The Sunday Teacher

Making One Point Better

There is often so much to say about a text. Too much. Sometimes it feels like one could have said so much more and that students have somehow been short changed. This is not necessarily true. When teaching from a text it is better to make one point well than five points poorly. Moreover, the one point you did make was probably made better because you had more to say (even though you didn’t say it).

It is the same with music. Just because a person can play a complex sequence of 16th note arpeggios at 180 beats per minute doesn’t mean one should perform them – like this:

But being able to play a complex sequence of 16th note arpeggios at 180 beats per minute makes the one note that is actually played sound better.

So, don’t scrimp on study even if you might scrimp on lecture.

January 22, 2013 0

Four Learners

Not everyone learns in the same way. A good lesson plan incorporates sections that appeal to different kinds of learners. I use four ingredients in my plans based loosely on Marlene LeFever’s book, Learning Styles:

Facts – concrete, memorable facts about the passage or idea you are communicating. This kind of leaner may demand, “tell me what I need to know.” If you succeed they might reply, “got it!”

Ideas: historical context of the passage, statistics, character biography.

Stories – imaginative narrative that communicates the point you are making. You are responding to the question, “how should I think/feel about this and why should I know it?” If you succeed with this group they might say, “that makes sense.”

Ideas: Movie clips, personal testimony, illustrations, pictures.

Activities – The active learner learns by doing something. The question is, “What difference does this make?” If you succeed with this group they might say “I can do it.”

Ideas: Games, crafts, role play.

Dynamic – a dynamic learner doesn’t really get the point until they make it themselves. Having part of your class devoted to discussion allows this group to think out loud. Once they say it they learn it. They ask, “What can I contribute to this idea/point?” If you succeed with this group they might say “I own it.”

Ideas: Discussions, smaller groups or one-to-one, debate, dilemmas.

January 15, 2013 2

Finger Notes

Most students don’t take notes in a Sunday class. And insisting that your students sit with a notebook can be a little too much like school (or an excuse for doodling). However, taking notes really helps students to memorize what you are teaching. So, try getting your students to write notes on their fingers.

I got this idea from Living by the Book by Howard G. Hendricks and William D. Hendricks. The book is about inductive Bible study. The show you how to read the Bible and look out for important parts of the text. In order to help you remember, they use a finger per point. They suggest that when you read a text you should look for what is emphasized, repeated, related, alike, unlike and true to life. To remember this just write it on your hand like this…

You could use this technique to remember a narrative–one of Paul’s missionary journeys, for example–or a series of points in an argument, a list of applications from a text or a list of characteristics of godly character.

Alternatively, get them to take notes on a banana!! This sounds weird, but a banana is perhaps the greatest writing surface for a ball point pen that has ever been discovered!

Notes on Titus 2:1-8:

January 9, 2013 2

Comic Book Bible

If you want a group of students to learn a book try making them play characters in a comic book version. Every lesson get students to create a still life scene of what you are studying and take a picture. Then collect the pictures, add captions and speech bubbles. Make copies for students (and parents) when you complete the study of the book.

December 31, 2012 0

Word Wall

Sometimes you just want students to get their thinking caps on. You have a whole load of ideas, quotes, scripture, pictures, but don’t know what will work best. Try using them all! Just use extra large font and print on multiple sheets of paper. Tape the paper together to create a wall and hang it up. Students can read the wall and begin discussing some of the “bricks.”

Here is one I did for discussing religious pluralism in a college class:

December 18, 2012 0

It is often difficult to maintain the attention of students when reading a long passage of scripture. Try keeping their attention by reading a fake version that contradicts the original. Then get them to point out all the mistakes. Here is an example from James:

Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ You know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You are a powerful person who will live an exciting life and make a lasting impression. You ought to say, “I know what I want to do with my life and there is nothing stopping me doing it.” Don’t be shy about these great things. Tell everyone. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

Come now, you rich people, rejoice for the happy things that are coming to you. Your riches have accumulated, and your clothes are looking great. Your gold and silver shine like the sun and their radiance will be evidence of your greatness, and it will light up your life. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! Don’t worry about all those people who you never paid. God will take care of those who learn how to take care of themselves. Live on the earth in luxury and in pleasure. Eat great food and throw a party because when you are a Christian wealth is never far away. Indeed, if you are a Christian you should expect to have many possessions. This is the will of God.

The original says:

Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts on a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

A Blog for the Teacher

Welcome to The Sunday Teacher, a blog designed to help inspire Sunday School teachers to teach the Bible creatively to young people. I will post teaching tricks, advice on theory and method, ideas and anything else that I think will help Sunday school teachers. Enjoy!

December 10, 2012 0