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?
Danny,
ReplyDeleteI am not an expert in dealing with children, especially young children. As for the hyperactivity, I am not sure how I would even begin to deal with that. I honestly don’t know that I would have the patience to deal with this. I guess that this comes from my own personal experiences in my life. I was never really hyperactive in church when I was younger. I was usually tired, or just did not care. Maybe if a child is getting really hyper, you can take that child out and just talk to them about how they are effecting the learning abilities of their friends in the class. If that doesn’t work then you could have them help you teach the lesson which will hopefully help them to calm down and keep them engaged in the lesson.
I think that being at such a young age can sometimes mean that they do not understand fully what is being taught to them. As far as if they are confessing out of remorse or obligation, I would like to believe that if they truly understand what we are teaching them, they will realize the effects all of the decisions that they make will have on their life. If we are doing our job and teaching them properly in a way that they can understand, then they should understand that it is not an obligation, but it is because of our repentance.
To encourage good behavior in the classroom… I have no idea! Like I said, I am not the greatest with young children, so I will leave this question without an answer.
-Chris