Danny's Practicum Post #8

Hours this week= 3

Just like any church service before Thanksgiving, the main theme of the night was giving thanks... I wouldn't say that it was the most effective lesson time, but it was clear that some kids were really into it. The usual children were attentive, Javion, Johnny, Amari, and Savajia. Corey was not there this week, which definitely mellowed the entire classroom, and some of the shyer kids spoke up a bit. Dora actually opted to pray and thanked God for Ms. Jessica. I remember thinking to myself how awesome it would be to have an adorable 1st grade kid thank God for me!!! I pray that I have that kind of influence one day.

One thing I happened to notice, which is probably nothing, but still concerned me, was the fact that Miguel had a black eye. The worst part about it was the fact that the story behind the black eye was slightly different from each sibling. It's more than likely nothing, since most physical signs of child abuse are in hidden areas such as the arms or back. Also, he doesn't shy away from a hug, which is usually typical of abuse cases. Like I said, probably nothing, but definitely something to keep an eye out for and lift it up to God in prayer.

Questions

1) What am I supposed to do in this kind of situation? At what point do we allow our assumptions to become accusations?

2) Seeing how Corey's absence impacted the group positively, is it wrong to hope he doesn't show up so that the other kids have a better opportunity to learn?

Danny's Practicum Post #7 (Teaching Post)

Hours this week- 5 (3 at Tuesday Church, 2 Preparation)

My Lesson

This week I taught my lesson. Seeing the kids excitement when they saw that I was the teacher for the day was INCREDIBLY encouraging, and certainly gave me enough courage to be confident as I taught. My lesson this week was out of the book of Jonah. I taught about how sometimes God wants us to do something, and it's scary. I would like to have included some clips from the Veggie Tales Movie, but I couldn't get any. Overall, the lesson went well. I was really into it, and had a difficult time gauging the classes reaction like I do when I'm just an observer/helper. I did however notice that Ms. Jessica had to separate Corey and Michael from each other, and then she had to separate Corey from Alaysia... but this is just typical "Corey" behavior.

Supervisor Evaluation

Ms. Jessica told me that I did wonderfully. When I asked her for some constructive criticism, she mentioned that some of the words I said were a little too advanced for that age group. Overall, she said I should probably dumb the lesson down a little bit to meet their needs a little better. One example is that when I mentioned being from Florida, I failed to realize that some kids don't even know where Florida is.

Questions

1) Would the use of the Veggie Tales Movie helped my lesson or deterred from it?

2) Did the kids see me as a substitute teacher, or a legitimate teacher?

Danny's Practicum Post #6

Hours this week= 3.5

After a crazy week several weeks ago, things got back to normal. I missed last week's class cause I was feeling sick, but what a blessing it was to come back to hugs and excitement from all the kids who missed me. Class went well, and Ms. Jessica informed me that next week I would be doing the teaching, so it was a pretty exciting week for me.

Today's lesson was out of the book of Job. A great thing that happened in the past couple weeks was that the leadership decided to purchase children's Bibles, so a good amount of the kids who don't usually pay attention, were attentive and listening today. Sha'Heem, who is usually shy, even opted to read for the group. The lesson was on the problems we all have, and almost every kid wanted to share. One exceptionally sad aspect of the sharing time though was the amount of kids who expressed sadness over their parents being in jail or dead. When I first started volunteering at Tuesday Church, I knew it would be a bit of a culture shock, but it had never been more real than it was tonight.

Another disheartening part of the night is that Shawnaia hasn't returned. Unfortunately, Ms. Jessica didn't remember if she was there last week, so there's a chance that she's missed 2 consecutive weeks after the incident.

Some of the questions that I had after this week were:

1) What can I do to meet some of the needs of these kids whose fathers are in jail or have passed on?

2) Why has the ReaLife leadership waited until NOW to get Children's Bibles?!?!?! It worked out SOOOOOO well!!!

Joey Bocook- Post 5

A. Time Commitment This Week
- 2 hours at group, ½ hour of response
B. Class this week
- This week Daniel, a class member, brought us his findings about how we can establish that Matthew was the author of the book of Matthew, and if his credibility is real. We discussed how we can find his credibility. Pastor Joe stated that the way we prove that Matthew was real and the author is that we cannot disprove those facts. He told us a story, which Dr. Bence also tells, about Saint Denys. He said why is this story more unbelievable than the story of the resurrection? They are both recorded by eye witnesses. So we talked about faith. This is how we come to believe that Matthew has credibility.
C. Questions
1. Does it matter that we cannot substantially prove Matthew the author of the Gospel?
2. Can we stand on faith alone?

Joey Bocook- Post 4...this somehow was deleted from blog

This is a substitute practicum. On Sunday nights, a small group gathers in my suite in the East Lodge. Nathan Miller taught and these are my observations from this night.

A. Time commitment
- 1 hour during the time and half an hour response
B. Class this week
- Nathan Miller, my R.A. and suitemate, taught out of a book called Crazy Love. He talked about how God is love and his love is so immense and deep that it is His character. His main points were that we as humans have been made in the likeness of God. So we should share this love that God has. However the conversation veered quickly when I spoke this phrase, “The bad thing is: Christians are no longer known for what they do. They are known for what they don’t do.” Here is the problem. Chris Collins pushed back and realized he had seen this in his own life throughout high school and since we have been in college. We are accustomed to living our life by a set of rules and viewing God as a ‘cosmic-kill-joy.’ As a group we decided that we must change this. Nathan continued and talked about his personal testimony and how he needs to change his motives. This was a powerful week.
C. Questions
1. What can Christians do about this identity that has come about?
2. Is it feasible to ask Christians in a class setting to embrace this “Crazy Love” and go out and actually give off “Crazy Love?”

Chris' Practicum Post #5

Hours this week- 1(Sunday School)

This week was interesting because our teachers were gone with their son. Their son has a problem with his eye and has had eye surgery. Anyway, we had a collaborated class with some of the seniors in high school and their teacher/youth minister. It was interesting to see the difference between a teacher from the high school level and our teachers who are used to dealing with college age students.

Our class is usually pretty student lead and student driven discussion. However, I could tell a big difference in the style of teaching this week. This week we had a much more example driven, less interactive class. It was a lot of the teacher talking about the topic and less about us relating and discussing our own lives. This is something that I think is super important for all to learn in leading Sunday School or any kind of teaching setting. There is obviously a difference in how one teaches high schoolers versus college aged students. I guess what I am saying is that based on the setting, the people, and the topics, there is always more than one way to do things correctly.

Another thing that I noticed was that when he did try to get people involved and engaged, he always went and called on the same group of people. If you are going to call on people to get them engaged, you need to do it with more than just a few of the class or else it becomes a discussion between the teacher and those few whom they are engaging. It leaves the rest of the class feeling “left out.” This did not help to keep the attention of the those whom were “left out” or keep them engaged so as to gain anything from the lesson. These are the things that I have learned this week in observing our class.

Questions for this week:

How do you know when the teaching style you are using is not working? At what point are you almost “required” to change how you teach? Is it when people begin to say that they are not “getting anything from class?”

Having a blended class was different. Is it a good idea to bring two completely different classes together as one? Especially different age groups?