Monday, February 8, 2016
Experiential Learning
In this week's class, a group of children came to learn a Bible story from us. We were all divided into groups by the age group with which we would be working. What was it like actually getting to do what we learn in class? Did you notice anything about the specific age group that you were teaching? What was your role in the group?
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I really enjoyed getting to practice what we've been talking about in class. I was part of the preschool age group, which was interesting. I taught the Bible lesson, and with only four kids, I didn't expect the lesson to take super long, but it took longer to get through it than I expected because a couple of the kids were a little wild. Watching the different personalities and characteristics of the kids was an interesting aspect of the night.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching them do the activities that went along with the lesson and I thought it was really cool how all of us came together at the end to enjoy a game together, even though we were all different ages. James was right when he said games are better when adults participate. I thought this was an overall good experience and had enjoyed having the kids in class.
Having this opportunity just reminded me and why I'm going into Children's Ministry and why I love it so much.
ReplyDeleteThe age group I had was 7-8 years old. They are so much fun to hang around and talk to. They already know a lot, which is awesome, but it's even cooler to see the light bulb go on in their minds and make the connection between the story and life. The kids loved the spaceship twist we put on the story and they were also able to tell us what story it was in the bible. They really understood what was going on and were able to answer questions as well.
Doing this was so much fun, and i really enjoyed it. I love getting to be a part of the child's spiritual formation/education. It makes my heart happy and they really enjoy it too.
I really like the experiential learning. I think this is a crucial element. Without this we would be going into ministry blind. We would have knowledge of pastoral care, types of games, and other such topics but no clue about how to implement them. Even though we worked with kids there are things from it that could be viewed through the lens of youth and lead pastors.
ReplyDeleteThe group I worked with was more energetic that what I expected. I worked with the youngest of the bunch and was surprised that they were energetic when it was probably getting close to their bedtimes. The lesson itself took longer than I expected leaving less time for the craft that we did. My role was to play "David" in our story (David and Goliath) and helping them with their craft. It was a lot of fun to work with these kids and see them learning.
For the most part I enjoyed the experiential learning. I was with the preschool group, and it all seemed a little familiar. I help teach the preschool class at my church once a month and it definitely can get interesting, especially since you never know how the children that day. Our group on Monday was especially outgoing, and did not have a very good attention span. Although, I am used to this behavior, it is always a little difficult to deal with when you do not know the child/parents of the child personally.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy telling the kids the Bible story, and seeing that they had already known most of it. It was cool to see that they are paying attention even if it does not seem like they are. Sometimes I think that we as adults have to try and see from a childlike perspective to see that sitting still and engaging in the lesson is not always an easy task, especially if you are really excited about being in a new place and so forth. But overall, it gave me a good learning experience to be able to put into practice the things that we had been learning about in class.
I loved doing this! I thought it was an awesome experience! It was so much fun and a great learning process to work with the age groups that we're actually going to be ministering to in our future ministries. The kids that we worked with were absolutely amazing, and I feel like we connected with them very well. We told the parable of the talents in a space themed way, and in the Bible way. I really feel like these kids understood the story very well, and they really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that the age group I was working with, they were a little more mature than some, but they were also super creative. They also weren't afraid to answer any question we asked them. Most of our group was all related, but we had one that was not related, and I feel like he was still able to be himself with us. From what I could tell, all of the kids had a great time, and I can't wait to do this as my career!!!
It definitely was a unique but awesome experience. The age group that was given was a little bit spread apart in just terms of age, but that added to the experience. It was a fresh experience after working with High school age for a longer period. One of the students that came along was one that attends the youth group I work with here in town so working with him and his sister made the lessons better with more interaction and less down time to just feeling comfortable working with them. The lesson itself was great! We were able to build on top of one another to make the time worthwhile and as much fun as possible.
ReplyDeleteMy role in the group was entailed more towards the group discussion after we went through the bible lesson. I mostly just made sure that the students understood what they were reading and making sure we stayed on task. It was pretty fitting for me personally and I think it was a great time for all parties involved.
I had a great time getting to know the kids and teaching the lesson to them. I found it really interesting that I could quickly pick up on personality traits that were unique to each student. Some of the kids knew each other before that night, which I think created a more comfortable environment in which they could share. I really enjoyed putting into practice what we have been studying about Godly play. Instead of just making kids sit down and listen to us talk for 30 minutes, which no one would have enjoyed or learned from, we were able to interact with them and keep them actively engaged with the story. We acted out the story with the students, which I think went very well. We tried our best to make each student feel important and necessary to what we were trying to accomplish, and it worked because they all played their parts. I think we kept the environment fun and exciting. We gave them time to draw and create play doh illustrations of how the story spoke to them. We incorporated talking to the kids about faith, how the characters in our story demonstrated having faith, and what that could mean for them.
ReplyDeleteI think we all divided what we did as we went. We all were on the same page and knew the overall picture of how the lesson would go. We each helped to keep things moving and exciting. I tried my best to motivate the students and keep them interested. I also tried to make sure our transitions went smoothly.
Honestly, it felt like we did not actually practice anything we learned in class. We did do things in the end, but not on our own. All we did was come up with the Bible story we wanted to use, and then everything else was provided for us. We could have come into class that day having done no preparation whatsoever and everything would have already been taken care of for us still. All of our roles just seemed to be to keep the kids somewhat focused and on task.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comment, but I'm wondering how this was not practice? The idea was for you to implement a creative and experiential way to teach the Story of God with children. You had 30 minutes with the children on your own/as a group to teach and to assess how children responded to the way you presented the story. I led the last 15 minutes with snack and game to demonstrate other ways to make the story stick. :) The goal was to not just talk about how to do it, or for you to write a sample lesson of what it could look like, but rather for you to actually practice doing it with children to see what take aways you could use for the future. Some groups put more effort into it than others, but overall, I was very impressed with the entire class and your interaction with the children.
DeleteHow could it have felt more like you were practicing what had been taught? This would help me for future classes as well.
I appreciate your comment, but I'm wondering how this was not practice? The idea was for you to implement a creative and experiential way to teach the Story of God with children. You had 30 minutes with the children on your own/as a group to teach and to assess how children responded to the way you presented the story. I led the last 15 minutes with snack and game to demonstrate other ways to make the story stick. :) The goal was to not just talk about how to do it, or for you to write a sample lesson of what it could look like, but rather for you to actually practice doing it with children to see what take aways you could use for the future. Some groups put more effort into it than others, but overall, I was very impressed with the entire class and your interaction with the children.
DeleteHow could it have felt more like you were practicing what had been taught? This would help me for future classes as well.
I enjoyed this class. Working with a team to lead the lesson was awesome, because we could definitely feed off each other and make it go even smoother. I enjoyed my age group specifically, because it is the age of my youngest brother. The group participated a lot which made it fun. Jenn's daughter was hilarious and cute :) I really liked not having the materials ahead of time, because it made us figure out exactly how we were going to use the stuff on the fly, which is sometimes how ministry is. I enjoyed the hands on experience. Glad we did this!! Also glad we could pick age groups.
ReplyDelete