Hersey and Blanchard in Sunday School!

(Sorry it's late)
All right, so, first off: I am reading The Servant: A Simple Story About Leadership by James C. Hunter.

Next: four "real life" applications of the levels or styles or whatever of leadership. Conveniently, I happen to be teaching this Sunday, so I can look forward to using these applications right away!

1. Directing I will likely use this at the beginning of class as I introduce the lesson, ask members to read passages, and the like. I see this as just getting the basic framework of the lesson in, giving my students (or "followers") some concrete material or common ground to grab onto. (Yes, bad grammar. Yes, I'm an English minor.) Naturally, this is where the bulk of my tangible preparation will come in--I need to be well-versed in the material in order to feed it to the class.
   
2. Coaching To me, this feels like the biggest part of teaching. I will be following my lesson plan and I have a few points that I want especially to get across; therefore I will form my questions so as to encourage the discussion in that direction and will probably provide answers if what I'm looking for doesn't quite come from the class members.
   
3. Supporting Of course, with the Spirit being the real teacher, and with class members being actual people with their own ideas and concerns, the discussion may well turn in a different direction. In this event, my job will be to continue to facilitate the discussion--asking for people's comments and tying everything together for the whole class.
4. Delegating Honestly, I'm having a hard time making this fit into the teaching scenario. I suppose that I may employ it when I ask the class to break into groups and work out a passage before bringing everyone back for group discussion. While I may give them some focus questions, I will trust them to teach each other.

So there are my four situations. Or rather, my one situation that will shift and change throughout the duration. I pray that I can be a responsive and responsible leader as I teach Heavenly Father's children.

EYN

(Really, it is late. Blogger just seems to be behind an hour and a half or so.)