Last month (ooh, see, catching up!), I traveled to Oklahoma City for a Bible Class Workshop. This workshop is for women who teach Bible class or are wanting to teach Bible class.
I have been teaching various ages of Bible class since I was in college and I love to do it! Unfortunately, it is also easy to get burned out if you have students that don't care (or their parents don't care), are disruptive, or if you have just been doing it for too long. When we moved here, I was adamant that I did not want to teach for a while. When we were in South Carolina, I was the only one who was willing to teach my daughter's age so I taught every Sunday and Wednesday for a year and a half. I got burned out.
The funny thing was that after a few months, I realized that I really missed it. Teaching is a way for me to study and a way for me to make sure my daughter is getting the Bible education that I want her to have. Now, I am teaching the 3's, soon to be the 3's and 4's on Wednesday evening and I am really enjoying it.
So, my friend Kristin (who is a fellow preacher's wife) told me about this Bible Class Workshop that was in Lawton and invited me and another friend, Rebecca, to go to it with her. Kristin's parents and her husbands parents live in OKC so Rebecca and I drove down together (Kristin and Landon were already there) Friday evening and stayed with Landon's parents and then we all (plus Landon's mom) went down to Lawton Saturday morning for the workshop.
When we walked in we were greeted by tons and tons of Bible Class materials on the walls.
To say it was overwhelming is an understatement.
One side of the room was the Old Testament and the other side of the room was the New Testament. This room was huge and they had all a complete wall covered and part of two other walls.
.JPG)
Once the workshop started, I really got into what the ladies who spoke were saying and how they used their visuals.
Most of the visuals were great and I wrote down a list of the ones that I would like to create on my own.
.JPG)
I also ended up buying a package of visuals and writing down some more packages that I would like to purchase in the future.
I've been very happy with my class and my teaching style, but this workshop really sent me into high gear. I love having the responsibility of teaching the girls, but it is a big responsibility and I don't want anyone to ever think that I shirked that responsibility.
The ladies are supposed to be in the Tulsa area for another workshop in September and I am hoping I will be able to convince some of the other ladies in our congregation to go with me. It helped fuel my enthusiasm for teaching and I'm hoping it does the same for others.
I am looking forward to going to the workshop again and I am also looking forward to continuing to make my own visuals.
Bible class is so important for our children and I want to be the best teacher that I can be!
I have already made several new visuals and am planning to purchase and make several more. I will post pictures soon of my classroom right now. I started a new series a few weeks ago so I refreshed the bulletin board and added a few other things to the room. The girls love it and I hope it really helps them learn the lessons I present.
3 comments:
That is so neat. I wish there was something like that in TN that our church could get involved in. We have the same people that teach all the time and I know there is burnout. It's frustrating when some of the younger mother's won't volunteer to teach. I taught the 2s&3s before Jonah for 4 years and I loved it. I took a break after having him but I know one day I want to teach a higher age level. It's frustrating because we have several mother's who are teachers by trade and they don't volunteer. I would love to know where the sources of some of the curriculum came from. We primarily use 21st Christian for all our curriculum but it would be nice to have another option.
This made me smile. I'm so glad that the workshop helped fuel your desire to teach even more. The work that you that teach the bible do is invaluable.
I too have been teaching FOREVER it seems and at times I get burned out and don't put as much into my preparation as I should. I considered going to this same workshop but it's just so far to travel. Workshops are great motivators and we sure need that at times!
Post a Comment