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#37 – Laugh With Them (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

March 17, 2010 in Teaching Tips with 1 Comment

Welcome to a continuing series of tips on working with large groups of children. I hope that you will find these tips useful and be able to implement them in your dealings with large groups of kids. If you do, please leave a comment and let us know. For a complete list of posts in this series, please see the index page. So, without further introduction, here is today’s installment.

As a parent and someone who enjoys being around kids, I have learned one fundamental truth.  They’re all different.  I know! I know! Pick your jaw up off the ground.  That’s not a big surprise to most of us.  However, I have also learned that there is something that almost all of them have in common – they like to laugh.  In terms of keeping kids interested, bonding with them and just having fun, there is nothing like laughing.  Find ways to make them laugh.  Be goofy.  Let yourself go, and have fun with the kids.  Tell them jokes.  Work some humor into your lesson.  Don’t be so inflexible that you don’t leave time to laugh and have a little bit of fun.  Laugh at their jokes.  Giggle with them.  Remember that part of our job as people who work in Children’s Ministry is to build relationships with these kids, and laughter goes a long way towards that goal.

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#36 – The Power of the Remote Video (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

March 16, 2010 in Teaching Tips with 0 Comments

Welcome to a continuing series of tips on working with large groups of children. I hope that you will find these tips useful and be able to implement them in your dealings with large groups of kids. If you do, please leave a comment and let us know. For a complete list of posts in this series, please see the index page. So, without further introduction, here is today’s installment.

Here’s a fun idea that is easy to pull off with a camcorder and a computer.  Shoot a “remote” shot of yourself, or a character from some other location.  Either interact live with the remote shot in terms of an interview with a character (this takes some timing) or do the whole thing by video and show it to the class.  For a weekend when I planning on being out of town, I shot a remote video conference call from my destination to be shown to the kids.  That call was inexplicably interrupted by Professor Knows-A-Lot.  I shot both parts and spliced them together.  Unfortunately, my trip got canceled, and I didn’t get a chance to use it, but I plan to use the idea again in the near future.  It’s a great way to fill a weekend when you might be out of town.  Remember, it’s all about trying new things and keeping the kids guessing what might come next.

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#35 – Get the Kids Involved (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

March 15, 2010 in Teaching Tips with 0 Comments

Welcome to a continuing series of tips on working with large groups of children. I hope that you will find these tips useful and be able to implement them in your dealings with large groups of kids. If you do, please leave a comment and let us know. For a complete list of posts in this series, please see the index page. So, without further introduction, here is today’s installment.

Some kids will be perfectly fine sitting and listening to you talk for 30 minutes.  Unfortunately, those kids are few and far between.  In order to keep the interest of most kids, you’ll need to find some way to mix it up from week to week.  We’ve talked about several ways of doing that thus far in this series, and there are several more to come.  One of the ways that I’ve found to be most effective for me is to simply get the kids involved in the large group teaching.  Get them up off their rear ends and make them part of the story.  Unlike other methods we have and will discuss, this one doesn’t tend to get “old” as quickly.  I think that’s because each week the kids are acting out something differently.

One of my favorite moments thus far was when I was recounting the story of Solomon and the two prostitutes for a lesson on wisdom.  When I got to the part where Solomon raised his sword to cut the baby in half, the young boy who was playing Solomon asked, eagerly, if he really got to cut the baby in half – priceless!

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#34 – Use Games (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

March 11, 2010 in Teaching Tips with 1 Comment

Welcome to a continuing series of tips on working with large groups of children. I hope that you will find these tips useful and be able to implement them in your dealings with large groups of kids. If you do, please leave a comment and let us know. For a complete list of posts in this series, please see the index page. So, without further introduction, here is today’s installment.

Another great idea for keeping kids engaged in the large group lesson is to break up your lesson with fun and relevant games.  Games are great for getting kids involved and helping them to remember what you’re trying to teach.  There are a ton of great books and websites out there that can help you find a game related to the lesson you are teaching that weekend.  I posted several links to great game sites in my post titled Best of the Best – Children’s Ministry Internet Resources.

One option which I have found kids to be particularly receptive to is to incorporate a game show format in the middle of your lesson.  Set up a stage (it doesn’t have to be anything fancy), cue up the sound effects and put on your best game show announcer voice.  If you have a polyester jacket – even better!  In teaching kids about wisdom, we played “Who’s the Wise Guy,” a jeopardy type game with just a twist of The Price Is Right mixed in.  With the rise in reality TV and game shows that kids are exposed to, there are plenty of formats that you can modify for use in your classroom.  I haven’t worked out the specifics yet, but one of these days, I’d liked to play “Wheel of Prayer” to teach the kids about salvation or “Deal or No Deal” to teach the kids about sin and grace.  As a brief aside, I think “Win, Lose or Draw” has infinite possibilities in a large group teaching.

Board games can be a great idea as well.  While most large group formats don’t allow the time for a full-on game of Monopoly, how about using Jenga to teach kids about cooperation or as part of an object lesson on Hezekiah rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. How about Hungry Hungry Hippo when teaching about the feeding of the 5,000.  All you need is a board game and a good imagination.

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#33 – When You’re Not Teaching, Join Them (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

March 10, 2010 in Teaching Tips with 0 Comments

Welcome to a continuing series of tips on working with large groups of children. I hope that you will find these tips useful and be able to implement them in your dealings with large groups of kids. If you do, please leave a comment and let us know. For a complete list of posts in this series, please see the index page. So, without further introduction, here is today’s installment.

If you teach a large group and are not involved in small group time with your kids, you miss out on the opportunity to bond with the kids at a one-on-one level.  In my mind, this was the one major disadvantage to switching from small group leader to large group teacher.  Accordingly, it is critical that you take advantage of any opportunity you can find to spend some one-on-one time with them.  Join the kids for worship and sing and dance with them.  Even if you can’t lead a small group because of your large group responsibilities, make some time to sit down with the kids during their small group time every once in a while.  This gives you a chance to engage them in conversation and find out what’s going on in their lives.  Go to other kid-centered events at the church and engage the kids there.  Make sure you’re the one that greats them when they show up at your classroom and that you are the one that says goodbye as they’re leaving when it’s over.  Incorporate them into your large group lesson and speak directly to them during the teaching where you can.  Just because your main focus is on the large group teaching doesn’t mean that you can’t spend some one-on-one time with the kids.  If you can build some personal relationships with the kids, you will have a much more effective large group time as well.

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#32 – Don’t Forget Your Baritone (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

March 9, 2010 in Teaching Tips with 2 Comments

Welcome to a continuing series of tips on working with large groups of children. I hope that you will find these tips useful and be able to implement them in your dealings with large groups of kids. If you do, please leave a comment and let us know. For a complete list of posts in this series, please see the index page. So, without further introduction, here is today’s installment.

This won’t be a surprise to anyone reading this article, but most kids get really bored really quickly.  One way to keep kids engaged in what you are trying to teach them is to vary your vocal delivery.

If you’re telling a story and approaching the climax, let that come through in your delivery.  Heighten your pace and the tone as you explain how the ship the disciples were in was tossed to and fro in the storm.  Speak a little bit louder when you explain about the large crowds of people following Jesus.  Shout when you’re telling the story of Jericho’s walls falling down.

On the flip side, a great way to draw kids back in who may have disengaged from your story is to lower your voice and lower your tone.  Force them to strain just a little to hear you.  When you are talking about Jesus hanging on the cross, speak in hushed tones.  When you teach about the Garden of Gethsemane, let the anguish come through in your voice.   Mixing up your vocal delivery will help to keep kids engaged.  Let your inner thespian shine through! Continue Reading…

#31 – Find the New You (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

March 5, 2010 in Teaching Tips with 0 Comments

Welcome to a continuing series of tips on working with large groups of children. I hope that you will find these tips useful and be able to implement them in your dealings with large groups of kids. If you do, please leave a comment and let us know. For a complete list of posts in this series, please see the index page. So, without further introduction, here is today’s installment.

This idea was new for me when I started teaching and not one I was particularly comfortable with.  I am not much of an actor, and I never envisioned myself “doing characters,” but I like to hear kids laugh so I gave it a try.  Introverted though I am, I stepped into my very first character role in front of a room full of five and six year olds the very first weekend I taught the large group portion of our curriculum.  That morning, Professor Knows-A-Lot was born.  Even thought he is not all that creative in the scheme of things, he has become a recurring character in our classroom to the point where the kids frequently ask when he’s coming back.  The kids really stay engaged when he shows up, even if it is just to point out how much he looks like me!  There is actually an on-going debate in our classroom as to whether Professor Knows-A-Lot and I are actually the same person.  I think the photo I took in from the family picnic proved that we are not!  Nonetheless, with a simple wig and a really bad English accent, the kids have a “guest” they look forward to seeing every month or two, and they get a chance to listen to someone other than just me.  Don’t be afraid to step out of your own skin and into someone else’s.
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