World-Class Christian Education in the Church, School, and Home

Mitchell’s Leading is a very difficult book to review. On the one hand, in its class as a  teaching-theory book from a Christian perspective, I am sure it is “top notch.” On the other hand, as a textbook that I had to read for a graduate course, I was not a fan at all.

I genuinely dislike reading up on theory, and any book that overuses such words as “paradigm,” “taxonomy,” and “meta-model” makes me dread an upcoming course like I would a film co-starring Bill Pullman and Dennis Quaid. I read the full 400 pages, and I learned much about teaching theory, but I did not enjoy that time very much.

I hate to knock the book this way. I respect anyone who takes the time to write and complete a book, specifically one that encompasses the whole array of what that person has spent his life studying. Dr. Mitchell’s efforts in Leading are obvious, but I believe that were he to edit his thoughts down to about 40% of what he published here, his readers would not miss a thing.

Universities have selected this textbook for their courses, and I respect their decision. But I also feel sorry for those students who, like me, detest the dryness of theories, yet who still have to read the book page-by-page.

If this is you, take consolation in that fact that all your supplemental coursework and assignments will actually benefit from the insights Mitchell brings. The only downfall is that you have to read the book to get them.

©2011 E.T.