ACTUAL LESSON PREPARATION - A GUIDE FOR TEACHERS/LEADERS by Jerry E. Bartram, CPA
YEARLY PLANNING MEETING
About one month before the start of a new year, it would be good to plan a weekend meeting with your teachers, beginning Friday night, then Sabbath after lunch and Saturday night.
This should be time of prayer, study and planning.
Plan at least one major event each quarter and general ideas for each month
QUARTERLY PLANNING MEETING
The week before the end of a quarter, plan to meet Sabbath afternoon for a quarterly planning session
The leader leads out and has given out a brief outline of next quarters lessons
As a group you must come up with the central statement of what you want each child to know, feel and respond by the end of the quarter. This will be your theme for the quarter
Based on this statement you should plan the major Bible Learning Activities that you are going to do
Divide up the responsibilities for these activities among the teachers
WEEKLY - TEACHER
Prayer
Set as a goal to pray for each child at least one time per day
Ask that the Holy Spirit will impress you with what should be emphasized in the lesson this Sabbath
Ask for special guidance in picking the scenarios for the weeks lesson
Study
Start by doing a quick review of the lesson Sabbath afternoon
Look up all the Bible texts as part of your worship time
Pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit
What you are looking for is the statement of "what you want each child to know at the end of the lesson"
Application
You are also praying for a real life situation so that you can build a scenario around it
The application should be a real life problem that kids are facing in their everyday life
The scenario must relate to the "kids world" not the adult world
The scenarios need to be so real to life that the children will respond and empathize with the situation
You need two or three real life scenario/applications
Bible Story
You look for a Bible story in the current lesson that best points to or that you can use to build to the applications you have outlined above
Constantly look to see how you can use this lesson to point children to Christ. Show that making choices that He would have them make is the very best way that they can choose to live their life
Be true to the Bible account. Do your research. Know that what you say is accurate
Bible Readiness
Develop games, project, skits, activities that will allow the children to discover the Bible truths, that you have uncovered in your study, for themselves
Always look for fun, creative and different ways to do the activities
When the children finish their activities you will use the results of these activities to present the lesson
Make sure the readiness activities are relevant. Don't just have them do projects to fill in time
You should have three to four choices
They choose the activities from a list. You can limit the number of children doing an activity by having "tickets" on the board. When the tickets are gone for a particular project., children have to choose other activities
Circulate from group to group guiding the conversation to find out if the truth you want them to know as a result of doing this activity has been discovered yet
Never ask a child a question in front of the group that you have not made sure that they know. You find this out in the guided conversation you have with each child
WEEKLY - LEADER
Prayer
Pray for each teacher, child and family. Pray for the leading of the Lord in you life.
Pray for victory over sin in your life. Satan will try to destroy you
Pray that you will be a role model for the children
Working and contacting the teachers
Encourage them during the week.
If they are not going to be there, be ready to teach
Satan has a unique way of destroying the best laid plans from 8:00 AM to 9:15 AM Sabbath morning. Get use to it and expect it. Never give up, only trust in the Lord for His blessing and help
Setting up room
Have some way that the children have to sign in when they come in to the room. This will allow you to contact each child who is not there that day
Write birthday card for each child's birthday
Write a note to each visitor and have it in the mail no later than Monday. You want them to get it the first part of the week
Have the visitor's teacher call during the week and invite the visitor back to Sabbath School.
The leader should call Friday night or Sabbath morning and see if there is anything you can do to help the visitor/child get to Sabbath School. If they come greet them by name and very warmly
Working on Bible Learning Activities
Bible learning activities are activities that tie this weeks lesson to what you want the children to know at the end of the quarter
The groups can be reshuffled for these activities
The should be fun and exciting. The unexpected
No winners or losers
No prizes or gimmicks
Work and share as a group
Sharing Circle
A time for singing. Songs should point to the theme of the day
Mission emphases. Children need to know that our message is for the entire world
Sharing what Christ is doing in their life. Be ready to praise and encourage
Work towards the goal of having children pray for the needs of other children in the class. When they bring up needs, have another child pray for this need. This takes time, don't try it right off. The children have to trust each other and the adults in the circle
