Kristi Moore
Teaching Report 2
Time Spent: 2 ½ hours prep time and 1 hour teaching
A. My Lesson
The lesson I came up with this week came from Luke 15:11-32, the parable of The Prodigal (Lost) Son. The main point of the lesson for these 3rd-6th graders was that God is waiting on them with open arms to come back to Him. No matter how bad they may have messed up, they can always turn back around and their Father will greet them with a hug and a kiss. Since this was also around the Easter season, I also discussed forgiveness and the Father’s forgiveness of his son.
11:00 - Opened class with prayer. Asked students to pray, but no one volunteered, so I then played the thumbs up game and the last student (Sophie) opened us up in prayer.
11:01-11:10 – I opened the lesson by asking a few questions:
- If your parents decided to give you one million dollars and told you right now that you could do anything, or go anywhere you wanted, what would you do?
- Would you ever think about leaving home and living on your own?
- Would you share your money?
- What do you think God would want you to do with this money?
11:10-11:30 – Once we discussed the questions we read from the Luke the story of the Lost Son. I asked if anyone wanted to read and only Sophie volunteered. Sophie read half the story, and then Angel, my supervisor finished the second half of the story. After reading through the story I asked some follow-up questions:
- What did the younger son do with all his money?
- How did the father react when he saw his young son coming back home?
- How did the brother act when he saw how his father accepted his brother back home?
- Were you surprised by the way the father reacted to his lost son coming back home?
This was a great time of conversation and learning more about the parable.
11:30-11:35 – Integration: I explained how the father in this parable represents our Heavenly Father. I explained that the father forgave his son and welcomed him home with wide-opened arms. I then began to integrate how Easter falls into this lesson with the idea of forgiveness. Sophie, J’Shauna, and Chanse understood by discussing with me the story of Easter. I ended the integration part by handing out small pieces of yellow ribbon as a reminder to “Come Home Soon” to God. They really liked the idea of the ribbon. I then played Chris Daughtery’s song, “Home” and explained how it related when in the chorus he sings, “I’m going home, to the place where I belong, where your love is always been enough for me.” While I played the song, I also showed the kids pictures from my home church’s reenactment of Good Friday. This really kept their attention.
11:35-11:45 – I then moved to a different room to get onto the internet and show the kids a video from GodTube. This video portrayed a girl who was following Jesus in the beginning, then following the devil and facing difficult times, and then finally getting back to Jesus. Although I was nervous about showing this to 3rd-6th graders, I felt like there would be a good reaction to the video and there was. J’Shauna understood that the difficulties the girl faced when she wasn’t following God were wrong, by stating, “No!” when the girl was contemplating suicide. Chanse and Sophie were very involved in the video by intently watching and asking questions about what was going on.
11:45-12:00 – After watching the video we moved to the activity I had planned. We went back to the Sunday school room and played the board game Sorry!. Sophie, Chanse, and J’Shauna were all excited about it, but it lost their attention quick, however, it all worked out. They understood that when you say sorry you’re asking for forgiveness.
B. Response:
Even though there were only 3 students in the classroom along with Angel and myself, it went great. This was maybe a more difficult lesson for them to grasp, yet since there was more individual time, I was able to really help them understand it. It was evident they understood the lesson by the ways they reacted to the more “mature” video I showed after the lesson. They were very responsive by stating things such as “No!” when something bad was taking place, asking questions about what was going on, and then cheering when the girl went back to God. By integrating the parable, Easter, the song “Home”, the video, and the yellow ribbon reminder, I believe the main point I was trying to make – the idea that even when they feel like they’ve messed up big time all they have to do is turn around and God will welcome them back with overwhelming love and forgiveness – was well received. I look forward to seeing them grow the rest of this semester.
C. Supervising Teacher’s Evaluation:
For lesson preparation Angel stated that it was obvious I spent time preparing. She stated the presentation was incredible and that she loved that I did choose to show the GodTube video, even though it was a risk. She said that it went over well with Sophie, Chanse, and J’Shauna and that through the presentation I have gained ground with these three students. She said that having them read the scripture was a good touch, but that next time, instead of having just one read, to break it up and everyone take turns. Angel stated that I was very creative with the lesson and this is one of my great strengths in teaching. She also added that the enthusiasm I carried was evident while showing the video and my longing to help the students understand it more clearly. She also stated that the lesson was a great follow-up from the Kid’s Church lesson and that it will definitely be a lesson the kids remember. The fluidity of the lesson went fair. She stated that it’s difficult when teaching both Kid’s Church and Sunday school to keep the kids on the right track. She stated next time to be in the classroom as soon as Kid’s Church is over to keep the student’s attention and clean up later. She also suggested that whenever it is possible to have activities or parts of the lesson set out. As a result of trying to clean up after Kid’s Church, I lost the set up time and was doing it as I came to it. All in all, Angel said it went well!
D. Things I did well:
1. I was very well prepared for the lesson.
2. I had many parts to the lesson that kept it moving.
3. I took a risk showing the video, and it worked!
4. I didn’t let the students persuade me to do something different.
5. I made eye contact and direct communication with each student.
E. Things I need to improve:
1. Make sure I have time to set up before I teach.
2. Either read the story myself out loud, or have the kids read it (not just one).
3. Allow more room for other ideas or activities in my lesson plan.
4. Speak up
5. Trust that what I have planned and what I am saying is the truth and not ask for back up when someone else is around.
F. Questions:
1. What are some different ways to read the lesson to the class?
2. Is it okay to take risks in order to get the main point of the lesson out? (i.e. show a video that was geared more towards an older age group)
3. What are some ways to keep students involved in a board game…let alone any activity?
4. How do you feel about using a computer in a Sunday school setting to do things such as play music, or other activities to get the students to understand the main point?
No comments:
Post a Comment