Kevin Aaron
Teaching Report 2
Time Spent: 3 hours (1 prep, 1 SS, 1 Worship)
A. The Lesson
I was asked if I would be willing to allow a few extra youth from a different class join my class for last Sunday’s lesson. Eager to work with as many people as possible, I quickly agreed and set to work on my lesson plan. Since Thanksgiving was coming up soon, I figured it would be a good idea to do something on Thanksgiving. So my lesson dealt with giving thanks. The basic idea of it is that I need to show love for God and my neighbors through spiritual and physical acts of giving thanks for my blessings. I started the lesson off with a balloon. I asked for an artist to help me. No one volunteered at first, but after a little coaxing, I got Rachel to help me out. So I gave her the balloon and a black marker. I told her to draw me on that balloon. I expected her to take a few seconds drawing a quick sketch. I did not expect a long, intricate drawing of my face, but that is exactly what I got. It may not have been very accurate (I had a comb over) but everyone thought it was pretty funny. So I began discussing things in life that cause stress. I asked the group what kind of things caused stress in their life. I got a variety of answers including school, friendships and sports. Adam cited having to get up early for classes as a source of stress on his body. So I began to blow the balloon up a little bit as they told me different stressed. Then I added my part of the story. I talked about how stress builds up and how sometimes I feel like I can do things my way and I forget about God because of the stress and my pride. I discussed how I fail to give thanks and how I allow things to continue to build up until I burst. I expected the balloon to blow up big and then I would pop it, but conveniently, it popped on its own a little earlier than expected. A few people, including Caleb and my dad, jumped a bit at the pop. They all saw it coming, yet still jumped. And so I asked them why this was and what could be done. None of them hit what I was hoping they would. They all discussed the build up of stress as the cause and finding ways to alleviate stress as the solution. What I discussed with them then was that I failed to follow what Jesus called the two greatest commandments: loving God and loving my neighbors. By neglecting God, I did not show love to him. By letting stress build up and letting it affect my relationships and then exploding, I failed to show love to my neighbors. I talked to them about how not having and show that love invites fear and then stress and problems. I mentioned 1 John 4:18 to them, which discusses the idea of how perfect love drives out fear. I told them I thought the reason I had these problems was my lack of showing love. Then I read to them Hosea 6:4, “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.” My point here was that in no way was I showing love. Just like the Israelites, my love came and went as quickly as the morning dew. I failed to show love and as such, fear and problems came into my life. So then my question to them was how to fix this. How do I go about changing this and showing love? I got answers from Caleb and Anne pertaining to simply telling people that I love them. Some said I could give loved ones gifts. Then I suggested that the best way I could show love for God and my neighbors was to give thanks. By giving thanks, both spiritually and physically I can show love. By worshipping God and thanking him in my prayers, I can show love for him. By serving others and doing other physical acts for people, I can show my love for both God and my neighbors. I then quoted 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I wrapped up the study by telling them that we can alleviate a lot of problems in life and build a relationship with God by praising him and giving thanks in many different ways for all the blessings we have.
B. Response:
I had extra youth present this week as well as a few adults present for this Bible study. This added to the group. They all were much more awake and lively. Some of this may have been the fact that there were new people around. Some of it may have stemmed from the fact that there were extra adults present. They all seemed to enjoy the use of the balloon. It did scare them a bit though when it popped, even though most of them saw it coming and expected it to happen. They were much more talkative and gave me some answers. While they did not go where I hoped they would with their responses, it was a start and encouraging to see them talk.
C. Supervising Teacher’s Evaluation
My dad, an elder at the church, and Peggy, in charge of the class I was teaching that week, were both on hand for this Bible study. Both told me it was a good study and enjoyed it. Peggy felt like I did a good job and got the point across to the youth well. She did say that it would have been nice to see a little more involvement physically other than drawing on the balloon and then simply talking the rest of the way. My dad had the follow comments for me:
The good points:
• Excellent use of visual aids with the balloon illustration
• Getting the youth involved by making a drawing on the balloon was good
• Good use of Scriptural references
• Point of message was well thought out and the youth were able to take home a point to remember
• The youth definitely were paying attention and buying what you were sellling
The less exciting points:
• Too much motion on your part, movement is alright but not necessarily an aerobic exercise video
• A few too many "you knows" and "OKs" in your delivery
D. Things I did well
1. I got the group involved with the balloon
2. I was active
3. I used multiple sources of scripture to support my lesson
4. I had a good solid point to finish up on
E. Things I need to improve
1. I need to move around a little less
2. I need to not use as many “you knows” and “OKs”
3. I need to get the group more involved in activities during the lesson
4. I need to have more than one major point throughout the study for them to take
F. Questions
1. Was my topic a good choice given the season, or should I have stayed the course with the series we had been doing?
2. Should I have added some form of group work in to the lesson to get them all involved?
3. Since it worked so well having two classes combine, should I suggest combining the two classes for future studies?
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RE: 1. Choice in Topic? The topic was a great choice for the season. It did not stray too far from the normal paths of thanksgiving lessons, yet gave a fresh look at things. A different ways of going about a lesson on giving thanks. Sticking to the series would have been a great idea to keep the series going. But since the series has gone on for a little while, it should survive this one week hiatus. When the extra students were added to class, it seemed a necessity for you to do something for everyone. Just continuing the series might have left them out in the cold trying to understand what was going on and why were being excluded. But by doing something totally different that everyone could follow and understand easily, you invited the extra students to join you.
RE: 2. Extra Group Work? Using the balloon was a great idea. That was a great way to have a little fun and yet keep the lesson rolling. The sad part is that it was the main piece of involvement past talking. Activities always are good ideas when working with youth. They enjoy activities. It is their chance to take ownership in the study and expend some energy. They can have fun and change the pace of the study for a little while yet still finding bits of information along the way. It might have been a good idea to get more people involved, either in pieces of demonstrations or through group work. That way, you could ensure that everyone is involved in the lesson and not simply sitting in the back taking a nap.
RE: 3. 2 Classes? It seems clear that the two class idea worked well on this week. People listened and were part of the study. They did not simply sit in the back and sleep. However, the class you have right now is in the middle of a study. Combining now would require one of two things: either the extras play catch up or you ditch the study midstream. Either way is an inconvenience and does not help you much. It is a much better idea to play out the series and then look into bringing the two classes together for further cooperation. It may be a good idea to leave them separate, but bring them together once a month or every other month. This would provide a nice change of pace for both groups.
-Kevin Aaron
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