Can You Find more Time in Sunday School
Christian instruction has fallen behind secular instruction in techniques and methods in a lot of of today’s Sunday schools. An effective teacher must be knowledgeable of the importance of arresting and holding the attention of ALL the children in the class, and this generally calls for the use of audiovisual aid, learning and followup games, and additional extra activities that will involve the children in the learning method. This is equally true for the grownup sections of the Sunday school as it is for the primaries, whilst some grownup sections exercise these teaching methods.
The question that comes up almost frequently once the use of additional activities is talked about with teachers is, “How can we get time to let in these ‘additional’ things in our lesson?” There always looks to be a problem of insufficient time. How can teachers “find more time?”
The resolution lies in your agenda for each Sunday’s class time period. First off, maybe you’ll need to speak to your minister or section leader about shortening the departmental worship time or opening exercises if they are taking excessively big of a bite out from the class time. These are crucial periods of preparation for the lesson to come after, but they ought be kept brief.
So, no matter what age level you are teaching, it is crucial for you to cautiously arrange your priorities for each lesson. Remember that teaching hasn’t happened till the learner has actually learned something. Consequently you must determine what the learner needs to learn from a specific lesson and then choose how the age level you’re dealing with can most easily interpret and learn that lesson. You must bear in mind that most learning happens as the child is involved with ithe process. Consequently, if you exhaust 30 minutes of your time “telling” the lesson, before you start to assist the children’s “experience” the lesson, you’re not administering your time with wisdom. Attempt to deliver the facts of the lesson as distinctly, briefly and in as short time as conceivable.
Be a clock-watcher. Do not become side-tracked with too a lot of examples of your own experiences, etc. After the informations have been introduced (5 to 15 minutes, depending on the age level), the following step is “discovery or experiential” time. This ought to call for discourse, games, object lessons - everything that asks the child in seeing and APPLYING the truth of the message to their individual lives. Once again you must check the clock and keep things going. Plan an agenda for each lesson and, whilst you may not all of the time stick by rigidly to your agenda, you’ll have a guide to aid you achieve the most in the time you have at your disposal. Adjust your priorities prayerfully, recalling that it is God’s Word that He has promised to bless and that is the most significant component of your lesson. Then carefully divide your time according to the priorities you have set. The concluding step is to watch the clock as your Sunday school hour advances and discover how to keep things moving smoothly. You can “FIND MORE TIME!”