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~ Scroll down to see all the winning
entries ~
Springdale Presbyterian,
Louisville KY St James United, Toronto Canada
Best Photo of Computer Lab Decor Calvary United Methodist, Wichita
KS
Best Essay of Why we love teaching/learning with computers
(kids and teachers): Jefferson Brethren Church, Goshen
Indiana
Thanks to everyone who participated. Winners have
been contacted by email and have until January 31, 2011 to claim
their prize. This contest celebrated my 20th
anniversary of when I started teaching
with software in Sunday School. I started Sunday Software "Inc." six years later as a
mission to the Church. Thanks to everyone who's be part of the
journey. <>< Neil MacQueen, Sunday Software Winning Photos Congratulations to Springdale Presbyterian Church,
Louisville Kentucky This photo of the boys and girls
crowded TOGETHER, and FOCUSED on the screen, --with the onscreen
scripture peeking through between them --tells the story of why
we love teaching with software. Congratulations
St James United, Toronto Canada
for "Girls using 'Let's
Talk' CD" sent in by Karen Forgrave. Karen Forgrave writes,
"Teacher Todd Miller said, "I'll repeat
the question...What is the meaning of, or the moral of, Daniel's
Story? What is a message we can learn from this story, in
today's terms? You have 2 minutes! GO!" (And students'
fingers furiously typing! And finally, Jordan and her partner
Katrina show off their creation with text staying, "God is
always with you". "Being able to create a character to
speak was empowering!" In addition to the photo's story
and sheer joy on the kid's faces, we also noticed the Disciple
cut-outs and other photos from the lab on the wall.
Honorable Mentions for Photos go to... First United Methodist Church,
Mansfield Texas The smiles on these standing
faces caught our eye, as did the cross tucked in the background.
"Teens
helping in Bible computer lab" (something we love to see).
Winning Photo for "Create
Lab Decor and/or Sound Dividers/Sound Solutions " Congratulations Calvary United Methodist in Wichita
Kansas Your decor looks awesome, the nets with fish on
the ceiling are a GREAT idea, and Jonah inside the whale with a
computer is very funny.
Their detailed collection of essays from
kids, teacher and leader really give you a sense of their
love and excitement. From Pam Garber the DCE...
The hands
down favorite workshop of all the kids is .... the computer
lab! We have named ours "God.com" and painted it a
bright neon green. We have had
several different people to lead workshops in the computer
lab, but one couple, Paul & Liz Phillips, have become our
computer wizards. They work as a team and say..."all the
kids love to work on the computers! It does make it fun to
see how excited they are when they come into the room. They
are very patient and respectful of the time I take in the
beginning to go over the lesson....also, working as a team
takes a little of the pressure off. We don't
have the most up to date computers, but they are adequate
for even some of the 3D games (which are extremely popular).
The kids are also creative in Kid Pix (an especially
memorable workshop was the illustration of the 23rd Psalm).
Any time I can get kids excited about coming to Sunday
School, I feel like there has been effective teaching. An
excited kid is a receptive kid and they just soak up the
lessons in God.com. Thanks for
all the energy, time and money you've invested in Christian
software to help build a Biblical foundation in our kids!
"God.com"
By Zach Beebe, JBC Lab
Assistant
Our
computer lab is pretty sweet! If you’re wondering where I
got ‘God.com’ from, we named all of our rooms accordingly to
the theme of that room. I don’t know about you but I
personally think that’s a really awesome name!
First
off, ...it’s got an awesome atmosphere. The people who
helped paint it, did an amazing job! The wall is lime green
and there is a mouse with a long wire that goes across all
of the walls and on one of the walls the mouse wires
make-out the word “God.com”, and with an old mural, they
made a computer monitor around it that has the Gateway logo
and the word “Godway” next to it! That’s cool…
So we
have 6 computer stations all hooked up to a printer, We have
some games on there that we use like Kids Pix so we can
pictures which is a lot of fun! A plane flying game where
you have to run into little pictures while flying and answer
bible questions, there are a few others that are fun too!
And
last but diffidently (sp) NOT least, our teachers! The
teachers are so cool, they put so much time into putting
together a fun workshop! They know what they’re doing, they
are organized with it, and you really learn a lot! This is a
really spectacular computer lab. Learning about Christ and
the price he paid for our imperfect selves isn’t about
having fun all the time, but when you’re having fun while
learning about it, it makes the lesson a lot easier to
understand, I am so happy we have the privilege of having
such an awesome computer lab! Zach's
I like
my church's computer lab because all the computers work
great. Also I love how decorated the room is and it's so
kid friendly :) Also I love the games we play on the
computers because they are simple for the little kids to
get, but still challenging for the bigger children.
My
teacher is pretty rockin' too because she helps us when
we get stuck on parts of the games we're playing. she also
tells us a little story about what we're learning before we
start so we have something to think about while we're
playing our game.
And their mom, Lisa Beebe,
writes:
The
kids absolutely love the computer workshop. It is easily
one of the favorites among the Sunday School children. Our
Children's Director also offers "3rd hour passes" that kids
can earn by memorizing scripture passages, and with parent's
permission, kids can come down during our last service and
use the computer lab. As a Sunday School teacher I am
thrilled to have a workshop like the computer lab where kids
want to come and learn and are excited about coming to
Sunday School. My name is
Aubree Boutwell from Jefferson Brethren Church. I am 11 yrs
old . I have 11 rabbits, 1 dog, 1 cat and 1 turkey. I have
2 sisters, Daycee and Destinee. At church we have fun at
our computer lab and with Pam, our Director. She is fun and
she thinks of lots of ways to teach us about God through the
computers. Our church members love us and teach us well. I
have been closer to God by the comptuer lab. Thanks Jefferson Brethren Church.
We think you're pretty awesome too! <>< Neil In November
1990 I started teaching with software in my Sunday School at
the Presbyterian Church in Barrington Illinois. Looking
back, it seems like just yesterday -and forever ago.
Funny thing was, I was the hands-on Associate Minister in charge of CE, and
we had just implemented the Workshop Rotation Model
(actually, we were the ones who 'invented' it -but that's
another story and webpage). We
were looking for another workshop to replace our music
workshop -which we couldn't staff due to choir practice
being at the same time. Two of my
gung-ho! CE volunteers said, "what about computers?" (Bill
Gill and Ken Ballinger, God bless them.)
I chortled, "what about them?" I didn't like computers that much in
1990 and didn't own one. Few people did. But Bill and Ken
said, "Our kids love them!" So Bill volunteered to buy our
first two computers using his mom's memorial fund, and
Ken volunteered to join me in the lab as my first computer lab teacher. And
that began what I've often called "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride"
...Ken and Neil with two 386sx IBM compatibles, a handful of odd software
(Bible software then was nearly non-existent), ...and
a room full of excited kids every single week. The computers and software were
cantankerous back then, but we couldn't get the kids (or
their parents) to leave the lab! One Sunday at about
12:15, I was flickering the lights in vain -trying to get
people to leave Sunday School so I could go home. That's
when Ken walked over and
uttered these prophetic words. He said, "Imagine
what this is going to be like when we finally learn how to
TEACH with these things." Little did I know then -that November 1990
would change my life and ministry. Six years later I started
Sunday Software Inc, and ten years after that I was a
"Reverend software developer." God works in mysterious and wonderful
ways. A few things I've learned along the way.... Most of what I learned about setting up a
lab and teaching with software is found in my book,
Teaching with Computers in
Christian Education. And while I've refined and
expanded my knowledge over the years -and various editions
of the book, MOST of the IMPORTANT lessons I learned in
those early years are still true today. Even though the
hardware and software have dramatically changed, our goals,
our teaching priorities, and our kids are the same. -You can't teach a kid who doesn't want
to be there, or doesn't want to come back.
Software/Computers solve that problem! -Software is a component in a lesson
plan, not a replacement for one. -You teach with software as the "guide
by the side" rather than stand back and watch kids use
computers. -Getting the Ratios Right is important.
You can have too many kids per computer, AND too few kids
per computer, and too few teachers. -Kids will naturally want to skim by
content, that's why the teacher goes along with them and
asks questions. (it's also why I'm against headphones) -A bad lab layout can ruin the use of
good software and waste a perfectly good opportunity. For more of what I've learned,
read my book, Teaching with
Computers in Christian Education. To learn more about Sunday Software, go
to
www.sundaysoftware.com/whoarewe.htm <>< Neil
The
Barrington Church circa 1991 in front of our first computer,
an IBM 386sx with 2mb of ram and a 5.25" floppy drive.
That's Parson's Bible Atlas 1.0 on the screen.
My first lab
at Barrington Illinois. Photo circa 1991.
Our Exodus themed lab,
circa 2002. If you'd like to respond to
this story or ask questions related to software and teaching
with it, see if I'm online for Live Chat,
or email
neil@sundaysoftware.com
More Great Resource Links: Great Bible Videos.... Come
see THE BEST Animated Bible Videos and the best
JESUS videos I've ever seen.
Plus print my free Guide to Teaching with Video.
What's in the Bible? DVDS
...the new series from
the creator of VeggieTales See winning photos from previous contests at www.sundaysoftware.com/photos Excerpts from Winning Teacher & Student Essays are at www.sundaysoftware.com/contest/essays.htm |
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Best
Photos of Kids learning with software:
Neil....
I am the children's director here at JBC. We have about
20-30 kids from age 3 through Grade 5. The kids and leaders
are all convinced of the value of the ministry and love to
have a fun way to get kids into God's Word. 
I am indebted to so many people for this "wild ride."
