Improving Biblical Literacy

Following up on my last post, I just composed a response for a pastor whose congregation is considering a new model (modified workshop rotation) to increase biblical literacy. Here's what I wrote:
First, let me say that what you suggest is certainly possible. There has been, over the past decade a movement in some churches toward what you describe, usually called “workshop rotation,” so called because, when student numbers warrant it, students can be grouped and rotated through two or more workshop, one each week. The “workshop” leader teaches the same lesson in the same style (drama, cooking, crafts, etc) each week to a new group of students. CPH has not produced a “workshop rotation” curriculum. We are leery of the resulting narrow range of Bible accounts that are then studied in a given period of time. We think it requires more than just a few Bible accounts a year to teach the entire sweep of salvation’s plan. That is not to say that I prefer a shallow approach, in which a large number of lessons are taught superficially.

These are my premises:
• You and I, and most of the parents and students in you congregation, probably grew up in a Sunday School that taught a different lesson each Sunday. The lessons repeated every three years or so, and the result was at least a passing acquaintance with a large number of Bible accounts. That pattern is not inherently flawed.
• If Sunday School leaders and teachers spend the same amount on time improving their present system of curriculum, preparation, and teaching that they would spend in reviewing, choosing, and implementing a new system, the resulting improvement will be about the same. It is not the new system that makes the most difference, but the time and energy invested in any system.
• The material in a typical Sunday School curriculum today (and that includes Growing in Christ from CPH) provides enough teaching activities to fill more than an hour in a typical Sunday School. The teacher must pick and choose the activities that will be best for his or her students and focus on them in order to teach the main points effectively, while leaving time at the beginning of each lesson to review the key points of previous lessons, and at the end of the lesson to review the key points of the lesson just taught. The teacher that tries to cover everything in the teacher guide will wind up glossing over the key points, skipping the review, and still feel frustrated every week because “I wasn’t able to cover everything.” The students retain the material, not because the class covered everything, but because the activities that were chosen engaged the students and made connections between the Bible and contemporary life.
• Doing this final edit of any lesson—choosing and revising the activities so that they will engage your specific students—is hard work and requires preparation that too many teachers don’t invest each week.
• The whole process of retention, call it a lack of biblical literacy, is aggravated in our present day by the growing numbers of students who do not attend Sunday School every week. The depth and breadth of their biblical knowledge is not assisted by repeating lessons on multiple weeks, because they miss significant opportunities for learning new material and reviewing past lessons. The real solution is not to teach fewer lessons, but to get students into the classroom more often.

So, I’m not saying that what you propose is not possible; it is. Assuming that you plan carefully and student number to vacillate widely, you could in theory order the lessons you want when they are available and save the material until you need it. A 13-lesson quarter of material might last you for two or even three quarters. But it will be a lot of work figuring out how to extend the material over two or three weeks. You should be prepared for the extra work. And care will be needed to avoid sending the message that a student now only has to attend one week out of two or three since the lessons are repeated, which would result in even less biblical literacy than you currently faced.

I will admit that I am a traditionalist. I think that the traditional Sunday School can still work and thrive in most congregations.

Let me suggest another tool that you might want to promote in your congregation: biblequizzesonline.com. My wife built this Web site several years ago in response to her own concerns for biblical literacy among the students of our congregation. She continues to maintain it each week, providing a 10 question quiz that promotes accountable Bible reading. The Web site provides a way to read (or listen to) the Bible account for each lesson in Growing in Christ, followed by an on-line quiz with immediate feedback on correct and incorrect answers. This is one tool that teachers and families can use to promote biblical literacy.

I’m sorry if my response is not what you hoped for. I’m open to whatever follow-up questions you might have.

If you are looking for a new model for your Sunday School that incorporates a different form of rotation—“site rotation”—you might be aware that CPH is offering a second alternative for Sunday School in Fall 2012: Cross Explorations. This model combines large-group (“Engage”)/small-group (“Explore”) Sunday School with a rotation of sites in series of “Express” sites. You can learn more at http://sites.cph.org/sundayschool/.

Thanks for working hard for your Sunday School, Pastor. God will bless your efforts to teach His children His Word.

Covering Everything

I remember a line from a Christian education seminar I took many years ago (though I confess I don't remember the person who spoke it); it went something like this: "The teacher who insists on covering everything in a single session, usually covers up more than he or she reveals."

Is the point too subtle? Our task as Christian educators is to reveal the truth of God's Word to those we teach. We don't want to cover up, gloss over, or confuse. The teacher who tries to cram everything into the lesson, even if the teacher guide says it can be done, runs the risk of failing to teach the main points sufficiently.

It is for this reason that I always emphasize that the teacher is the final editor of any Sunday School lesson. It is a responsibility that you cannot ignore. Plowing blindly through every word of the teacher guide will leave little time to reflect on what the students are learning, or not learning. The publisher provides material for a long session with average students. You may have a much shorter session and you have very specific students for whom you can, and should, tailor that lesson.

The successful final edit identifies the main points, especially Law and Gospel, and the activities that will most be likely to teach these points to my class, while leaving enough time for the interaction that will tell me that the students got it.

Please, don't try to cover everything.

God's blessings as you teach His children His Word.

Proactive Discipline

Whenever I'm asked to lead workshops (and I'll be out again this weekend), discipline is the most common concern among volunteer teachers. They want to maintain control in their classroom and not have to deal with out-of-control students.

Winning the Contest
My take is that if the teacher has become engaged in a discipline contest with any student, he or she has already lost a lot of ground. It's not that I don't want to help that teacher, but how much better it would be to avoid the contest in the first place. The volunteer teacher has very few options in dealing with unruly students, almost no real power in the situation. The child who says "You can't make me!" is all too often absolutely correct. Let's try not to go there.

Avoiding the Contest
The keys to avoiding discipline contests are almost always found in the teacher's preparation.

• The teacher has thought through the lesson and the students who would be in class.
• She has planned to be present in the classroom before the first student arrives.
• She has removed or covered distracting elements in the classroom and provided constructive options for pre-session.
• He has planned to engage the students' interest immediately and guide interactions between students into positive activity (rather than allowing mischief that develops to fill a vacuum).
• She understands how she wants the lesson to progress and can move on if an activity fails to keep the students engaged.
• He is able to teach knowledgeably and in a manner that engages the students and keeps their interest.
• He is able to follow a tangent briefly when it benefits the students and reconnect seamlessly with the lesson.
• She has chosen ahead of time to omit or adapt activities that will not engage the students.

Another aspect of preparation will be that the congregation has prepared a procedure for dealing with an unruly or out-of-control child and that the teacher knows how he or she will handle those situations. (Some key points, in my opinion, might include not touching an out-of-control child unless necessary to protect the child or others, but maybe that's another blog.)

It's Not All about Teacher Preparation
But so much of classroom control depends on preparation. If the teacher is thoroughly prepared, the chances of a contest-free session are greatly increased.

Does this "proactive discipline" strike you as realistic?

How do you avoid, or deal with, discipline issues?

Thanks for teaching God's children His Word!