From DSC:
For those of you who attend services in churches/temples/synagogues, if I asked you to tell me what the 2-3 main key points were — along with the accompanying scripture(s) — from the last sermon that you heard…would you be able to tell me? Would you be able to retrieve those key points from your memory?

With all these reflections going on in my mind about metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) these days, I did a mental pivot the other day and I moved the focus off of professors and teachers — and re-focused it towards the church…to pastors. I thought to myself…at the end of each sermon, wouldn’t it really help “solidify the message,” facilitate active reflection, and hopefully have more practical impact if pastors/churches would provide:

  • An extremely pared down list of the the main 2-3 key points; again using very few words (many churches already do this, I’m sure)
  • For a little more detail (but not much more), the pastor could provide the outline of his/her sermon in printed form (some churches do this via a fill-in-the blank pre-printed sheet), or put it up on a slide that’s projected at the end of the service, or put it online even before the sermon was given that day
  • A list of metacognitive check-in type of questions such as:
    • What did you understand in my sermon?
    • What didn’t you understand in my sermon?
    • What do you agree with?
    • What do you disagree with?
    • How can you apply this sermon this week?

By doing this, pastors would help move their main point(s) into more of the long-term memories of the people attending services within their congregations.

 

#SelfRegulatedLearning | #Metacognition