Danny's Practicum Post #5

Hours this week= 4

Wowzers was last night a crazy night!!! The kids were off the wall!! I don't know if it's the fact that Fall Break is soon or what, but this was the most rambunctious I have ever seen them. Ms. Jessica had a terribly difficult time teaching tonight. The lesson was 1 John 2:25, God's Promise of Eternal Life. Unfortunately, it seems as if there was a ton of Spiritual Warfare going on this week, cause the kids would not pay attention, kids were fighting, and the 4th and 5th grade group had an incident which resulted in someone getting sent home. After the failed attempt at a lesson amongst the groups, all the leaders got together and spent about 30-45 minutes discussing what went wrong and then approaching the Lord in prayer.

Though I didn't quite get to see God working amongst the kids, He was definitely working amongst the leadership and in me, as I saw how He can turn something bad into something that will bring Him glory. Next week will be a better week. I think weeks like this are necessary for us to appreciate the good weeks.

This week, I intend on praying for Shawnaia, a 1st grade girl who got punched in the stomach by a 3rd grade boy. She left crying, and said she doesn't want to come back. She is one of the shyer, more timid kids in my class, and I really hope she gets an opportunity to learn more about God, despite the punk kids and Satan's tricks.

As we closed out this week, I had several questions:

1. What the heck got into the kids this week?!?!?!

2. When the Evil One is so clearly trying to ruin things, what's the best way to stay focused and positive?

Danny's Practicum Post #4

Hours this week= 2

I'm not quite sure if this would be considered a substitute practicum or not. I spoke to Ms. Jessica via Facebook about

not being able to attend ReaLife on Tuesday night due to having night class. She invited me to attend her Sunday School

class on Sunday Morning at Exit 59. I figured this was as good a week as any to attend, since it was Fall Break and I did

not have a ride to my usual church The River.

While sitting in on Ms. Jessica's Sunday School group (which was comprised of middle school aged kids) I could

see that her classroom management skills carried over into a different age group. The lesson was certainly deeper, yet

Ms. Jessica had a great way of still simplifying it to where I'm fairly sure a kindergarten student would understand 80-90%

of what she was teaching. I didn't really know any of the students in the classroom, but I could still see the different personality

mixes amongst them. One girl, who was named either Christine or Christina, was clearly the eager beaver of the group.

On nearly every question asked, her hand was raised anxiously in the air, ready to provide her insight into the topic at hand.

The lesson this week was on Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as if working for the Lord,

not men" Most students in the class related this to their schoolwork, but a few took the subject matter deeper, and began applying it to other aspects of their life, including honoring their parents, striving for 100% in sports, and one boy whose name I never got a chance to learn, related it to his relationship with his girlfriend.

I had several questions as I left the group this week:

1. What exactly does Ms. Jessica do to make the material so accessible? How can I do that when I teach/lead?

2. How do these older students feel about Ms. Jessica and does that factor into their learning experience?

3. How long has Ms. Jessica been leading this group and does that impact how they learn from her and how effective she is?

Danny's Practicum Post #3

This is a substitute practicum. I spent the weekend doing RAM Camp and led one of the small breakout groups. I decided to use this as a substitute practicum in order to catch up to where I should be.

Total Time= 3 hours breakout time, 4+ hours preparation time

This past weekend was RAM Camp, an IWU Hosted event that is geared towards leadership development for High Schoolers. For the entire semester leading up to this weekend, we have been preparing for it in my Youth Evangelism and Discipleship class. Now that it's here, all of our hard work is going to be put into practice. All in all, I led three breakout sessions focusing on three things "Foundational Values" "Unique Design" and "Personal Mission."

The sessions were mainly discussion based with small excerpts that I prepared beforehand from Scripture as well as the Sermon preached during the Rally Session.

The first session was spent mostly getting acquainted with each other. We played some icebreaker games, and when we finished that, we began our discussion time. I asked my group of 9 High Schoolers what they were expecting out of their RAM Camp experience. My biggest discussion participators were Jillian, Jacob, Caleb, and David. Overall, the discussion went really well, and every single one of my group members participated and shared what they were hoping to experience this weekend as well as what they think defines someone as a leader.

The second session was cut short due to the extended Rally and altar call afterwards. The third session went incredibly well. Jacob shared how he felt called to ministry, and each one of my kids were excited to get back to their home church and start pouring out what they had experienced into the lives of their friends. At the end, I handed out a devotional that the Team Ops Leaders had prepared and had printed out. This Devotional takes them through 10 days after their RAM Camp experience. It encourages them, and challenges them to keep the fire burning.

Overall, this experience was incredible, and the teaching experience I had was unforgettable. My kids were attentive, they actively participated in discussion, and they kept the flow of the breakout sessions moving smoothly.

After this weekend, I have several questions:

1. What would be the best way to keep in touch with the students I built relationships with this past weekend?

2. How will we be able to measure the effectiveness of our teaching this past weekend?

3. How can we measure the effectiveness of the devotional that we handed out?

4. Though unconventional, is this an effective way to develop and build leaders?

Chris' Practicum Post #4

This is a substitute practicum because of RAM Camp. I was involved with that and could not make it to my church for this weeks class.

Time Spent this week: 1.5 hours

For my practicum this week, I went to the small group bible study at the lodges here on campus. One of my good friends was leading this week and our topic was loving God. We talked about how we are always coming up short in loving God the way that we should.

It was interesting to watch as people sat there for the “lesson.” One of my friends is always there and is always very quiet. He usually doesn’t say much during these bible studies. Yet, when we get to a point of discussion or have been discussing things for a time, he always asks a deep question. If you were to sit there and watch him throughout the time, he looks as if he is very disconnected and not engaged in the topic or the discussion. However, he is and always has some good question to ask. People like this are hard to get a read on sometimes. You cannot tell whether they are listening or if they could care less. I wonder sometimes if we should not try to engage these people into our conversations more or if we should leave them to learn and understand as they do best? This is something that I have seen more than just once.

In our high school class back in my hometown, there is one kid who always was very quiet and never really said much. Yet, when he did speak, it was usually way beyond the depth of thought of the rest of the class. Some people seem to learn best by just soaking it all in, like a sponge. While others have to be constantly asking questions and fidgeting around. There is always a very active participation when dealing with younger kids and youth, but there seems to be a distinctive difference when maturity starts to set in.

So, with that said, it brings me to my questions for this week.

1. Should we, as teachers/small group leaders, try to change how people learn? Or should we adapt our teaching styles to best accommodate these learning styles?

2. Should we even worry about making sure that people learn when they are there because they have the ultimate choice in what and when they learn?

3. How would we adapt our teaching if so needed? What could we do to make it more engaging?

Danny's Practicum Post #2

Hours this week= 3

This week's group seemed larger, but actually still hovered around 25 children. We experienced some difficulties during the lesson time. Though Ms. Jessica was doing an excellent job, the kids were a little wilder than usual. Corey kept trying to crawl under the tables and get up out of his chair, which seemed to cause the other children to become distracted.

The lesson this week was on 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins." Overall, I'd say the lesson went fairly well. Aside from the distractions, Ms. Jessica was able to get through the material as well as teach the kids who were interested. She truly has a knack for teaching to their level and explaining things in a way simple enough so that they understand the concept. Seeing the kids really get into it was great. At one point, Javion and Amari both seemed to be having a "knowledge battle." Between the two of them, they must have answered every single one of Ms. Jessica's questions, while also throwing in some wisdoms they clearly must have picked up at home or from a family member. At one point, Javion raised his hand and when called upon by Ms. Jessica, lifted his Bible in the air and said "This whole book tells me Jesus loves me."

The response in the group this week was better than the last. Over half the group of kids participated in the memory verse, and several of them continued to ask questions even when our time was up.

As we closed out this week, I had several questions:

1. What is the best way to deal with hyperactive children that would not distract the others

2. At such a young age, do these children really understand the fact that their decisions and sins affect others as well... and if not, do they really feel remorse for them or are they confessing simply out of obligation?

3. What can be done to encourage good behavior in the classrom?

Joey Bocook- Post 3

A. This week time commitment
- 2 hours, half hour of response time
B. Class this week
- This was my second week at Bella Café. Pastor Joe was intent on us figuring out the intricate details of Matthew’s account of his own calling by Jesus. We spoke about the time gaps that could have been in the passage. The biggest question that we faced was what to make of Matthew saying that Jesus came to his hometown. Zach, one of the class members, recalled that he thought Jesus’ hometown was in Nazareth. When in the account of Matthew, the calling of Matthew takes place in Capernaum. This led Pastor Joe into his subject for the night. What do we know? The problem with Christianity is that we, as Christians, are so un-learned of the Scriptures. We are called to defend our faith, yet we have no real knowledge. Daniel, another student, recalled that Jesus moved to Capernaum after the beheading of John the Baptist. Pastor Joe stressed to us the importance of knowing the details, because now, more than ever, people are attacking the credibility of the Bible. And we are the only ones able to defend.
C. Questions Raised
1. How can we bring those people in our churches into a better understanding and knowledge of the Scriptures?
2. Can we, practically speaking, have a class on finding the intricate details of Scripture? Would that even matter?

Chris' Practicum Post #3

Hours spent this week 4 (Sunday School=1, Worship= 2, Small group bible study=1)

This week we had one of our peers give us a rundown on what her experience has been with missions trips. It is part of the missions festival that Lakeview Wesleyan is putting on these next two weeks. Liz McClellan, a senior here at Indiana Wesleyan and daughter of Pastor Tim McClellan, has done a lot of overseas work and has experienced a huge amount of spiritual growth from these experiences. This goes to show that spiritual formation outside of the church is important. As she gave her experiences on her travels, the class seemed to be pretty interested because almost all of us had been on some kind of missions trip. It was interesting to see how the people interacted and related with Liz and amongst themselves. We were asked to talk in our groups about where we had seen the Church at work outside of the church building. A lot of people have seen the Church at work outside of the local church which is awesome. Over the course of the class, people were definitely interested in Liz’s personal testimonies of people’s lives that she had been a part of in the process of her travels. When it is something that everyone can relate to, it is much easier to keep their attention. She did a very good job of keeping people interested and getting them involved in the conversation. People in this class seem to be easy to keep interested in the topic, of course it is a college age class. Some people in this class seem to be very mature for their age and are able to talk about spiritual things and learn best when they are able to discuss and talk about their feelings on different subjects. Even the younger students, freshmen, are very attentive. People seem to learn best in this class when they are interactive. Those who sit and listen to a person talk for an hour often feel like it is another sermon that they are listening to. Learning happens best when those we are teaching can be involved more than just listening to someone talk at them.

Questions:

1.Would this same method of teaching, being interactive, be as effective in a setting with younger kids?

2. What are some creative ways that we can do more than just the small group discussion to get people involved?

Joey Bocook- Post 2

A. Time Commitment
- 1.5 hours in group, half hour of response
B. Class This Week
- This week I attended a Bible Study at Bella Café sponsored by Brookhaven Wesleyan Church. We studied Matthew 9, when Jesus called Matthew and said, “Come, follow me.” Our question in this story was, “Did Matthew really know what Jesus meant when Jesus said that?” “Did Matthew know Jesus?” The problem that we came too was that some things must be inferred from the writings in the Bible. Pastor Joe explained that the writers of the New Testament might not have understood fully, what happened first hand, but that when they wrote it down they did. This is how their theological framework came about in their writing. We examined, in parallel, the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We found that it was derived from a story of an old lady and three bears and was told to children so that they would stay away from the woods. Fast forward to our time, we have a cute story where the little girl lives happily ever after. The difference between that story and the Gospel is that the Gospel is truth. It is true. No doubt. What we were charged with to do for next week was to re-read Matthew chapter nine and find if there are any indication of time lapses. Because, what if before Jesus called Matthew, he had stayed in Nazareth for an extended period of time, met Matthew and then decided to call him? That is what next week will entail. The group was not very talkative. Six other people attended, including Pastor Joe’s wife. I felt as if I was the only one willing to speak up and share my opinion. But that is okay, because I like to do it.
C. Questions Raised This Week
1. Is it fair to say that, if Matthew decided to drop everything and follow Jesus then he knew exactly what Jesus meant by saying, “Come, follow me?”
2. Is it okay to read between the lines, so to speak, and draw our own conclusions? Or should we stick to learning from just the words on the pages?

Chris' Practicum Post #2

This is a substitute practicum. I was out of town for my sister-in-law’s wedding and did not get to go to my practicum here in Marion. I got together with a group of my closest friends for a bible study they have been doing for a few weeks now.

Hours this week=1.5 (Bible Study)

This week I was out of town and met with a small group of friends and we discussed some very good verses and what they meant to us. It was interesting to hear what different people thought about these verses. We are all at different places in our spiritual walks, but there were a lot of really good thoughts on these verses.

The guy who lead the group is an education major. He wants to be a high school teacher, so he will be teaching for a long time. It was interesting to see the way he taught and discussed the verses we were going over. He initially read the verse then gave an explanation of what truths he got from the verse for his own personal application. We also had some of the other members of the group share what truths they got from the verse. It was kind of like going around the room asking each individual, “what does this verse say to you?” This is not how I envisioned the discussion going, but it actually worked and got most of the group talking about the verse and what it meant to them.

It was interesting to observe the group and watch who was engaged and who was “spacing out.” As I looked around there were a few ministry majors in the room, five baseball players, and a total of thirteen people in the room. For the most part the baseball players were very engaged and participated in the discussion, with the exception of one. As we worked through the verses, he seemed to be “spacing out” more than anyone else. He never said a word and was never engaged in the discussion. This reminded me of the days when I was in my high school Sunday school class back home. There were always those who would never say a word, were only there because their parents made them go, and usually slept through the whole class time. So this brought me to my questions for the week:

1. How do you get people involved when they seem to only be there because of obligation?

2. How do you engage those people and, over time, get them to become a part of the group and share some of their thoughts?

3. Is there more than one right way to teach a lesson, either biblical or secular?

4. If the way one is teaching is not engaging everyone, should there be a change in how that person teaches?