Heavenly Father,
We thank You again for Your love for us. We stand amazed before Your goodness. For not only does the Holy Spirit intercede on our behalf, but the Son also continually intercedes for us! Help us to live in the confidence that You are good and have planned what is best for us.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Our lessons are designed with a wealth of material for the teacher. At the beginning of the lesson, we have a section devoted to a key word from the scripture. On the left side, you will find the scripture text and solid commentary that illuminates the Word. On the right is a discussion-oriented lesson plan that begins with the contemporary need to which this scripture speaks, the story of the text, exploration of the scripture, and application to our lives. At the end you will find a section devoted to key doctrines found in this lesson. Illustrations and quotes are also included.
With all these helps, it may be tempting not to spend time in preparation. However, it takes skill and preparation to know how to weave these elements together. Furthermore, while questions (and suggested answers) are provided, you should ask if these questions are the best, or if the answers need further development. In other words, be diligent in preparing to teach!
Heavenly Father,
Please bless our classes today as they discuss the abundant life Christ gives His followers. Help us to be careful to remain in the Vine and may we see a great harvest of spiritual fruit in our lives.
In Jesus' name.
Amen
Check out these craft ideas that your children's Sunday school classes could make this Mother's Day!
Putting a puzzle together can be an extremely enjoyable activity. It can also be very frustrating. Have you ever tried to put together a puzzle only to declare that some of the pieces must be missing? One puzzle strategy is to gather all the pieces with straight edges and attempt to construct the frame of the puzzle before filling the inside.
In a similar way, teaching is like putting a puzzle together. Your students come to you with a variety of backgrounds, issues, concerns, and cultural ways of understanding life. Scripture was written to and about people with very different issues, concerns, and culture. Yet throughout scripture we find biblical principles that transcend time and culture. The challenge we face is how to interpret and apply those biblical principles to contemporary life. And so we are putting a puzzle together. Help your students discover the joy of putting together the puzzle of biblical application this week!
Heavenly Father, we live in a broken, messed-up world. Encourage our classes today as they learn about the foundation of Christian hope. May our hope in You be rekindled and may we be challenged to live boldly for Jesus! Amen.
An essential aspect of good teaching is well-placed questions. Teaching necessarily involves giving out information, but questions help students to internalize truth and apply it to their lives. Criticalthinking.org notes that every textbook basically contains answers to questions but this does not mean answers are more important than questions. Instead, this source asserts:
"Thinking is not driven by answers but by questions. ... To think through or rethink anything, one must ask questions that stimulate our thought. Questions define tasks, express problems and delineate issues. Answers on the other hand, often signal a full stop in thought. Only when an answer generates a further question does thought continue its life as such. This is why it is true that only students who have questions are really thinking and learning." (http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-role-of-questions-in-teaching-thinking-and-learning/524)
Does your teaching style assume students will learn if you give them the right answers, or are you attempting to help them ask the right questions?
Heavenly Father, bless our Sunday school classes today. Help them to understand how humility is not weakness, but greatness in Your eyes. In Jesus' name, Amen.
In a real sense, the teacher is like a shepherd. The shepherd does not hand feed his sheep. He does not open the sheep's mouth and force grass down it. Rather, the shepherd leads the flock to lush, green pastures that make the sheep drool with hunger. He guides them to quiet pools of water where they feel safe in drinking long and deep.
Our world is filled with spiritual junk food. The type of junk food that interests your students will vary from person to person: ball games, romance novels, TV programs, computers, knitting - the one common trait in such junk food is that it suggests it can satisfy our soul's hunger for God, apart from God.
Teacher, your job is to uncover the delicious, life-giving spiritual meal God has prepared in His Word, let them smell the savor of its eternal flavor, and invite them to ... chow down!
Heavenly Father, we pray for our teachers and students this morning to understand to a greater degree than ever before the loving care of the Good Shepherd. In Jesus' name, Amen.
