The Bible Teacher’s Companion
Learning how to teach Bible to K-12 students
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
| A Strategic Analysis of the Christian School Bible Class Because of my role as a trainer of teachers, I frequently visit Christian schools around the country. Not long ago, I was at a Christian school which had been ploughing through Bible teachers like there was no tomorrow. Their standard hiring procedure was to pluck a youth pastor or senior pastor from an affiliated church and plug him or her into the classroom with very little pedagogical training. The result was poor behavior from the students, quick burnout for the pastor/teacher, and frustration for the parents. Alternatively, I have been in classrooms where well-trained teachers of other subjects fall apart when they are asked to teach Bible classes. They cling religiously to the published curriculum and present it uncritically. Unfortunately, they end up teaching behavior modification, reinforcing eisegesis (reading into the text), and unwittingly presenting a lifeless gospel. Bible teachers in Christian schools typically come from one of two sources: a teacher training program or a Bible school. Rarely does a Bible teacher actually have a strong educational background in both K – 12 education AND Bible. This Bible Teacher’s Companion has been crafted to help both the teachers who have primarily been trained in teaching methods and are State certified, and those teachers who have studied the Bible in-depth, but have not trained thoroughly in pedagogy. This book will not list every possible method for teaching the Bible, but it will provide a healthy foundation upon which the Bible teacher may build. It will establish a biblical awareness of discipleship and spiritual growth. It will describe the planning procedure which results in a healthy lesson. And it will deal with some of the initial challenges in classroom management and challenging scenarios like answering tough questions. My own journey began with an undergraduate degree in elementary education. Then I studied the Bible in graduate school. I subsequently got a masters in teaching for America (I am British). And now I train teachers in biblical permeation of all teaching. Like many, I had opportunities to teach the Bible in church and Sunday School when I was younger. I took those opportunities, but no one trained me in how to prepare a lesson for teaching the Bible. I was given a Sunday school textbook and read through the lesson on Saturday night, in order to deliver it to the children the next day. In retrospect, it was awful, but when I was seventeen, I didn’t know any better. I think God was gracious in how he used it. In my undergraduate training, I studied pedagogy in the British system, with an emphasis in humanities and a minor in physical education. My methods classes prompted me to make some changes in how I taught the Bible at my church, but the changes I made were frowned upon. I used visual illustrations to communicate the visions of Daniel, but the fluffy toys I used were childish in the eyes of the elders. When I finished my undergraduate degree, I taught in state schools in Japan for three years, so—during that time—there was no need for me to think through how the Bible and pedagogy needed to come together. I had a very rigid secular-sacred divide, and the sacred domain was shrinking. I knew something was wrong, and I needed to challenge my growing secular perspective. So, I left Japan and went to teach in a small Christian school in the Himalayas of northern Pakistan. While I was at Murree Christian School, I was expected to teach Bible in the classroom, and I was given opportunities to invest in the spiritual welfare of the children. At the time, it was an unsettling challenge to educate the heart, soul, and mind of a child. I didn’t feel adequately equipped, so I traveled to America to attend seminary. Moody Biblical Seminary dissolved the secular-sacred divide for me and further challenged my secular perspective on teaching. I received some basic worldview training and a shift in my own worldview took place. As I furthered my teaching credentials, I had to further my biblical understanding to keep myself balanced. I see now, like Abram Kuypers, how the biblical truth permeates all reality. Abram Kuyper’s declaration—“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine !”—is well-worn in the North American Christian school circuit. However, that had not been my starting point. |
Formats
Softcover
$17.95
Hardcover
$33.95
E-Book
$8.99
Softcover
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Book Details
Language :
English
Publication Date :
10/17/2022
Format :
Softcover
Dimensions :
6x9
Page Count :
196
ISBN :
9781664278875
Format :
Hardcover
Dimensions :
6x9
Page Count :
196
ISBN :
9781664278899
Format :
E-Book
Dimensions :
N/A
Page Count :
196
ISBN :
9781664278882
About the Book
This book is for people who want to teach the Bible in a K-12 setting. Some people are Bible students but they do not know the intricacies of teaching. This book is for you. Some people are trained teachers, but they do not know how to handle the Bible well. This book is for you. Some people have seen the kind of curriculum that is produced by large corporations, but they know their students need a more personal approach. This book is for you.
Use this book to help you plan a unit for students that you teach. When you are done, see how it goes! Correct the unit. Write others. You can become a great Bible teacher!
About the Author
Peter Worrall is an Education and Theology professor at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He lives in McHenry with his wife and two children, Daryl and Amelia. He has an MA in Biblical Studies from Moody, an MA in teaching from National Louis. He is completing his doctorate in education with Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He speaks at camps, teaches in K-12 schools, and at churches. He is particularly interested in worldview and what it has to do with the education process.