Teacher’s Workshop - preacherspen.orgpreacherspen.org/material/TeachersWorkshop/Teachers … · Web viewLet me be the first to thank you for your interest in teaching our young

Teacher’s Workshop

Dear Spiritual Leader,

Let me be the first to thank you for your interest in teaching our young people the words to the sacred Word. Your choice to participate in our Bible School program will assist students in a growth toward God.

The students will be made greater because you have chosen to have an active part in their lives. With the joy and compassion you will bring to each class, they will grow in leaps and bounds. The benefits of your efforts may not be clearly seen at first, but they (and the benefits of your efforts) are tremendous.

It is my hope and prayer this workshop will be an educational experience as well as a motivation experience for you. I hope to share some ideas and concepts to improve our Bible School program and make it the best it can be.

Our congregation has great potential in ____________________. Using our Bible classes to educate students in knowledge of God’s word will affect every aspect of their lives. The knowledge they gain will be shared with others and in turn, our Bible classes will grow.

Let us do all we can, as a united group, to touch every student with the blessings of God’s word.

Thanks for taking part,


Teaching Survey:

Consider the questions below and fill in the blanks accordingly. This is important so we may improve our Bible classes and make them the best Bible classes they can be.

1. What are the three greatest needs in our Bible Classes?a. ________________________________________________________________b. ________________________________________________________________c. ________________________________________________________________

2. What can the congregation do to help you with Bible class?a. ________________________________________________________________b. ________________________________________________________________c. ________________________________________________________________

3. Would you like to see a Vacation Bible School take place next summer? If yes, how would you like to help with Vacation Bible School?

a. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What three things would you like to see happen with our Bible School Program?a. __________________________________________________________________b. __________________________________________________________________c. __________________________________________________________________

Additional Comments:

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Program Schedule

Developing a Powerful Bible School

1. Begins with Teacher study

2. Begins with Providing Homeworka. More on the Parent/Teacher Workshopb. Hold parents and students accountablec. Keep track and communicate

i. Use assistants in the communication process.

3. Use Available Resourcesa. Guest Speakersb. Teacher Resources Roomc. Other Teachersd. Remember, everyone has different abilities

4. Build Relationships with Studentsa. You are not teaching a Bible class but reminding them of eternal words!


Teacher’s Resource Room

** A Volunteer is needed to oversee the new Teacher’s Resource Room. **

What the Teacher’s Resource Room is Not:

It is not a place to put unwanted material.o Before placing unwanted material in the room, ask anyone if they will use or

need the material, if they will not use it, dispose of it. It is not a place to let children play.

What a Teacher’s Resource Room is:

It is a place to store material and supplies for our Bible classes. It is a place to share material and supplies for each Bible class. It is a place to work on your Bible class lessons and crafts for your class.

What will the Teacher’s Resource Room Contain:

Construction paper, white paper, other paper Pencils, pens, markers and crayons Reproducible class material Extra class material Bibles to be used in class and returned A library of teaching resources to be checked out and returned


30 Tips for Teaching a Bible Class

By Matt Dabbs

1. Read the text as if you have never read it before.

2. Read the text multiple times looking for repeated words and phrases - may help you see broader themes.

3. Find the connection between stories (Gospels, OT narrative). There is usually a flow or connecting theme that makes sense out of the order of things. This is true of Epistles as well.

4. Form your own opinion before going to the commentaries. Commentaries can be crutches if used as first resort. Spend some time with the text first rather than time with what others have said about the text. You are teaching the scriptures and that is of primary importance. Commentaries are valuable but not as a crutch or time-saving/corner cutting device.

5. Ten minutes worth of solid, thought provoking questions can be better than an hour of lecture.

6. Never underestimate the importance of background (audience, location, author, etc) to the text you are studying.

7. Determine what information you want to cover can most likely be generated by discussion and what information cannot. That will help you determine how much to lecture and how much to get through asking effective questions.

8. Know more than you intend to teach.

9. Use illustrations but only one or two that really make the point of the class and make sure to come back to that illustration at the end and tie up loose ends.

10. Don’t belittle anyone’s comments.


11. Try to find the connection/nugget of truth in comments that aren’t quite on the mark (Why did that person say that and how did they think it connected with the question).

12. Give credit to the class. Try to remember who said what and refer back to their comment during the class rather than repeating what they said.

13. If you want more discussion, encourage it. Appreciate it when it happens. Thank people afterward for their comments.

14. The biggest way to kill discussions is by making the classroom a dangerous place to answer questions or give input. This is mainly regulated through how the teacher responds to incorrect answers.

15. Be positive. It is alright to rebuke and admonish but make sure you balance it with encouragement. People don’t want to get bashed over the head week in and week out. The Gospel is a message of hope. Let’s make sure people realize that when they leave your class.

16. Make sure you get the big picture. How does this passage fit the surrounding text? What is the context? For example, if you were doing a class on prayer you might point to Mark 11 where Jesus talks about praying in faith and a mountain being thrown into the sea. If you strip it from its context you miss the fact that Jesus is probably referring the temple mount where he had just cast the money changers out of the temple and basically proclaimed a curse on the temple (represented by the curse of the fig tree). There is more to that verse on prayer than meets the eye than if you do a simple word search on asking or faith and find that passage.

17. Be a resource for others. You won’t have all the answers but be aware of some valuable resources people can turn to if they want more information.

18. Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know. But let them know if you are willing to take the time to find out. Make sure you follow through on that if you say you will.

19. Be consistent.

20. Be early.


21. Be hungry.

22. Be humble.

23. Don’t fear the truth - people will ask questions and we may get out of our comfort zones from time to time but that is healthy. Never fear the truth and honest, sincere inquiry of your class.

24. Try to follow the flow of the text rather than pre-determined chapter breaks. The text doesn’t always break down as evenly as the chapters indicate. Determine what you will cover in a class by the flow of the text and what fits together and don’t assume the chapter breaks are all that helpful.

25. Different genres are not read or taught the same. Get a helpful book like Gordon Fee’s How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth to understand how a psalm is different than a Gospel and how an epistle is different from apocalyptic literature. There is much to be unlocked in the text from a cursory understanding of these things.

26. Try teaching inductively rather than deductively.

27. If you haven’t studied Greek or Hebrew use it sparingly and try not to make your major points off of it. Sure a commentary may point it out but sometimes, let’s face it, commentaries don’t always get it right.

28. Use commentaries written in the last 25 years from a reputable series. Not all commentaries are created equal.

29. Use handouts effectively. It is nice to have something you can take home with you to look at later.

30. Email your class members regularly - send them your notes after class. Remind them of what chapters or topics are coming up. Keep people informed and connected.

Article by Matt Dabbs (http://mattdabbs.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/30-tips-for-teaching-a-bible-class/)


First Things First

1. Identification:

a. Identify every student who can be in class. i. These students should include students in the congregation and those

outside of the congregation. (Neighbors, friends, family, co-workers, etc.)ii. Pray for each possible student.

iii. Send cards to each student inviting them to Bible class.iv. Talk to them and/or their parents about inviting them to Bible class.

b. Identify the goals/achievements of your Bible Class. i. What goals/achievements have you set to achieve this quarter?ii. What goal/achievements have you communicated to your students?

iii. Write the goals/achievement on the bulletin board in your class.iv. Remind your students weekly of the goals/achievements.

c. Identify a possible helper/assistant/substitute. i. Every Bible class teacher should be prepared and ready to pass along

material to someone else.ii. One of the goals of the Bible School should be teacher training; this

begins with our helpers/assistants/substitutes.

Possible Bible School Goals:

Know and recite all the books of the Bible (builds confidence)

Teach prayer and pray (builds confidence and public speaking)

Teach Jesus (builds salvation)


Why God Made Teachers

by Kevin William Huff

When God created teachers, He gave us special friends

To help us understand His world And truly comprehend

The beauty and the wonder Of everything we see,

And become a better person With each discovery.

When God created teachers, He gave us special guides

To show us ways in which to grow So we can all decide

How to live and how to do What's right instead of wrong, To lead us so that we can lead

And learn how to be strong.

Why God created teachers, In His wisdom and His grace,

Was to help us learn to make our world A better, wiser place.


Developing a Powerful Bible Class…

1. …begins with Study!

a. Teaching a Bible Class begins with the teacher studying the material. i. Studying does not have to happen all at once.ii. Spend time throughout the week reading over the material.

iii. Pray about your Bible class.

b. Teaching Bible Class begins with the teacher studying the students. i. Each student will learn at a different level.ii. Remember, 80% of people learn visually.

iii. Each student’s learning style helps you as a teacher develop future students. (We will talk more about this next week.)

c. Teaching Bible Class begins with personal study. i. Your personal study will magnify your class studies.

d. Teaching Bible Class begins with Prayer. i. Begin your study at home with prayer.ii. Begin your Sunday with prayer.

iii. Begin your class with prayer.iv. End your class with prayer.


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8 Ways Jesus Helped People Learn

By Jon Swanson

I was talking about teaching tonight. So I thought I’d pass on this list.

1. Told them how to do what they already knew how to do. (A bunch of his followers were fishermen. So when he told them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat, they are thinking, “Um, you preach. We fish.” Of course, he was right.)

2. Called them satan. (Okay, just one of them, but still, not very affirming.)

3. Made them leave home for three years and live off from scholarships from wealthy women. (Really. Look it up.)

4. Told them stories that they couldn’t figure out. (And they were getting the translation)

5. Got them into trouble with the people they had been trained to respect. (Yep. The pharisees. They were the religious leaders. He was a trouble maker.)

6. Sent someone on an internship with a traitor. (All the disciples went out in pairs. So somebody ended up with Judas.)

7. Didn’t give them outlines. (It would have been so much easier. Outlines in three ring binders and powerpoint and the DVD series. Instead, he just spent three years talking with them…every waking moment.)

8. Wasted months between big events. (There are months that we just don’t know about during those three years. And he could have had some great campaigns or something. Instead, he just kept talking and walking and teaching and laughing with these 12 guys.)

Lots of how he did training makes little sense to us. But somehow, it clicked.

Taken from: http://levite.wordpress.com/2008/08/24/8-ways-jesus-helped-people-learn/

http://levite.wordpress.com/2008/08/24/8-ways-jesus-helped-people-learn/



2. …begins with Providing Homework!

a. Additional Thoughts: i. More discussion will take place in the Parent/Teacher Workshopii. Parents emphasize homework in the secular world, what about the

religious world?iii. Can we hold our parents accountable with the homework given to

students?

b. Bible Class Homework takes Communication. i. For the students to have homework, communication must happen

among the teacher and both parents.ii. When you assign homework, be sure to include a note to parents

regarding the expectations of the class.iii. Also, remind the students of their homework two or three times a

class.

c. Use your helpers and assistants. i. If no helper or assistant is available, get a volunteer.

d. Reward the students for Homework Turned in. i. Be sure to commend and congratulate the students for turning in

their homework.ii. Use a bulletin board, poster board, or whiteboard to keep track of the

students’ progress doing homework.


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3. …Begins with Using Available Resources!

a. Our congregation is full of resources; we just have to tap into their abilities. i. Our congregation has people who teach in school.ii. Our congregation has people who have taught in school.

iii. Our congregation has people who have worked with youth/children’s groups.

iv. We must use our untapped resources.

b. Use a guest speaker. i. Pick someone from our congregation and ask them to teach the class

on a given subject.1. Guest Speakers can reach students with their words and

experience in different ways.ii. This helps them to know the students and this helps the congregation

to unite.

c. Teacher’s Resource Room.

d. Use other teachers. i. Use the expertise of other teachers to share ideas, ask questions, deal

with student problems, etc.ii. Swap classrooms and teach on a given subject.

e. Remember to use everyone’s abilities. i. Some of our greatest untapped resources are our parents.


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4. Begins with Building Relationships!

a. Relationships are built outside of Bible Class. i. Use various means to encourage your students:

1. Postcards, phone calls, emails, letters, etc.

b. Relationships change the future. i. You can change the future because you are teaching now.ii. You have an active part in the lives of our students.

iii. You provide our students with something they may not receive at home.

c. Relationships make teaching easier. i. Building relationships with students helps you to know the abilities

and learning levels of each student.ii. Building relationships helps with discipline problems in your class.

iii. Building relationships makes our congregation united.

d. Remember your relationship with God! i. You are not just speaking class material, but you are teaching eternal

words to everlasting souls.ii. Your relationship with God grows as your students grow.


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Teacher’s Workshop - preacherspen.orgpreacherspen.org/material/TeachersWorkshop/Teachers … · Web viewLet me be the first to thank you for your interest in teaching our young