knights of the round table

Jon Blanchard week 11

2009-04-08T05:47:00.000-07:00

A. Time spent this week
SS=1 Hour MW=1 hour NW=2 hours Youth group=2 hours Total time spent this week: 6
B. My class this week
Week four in the fireproof series. This section is titled “He first loved us.” We watched a video clip of Caleb talking to his father about how his wife Catherine is responding to the Love dare and how difficult it is to love someone when they aren’t respecting you and rejecting your attempts to love you. Caleb’s father uses the opportunity to show Caleb that this is exactly what happens when God loves us and we reject Him.
Next we read a great illustration about Michael, a mob boss, who fell in love with Camilla, a Christian. The romance seemed like it would work, but that is because Camilla did not know of Michael’s connections with the mob. Camilla’s love for Jesus Christ draws Michael in, and he comes to Christ, and the two wed.
The main point this week is about loving someone who doesn’t really want our love; loving someone who rejects us. Caleb’s father makes the statement that we can’t love those who don’t love us simply because we don’t have that love to give. We can’t truly love others until we experience the love of Christ.
C. Questions this week
1.Can people who don’t know Jesus not know what love is?
2. How can I persevere in loving others that reject me and not burn out or be bitter?

WEEK 10 JON BLANCHARD

2009-04-01T05:38:00.001-07:00

A. Time spent this week
SS: 1 hour Morning Worship: 1 Hour Mid week: 1 hour Youth group: 1 hour Total Time: 4 Hours
B. My class this week
We are in week three of the “fireproofing your marriage” series. This week we talked more about the differences between the way men and women communicate. In the movie Fireproof, all of the struggles Caleb and his wife go through can be broken down into one basic issue: Cable desires respect from his wife and she wants to feel loved. Since neither person is receiving what they need, they are not reciprocating their spouse’s need. This causes much conflict and strife in a marriage, mainly because each person is out to meet their own needs instead of the other person’s. Marriage is about trusting when we love the other person fully, they will love us back in the way that we need.
Put downs and negative comments towards our spouse make men feel disrespected and make women feel they are not loved. Some exampled comments sound like this:
- That dress looks good, but you would look better if you lost a few pounds like you wanted to (women)
- You aren’t much of a fix-it man, why don’t you just call a repair man? (men)
In both cases, we are looking at our spouse in a judgmental light, telling them that they aren’t good enough. Rather than say what’s on our mind, we need to rethink the way we say certain things and how they are received by the other person. It isn’t difficult to be more tactful about our opinions: just be quiet more often.
I found myself a little bit frustrated with this lesson mainly because it places men into a negative light. The “put down” statements men make towards women seemed to include belittling questions about a woman’s physical appearance; the statements made by women always seemed to be simple and shallow, usually about being able to fix things. Are men lacking in depth? When I brought this idea up, I was told I was wrong and it was only my perception that things were this way.
C. Questions this week
1, What do you do when your Sunday school material isn’t a very good quality?
2. If your opinions are being discounted and ignored, how do you deal with it?

WEEK 10: PHILLIP TELFER

2009-03-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

Time Spent this Week: 7.5 hrs
2 hrs: youth group
2 hrs: open gym ministry
1 hr: Sunday school
1.5 hrs: Worship service

My Class this Week:
Mike returned from his weeklong vacation for spring break this week. He began the class period by reviewing the entire book of James. He had the class make a list of the main topics that had been discussed throughout the book.
- Warnings, Wisdom, Faith and Actions, Taming the Tongue, Patience and Enduring, Temptation, Power of Prayer, Prejudice, Perseverance, Submission, Suffering, Jesus, James, and Sin were the responses.
Mike then asked the class to give a summary statement of the book of James using the subjects that had been expressed in the previous list of main topics.
- The book of James gives wisdom and warning of temptation.
- The book of James reached perseverance through temptation and warnings of sin.

SUFFERING:
Mike tried to sum up the book of James with a review of suffering. He told the class that his teaching style is one of questions and his goal as a teacher is to get the class to think. But he went on to tell them that this week he intended to provide them with some important information. He began telling the class about the misconception that life gets easier when a person decides to become a Christian. He mentioned a book called “The Road less Traveled” by Scott Peck which opens with the statement, “Life is difficult.”
Life doesn’t get easier as a Christian. Then he asked some questions.
“In what ways have you thought that if you get through this problem/struggle, then life would be better?”
- school, Chemistry, homework, sickness
“Is life easy afterwards?”
- not necessarily…new problems arise
- Taylor: optimistic thinking is what gets us through certain struggles

PERSEVERANCE & PATIENCE:
“How do perseverance and patience set an example for others?”
- Non-Christians wonder what we have and they want it.
- Christians realize that if we can get through it, so can they.

RIVER ANALOGY:
Mike ended the lesson with an analogy of a RIVER. He drew the river on the whiteboard and had it represent struggles/suffering we endure in life. He said that no matter how hard we try to avoid these problems in our lives, we will not be able to go around it. We have to go through it.

Questions:
1. What is the effect of telling teenagers that they will suffer in the future? They are going through so much already, it seems quite depressing to let them know that life isn’t going to get any easier…in fact, it will get more difficult.

2. How do you think youth will feel when they realize when they finally manage to cross their current river of suffering, there will only be another, wider river with swifter rapids to cross on the other side? I know it is part of reality, but is this what they need to hear? I would much rather encourage them with something like: “regardless of what may come your way, God WILL provide you with the strength to stand up to temptation and discover His way of escape into holy living. Is that just me?

Tyler Klein: Week 10

2009-03-29T08:55:00.001-07:00

A. Time Spent this week: (Youth Group 2, Sunday School 1)

B. My Class this week:

1. Waiting for People to Arrive:
Mike was back this week from Spring break, but the youth group had just arrived back from a 20 mile hike the night before, specifically 1 in the morning, so we all just talked and waited for “stragglers” until around 9:25. The attendance was really low today. Then we started the lesson.
2. Begin Lesson:
Mike started by asking everyone what Phil had taught about the last week. Kids responded that it was about suffering, so Mike when on from there, saying that for today he was going to finish up the book of James. With that he asked the girls to pass out the Bibles in the room. After everyone had a Bible Mike asked them to take a few minutes and bring out the main topic of the Book of James. Some of the topics that were mentioned were: warnings, wisdom, faith vs. actions, taming the tongue, patience, endurance, temptation, the power of prayer, perseverance, submission, suffering, sin, and patience (second time). In the middle of the list Seth Bye arrived, causing a distraction. I expected more people to come in late and distract, but Seth was the only one.
With all of these topics up on the board Mike asked a follow-up question, “what is the purpose of the book of James, and what did you take away from it?” Because today was so dead no one really gave an effort or an answer.
3. Mr. Mcdivitt’s thoughts on James
With no one answering, Mike went right into explaining his purpose for teaching the book of James, that he wants for the class to be challenged and to understand their faith better, specifically through the topics of suffering, patience and perseverance in James. He explained the book “The Road Less Traveled” and brought up its summary statement that “life is difficult”. He wanted for the class to understand that they need to make it clear to people and even that they understand that when you become a Christian things aren’t going to be automatically easy, it’ll still be a tough life, maybe even harder as a Christian. But that is why patience and perseverance are important, because if we display those traits to those around us we can affect others for Christ. If we can take life’s difficulties in stride then our faith will grow and mature in ways we cannot fathom.
4. Dismissal:
Then all of a sudden the class was over, probably because we started late, but Mike explained the he was going to be done teaching for a few months and that Pastor Tony was going to be teaching the class for that period. We ended with prayer, and the strange session of Sunday school that was this morning was ended, as was the remainder of my observances for this practicum. It was a great experience, and I was blessed to get to learn from Mike and Phil when he taught. The kids were great and the environment taught me a lot.

C. My Questions for the week
1. When you know people are going to be coming in late, how can you effectively keep the attention of the class?
2. If everyone were tired, like this morning, would it have been better to have a mellower, fellowship building time rather than a teaching time? None of the kids were in any kind of readiness to learn today, it just seemed like a waste of time and effort.

WEEK 9 JON BLANCHARD

2009-03-24T20:15:00.001-07:00

A. Time spent this week
Sunday school: 1 hour; Evening Worship: 3.5 hours; youth group: 9 hours; Total hours: 13.5 hours
B. My class this week
This week we continued the “fireproofing your marriage” Sunday school venue. Our leader started off by handing us a map of the differences between the male and female brain structures. Apparently the male brain is focused on sports and sex, while the female brain is focused on love and shopping (it was a joke). We did talk about the differences between the way men and women communicate though. In a society where men are taught not to show emotion and women are typically tender and emotional, it becomes difficult to get the right message across.
We watched a clip of the movie “Fireproof” again, this week discussing the perceptions we have of our significant others because of how we communicate. The main character, Caleb, is venting to Michael, while Caleb’s wife is out to dinner with a few girlfriends from work. Caleb believes that his marriage is falling apart because his wife does not respect him and his wife thinks he doesn’t care about her anymore or show any type of affection towards her. Because of this, both people have come to the same conclusion: they are incompatible.
We were each encouraged to talk to our spouses (my fiancé in this case, because I am not married yet) about how we can better communicate. Jocelyn (my fiancé) and I both laughed at the clip, but we also talked about how we needed to learn each other’s way of communicating better.
C. Questions
Is it appropriate to teach Sunday school without the use of scripture?
How do you teach a series that is not primarily focused on the Bible to a person who comes in during the middle of the series?

WEEK 9: PHILLIP TELFER (TEACHING REPORT)

2009-03-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

Time Spent this Week: 7 hrs
2 hrs - open gym ministry
2.5 hrs - youth group
1 hr - Sunday school
1.5 hrs - Sunday worship

My Lesson:
This week I finished our discussion on suffering from last week, and I gave a lesson on the power of prayer from James 5:13-18. I wanted to get the kids to think about something they do every day, adding a greater sense of importance and urgency to what has become a mundane and simple act of faith.

9:00-9:15 Arrival: I talked with the students as they came in. Pastor Tony was there to supervise my teaching. Someone wrote Happy Birthday on the dry-erase board, because it was Cortez's 16th birthday. There was cake and icing to be handed out. Tony gave a brief introduction to the class, before I started the lesson.

9:15-9:30 Suffering: Tony passed out the cake while I reviewed last week's lesson on suffering with the class. Mike had made it seem that people in the United States couldn't know what suffering is, because they don't experience the physical suffering of third world countries around the world. I guided the discussion by encouraging the class to think about where suffering originated. We came to the conclusion that suffering is a result of sin and the devil in the Garden of Eden.
Suffering can be experienced in a number of different ways. I told a story about a mission team that traveled to South Africa. They were warned by the missionaries and pastors living in South Africa that there had been recent tribal activity between local witch doctors. These medicine men had been gathering together and banging their drums, casting curses and spells on people. When the team arrived, the drums stopped beating, but the night the team left - the drums began again. I used this illustration to explain that the devil works in different ways cross-culturally. Suffering overseas is often seen in physical form, but I told the class that I believe suffering in the United States can be seen through complacency, self-subsistence, and a consumer-oriented culture. We don't need a God here, and I believe we are suffering spiritually as a result.

9:30-10:00 Power of Prayer: After this review of suffering, I began my lesson of the week on the power of prayer. I tried to use Mike's teaching style of question and answer. I began by asking Matt to open us in prayer, which he did. I then read the scripture passage from James 5:13-18.

1. Does God answer prayer?
- unanimous YES

2. How do you know? (examples)
I shared a personal testimony about one of my friends at home who had a miscarriage a year ago who had recently become pregnant again.
- provision (friends)
- protection

3. What do we pray for?
- food/meals, football games, health, wealth, and prosperity, protection, traveling mercies, tests, houses to sell

4. What should we pray for (according to James 5:13-18)?
- Suffering hardships
I shared a story about the corruption in Mozambique, Africa when I lived there.
- Physical and spiritual healing
- PRAISE God for His blessings
I went around the room and had everyone name one thing they were grateful for, and nothing was allowed to be repeated.

5. Does prayer change the future?
- the class was confused and mixed in their responses

6. What is required from us for God to answer our prayers? (James 5:16)
- "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other"
- We can't know how to pray for people if we don't share our struggles
- Pure motives (unselfish - praying for the well-being of others and the glory of God)
(Job 16:16-17; Prov 15:8, 29; Proverbs 28:9; Matthew 21:22)

7.When do we pray?
- before meals, bedtime, and during church

8. Are we praying enough? (Phil. 4:6, Mark 9:29)
I think we have lost sight of the role prayer should have in our lives and in the church.

9. Matt: How did you feel when I asked you to pray at the beginning of class?
- pretty comfortable, but sometimes I don't know what to say

10. Class: Do you ever find it hard to pray in public? (fast food restaurants, school lunch)
- unanimous YES

11. Why do you feel uncomfortable?
- afraid, nervous, threatened
- don't want to be judged
- people interrupt you sometimes

10:00-10:05 Challenge: Become uncomfortable in your prayer life.
I love street witnessing because it forces me to be stretched in my faith. I am not naturally drawn to put myself on the line and make myself vulnerable like that, but I will do it to spread the gospel.
We can't grow unless we are stretched. Every growth spurt is followed by an awkward stage, but that's the only way to reach our full potential. Prayer should be a lifestyle, and this was my challenge to the class: Find someone at school and ask them if you can pray for them.

Response:
I felt that the class was quite attentive throughout the lesson, and I was pleased with their interaction and involvement in the class. They answered my questions, and seemed to enjoy my stories. I also think they received the message well, and I hope they follow through with the challenge.

Supervisor's Evaluation:
Pastor Tony was 100% encouraging. He liked the way I kept the class involved through questions. He also enjoyed the personal insights I shared, reinforcing my lesson. He acknowledged the difficulty of keeping high school students involved and focused for forty-five minutes of teaching, but he thought I did a good job. He was a little unsure about how I had Matt pray in front of the class, but when I brought that around and tied it into the lesson Tony understood and agreed that it was appropriate.

I asked him for some suggestions for improvements, but he really couldn't think of anything. I had my laptop with me, and he said that it wasn't necessary, but that it helped relate to the kids in this technological environment. He also warned me about forcing students to do something like pray and read from the Bible, because not everyone is on the same level academically and this can be a self-esteem breaker.

Things I did well:
1. I thought the questions were relevant to the student's lives.
2. The class period was almost perfect on time. I was wondering how that would play out.

Things I need to improve:
1. I need to be able to teach without notes
2. I need to know the names of the students when I call on them. At one point, I couldn't think of Matt's name.

Questions:
1. I want to involve everyone, but I don't force people to do things they don't feel comfortable doing. What should I do?
2. Would it be better to come without strict lesson notes and risk the chance of going off track, or is it wiser to bring ample notes to ensure a well-guided discussion?

Tyler Klein: Week 9

2009-03-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

A. Time Spent this week: 2.5 hours total (S.S.=1 Worship= 1.5)
B. My Class this week:

1. Conclusion of Suffering.
Phil was teaching this week, and he started the lesson off by trying to bring everyone in the class back to what we were talking about the last week. Suffering wasn’t completely finished up after Mike threw out the idea that the kids don’t really suffer, so Phil tied it off by bringing up the fact that there are many different kinds of suffering, and that although we may not deal with the physical types in the US we still run into other types. He also went into detail about how you need to know where something comes from to completely understand it. He asked where it came from, and the kids responded with things that make them suffering, as well as sin and the devil, which were what Phil was looking for, because those two things are the cause of all suffering here on earth. That way we understand that it isn’t God who subjects us to suffering, but rather ourselves and our own sinful choices, stemming from the garden of eden.
2. James 5:12-18 on prayer
After suffering was done, Phil took everyone to James 5:12-18 to talk about prayer for the rest of the lesson. After reading the verses he asked everyone if it’s true that God answers prayer. Being the church kids that they are, everyone answered yes. Phil then hit them with the question, “How do you know?” I think they knew it was coming, but they still didn’t have a ton of answers. They know God does, but not many kids had experiences of it. Phil shared his own example of how a woman who had miscarried a time ago was now pregnant again, answering his semester long prayer for healing in the situation. With that we looked at the examples of what James said we should be praying about, if God does answer pray. There were many examples, like you should pray in troubled times, for healing, etc.

3. Does whether or not you pray change things?
He asked this loaded question and related it to sports, when Christians on two different teams may be praying for a win, and only one of them will. Does God care in those situations. This got a lot of the teens a little excited, because they all knew the right answer, that God doesn’t necessarily take sides, but they just didn’t know how to explain it. After this Phil took the discussion towards what we can pray for each other about, and how there is a need to confess things to one another so we can pray together about things. We discussed the accountability in that situation with prayer, as well as looking at five scriptures on what our motives should be when praying (they should be pure).
4. Challenge & Dismissal
It was a couple minutes past ten, and Phil gave everyone his challenge, to become uncomfortable in the way we pray. Before this he had everyone talking about how there is a sad uncomfortability about praying in public. He was completely right when he said that in order to grow we must be stretched, so he asked everyone to ask someone they know during the week if they could pray with them or for them. Simple but very effective in the lives of self-conscious teenagers.

C. My Questions for the week

1. Since we had snacks this week, what is a good way to keep them from becoming a distraction?
2. Should we have had snacks right at the beginning of the time instead of during Phil’s lesson? I thought it was going really well, and the cake could have been a distraction bomb. I know Tony was in there, but wasn’t it a bad idea to eat when we did, 5 minutes into Phil’s teaching time?

Week 8: Jon Blanchard

2009-03-17T23:26:00.000-07:00

A. Time spent this week
SS: 1 Hour Worship: 1 hour Night service: 2 hours Total Hours: 4
B. My class this week
This week we started a new series for married couples. Since the move fireproof has come out, there has been some interest in ‘fireproof-ing’ people’s marriages. We started off the series by having everyone sign a contract, basically setting up a safe environment in which to speak truthfully and also to state the purpose of the group. We then watched a video clip from the actual movie, which portrays a conversation between Michael, an officer in a fire company, and another officer. Michael talks about how he began a 4o day ‘love dare,” which challenged him to reconcile with his estranged wife, and in the process, he ‘came to the faith’ of the other man. The two talked about how it was becoming extremely difficult to for Michael to love his wife, and the other firefighter told him about how he had been married before, and that it had ended it divorce because he was in the relationship solely for himself. Being married takes a lot of work, and sometimes you don’t really like the other person, but it is a commitment before God.
We were given a set of notebooks to keep our material in, and with the set we were given a bunch of 3x5 cards with a different love dare for each day. We were challenged to do a different dare each day to help strengthen our relationship.
C. Questions
How do you feel about postponing traditional Sunday school to do a series on marriage?
How do you feel about scripture not being emphasize in Sunday school?

Week 8: Jon Blanchard

2009-03-17T23:20:00.001-07:00

WEEK 7: Jon Blanchard

2009-03-17T23:00:00.001-07:00

A. Time Spent: SS: 1 Hour MW: 1 Hour NW: 2 Hours Mid-week: 1 hour Youth Group: 2 hours Total Hours: 6 Hours
B. My class this week.
We came back from spring break this week, so Sunday school was cancelled. I would like to count my mid week attendance as my observation.
This week, we watched a video called “He chose the nails” by Max Lucado, to tie in with the season of Lent. The video started out with a story: where is the worst place that a man could go to buy his wife a gift for Christmas? In the lady’s underwear department. Lucado talked about how he tried again and again to find a nice gift for his wife, but it always ended up being a smelly cheap perfume that she didn’t like. This often happens when we try to buy gifts for someone: we want to get them something that they enjoy, but the price we pay and the discomfort we experience when we try to find the perfect gift sometimes gets the best of us.
Lucado’s point was that Christ gave us the best gift, his sacrifice on the cross. When we are trying to give a gift back, are we settling for the one gift that we should be giving, our hearts?
We discussed the sacrifice that was made for us, how it was the perfect gift, then we were challenged to consider how we were giving our lives back. The meeting ended in prayer and a strong focus on the sacrifice of the cross.

C. Questions:
How do you feel about using a video for lessons? How much emphasis should be placed on them?
How do you gauge whether you are doing enough to show Jesus that you are grateful for his sacrifice?

Tyler Klein: Week 8

2009-03-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

Teaching Report 2 (3/15/09)

Time Spent: 14 hours total (S.S.=1 Worship= 1.5 Youth small group Bible Study= 1.5 Youth Group 2, Winter Jam Concert= 8)

A. My Lesson (The outline I used during teaching)
9:00 – 9:15 Hangman Bible Edition
Words - Resurrection, Justification, Melchizedek, Simeon Peter, Tabernacle, Cat of Nine Tails, Mount of Olives
9:15 – 9:25 Prayer Requests – If there are no volunteers, have 3 people pray, 1 for our country’s direction/leaders/troops, 2 for the upcoming service at 10:15, 3 for Our Sunday school class lesson, that we learn something new, or are reminded of something about our God. I’ll close.
9:25 Lesson
-Beginning Question (Don’t answer this, No Names) “Do you have anyone in your life that just really tears you down, either by their actions or by their words? While you’re thinking I’ll tell you about my own.
- Joe Watt, supposed to be my friend, and was most of the time, just when certain people came around suddenly I was worthless and repulsive. I remember that he called me stupid names, or tore me down for the most trivial things, but after a little while it really started to hurt. I felt really attacked by this guy who was supposed to be my friend?
- If you have someone in mind then do any of you have examples of what just really eats away at you? (once again without any names)
-The reason why I bring this up, even though it is a little painful for me, is that this is exactly what the people James was writing to were going through.
BIBLICAL OUTLINE
BACKGROUND OF 5:1-6
- James is warning/condemning the rich person, because of the way they’ve laid up treasures here on earth, and also how they have mistreated those lower than them. V. 4 says that they are withholding fair wages and oppressing the poor V. 6 says that they have condemned and murdered the righteous person, or the lowly persons.
How do you guys handle these tough situations when you’re being torn down? OR I didn’t really ever react or do anything in the situation with Joe, I just got down about it, and allowed myself to be hurt… was that right?
JAMES 5:7-11 ON PATIENCE AND SUFFERING
- Our passage today 7-11 is James’s advice to those suffering
- Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord (1). (Illustration 1) See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. (Illustration 2) As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast (2). (Illustration 3) You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (3)
- (1) It is important to note that James is primarily speaking about being patient with people, not so much in circumstances or for things to happen.
- (2) There is one prophet that I really thought of.. Jeremiah ( he was thrown in the stocks, in prison, in a hole, and he kept faithful to God and kept speaking his word.)
- (3) What role does faith have in patience, perseverance, and suffering? What does it do for those who are going through tough times?
Patience - With people Perseverance - With Circumstances.
- James is urging readers not to fight back but to exercise long-suffering patience towards their oppressors and to have perseverance in tough circumstances.
- But what good is that? Does anyone remember another place in James that would give us a reason to exercise patience and perseverance? (James 1: 2-4)
Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let Steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
- You want a better reason… this is mostly what I wanted to share….Who is the best example of suffering?
- Jesus Christ…. Because he chose to come down from heaven, to suffer here on earth, I’m sure it was hard to be away from your home if it’s heaven. He had to deal with the Devil tempting him, Pharisee’s grilling him, people doubting him, and then he was taken on false accusations, traded for a murderer, spat on, whipped, had his skin torn off his body, thorns pushed into his head, was forced to carry a heavy, splintery cross up a hill, had his hands and feet pierced with a stake, and then was mocked and suffocated next to two criminals.
- Jesus came to die, so that we could have everlasting life, and a new relationship with him that makes our life here on this earth worthwhile. He suffered, and therefore I think we need to look to Jesus’ example of patience and perseverance when we think our days are bad, and someone else is tearing us down.
- Maybe you’re feeling down, like you’re being persecuted, and maybe you are, but remember Christ’s suffering for you, remember that these trials build maturity and steadfastness, and strength in your faith. Be thankful in suffering.
- Pray
B. Response: Of the twenty some kids that were there, there was maybe one girl who wasn’t a regular, and the rest were the committed youth in the church. At the beginning they were all excited that I was teaching, and then at the end of the lesson they were really supportive and thankful for me teaching the class. We all had a good time as we played hangman, and I noticed that some of the kids really are rowdy by the number of times my laptop was stolen off the podium. Throughout the lesson they were all really respectful, and some of them really tried to be involved, even though I didn’t provide a whole lot of opportunity for them to. I’m pretty pleased with the first time that I taught, but I know I could do better the next time.

D. Supervising Teacher’s Evaluation:
Mike gave me some good advice after the lesson, mostly about the way of starting a lesson. The way I did it he said was good, but he advised me to try and use a question that really gets the kids to think about their faith. He said I did a nice job for the first time teaching, and gave me some good advice about how the first time you teach a class you always tend to go a little short, which I did. I got done about 10 minutes early, which I never expected I would have, but it worked well because Mike was able to talk to the kids a little bit and enjoy continuity since he is the teacher of the class.

E. Things I did well
1. I think that I taught the Bible passage well.
2. When I had the kids pray in groups, it actually worked because they came back to their regular seats without much prodding.
3. I got them to interact well even though I didn’t give a lot of opportunity.
4. I felt comfortable teaching in front of the class behind a podium, even though I’m usually a sitting down at a table with people guy.

F. Things I could improve on
1. I should ask more questions for people to answer.
2. I need to fill the entire hour with material.
3. Moved the podium in twitching that may have been distracting.
4. Could work more on trying to get everyone involved in the class.

G. Questions
1. How can I ask open ended questions, because that’s not how I’m programmed, I want people to get answers?
2. What could I do if I accidentally have the lesson run short that would be productive?
3. What is the right timing of how long to allow kids to think of a question you’re asking, when is too long or too short?

WEEK 8: PHILLIP TELFER

2009-03-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Time Spent this Week: 17 hr.
1 hr - Sunday school
1.5 hr - worship service
1.5 hr - gym ministry
2 hr - Ipods (Bible study)
3 hr - youth
8 hr - Winter Jam concert

My Class this Week:
Fellow classmate, Tyler Klein, spoke today and led the Sunday school in a sermon on Patience through Suffering (James 5:7-11).

HANGMAN:
He opened the classtime with a game of hangman. He finished this game by incorporating a couple words relating to his lesson for the day. The kids were captured by this event, having fun trying to guess the words without asking for individual letters.

PRAYER:
Tyler divided the room up into three or four different groups and listed specific prayer requests for each group to cover. My group was asked to pray for the Sunday school lesson. This was an effective way of preparing the students to anticipate a good lesson and an honest Word from the Lord.

QUESTION:
"Has there ever been a person in your life who always seemed to get under your skin?"
This is the question Tyler opened up for discussion concerning the lesson. He followed it up by sharing a personal testimony of a time in high school when he was routinely, verbally persecuted/bullied at school.

READING:
Tyler read the scripture passage of James 5:7-11 and explained how unnocent poor people were being persecuted by their rich oppressors. He noted the two examples of farming and prophets that illustrated patience as the key to perservering through suffering.

DEFINING DIFFERENCES:
Tyler went on to ask the kids to explain the differences between Patience and Perserverance.
Patience: waiting
Perserverance: keeping at something, endurance, standing firm
He explained patience as being patient with individuals, and perserverance as enduring through hardships.
Relating this back to a previous passage in chapter one of James, Amanda noted that James 1:1-3 tells us that the testing of our faith develops perserverance that will lead to our eventual spiritual maturation.

CLOSING:
Tyler ended the lesson with a great analogy of Christ's suffering on the cross - the ultimate price and the best example of having patience through suffering. He closed with a prayer for patience through such suffering.

Following Tyler's lesson, Mike stood up and tried his best at a follow-up question: "Are we really persecuted for our faith?" The kids talked back and forth about this for fifteen minutes until class ended.

My Questions for the Week:
1. Is it really a problem if a class ends early? What does that imply? I don't think Mike was trying to belittle anything Tyler said, but I think it would have been fine to leave it as was without interjecting personal thoughts and questions. Maybe that's just me. If I would have been teaching, I believe I would have felt undercut. Adding on to this issue - what can be done to ensure a complete class period?

2. At one point in the lesson, the kids were distracted and began speaking while Tyler was trying to explain the most important part of Jesus' suffering on the cross. My question is "How do you maintain teenager's attention for a straight hour?"

Tyler Klein: Week 7

2009-03-11T03:52:00.000-07:00

A. Time Spent this week: 6 hours total (S.S.=1 Worship= 1.5 Youth small group Bible Study= 1.5 Youth Group 2)
B. My Class this week:

1. Doughnuts.
It was Mike’s birthday, and he had brought doughnuts in for the class to enjoy. Everyone talked and tried a feeble attempt at “happy birthday” until around 9:15, at which point Mike fired from the side and asked one of his “questions”.
2. “What do you plan on doing after high school?”
This was an explosive question for a room full of high school students who have already been asked this question many times. As they murmured Mike asked a continuation question, “As you think about that question, how do you answer that question to yourself? So he got them riled up, and then set them loose upon their own minds. It was a very relevant and stirring question. He got some opinions, and even asked Jena and I how we came about to answer that question since we had just recently gone through it being college students. After he heard some opinions, like that God gives you talents that you should try to use in a career, or spiritual gifts that you are gifted with, he took everyone to James 4:11-17.
3. Dissection of James 4:11-17
This passage was James’ warning against boasting about tomorrow, about letting God’s will guide your life. We tried to reconcil 15 & 16, even though they seemed very different at first they were actually connected. We came to the conclusion that we do not have a right to try to decide for ourselves and then take credit for the direction that we take in life. Instead, we must try to be good stewards in choosing our life path, and then give the glory to God who opened the doors for us to move in that direction. The teens still wanted to talk about how God wants us to use talents, and Mike replied with the discussion of what drives our decisions, mainly security first. Not many stirred after that.
4. Dismissal
Then it was already 10:00, and Mike asked the teens if they would continue thinking about the opening question, and about what the passage in James has to do with the process. He asked them to go home and pray and contemplate what we had talked about, not just in the following week, but in the months or even years ahead where life-decisions must be made.

C. My Questions for the week

1. Rowdiness was a factor, with the weather storming and producing loud peals of thunder, so how do you plow through that, just speak louder?
2. What sort of time does it take for a teacher to put together a Sunday school lesson, for I am teaching next week and have no real idea how long Mike prepares, or how long I should prepare? My Dad teachers SS at home, and it takes him about an hour each week of concentrated prep-time to get ready, is that about right?

WEEK 7: PHILLIP TELFER

2009-03-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Time Spent this Week: 8 hrs
Basketball Ministry: 3 hrs
Ipods: 2hrs
Youth Group: 3 hrs

My Class this Week
This past week was Spring Break, and I was not able to attend the weekly Sunday school class on Sunday. I did make it to the small group discipleship meeting on Monday evening. This is a guys only group devoted to deepening their faith by looking closely at a passage of scripture each week. Although we meet in the parsonage basement, this small group is not run or attended by any fulltime Brookhaven ministers in hopes of giving the youth a fresh environment to grow closer to God.

This week in Ipods, Tim continued guiding the group through the book of Malachi. Looking at chapter two, we discussed the Lord's Admonition to the Priests. God was warning the people to change their lifestyles and remember the purpose for which He appointed them. Taking groups of verses, a few group members were assigned to discover specific truths within their designated passage. My group was told to discover the way priests were supposed to be living. Our answer included righteous lifestyles, correct instruction, and strict obedience of the Law.

Tim does quite a good job encouraging the teens to share their thoughts, affirming their responses even if they aren't on track. Monday nights are great times to get together and focus on God's truths during the first day of the work-week.

Questions:
1. How high should we place the Law on the priority list of our lifestyles in our modern age?

2. Are we exempt from many of the laws of the Old Testament in light of Jesus' death and resurrection on Calvary?

3. If some of the commands of the Old Testament do not apply to Christians today, which ones do and how do we know?

WEEK 6 JON BLANCHARD

2009-02-24T18:07:00.000-08:00

A.Time spent this week
Sunday School: 1.5 hours
Morning Worship: 1.5 hours
Evening Worship: 2 hours
Youth group: 2 hours
Total hours: 7
B. My class this week
We are still continuing our series on "Experiencing God."
This week, our topic discussed "Getting back to the core of God. My pastor opened with a few questions he had written out beforehand:
-Are you struggling with apathy?
-Are you struggling with lust?
-Is there anything keeping you from knowing God?
I have struggled with apathy for a while, so it was encouraging to hear other's perspectives on the issue. We talked about how our prayer lives were affected by our lifestyles, and one of the girls in the group talked about how she was in an abusive relationship for two years, how her relationship with God had changed since she had come to school, and the challenges that came with it. Another girl opened up and said that she had accepted Jesus as her savior when she was a girl, but she still struggled with finding a connection and know God personally. It was powerful to see the vulnerability in these girls and encouraging to see their willingness to share their struggles with the group.
As college students on a Christian campus, we become apathetic because we are always talking about ministry and serving people and becoming Christ like. This makes it easy to become apathetic. When we feel that God is far away, either because He wants us to grow in our faith or we choose to walk away, we need to know that God's love endures forever. In conclusion, we read Psalm 118.
C.Questions
What do you do when you struggled with apathy? How to you keep fighting?
If you encounter someone who is apathetic in their faith, how do you minister to them? Can they still minister to you?

WEEK 6

2009-02-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

Time Spent this Week: 5.5 hrs
Sunday school: 1 hr
Worship service: 1.5 hr
Youth Group: 3 hrs

My Class this Week:
Think about someone in leadership who has encouraged you...who has hurt you.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me." - FALSE STATEMENT: words hurt

"Taming the Tongue" - James 3:1-12
v.1-2 "What do you see in these verses?"
- It is difficult to control the tongue
- The tongue can be harmful

v.3-12 "Why is it so hard to control the tongue when it is so harmful?"
- We don't think before we speak
- Garbage in, garbage out
- Uncontrollable emotions
- Reflection of how we think
- Return harm for harm

"Our inability to control our tongue is the most damaging thing to our witness."
- Words stick (more than words)
- More time to think abotu actions than words

"What would you say to a 'Christian' that didn't control their tongue?"
- Be slow to speak and quick to listen
- Ask God for help

"Think of a person of encouragement. How did they get there?"
- Personality
- Slow to speak
- They've seen the pain of using words destructively
- God's help
- Good examples

v.2,9 "Tongues can be used to bless and curse."
Challenge of the Week:
R.A.K (Random Act of Kindness - using speech)
"Take full responsibility for miscommunication - stop rationalizing & apologize."

I thought Mike did a great job relating to the students today. His interaction was plentiful, including personal stories, illustrations, facts, and scriptural support. He did not leave the kids hanging with questions, but instead chose to challenge them to use their tongues to bless others. It was a very effective learning atmosphere for the class, proving that you can teach with facts and simultaneously encourage the students to take ownership of the lesson.

Questions:
1. Is it a sin to be tempted?

2. How would you label profanity that pops into your head? Sin? Temptation? Right? Wrong? Neutral? Is it only a sin when you choose to verbally express crass emotions?

Tyler Klein: Week 6

2009-02-22T11:27:00.001-08:00

A. Time Spent this week: 6 hours total (S.S.=1 Worship= 1.5 Youth small group Bible Study= 1.5 Youth Groups Worship 2)
B. My Class this week:

1. A reflection.
Mike began by asking everyone to think of a time that someone over them, like a teacher, advisor, coach, or whomever, said something to them that really made them feel good. After a few minutes he then asked them to remember a time that a superior said something that really cut them to the core. With those experiences in mind he then threw the common phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” out into the discussion. He then said that the phrase was not really true, because they had experienced words hurting.
2. A warning
He then explained that the lesson for the day would be about how to make sure that we didn’t hurt our fellow Christians with our words, and that there was a fine line where you cross over from joking to hurting someone’s feelings. With that brought up he had everyone open their Bibles to James 3:1-12, the passage on the tongue.
3. Dissection of James 3:1-12
In verse 3 Mike asked what they thought about the statement by James that if you could master the tongue you would master the sins of the body also. A couple of good points were brought up: 1) that there may be a connection between what we say and what we do and 2) that by the way that is said that taming the tongue may be extremely difficult. Then everyone just listened to the examples of how the tongue guides the body like a bit in a horse’s mouth and that it is like a ship’s rudder or a spark in the forest. At the end of the passage Mike asked the students to respond to his summary that “our inability to control the tongue is most damaging to a Christian’s witness.” He got many varied responses, and then he challenged them to start building the habit of building other people up in random acts of kindness through their tongue instead of saying hurtful and mean things. Like James 3:6 or 9 says, the tongue can be used for good or evil, so Mike was challenging them towards good.
4. Dismissal
With that it was 10:00 and it was time to head over to service, just a quick word of prayer and we were done, ready to tackle the next passage of James the following week.

C. My Questions for the week

1. How can you get rid of distractions that kids are playing with without drawing attention to it and completely knocking the discussion off track?
2. Are “challenges” really worth doing? If there isn’t a specific goal, then will high school students actually remember it? Should we as teachers try to focus on one particular task that is easily attainable rather than go for some overarching goal like “practice giving random acts of kindness to each other each day”?

WEEK 5 JON BLANCHARD

2009-02-18T05:39:00.000-08:00

A. Time Log
(SS: 1 hr. MW: 1 hour NW: 1.5 hours YG: 2.5 hrs Total: 6 hours)
B. My class this week
There wasn't a set lesson plan for this week. My college pastor was unable to attend because of car troubles, so the group was student led. We didn't find out about it until we arrived at church, so it made for an interesting group this week.
Only five people attended this week, so we had a very smal group instead of an actual Sunday School. We sat in a circle and used the time we had to catch up on each other's lives during the past week. We were all tired and ready for spring break to get here.
Towards the end of the group, someone posed the question "what has God been doing in your life lately" as well as "what prayer requests do you want prayer for."
Over all, it was a good meeting because we had the chance to meet together in the name of the Lord and enjoy each other's company.
C. My reaction to this week's meeting
I was incredibly tired this week, so going to Sunday School was far from being on my radar. I was alright with catching up on people's lives, but I was really uncomfortable when I was asked what God had been doing in my life lately. Maybe I don't think about it enough, but I always get irritated when I am asked that question. God is giving me strength to get through the week and the day. What else do you want me to talk about?
D. Questions
1. How do you react to the question "What has God been doing in your life lately? Does the question ever bother you?
2. How do you feel about 'on-the-fly' Sunday School meetings?

WEEK 5: PHILLIP TELFER

2009-02-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

Time Spent this Week: (5 hours)
Sunday school – 1 hr
Worship service – 1.5 hr
Youth Group – 2.5 hr

My Class this Week:
Continuing on the thought of faith, Mike jumped into the search for a definition of faith. He guided the discussion back to this issue by asking the question, "Why are you here today?" Every student had been brought to church by their parent's decision. They simply tagged along, it is the Sunday tradition of the Christian faith. One eleventh grader sitting beside me unique in the fact that his parents had decided to stay at home. He, being old enough to drive, took the responsibility upon himself to attend church. He only speaks during the lesson when a question is specifically directed at him. Mike was surprised that this student had come on his own will, and he stepped back in shock and culminated his emotions in the honest statement, "We're glad you decided to come." Perhaps it was the shock, but Mike briefly left his typical teaching style. Instead of leaving the question open for the students to answer, he shared his personal perspective of the difficulty of defining faith. He related it to love in the fact that people can use the word for a wide variety of objects (apple pie, movies, and one's mother).

WHAT IS FAITH?

- belief in something bigger than yourself

- internal (evident by lifestyles and actions)

- believing/trusting in something that isn't there (not easily seen)

- trusting on steroids

Romans 3:28

James 2:24 "made right with God by what we do, not by faith alone"

False assumption: faith=believing that which is nearly impossible to believe

- Faith and actions come in a packaged deal.

James 2:14

- What good is it to say that you love someone without expressing that love through actions?

- Love demands action...so does faith

Abraham & Rahab (faith was made evident by their actions)

Similarities: Good deeds

Differences: religious beliefs (Hebrew & pagan)

Questions:

1. How can a teacher create a teaching environment that encourages individuals to develop personal spiritual beliefs that coincide with Christian tradition without blatantly presenting them with a lecture on theology?

2. I recognize the different spiritual maturity levels of individual students in the class, and I was wondering how a teach can do in the attempt to attend to each individual's unique spiritual needs? The fact that students are coming to youth group at their own accord clearly communicates their desire to learn and further their walk with the Lord. Worship service is one thing, but Sunday school is more intensely focused discipleship. I believe this young man in the class is dealing with quite a bit of junk in his personal and home life. What can I do to reach out to him? What can the teacher do? He is a junior in high school; there is not much time left to develop him into the spiritual man of God he needs to be prior to taking on the world.

Tyler Klein: Week 5

2009-02-16T04:37:00.000-08:00

A. Time Spent this week: 4 hours total (S.S.=1 Worship= 1.5 Youth small group Bible Study= 1.5)
B. My Class this week:

1. Asked Question to begin.
Why are you here today? This was to get them thinking if they had taken it upon themselves to come or if they were brought by a parent. Only one kid had come by himself. This opened an opportunity for Mike to tell the kids that he was glad they were there. Before this happened he had brought brownies for everyone, which set the mood of the class.
2. What is Faith?
Just like the previous week, Mike reverted to this question. He explained that it would be really hard to answer what faith is, because it is a lot like Love. There are just so many different ways to use the word, and it can be applied to so many situations that it is really hard to put one definition to the word. He used the example of a newly-wed couple, which made me think of Jena and I, compared to when that same couple had been together 50 years. They would both try to define love, but it would be different in both situations. Faith is like that, it changes, it develops and adapts to each situation. The kids still tried to answer the question, and they came up with things like: faith is belief in something bigger than yourself, goes beyond trust, is in something not easily seen, and other things like that.
3. Dissection of James 2:14
With that Mike started reading James 2:14 through 26. It is the passage where James makes it clear that faith doesn’t exist without works of faith, at least in his mind. Faith without works of faith is dead, at least that’s what we talked about. The kids argued about it a bit, and Mike very, very briefly touched the Romans 3:21-28 passage which parallels this one. I don’t know if Mike was trying to keep the passage simple, but it could have been expounded much deeper, and in some of the teens’ comments there were great opportunities to confront them with scriptural truths about what they were saying. He did explain the actions of faith of Abraham and Rahab. I just wish that the opposite side of James would have been brought up so that the teens could have a scriptural basis for what they were already arguing about.
4. Dismissal
Mike explained that James is a tough book, and for them to try and dig into it a little deeper throughout the week. Then we took prayer requests, prayed, and left.

C. My Questions for the week

1. Is it sometimes too hard to try to throw out a scriptural reference when you’re trying to actively listen to what the students are saying? Isn’t it important to provide scripture to illuminate what is being argued, especially when it hits it on the head as squarely as Romans 3:28?
2. These teens are obviously reaching for something deeper, based on their discussion, but why don’t we use that longing to teach proper dissection of scripture? (I probably sound like a broken record.)

JON BLANCHARD WEEK 4

2009-02-11T05:11:00.001-08:00

A. Time Spent this week
(SS=1 hr. W=2 hrs. youth group=3 hrs. total: 6 hours)
B. My class this week
This week Jim recapped all the topics we have covered thus far. This semester, we have been discussing "experiencing God," and touching upon struggles that we face each day. The topics so far have been:
1.Fear: what is keeping me from knowing God? Is my desire to like a 'normal' life keeping me from seeking after God? Am I living in the freedom of knowing Him or am I cowering in a corner somewhere? Are there any unhealthy relationships that I need to give up to Him?
2.Lust: What is lust and how does it affect us? There are alot of false realities that we believe when me process what this struggle does to us and what it does to other people. Jesus said if our hand is causing us to sin, we should cut it off. What are we doing to comabt sin and rid our lives of this junk?
3. False thinking: We all have mindsets we buy into that affect how we view people, the world, and God. When it comes to sin or even missed opportunities, we try to pass the blame along to God by saying "God wanted this to happen." This just simply isn't true! Are there things in our lives like this mentality that keep us from living in freedom?
C.My questions this week
1.how do you indetify with having mindsets that keep you bogged down? When someone exposes you to one of these mindsets, how do you react?
2. Does fear ever keep you immobilized from doing the work God has planned for you? How do you find freedom from being afraid of moving to where you should be?

COMMENT ON TYLER's WEEK 4 POST: PHILLIP TELFER

2009-02-10T09:31:00.001-08:00

1. I was wondering the same thing, it's almost like we're in the same class or something. In my questions of the week I briefly talked about my personal struggle with discovering biblical truths for myself, and I too believe this form of teaching is dangerous. Every week Mike affirms the class that they will discover the answer in next week's lesson. All this has come to mean is that if they have discovered the answer for themselves by that time - they will know, but if they haven't, they will be given the opportunity to think about it for seven more days.

2. I realize Jesus may not come back tomorrow, next year, or even next millenium, but I KNOW these kids will be gone in less than four years. They may not necessarily die, but Mike will no longer have the opportunity to trouble them with questions. They will head off to college with all of these questions still running aimlessly around like pinballs in their head. University is the fire for doctrinal gold, testing it's strength, durability, and purity. Without proper preparation, young adults will lose the faith they have grown up in, especially if this so-called faith is composed of an eclectic swamp of questions.
Yes, questions are critical and important, but the answer - the TRUTH - is what will last.

WEEK 4: PHILLIP TELFER

2009-02-10T08:20:00.000-08:00

A. Time Spent this Week: 5.5 total hours
(Sunday School - 1hr, Worship Service - 1.5 hr, Youth Group - 3hr)

B. My Class this Week: What is Faith? (James 2:14, 21-24)
Beginning the class with a compliment, Mike thanked the youth for their intentive concentration and contribution to the last three week's lessons. He also shared that his hope of talking less than the students was becoming a reality.

After praising the class, he asked them to define the phrase "Better Christian." He went further to ask them if it was even possible. Multiple students had referred to this concept over the past couple weeks, and Mike wanted them to clarify what they meant.
It means you are "More mature - closer to God." It can "only be applied to yourself," because you cannot judge others. It means you have "more faith." These were three of the student's responses.

Mike was anticipating faith would enter the conversation and used this answer to transition into the questions of the week:
"Is faith a possession (you either have it or you do not)?"
YES: You believe in God as a whole, not partially
NO: You can doubt and still be a Christian
BOTH: There are multiple types of faith
"How is it measured? What does it mean to have faith?"
: Believing in something greater than yourself (more powerful - supernatural)
: Believing you can do ALL things with God
: Certain of what we hope for, even when it is not tangible - we cannot always see it
: Belief is not faith - you need to trust to have faith

The discussion was definitely thought provoking, and Mike achieved his goal of speaking less than the students. He closed the hour by reading from James 2:14, 21-24, and challenging the class to read James 2:14 to the end of the chapter. He asked them to think about "What is faith? What is NOT faith?"

C. Questions:
1. QUESTIONING QUESTIONS. I do not like the idea of leaving children out to dry by not answering their questions. I realize the effect of discovering the answer for yourself, but do we really want have that time to spare? Personally, I had a difficult time ironing out my own Christian doctrine. I actually became depressed as a result. I never figured it out alone. I came to a solution with the counsel of one of my closest friends. I think it's dangerous to close class with questions, especially pivotal questions on faith. I don't see the problem with giving them closure and challenging them to further research on the subject to confirm it. Youth need direction.

2. INCLUSION. Mike praised the class for their participation this week, but I have noticed that the same youth are giving responses; it is a partial class participation. Not one answer or comment was shared by the five or six people sitting by me this week. How do involve the entire class? Do you call on them individually, singling them out? Or do you simply trust the Holy Spirit to speak to them in their silence?

Tyler Klein: Week 4

2009-02-10T04:22:00.000-08:00

A. Time Spent this week: 4 hours total (S.S.=1 Worship= 1.5 Youth small group Bible Study= 1.5)
B. My Class this week:

1. Commends Students for Participation
Mike started the class period off by thanking all the students for their participation in the past couple weeks, because of their discussion. His philosophy is that if the students are talking more than he is then he’s doing something right. The past couple weeks had been really great in terms of discussion.
2. Is Faith Something you can Measure?
After a really short recap of the past weeks’ discussions, we began to try to deal with a term that had come out multiple times in the past weeks. In their descriptions and answers, some of the kids had used the wording, a “better Christian”. Mike wanted to really dive into what this meant, and he asked the class to explain what they really meant. The students knew that what they were saying wasn’t favoritism, but that when they said better they meant more mature. After that was finished, Mike asked if faith is something you do or don’t have, and if you can have more faith than someone else? This provoked a lot of strange answered, so Mike went on to the next step of the lesson.
3. Defining Faith
The students were then asked to define what faith really means. Before the discussion began Mike clarified that he wasn’t going to give them an answer, and that they would most likely be blurry on this until the next week. Some answers that were thrown out were that Faith is a belief in something greater than themselves, faith is belief in something that cannot be proven.
4. Dismissal
Right before the class time was to end we quickly read the passage for the day, James 2:14-21. It is a passage in James discussing the importance of works along with faith. Mike introduced the fact that this idea may be a confrontation with Paul’s writings on faith. Then he encouraged the class to read and think about this passage for next week.

C. My Questions for the week

1. How long can a teacher continue to teach without giving any definitive answers about what they are teaching?
2. And if this type of teaching continues, how can you be sure that Biblical truths are being understood correctly when the Bible isn’t brought in as a form of evidence or guide in the discussion?

WEEK 3: JON BLANCHARD

2009-02-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

A. Time spent this week: 5 Hours total
( SS: 1.5; AM Worship: 1.5; Lesson Prep: 2)
B. My class this week
My Sunday School lesson. This week my practicum supervisor sent me the general outline of the Sunday School lesson for the week. My job was to incorporate it into a full fledged lesson plan and teach it to the young adult class on Sunday. The theme for the group this semester is "Experiencing God's Power," and the topic this week was on lust. The process of developing a lesson plan is challenging and overwhelming when you don't have alot of practice doing it, and it is also difficult when you have been given the topic, instead of choosing your own. It was also challenging to make the lesson interesing: the most use scripture regarding lust is in Matthew 25, where Jesus tells the people that lusting in their hearts is the same as lusting in reality.
The Lesson itself. I tried to approach the topic of lust from a social perspective: C.S. Lewis equates the importance of morality to a fleet of ships sailing together in formation (Mere Christianity, pp. 71). There are three things that we should look at when we make decisions (this isn't just a lesson limited to lust): 1. the internal engines of the ship (which represents the individual) must be running up to par, otherwise the ship cannot steer or reach its destination. 2. The ship must be aware of the location of the other ships in the fleet. If a fleet of ships collides because each vessel is doing as it pleases, everyone is an unhappy camper. 3. The fleet has a mission: in our case as human beings, we are trying to form and maintain a relationship with God. All three of these factors must be taken into consideration, otherwise there is chaos and brokenness.
Lust destroys whatever it comes in contact with. Men and women struggle with it and it is not something we can overcome on our own. Jesus' solution for a lustful heart is to cut off the problem at its source.
As an object lesson, I crafted three origami paper boats to portray a fleet of ships.
The challenge. This lesson was a challenge for me. Normally lust is a topic we do not discuss across gender: guys discuss with guys and girls discuss with girls. In attendance this week there were two males, being myself and my pastor, and four girls. I haven't felt so awkward in a long time. God stretched me by teaching me how let Him speak through me, regardless of my comfort level.
C. My questions this week
1. How would you go about teaching on a touchy subject like lust to a mixed crowd?
2. How do you pick out object lessons?
3. How much prep time is adequate for preparing a Sunday School lesson? Also, can you give me some pointers on how to be more engaging with people in attendance?

WEEK 3: PHILLIP TELFER

2009-02-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

A. Time Spent in Class this Week 2.5 hr.
(Sunday School – 1 hr, Worship Service – 1.5 hr)

B. My Class This Week
Opening the class with the puzzling question last Sunday, Mike went around the room asking for single word answers as to the question: “Are riches a sign of God’s favor?” The majority of the room said YES or SOMETIMES, but Mike’s response was NO. He briefly explained that if God showed favor to people with riches, He would be arbitrary. Without delving deeper into the subject, he moved on to chapter two of James.

Mike told the youth to think about a time they experienced a teacher showing favoritism in school. He was specific in his request to maintain the anonymity of characters in these stories. As the principal of a local school, Mike probably did not want any of his fellow co-workers to be bashed. Three stories were shared, all referring to teachers showing favoritism to students that asked to go to the bathroom. Mike explained that what is FAIR (getting what one deserves) is not always EQUAL (receiving the same privileges).

More questions were used to probe the minds of the young adults throughout the rest of the lesson:
“Why is favoritism to the rich inconsistent with believing in Christ?”
“What is God’s attitude to the poor?”
“How does loving your neighbor as yourself relate to showing favoritism at church?”
“Why are the rich often treated with special favor?”
“For what reasons do people show favoritism to the poor?”

Concluding with another statement on his teaching style, Mike stated that “knowledge that is processed is more valuable than knowledge that is dictated.” He went on to say that he is slow to reveal to the class what he is actually thinking. Instead he chooses to teach them with questions, “information is just information.”

C. My Questions of the Week
1. How would it matter if God was viewed as arbitrarily choosing people to bless?
2. Jesus taught with parables, giving clear explanations at their conclusions…is this a more effective way of teaching than the Socratic questioning method?
I seem think Jesus knew a little more…

Tyler Klein: Week 3

2009-02-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

Tyler Klein: Week 3

A. Time Spent this week: 2.5 hours total (S.S.=1 Worship=1.5 Youth)
B. My Class this week:
1. Pick-up of last week’s topic
Mike began simply by saying hello this week, and by asking everyone if they remembered the question we had talked about last week. A few kids raised their hands and got close to the question, but it wasn’t right on. It was a good way to get some involved right away. Then he got everyone involved again by asking the question again, and jumping right to conclusions.
He asked each person in the room for a yes/no answer. Most everyone said either yes or sometimes and this presented Mike with an opportunity to stir the pot, which he did.
He simply said that his opinion was no, which got a lot of people to be question him, or simply turn to his opinion. He allowed a few responses, but then he went into the Scripture focus that he was unable to get to in the previous week.

3. Dissection of James 2
Mike then transformed the original question into a question of favoritism. He asked for the kids to think of an example, and did a great job of preventing gossip by setting very strict standards on what could be said, no names and things like that. Two people gave examples, and Mike broke down what was going on with the favoritism, talking about how each person justified the favoritism.
Then with favoritism introduced he went over James 2:1-4 which was to answer the question How is favoritism inconsistent with Christianity? He got an answer then went on to James 2:5-7 with which he asked what is God’s attitude towards the poor? Then the final verses, James 2:8-9 had the question How does loving neighbors as yourself relate to showing favoritism at church? With this question he asked the kids to consider how different churches reach different classes of people, and why that happens.
That turned the discussion into why people don’t feel comfortable with the church as a whole, and then the attitude that Christians show towards the rich. We had just started getting into the fact that we favor the rich because we are selfish people and are trying to get something from the rich for ourselves.

C. My Questions for the Week
1. How can you safely disagree with something you actually agree with, just to stir discussion? Mike chose to disagree with the entire class when he said he didn’t think riches were ever a sign of God’s favor, just to stir discussion, but what if kids think you are serious, and never get a clear reason of why. I personally felt a little confused because he never explained himself.
2. Continuing this thought… How far is it appropriate to go in terms of not revealing what you think? I understand that Mike was only doing so to stir thoughts in others heads because he believes the best learning comes through self-reflection on a topic.

PHILLIP TELFER: WEEK 2

2009-01-27T07:51:00.000-08:00

A. TIME SPENT THIS WEEK: 4 hours total
Sunday school: 1 hr
Worship Service: 1.5 hr
Youth Parent Meeting: 1.5 hr

B. MY CLASS THIS WEEK:
Mike opened the Sunday school class up a little differently this week. Asking for one good thing and one bad thing that happened during the week, Mike began going around the room from student to student. A common answer came up for the good thing of the week as many students shared their weekend thrills of participating in an all youth ski trip. Kids that were unable to go on the trip enjoyed getting paid, going to a sleepover, and spending time with their friends. The bad things of the week included falling while skiing, fighting with parents, staying home alone, going to the hospital, and losing a basketball game.
Maintaining the question and answer theme, Mike followed his first question with an introductory question to the lesson. I do not think he expected their discussion to take up the rest of the hour, but that is exactly what happened.

Mike’s big Q:
“Are riches ever a sign of God’s favor?”

Class Responses:

What are riches?
Does favor = privilege or blessing?
Is God’s favor earned or is it random?
We can’t comprehend God

- Sometimes
o Reference to the life of Job
o God blesses people in different ways
- No
o Wisdom is a sign of God’s favor, not riches
o Reference to Solomon
- Yes
o If they use the riches for good
o God awards people according to what they can handle
o If you have faith
- Both
o It depends whether you use riches for good or evil

With five minutes left in class, Mike squeezes James 2:5 into the lesson, “God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith and to inherit the Kingdom of God.” Going from this verse, he leaves the youth with a final thought to ponder throughout the week:
- The more wealth we have, the harder it becomes to hear and follow God. -
I think Mike did well at allowing the students to respond. Although he was taken away by the initial confusion with the opening question he was sensitive to the Spirit in permitting the youth to discover the truth. He was finally forced to read some scripture in the final five minutes, dismissing the multiple hands flying in hopes of continuing the discussion.

C. QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK:
1. How should you respond to the Spirit in a highly interactive ministry setting? Is it more important to complete the lesson or to send people away with a questioning soul?
2. As an intern in the Sunday school class, what is the appropriate manner to contribute to the class discussion? I do not want to shut anyone down or kill a time of searching for the truth by blatantly throwing it out there. Is it best to be quiet or speak up? How should I do that?

Tyler Klein: Week 2

2009-01-26T04:05:00.000-08:00

A. Time Spent this week: 4 hours total (S.S.=1 Worship=1.5 Youth Dinner=1.5)
B. My Class this week:
1. The welcoming and fellowship time of Sunday School. This week was my first week observing the high school Sunday school class, so I met the teacher, Mike, introduced myself, and just watched. During the period of time when everyone in the high school class was filtering in he did a simple question answer time to see how everyone was. It was pretty effective because he would just ask about one good thing that happened in the kid’s life, and one bad thing in the past week. For example, Levi’s response was I got to go skiing, and I hurt myself skiing. It was good because everyone could talk freely with who they wanted, but yet there was something going on that people could engage with and laugh at. Because the setup of the Sunday school time at Brookhaven is to start around 9:15, this greeting time is great because you have a chance to interact with students that show up at 9, all the way until 9:15. The fellowship time of Sunday school can’t be underestimated, and this class shows the benefits, because when the lesson started they weren’t as antsy anymore and were ready to participate.
2. The discussion. Mike simply asked this question, and it expanded beyond my expectations. He asked, “are riches ever a sign of God’s favor?” It was a really tough question for the students, because they couldn’t get any explanation of what “riches” meant. They struggled with whether or not it was money or simply other gifts because of the way the question was asked. Mike used the Socratic method of questioning, slowly giving more and more hints away about what he was trying to get at. This method was simply gold. High schoolers love these deep questions that make them thing out of the box, and you could tell. They were intensely engaged, and so many people wanted to comment that Mike couldn’t get to all their questions. The passage he briefly got to gloss over was James 2:5, which was good, but I was disappointed that he didn’t focus more on it. However, we will be going over this topic again next week, so I assume we will go more into depth with the passage then. Great method though, the question simply drove the kids nuts.

C. My Questions for the week:
1. How can I use this questioning method effectively, and where can I get some resources on how to practice it?
2. I need to ease up a bit maybe, but I really wanted to focus more on what the Bible says in James about how the rich are treated. Is it bad for me to have a predisposition towards more scripture? Because I think the class could have continued much the same way with the questions, just with a mix of scripture put in to solidify some of the youth’s comments.

Tyler Klein : Week 1

2009-01-20T13:27:00.000-08:00

SUBSTITUTE ASSIGNMENT. I was unable to do a regular practicum assignment this week because I was serving my home church by co-leading a youth winter retreat to Wisconsin. I crafted this substitute, because I was responsible for the Spiritual Emphasis part of the trip. On the Sunday night of the trip taught and challenged the kids. Therefore I believe you should give at least some credit for it because the challenge I had had more significance than a regular Sunday morning lesson. I was responsible to not only bring understanding and help Spiritual Formation, but I was responsible to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to those on the trip who were unbelievers. Helping on this trip was a great practical learning opportunity. Therefore I believe I have accomplished the purpose of the LCE practicum by teaching at this event and deserve some sort of, if not full credit for this report.

***This is partially a teaching report, and then again it is a sort of hybrid because not everything on the regular teaching report applies to this experience I had in teaching on this trip.
Tyler Klein 1/20/09

Teaching Report 1 (took place 1/18/09)

Time Spent: 1 hour (the spiritual emphasis part of the retreat)

A. My Lesson
For this trip I prepared a challenge form Acts 2:42-47 on the Fellowship of Believers. My purpose was to encourage the unity of the group, by giving them the reason for our fellowship, Jesus Christ and the life he lived and died for us. He did so for us to be able to come to God without any barriers. I encouraged them to be like the body of believers in Acts, not because it is part of our do/don’t list, but because we want to show Christ to others. I hope that they would want to come together in fellowship, and to reach out to others because of Jesus in a new way that would impact their schools and communities.

B. Breakdown of Time
6:00 – 6:15 – Assemble: The kids all got changed from the activity of the day, and assembled in the main room. During this time they had snacks and talked with each other while waiting for everyone to arrive.

6:15 – 6:35 – Challenge: After everyone was there, I prayed for God to work through what he had presented me with to share with them. Then I had one of the youth read the passage and I went on to explain the passage and give the account of Jesus life and what the implications for us were. I challenged them to live for Christ, no one else, and to change the perceptions others have of Christians by becoming more like Christ and by acting like the body of believers in Acts 2:42-47.

6:35 - 6:40 – Prayer: After I had finished I asked them to pray silently and to talk to God about where they were at with him, to let the Spirit lead them where it would.

6:40 – 7:00 – Small Group Split: After everyone was done praying, I had them split up into groups and discuss and write down on bookmarks I had made for them two things.
1. The first was one thing they could do to build fellowship within their own group.
2. The second was one thing they could do to show Christ in a new way to their peers.

C. Response:
There were 16 youth on the trip, and from what I saw and heard the kids responded very well to the lesson. The entire time they were very attentive and respectful, and they looked like they were focused on what I was saying. The all were silent during prayer, and then they split up quickly, and for quite a long time together talking about what I asked them to in their groups. Other sponsors said that they heard the youth talking well of it. One kid said that he was tingly (funny I know), and then I got to speak with my unsaved brother-in-law afterwards on a deeper level than I’ve ever been able to because he hung back with me. So I think the response was good, because they actually responded by saying that it was good and that it made them think. I got that comment from several.

D. Supervising Teacher’s Evaluation:
The youth pastor, Brandon, had asked me to help on this trip and to do this, and as my mentor he thought it was best for my first time teaching in this capacity for him to be out of the room so I wouldn’t feel pressured. I told him that wasn’t necessary, but he insisted. I wish I had feedback from him, but another sponsor, my wife Jena, told me that it went really well except for the fact that when I’m teaching about something serious that my voice goes a certain type of monotone. I wanted Brandon’s feedback because I value his opinion greatly, and I want to improve at sharing Jesus with others. So that was a little disappointing.

E. Things I did well
1. I think I kept their interest by not going too long in the lesson, it enabled better attention.
2. I think they could see I was genuinely concerned about this topic, and they respected that.
3. It seemed like they listened better because I had loved on them for the entire trip, and because of that love they listened. So my witness was in the right place with these kids.
4. I gave them something concrete to do or to take away from the lesson by giving them the bookmark and by having them write goals on the back.

F. Things I could improve on
1. I need to speak more energetically, less monotone.
2. I didn’t like sitting down while doing that type of teaching, it caused too much nervousness and twitching, which caused me to lose my train of thought on one occasion.
3. I didn’t explain what to pray about or for in a specific enough way, they could have just been daydreaming.
4. I said like one key-phrase too many times, even though it was important.

G. Questions
1. What is a good way to engage the youth during the lesson, because if I ask questions there would be a good chance of crickets sometimes?
2. Should I have had the prayer been separate in different areas, or should I have done what I did and kept everyone sitting in the same area praying to themselves?
3. What can I do that is productive when I’m twitching instead of losing my place?

H. Summary:
I believe this was a great experience for me. Not only did I get a chance to teach like we are learning to do in LCE but I got to apply some of the things I’ve learned already by teaching so early in the semester. I will now feel more comfortable when I teach in actual Sunday school, and I have some ideas of how to improve or to refine my technique. I will try to do more active things and have it be less of me talking. I only wish I had had more preparation time for this lesson, but because I was slamming it in with all the homework I had to do to stay on pace with classes it didn’t get as much as I wanted to give it. But I did the best I could with the time I had, and I know God was pleased with my obedience, because this definitely wasn’t an easy thing to do because missing class, having to deal with all kinds of arrangements while I was gone, and trying to get notes from others isn’t something I really enjoy doing. I thank God for this opportunity, and I hope that he continues to mold me into the teacher he wants me to be through experiences, practicum’s, and LCE class.

I am also including a picture of the bookmark that I passed out.

Week 1

2009-01-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

Practicum Report #1 Phillip Telfer

A. Time Spent in Class this Week 2.5 hr.
(Sunday School – 1 hr, Worship Service – 1.5 hr)

B. My Class This Week
1. Lesson on Temptation. The Sr. High class has recently begun a detailed discussion of the book of James. Today we read from James 1:13-18, and talked about temptation. Some of the input from the youth included the time temptation regularly occurs (when we are tired à early morning and late evening), and who gets blamed for our temptation (siblings, parents, classes, friends, and God). With this generally accepted view on God the one at fault for our temptation, the Sunday school teacher noted that God does not tempt us. James tells us in chapter one that temptation comes from the evil desires within ourselves. I thought about this for a while. If temptation comes from the evil desires within us, and God does not tempt us, then how was it that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness? Was Jesus not perfect? According to this passage, He must have had evil desires in order to have been tempted. I thought about this question in class, but I waited until after the service was over to pose my question to the Sunday school teacher. He did not have an answer for me, but I know God does.

2. Temptation of distraction. When working with a senior high Sunday school class, one must realize the personal development that is occurring in each of the student’s lives. Both girls and boys are learning to deal with their emotions as hormone banks are overflowing. Mood swings, self-esteem, and relational aspects are typically inconsistent with these young people. Considering this emotional rollercoaster along with added stresses of school, family, and life in general, it can be hard for high schoolers to focus their attention in classroom settings. I saw some of this taking place Sunday morning. Although it was rather minimal, most of the teenagers’ tendencies were to sit in the back row and speak only when spoken to by the teacher. Others were happy to join in the discussion, but their contributions were random and off-target. It was quite interesting to see everyone tried to pay attention to the lesson as they each struggled with the temptation of distraction.