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3.  The thing I need to constantly remind myself about when teaching…

After all these years teaching, I still need to remind myself that “these kids don’t know the basic story.” And covering it once is not enough. I think this is one of the biggest mistakes that most teachers and curriculums make –they move too fast.  As an adult who knows the story, I sometimes forget how NEW these stories and concepts are to the kids. Thus, I have to remind myself to THOROUGHLY teach the story starting from square 1.

You can see this belief imprinted on a lot of our Sunday Software-made titles. The new Exodus Adventures CD, for example. It’s a huge story, and our kids come to it as novices. I could have gone off on a lot of teaching tangents in the game, but chose to stay on course with “first, teach the story.”  You can see this “story first” belief in a lot of the quiz questions and story-order game in our Elijah-Jonah CD.  You can hammer the story home through quiz software like Fall of Jericho. A simple “what comes next” question is far more helpful to their knowledge of the story than a trivial question.  You can also see this belief in the importance of “knowing a story’s order” –played out in some of the basic Bible questions found in Bongo Loves the Bible.

 Teach the story, and the meaning of the story goes with them.

 Now….what if your “story” is not a story at all?   What's if it's a theological idea or verse?

Teach the verse into memory –and the meaning can continue to unfold in their minds for years to come. In my Psalm 8 lesson with the older children, we did the Bible study, zeroed in on key verses, then went into the “Talk Now” feature in Let’s Talk CD and had the students re-think the verses in their own language and experience (“where do you feel closest to God?”). Then we finished the lesson with 5 minutes in Cal & Marty’s Scripture Memory Game –working on remembering the key verses.

I often use more than one program per lesson. 

BTW…  Our non-reader class used Kid Pix, and we played a “red light - green light” type of game to help them remember the key verses in Psalm 8.

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4. Two Printable Resources to Print and Post in Your Lab

If you’re like me, you need reminders of what’s in these programs, so here are two pdfs you can print and post.

(1)  A printable list of the 50 stories in the Play & Learn Children’s Bible CD.

We use that program a lot with our little kids, and this list reminds me WHERE each story can be found in the Play & Learn menu. www.sundaysoftware.com/resources/playand.pdf

(2)  A printable list of the 40 stories in Life of Christ CD

We use this program a lot too!  Here’s a nice handout – www.sundaysoftware.com/resources/listof40.pdf

Print both and hang them in your lab, or keep them in your notebook.

 For my complete Outline and set of Teaching Tips for both programs (and others) go to www.sundaysoftware.com/tips

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5.  How Teaching with Computers Can Improve Relational Teaching

Sunday School is about building relationships:

• A relationship with Christ
• A relationship with scripture
• A relationship with other Christians
• A relationship with the Church

Software can help facilitate these relationships by attracting students to an engaging learning environment.

Software can help teachers facilitate these relationships by giving them creative content to teach with.

One of the concerns some have about teaching with technology is the degree to which it “might impersonalize” our teaching. They worry that computers will get in the way of the student-teacher relationship. They worry that the kids will "tune them out." And for Sunday School teachers who are used to face-to-face discussion, they are suspicious of a medium where the kids aren't looking at them.

Some of these concerns are based on the way we adults tend to use computers in a solitary way wordprocessing or browsing the net, or seeing their children at home playing video games. Some of these concerns are based on the improper way computer learning is sometimes done in the public school. And some of these concerns are based on the improper way some computers are used in Sunday School (putting one kid per computer and sticking headphones on them, for example)

But the SECRET many of us have discovered is that teaching with computers can be a VERY PERSONAL way to teach, if you do it the right way.

....And the right way is to sit down by your students and go through the material with them.

(Notice how large I just made this important point!)

This surprises many adults who are new to learning with computers. They assumed the computer was a solitary learning tool because that's the way THEY often use it. But in the Sunday School, we use it together. And the kids don't have to be looking right at you to have a conversation or feel your care (any more than your children need to be staring into your eyes as you read a book to them). BEING TOGETHER at a computer can be a very satisfying learning and bonding experience, whether it's using Christian software at church, browsing a website with your kids, or laughing together at Youtube videos at home (something we do a lot at our house),

And let's be clear: Eager students are easier students to relate to and teach.
Eager students are more ready to talk. And eager students learn and remember more than bored students. But it's more than just "attraction." Software engages their senses, and sense of playfulness. Software's creative visual content sticks in the brain (you remember 80% of what you see, and only 20% of what you hear). And their focus on the software makes them less self-conscious around their peers (and around the teacher!).

Software also frees the TEACHER to be more relational.
Using software takes the pressure off teachers to be "The Ringmaster" and allows them to become the guide-by-the-side. The software provides an instant attraction to the students, and often provides the content, even the discussion questions. This takes the pressure of our volunteer teachers, and allows them to be more attentive to the kids. And let's admit it, not all our volunteers are as well-prepared, creative and engaging as we want them to be. Good software can help.

Read the article Information to Transformation for more help on making your lessons more transformational and relational. www.sundaysoftware.com/transform.htm

Read my other articles at www.sundaysoftware.com/articles

 

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6. Teens in the Computer Lab

Here in 2007 I’m kind of SHOCKED that more churches aren’t using technology to help their teens study the Bible.

Yet, my 8^th & 9^th Graders L-O-V-E coming in the computer lab. This is their medium, and they can use virtually any program you put in front of them. They make great lab teaching assistants too. And the fact of the matter is that pre-teens and teens NEED this medium more so than young children. Why? -because they are at a point in their lives where they are making their decision about church and about Jesus Christ. Thus, teaching in an attractive manner is more important for this age group than any other.

Computer Lab Tips about Teens…

GROW YOUR CHILDREN INTO TEEN STUDENTS
My teen class has been coming into our lab since they were kids. They’ve grown up with the computers and they’ve grown very good habits. Yet, in some churches, they force the teens out of the lab as they grow older. That’s a BIG mistake. If you have to choose between teens and preschoolers in the lab, choose in favor of your teens. This is their medium!  And they are at a time in their life when they need something special.

GETTING TEENS TO TALK
Teens may clam up in larger groups, but will talk in small groups around a computer. So even though they need less help with the software and hardware, I still keep my teacher-2-student ratio high, so we can do our talking in small groups. We also use Let’s Talk CD quite a bit. It gives them an indirect way to speak to the entire class, because the program speaks aloud whatever they type.

GROW YOUR TEENS INTO TEACHERS
Teens love to help teach in the computer lab, and it’s a great way to keep them involved.
Week One: Invite your teens to learn with the software.
Week Two: Invite your teens to teach the next class with the same software.

The book “Teaching With Computers in Christian Education” has a lot more advice on teaching with both Teens and Preschoolers. www.sundaysoftware.com/book.htm  The book is spiral bound so you can lay it flat on a copier to create  teacher training handouts.

 View my article on Middle Schoolers in the Computer Lab at www.sundaysoftware.com/articles/teen.htm

 

Christian Software for Teens

Back in the 90’s a lot of the software topped out at age 11 by design. We at Sunday Software have made a conscious effort to expand the age range, knowing that pre-teens and young teens were a very important audience. Thus, we have made sure that a lot of the NEWER CDS are APPEAL to 12-15 year olds.

We have built-in higher design standards, more gameplay, and fun sense of humor.

Here are a few programs that we’ve designed to be especially appealing to young teens:

v     Galilee Flyer

v     Bongo Loves the Bible

v     Elijah & Jonah

v     Let’s Talk

v     Exodus Adventures

v     Abraham & Sarah

v     The Ten Commandments

But there’s a problem getting software into pre-teen/young teen classes…

At the risk of TICKING SOME PEOPLE OFF, here are two of several reasons why we don’t see more computers used with young teens in church:

1. Computer labs are often run by the children’s ministry department, not the youth dept. Two Kingdoms. Two turfs.

2. Many youth Sunday School classes and youth LEADERS believe that TALKING is the way to reach this generation. In fact, a lot of youth curriculum is VACANT of creative learning activities. They rely heavily on discussion, flipcharts, lecture, workbooks and more discussion. Yet if you ask young teens what they LIKE to do, most will tell you “play on the computer.”  And when they go home after school they “talk” on the computer.

Some Solutions:

v     Run some experiments with young teens coming into your lab.

v     Create schedule space in your lab for your teen class.

v     Invite teens into your lab as helpers to wet their appetite.

v     Find a teen-friendly teacher willing to spend a few weeks in the lab using a newer style program with the teens.

v     Review your teaching methods and curriculum to be sure it “isn’t all talk.”

v     Forward this email to your youth leaders/teachers

7. Tips on Preparing to Teach with Software

1. Print the free Teaching Tips.  They not only have lesson recommendations, they have age specific comments and teacher helps. I NEED THEM when I teach!  …so I imagine you do too.

2. Test the software on the computers where the software will be used. Just because it runs on your home or office computer doesn’t mean it will run at church.

3. Preview in Class ahead of time.  Some programs need to be played with ahead of time by your students. With Galilee Flyer, for example, teach them how to land the triplane during the last few minutes classtime, in preparation for the next time you use it.

4.  Have a Teen Lab Assistant become the Expert. Let them take it home and learn the program, then come back and help your class.

5. If you’re ROTATING students into your lab, and are using a more complicated program, schedule your older students be the first to use the more involved software. They pick up trickier software faster than the younger kids and this takes a load off the teacher the first week into the rotation.