to answer friends and relatives who comment, ‘Time for another, isn’t it?’ Or worse, you answer those you’ve told you’re infertile who say, ‘At least you have one child; you should feel grateful.’”

“It’s nearly impossible to explain to someone who feels their family is complete why you grieve for the phantom child,” says Charla. “People try to tell us we should feel satisfied with the child we have. I compare it to how I feel about my mother. She died a few months before my daughter was born. I feel grateful to God for giving me a wonderful mother, but no matter how grateful I feel, it never takes away my longing to be with her. Gratitude never replaces longing.”

Secondary infertility often brings an overwhelming jolt with the realization that dreams may never materialize. One mother says, “Many of us grew up with a vision of our family as a Mom and Dad and at least two children. I think about my daughter and wonder if she will ever know the mischief of sisters caught with Mom’s make-up, the frustration of having to share her toys, and the confidences which can’t bridge generations. When we get old and start acting funny, who will she call to say, ‘We’ve got to make Mom stop wearing t-shirts to Neiman’s. I watch her now with two sets of eyes,” she continues. “One set watches her as any mother would. The other struggles to memorize every stage.”

Daniel’s mother, like most, feels guilty about her inability to give her son a sister or brother, recounting a recent experience that made her cry: “Three neighbor kids were teasing my son, saying, ‘If we didn’t live next door, you’d have nobody to play with.’ I called their mother, and she told me her kids felt jealous because my son had more toys. She had explained to them that while Daniel had lots of toys, they had sisters and brothers—something Daniel didn’t have.”

Guilt may take other forms. Studies show that many moms and dads with fertility problems criticize themselves about the quality of their parenting. They may wonder if some curse has been cast on them for being terrible parents the first time. When their child misbehaves, they may think, “No wonder we’re not supposed to have another.”

Along with guilt often comes fear. Many parents worry their children will be lonely, lacking family connections. They may become overly protective or unusually ambitious for their single child. They may also worry that their only child will die or bear the sole burden of caring for them in their old age.

Add to this the expense. Few employers’ health plans cover infertility. Companies often label such treatments “elective,” placing them in the same category as cosmetic surgery. Yet more than 90 percent of fertility problems stem from a diagnosable medical cause.

Many couples find that secondary infertility also complicates the adoption question. They worry about real or perceived equality in homes with a biological/adoptive mix. Some agencies turn away couples with a biological child, and many have a ceiling on parental age.

“Couples confronting secondary infertility need empathy and validation of their pain,” says therapist, Judy Calica. “They need the freedom to grieve their losses and they need support in resolving their crisis.”

And crisis it is. Stacia, describing the emptiness she feels over being unable to conceive again, says, “This is the most difficult thing I’ve ever dealt with. I know I will always feel like I’m just not finished.”

This article first appeared in Dallas Family.

For more information on infertility:

Drawing on Sandra Glahn’s decade-long struggle with infertility treatment and Dr. William Cutrer’s medical expertise, these books explore the spiritual, marital, emotional, medical, and ethic issues surrounding infertility. The authors bring their unique male/female, doctor/patient, and clinical/theological combination of perspectives.

The Infertility Companion: Help and Hope for Couples Facing Infertility

When Empty Arms Become a Heavy Burden: Encouragement for Couples Facing Infertility

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