Tag Archive - teaching

Questions You Need Answers To

January 19, 2009 in Ministry with 3 Comments

Last week I sent out a survey to all the wonderful people that volunteer to work in our Early Childhood areas at the church.  More specifically it was sent to those people that are lead teachers.  I worded it a little playful, but not too much.  I wanted people to feel they could be honest, without hurting someone’s feelings.  It is also my goal, whether they fill out the survey or not; for them to know that their opinion has some weight.  The entire thing shouldn’t have taken more than 5 or 10 minutes, so it wasn’t a terrible chore.

So far I’ve gotten some great feedback.  By great I mean it made me cry it was so freaking honest.

Those responding to the survey were not required to provide their name, but were given the option if they wanted to.  All questions were required to be answered to advance through the survey, except where an optional response is noted.  I used Pollograph for the survey, and I can NOT say enough great things about the service.  It is a super A+ online survey service.

The following are the questions given and responses offered:

1. Do the Children in your classroom seem to enjoy your classroom?

Always

Sometimes

Never

2. Do you feel that the Children in your class are learning Biblical principals?

Always. The kids can recite the main point at the door when they leave.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.

Never.  We just play and eat snacks.

3. Are you adequately provided with everything you need to teach your class effectively?

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Yes, I have everything I could ask for.
Sometimes, but I would like more.
Never, I feel unprepared every week and it’s NOT my fault!

4. Do you feel prepared each week to teach the children?

Yes, I always prepare well in advance.
Some weeks I’m ready, and some weeks I’m just here.
Prepared, am I supposed to be prepared?

5. Are you taking your teacher’s guide home each week to look over the material and prepare for the lesson?

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Always have it by my side
Sometimes I have to search for it on Sunday Mornings.
Never. Am I supposed to have a Teacher Guide?

6. Do you feel valued by the Children’s Ministry leadership at Trinity?

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Always. I am Loved.
Sometimes
Never. I don’t think they know my name.

7. Are you actively attending services during the services you don’t work with Children?

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Yes
No

8. Are you involved in a Life Group?

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Yes
No

9. How involved do you feel parents are in your classroom?

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Highly Involved
Some Parents help, but I would love more.
These kids have Parents? I never see them.

10. Which of these options would you employ to connect with families if given the choice?

clip_image014[11]Allow ‘Others’, May select more than one

Pre-postaged postcards for you to mail out at your convenience.
A phone number for someone who has missed your class for a few weeks.
Stocked supply of volunteer applications at your door to pass out when needed.

11. Are you currently teaching in an area that is comfortable for you and is compatible with your teaching style?

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Yes, I’m in my comfort zone.
Maybe, I haven’t thought about that.
No, I’m only where I am because I was put there.

12. How would you rate yourself in the following classroom settings:

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Storytelling
Song Time
Craft Time
  • clip_image093I’m Good at this
  • clip_image093[1]I’m trying, but need help
  • clip_image093[2]I’m terrible, and sometimes skip it altogether

13. What brings you the most joy in teaching your class?

Optional Written Response…

14. What seems to be the biggest obstacle for you in teaching your class?

Optional Written Response…

15. What are your thoughts on the current Curriculum

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Content of Bible Lesson
Storytelling Options
Craft Projects
Overall Age Appropriateness
Special Activities in Lesson
  • clip_image093[3]Perfect
  • clip_image093[4]Good, Not Great
  • clip_image093[5]Needs Work

16. Any Additional thoughts on our current curriculum?

Optional Written Response…

17. What is your opinion of the past training sessions that have been offered?

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Highly Valuable, wouldn’t miss it!
It’s a good meal, but could be better…
We have training sessions?

18. Is there a specific topic you would like addressed in a training session?

Optional Written Response…

19. Here’s your big chance: Is there one area of Children’s Ministry you would like to see changed and how do you feel this could best come about?

clip_image014[20]Optional Written Response…

In Spite of Myself

January 15, 2009 in Bible, Ministry with 0 Comments

Hebrews 10:35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

I know what I’m good at. For the sake of appearing humble, I won’t give you a run down; but I am usually a fairly confident person. I have even been confidently wrong on a few things. If I’m in a job interview, I could easily name a handful of things that I feel comfortable doing and feel that I do quite well. But knowing what I’m good at still doesn’t keep me from concentrating on what I’m bad at. I can do 9 out of 10 things well, but that one thing I’m not good at will keep me up at night. It’s what I’m NOT good at that bugs me the most.

I can program a great Sunday mornings experience for our kids, but I’ll drive home thinking of a conversation I had that morning where I didn’t quite say the right thing. Or maybe I talk to the college students during one of their events. I will do a moderately decent job speaking; but I’m up at 3am thinking of that one really stupid thing I said (or maybe it was a dozen stupid things I said….)

I know I’m not alone in this, surely others feel this…right?

As I read Hebrews 10:35-36 this week, I am reminded that my confidence is in God, and it is needed to endure through the end of God’s will. I am learning to have confidence that God knows all my inabilities in ways that even I haven’t even realized, and in spite of all of them he continues to give me opportunities to carry out His will.

Lord, help me to look past the mistakes and errors that paint the picture of my life and help me to see your hand working in my life. Help me to endure to the end of your will for my life.

Things I Do

January 9, 2009 in Links, Technology with 2 Comments

My all-time favorite thing to do on the Internet is to find, get, receive, take, and/or steal ideas from others. Whether it be finding hacks for my mobile device, new ways to balance my bank accounts online, reading reviews on books I’ve not read, or just finding new ways to do old things; the Internet has opened the doors to feed my daily improvement habit.

In the spirit of this sharing here are a few of the things I use, both online and offline:

  • I love photographs. I love digitally altered photographs even more. I know not how to take photographs, nor do I know how to digitally alter them. Therefore, InterfaceLIFT is my drug for all things photographically wonderful. It is a daily occurrence to add the newest submissions to my desktop wallpaper collection. Of which I use Caledos Wallpaper Changer to keep the desktop rotating fresh.

  • Windows Live Sync is actually one of the freshest, coolest, most intelligent programs that Microsoft may have ever developed. For years I’ve kept an external Hard Drive in my office at work, that I use to backup both home files (the most important) and some work files. I don’t like to keep it at the house, because if the house were to be destroyed, God forbid, I’d want my backup to be out of the house. Live Sync allows me to sync folders across the Internet without really ever thinking about it. But wait for it…wait for it…the big deal is that it’s totally stinking FREE and it’s really, really, really easy to setup.
  • Tokbox. If you are apt to do video calls with your PC, this little online program (or downloaded program) will make it all better.
  • For years I’ve been an iTunes junkie. I’ve hated it that my music is DRM-locked, but have been reluctant to use services like Amazon for digital music downloads. But that changed two months ago when I discovered Amazon’s MP3 downloader program that automatically places their DRM-free music right into iTunes for me. But trust me, it’s not just so I can get DRM-free music (which iTunes now offers), it’s because it’s cheaper. Way cheaper!
  • My sister-in-law bought this for me at Christmas this year. It may possibly be the smallest gift I got for Christmas , but it’s also one of my favorites. The Aerobie AeroPress meets my major coffee needs. There is a quote on the box that says, “It makes the absolute best cup of coffee I’ve tasted in my entire life!” After using it for the past 2 weeks, I can confirm the accuracy of this bold statement. It is a wonderful world to live in, if I have access to my AeroPress. And yes I am a coffee snob…
  • For my atheist readers, please disregard the next recommendation. I wouldn’t say I’m a voracious reader of the Bible, but it’s a pretty big part of my daily life. And YouVersion.com has helped to make it that way. I referenced it months ago, and I still stand by those claims. In my little opinion, there is no greater biblical resource on the Internet than YouVersion.
  • A listing of things I use, wouldn’t be complete without a reference to great site like lifehacker.com. If you’re unfamiliar with the greatness of LifeHacker, then please familiarize yourself.

So that’s all I got in my bag for you this time around. I’d love to hear some of the things in and around your life that are worth sharing. (And don’t send me pictures of your kids, geesh!)

A Second Opinion

January 5, 2009 in Ministry with 0 Comments

As I head into a 2009 filled with so many new opportunities, I’ve been dwelling on something that I think I need to have more of going forward. I’ve very clearly felt compelled to have more opinions. I know, I know, those that are acquainted with me have just shuttered in horror at any chance of me having more opinions. But I’m speaking to opinions that matter. Opinions that could possibly dictate my actions. Wikipedia defines an opinion as:

a person’s ideas and thoughts towards something which it is either impossible to verify the truth of, or the truth of which is thought unimportant to the person. It is an assertion about something especially if that something lies in the future and its truth or falsity cannot be directly established. An opinion is not a fact, because opinions are either not falsifiable, or the opinion has not been proven or verified. If it later becomes proven or verified, it is no longer an opinion, but a fact.

I love this definition. It’s something that is impossible to verify the truth of. I can have an opinion that the Dallas Cowboys have a truly terrific football team, but that is neither a fact nor is it possible to prove.

But what about the opinions that matter? I’ve been challenged to think about my opinions on the important things related to my family, relationships, and ministry. And am I ready to move these opinions in the direction of facts? Here are the opinions that I’m challenging myself to get in writing, and committing time to really think through how I can move them into the realm of facts.

  • What is my opinion on the best ways to communicate love to a kid? Is it through my words, actions, or both? And what is the best way for each individual kid?
  • What is my opinion on leading a child to Christ? Is there a way that is better than the other ways? Is there a way to lead a child to Christ, where their decision is truly life changing? Is it effective in a large-group environment?
  • What is my opinion on dedicating a child in a church setting?
  • What is my opinion on what makes a strong marriage? Is my opinion on this impossible to prove?
  • What is my opinion on the best way to mentor and raise up new leaders? Is there a more effective way to do it than I’m currently doing it?

Check, Check, Check, Check

December 4, 2008 in Bible, Ministry, Personal with 2 Comments

I love my checklists. I live my life mostly attached to my Treo, which runs the Remember the Milk application that links to my Google Calendar account, which displays on my Gmail start page, which is also linked to my Exchange server so that I can see it at work. Is it weird to wake up at 3am, reach for your phone and add something to your to-do list so that in the morning you won’t forget? OK, writing that out makes me realize that yes… it is weird. I also carry around a black leather moleskine, that I use to keep a weekly checklist on. My beautiful moleskine gives me the power to take a red pen and mark out those things that I have beaten throughout my week. And yes, I do not finish projects. I beat them into submission by completing them. They are owned by me.

The problem with being such a checklist-oriented person, is that I have a tendency to put people on my checklist. Like I might go home and be with my family, thinking that I need to hit the checklist of a great Dad. You know, great Dad’s play with their kids, check…eat dinner with family, check…build towers out of Lego’s, check…drink tea with your daughter while wearing a pink hat, check… But these aren’t tasks to be completed. It’s tempting to complete them out of an obligation to being who I “think” I should do. I want them to be done out of an overflow of love that I feel towards them.

I do the same with God. Here’s some honesty that might make you uncomfortable, but sometimes I’m happy on the inside knowing that I read my Bible that day. Not that I learned anything, but I was a good Christian and I read something. “Aren’t I responsible for reading my Bible? I’m such a great Christian…” I’ve been doing a New Testament reading program all through 2008, and I’ve gotten an unhealthy addiction to checking off what chapters I’ve read and counting down how many more I have to go.

It’s a sickness that I am asking myself to overcome, with God’s help. I will do the things that need to be done because of my great love for what God has done for me through his Son Jesus. I will love my family out of an overwhelming sense of gratitude towards God for the gift they are to my life. I will. I will. Thankfully I’m not alone. I will.

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is
written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as
sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor
angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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