Click here for this weeks teacher training Article.

Click Here for Teacher Preparation .PDF “Sasperated”

Click the arrow below for this weeks teacher tip…

“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (Matthew 14:22-23a).

We see many instances where Jesus goes off to pray. Usually he was alone in these moments. He knew that he needed time to be with the Father. We need that as well…so come prepared both mentally and emotionally when entering the classroom. And if by chance you do enter the classroom “sasperated” use some of the techniques described in this weeks teacher training.

And as always…praying is a good thing to do even when you don’t feel like doing it. I would gladly pray for you and with you if you ever are needed anything.

TomT

Click Here for this weeks Teacher Training

Click on arrow below to listen to yet another teacher tip:

I found this picture and just had to share it. It does seem that it would be easier to just start all over sometimes. But that is not always the answer.

I don’t know about you but this training really helped me this week. It is nice to be reminded that we don’t have to be perfect in our ministries. My hope for you all is that you were also blessed this week by this short lesson. Below is the part that I liked best: “Ask God to prepare your heart for his ministry, and he will.” Do you believe that? If you don’t you should pray that God will do it.

In addition, there are a few practical steps you can take to help minimize
the stressors in your ministry:
• Get things ready the night before. Set out the kids’ clothes. Set the
coffee maker so all you have to do is flip the switch. Put your teaching
supplies by the door.
• Ask for help in your church. Make sure you have the assistance you
need, both in and out of the classroom. Maybe there’s someone who
could shop for your supplies or make the copies you need. It doesn’t
hurt to ask.
• Don’t expect perfection—of yourself or of your students. Not every
week will be filled with earth-shattering teaching. Do your best, and
let the Holy Spirit take care of the rest.
Rely on God. He won’t let you down.

God Bless you all

TomT

Download This Weeks Lesson

Click on the arrow below to play a short teaching moment recording…

Since I have kids this lesson really hit home with me. I think that all of our congregation should read this and really take to heart the message. The message of doing everything like there were children watching really convicted me.

Here was the heart of the lesson…

Hebrews 12:1 suggests that the spiritual health of your children will
grow with these things in your life:

• You live your life as if children are watching. Because they are. They’re
the “cloud of witnesses.” There’s no such thing as privately struggling.
The quality of our spiritual DNA matters to everyone around us.

• You quickly confess your sins to God and set your heart on
following him. This is where you “throw off everything that hinders.”

• You follow Christ in every aspect of your life. By doing this you
strengthen your own DNA so you can transfer healthy DNA to your
children. This is how we “run with perseverance.”

Leave a comment…

TOMT

Give it a listen…

Click here for this weeks Teacher Trainin

I really like this weeks lesson. I would like to focus on one part of the lesson:

“Imagine you’re suddenly unable to teach your class for five weeks. Will
your replacement know what to do?
If you were to replace you, what would you want to know?
Maybe you’re moving to a different type of ministry position after
this year and you need to train your replacement. How would you do it?
What would you tell that person? Without looking at a current ministry
description (if you have one), write a ministry description that would
help train your replacement.”

I would like all of you to think about this and get back to me with your results.

TomT

Give it a listen…

Teacher Training PDF Staying Focused

I found this teacher training to be really good and thought provoking. I often wonder if what I am doing is really working. The article said: Evaluate your activities. Take a ruthless look at every activity in next week’s lesson. Is it teaching kids something new about God or just keeping them busy? Does each activity foster a real relationship with Jesus? Does it help kids see how to use their faith at school or onthe playing field?

I often ask myself “Is the worm program successful???” When I am teaching I am always trying to review what we have learned…especially during the activity. The kids often need help tying the activity to the lesson and the whole point of using a workshop model is to have different activities that will reach the different learning styles of the children.

The second thing in this article that struck me was when it said: Evaluate your own goals in teaching. Are you there out of duty? Because you like entertaining a crowd? Or because you want to help kids know, love, and follow Jesus?

This is a hard question to answer. I am sure that many of you have the same difficulty. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with feeling a responsibility to teaching. But if there is no love for the kids and what you are doing then maybe we should be doing something else.

Please leave a comment on how you feel about this article.

TOmT

Click here for the Tailor-Made, Teacher Training PDF

After reading through this weeks teacher training I am reminded of the video posted above. Fat guy in a little coat. It is a pretty ridiculous video but is just as ridiculous as someone who is not musical teaching music. So take your lesson and make it your on. If you are not musical don’t try music try something else. You can take it a step further in making it your own by adding personal examples and stories. Have your own example of not quite following God’s directions? Tell that story as you teach bout Jonah. You’ll not only fit the lesson to your style, you’ll give kids a glimpse into your life!

Leave a comment…about your gifts and how in the past you have tweaked a lesson to fit your abilities.

I would like to leave you with this prayer from the teacher training: Praise God for the gifts and experience he’s entrusted to you to teach his children. You make a difference because you’re part of the body of Christ. You are needed to teach as God has equipped you.

Click Here for this weeks teacher training article.pdf

Teaching in different ways will show kids that you respect and appreciate their differences!

I think that this statement is true in so many things that we do in the church. The same can be said for worship. I try to plan times of worship that will benifit the entire body not just one particular part of it. The same can be said for our teaching. The WORM program lends itself to teach to different learning styles but at the same time we can get stuck in just a few of the learning style because they may be the “easier” ones to accomplish. Take a look at the image above to see the other learning styles.

What learning styles do you think that we could reach that we are not currently ???

Who in our church body could benifit themselves as well as the kids by sharing a particular gift???

TomT

Click here for the Teacher Training Session-02.pdf

Two questions come to mind after reading the Teacher Training for this week. Are our classrooms “Child Friendly” and is our to teaching “Child Friendly”. I would have to say that the Rotation program lends itself to being more child friendly than the “Standard” teaching styles of yesteryear. Our approach in teaching the Story/lessons still hasn’t changed much though. We ask the kids to sit and listen while we tell the story. There could be other ways of telling the story that might be a bit more age appropriate and interactive. What do you think???

The other question about our rooms being child friendly is…well… I think our classrooms are getting better. I do think that the room that we use for art #8 needs to be painted. It needs a brighter color than the institutional white. Maybe something that would match the Moses Mural.

_______________________________________

I chose the picture above because of the “It’s Time to Change… at the end of the lesson.

I need to stop being childish when it comes too…

God Please help me to be more childlike as I…

I shared this story a couple of Sundays ago and I think it answer the second question for me…Liam (My Son) and I were watching the snow falling from our front window and he was in awe. Truly his mouth was hanging open his eyes were really wide just in wonder. He has seen snow before but he was still just in awe of it all. I hope that all of us can get back to that awe and wonder when it comes to our awesome GOD.

Please post your comments….

ToMT

hon·or /ˈɒnər/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[on-er] - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun

8.	(initial capital letter) a deferential title of respect, esp. for judges and mayors (prec. by His, Her, Your, etc.).

This weeks lesson is very appropriate for where I am at in my walk. What an honor it is to be able to teach kids. Unlike adults kids will listen and for the most part believe what you say without questioning everything about it. At the same time what a responsibility this for us. We need to know our stuff!

This last week Erin and I were teaching all the kids (about 20) about Joseph, his dreams, brothers hating him, and eventually being sold into slavery. The bible tells us that through all of this God was with him. The kids responded to this in such a positive way. They were repeating the story scene for scene and retelling the truth about God being with Joseph even when things looked dim. Then they were able to personalize this truth with their own life.

What an amazing thing. To be able to impart this wonderful gift from God.

Do you have any stories in the classroom?

TOmT