Thank you for your reply Jimmy! From my experience of teaching science to secondary school children they enjoy and get involved the most when they themselves have come up with their own ideas on what you are teaching them. One of the things I would say is important is not to teach them directly but let them evaluate the scripture themselves. So that the youth can generate discussions between themselves and come up with their interpretation of the bible without it being WRONG! This is what my Sunday school teacher didnt do, he would just tell us how it was and he would make us do too much writing!
Jimmy how do you teach your Sunday school class? What age group do you work with? And how do you adapt your teaching style to what works, without sacrificing the timeless message of the lesson? Any advice you could give me would be much appreciated. I would like to one day help children to learn about Jesus, maybe through Sunday school.
OK, step7hen. I'll try to help as best I can. But I must start by letting you know that I teach Sunday School preschool-age children. Specifically, ages 2 and 3, thought that may fudge a little on either side depending on when they are promoted to their next class. I have been teaching this age for over 20 years. Having said that, I must also admit that I have an 18-year-old daughter, and there were times during her early teen years when she and her friends might be found in parts of the church other than in the Youth area, when her Sunday School class was going on. So I have an understanding of how you felt. Now, let's get into it.
Whatever their age, students learn better when they enjoy what they are learning. This breaks down differently for different ages. For preschoolers, this means that they learn through their play--because all they do is play--for their age, play is the primary vehicle. The best way to teach this age is to provide a wide variety of activites and through the play, communicate your message. For example, play could involve making a collage, reading a book, carring for a baby doll, pretending to cook, playing with blocks, working a puzzle, rolling a ball, playing musical instruments, or any other number of things. In each of these activites you would have some teachingn materials, including perhaps a Bible with a Bible marker placed at the Scripture passage of the Bible story, and perhaps a Bible story picture. As you perform the activity, whatever it is, you make observations that lend themselves to the Bible truth or Bible story that is being taught that day. For example, if you are teaching about the friendship of David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel. As the children play, you encourage and complement the children for playing well together, for sharing, for taking turns, for being good friends. As they continue to play, show them the Bible story picture, if you have one. Perhaps even allowing a child to hold the picture for you. You open the Bible to the marker and you tell the Bible story. You do not actually read form the Bible, but you tell the prepared story from memory and in your own words. Whether or not the children are looking direct at you, they know that what you are talking about comes from the Bible because you have the Bible open. As you talk about the story and the people, and as you continue to work them into your conversations throughout the rest of the class, they are learning. They may or may not remember specific people (though they might!), but they will learn over time that the Bible is not something that they are forbidden to touch, but something that God gave to them and that God wants them to know about. They enjoy coming to church and they develop a comfort level that makes them more willing to learn as they grow and mature.
Now, let's jump way ahead, to grades 9 through 12, what we call high school (roughly, ages 14 through 17). This age is extremely challenging for teachers because the kids are coming into new freedoms as they grow older, and they are going through physical and social changes that they may not completely understand or like. This is our Youth Group age. Most of the learning for this age is woven through the activities that they enjoy. Their Sunday School / Bible study time has more of a social-gathering feel, with the kids interacting with each other, and the kids are encouraged to take part in the process. Worship for this age has a bit of a concert feel, complete with drumset, keyboard and electric guitars. These kids grew up with this style of music, so they are very comfortable worshiping though this music. Our youth area has a small stage in one corner where the band sets up, and there are lights, mics, and there is a sound board in the back of the room. During the non-summer (no school) months, the youth have their own worship service on Wednesday evenings while the older and younger folks have there own events elsewhere in the building. The youth worship is done in the youth area around there stage. As part of the service, the youth minister brings the message from the Bible. Depending on the night, they might pack out the room. Of course, that number includes a good portion that are brought by friends and that might not always attend church, but for the time they are there, they are praising, they are hearing from God's Word, and, by golly, they are even enjoying themselves. I would also like to point out that the youth are encouraged to participate in worship on Sunday morning as well (particularly during the 11am service, which is very contemporary in format), but there still are some kids that are only seen on Wednesday nights. Even so, they are coming. And when they are, they are loved, they are ministered to and they are taught God's word.
OK. Enough rambling for now. I hope you find some of this helpful, my brother.
