Transform Your Teaching: A Debrief of Servant Teaching 

Reading Time: 2 minutes

In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles wrap up the servant teaching series, highlighting crucial points from their various guests. Check out the episode to hear their own takeaways on applying servant teaching.  

Servant teaching defines who we are as believers in Christ, but any instructor—regardless of belief—can use servant teaching principles in their instruction. To implement servant teaching, consider these takeaways from our series.  

1. Be willing to reflect. Keep notes throughout the semester of topics that went well or didn’t go as planned. Make adjustments for the next time the course runs. Consider recording yourself or having someone observe you. Sometimes we are not aware of how we are teaching when we are in the midst of it. 

2. Consider the whole student. Use a holistic approach versus just connecting with the student just through the content. How can you listen to your students to prepare them for the next steps after they finish your class? Pay attention to the interests of your students as well. Is there are specific topic that they are really keying in on? Consider spending more time on it. Do they have goals that you can help them reach? How can you help them achieve those goals?  

3. Focus on one area of improvement. Don’t try everything at once! Servant teaching is a process, not an overnight change. 

Resources 

Amerstorfer, C. M., & Freiin von Munster-Kistner, C. (2021). Student Perceptions of Academic Engagement and Student-Teacher Relationships in Problem-Based Learning. Front Psychol, 12, 713057. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.713057 

Sybing, R. (2019). Making Connections: Student-Teacher Rapport in Higher Education Classrooms. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 19(5). https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v19i5.26578  

Tormey, R. (2021). Rethinking student-teacher relationships in higher education: a multidimensional approach. Higher Education, 82(5), 993-1011. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00711-w 

FOCUS Blog

• Introducing Servant Teaching   
• Servant Teaching: Listening and Learning  
• Four Practical Steps For Servant Teaching 

Previous episodes on servant teaching

• The Philosophy of Servant Teaching 
• Servant Teaching with Dr. Quentin Schultze 
• Servant Teaching with Dr. Tom Hutchison 
• Servant Teaching with Professor Jim Lightenheimer 
• Servant Teaching with Dr. Thomas Mach 

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