Text Outline
Save Your Creative Energy for Class!
Planning Will Help You
* Reach your Teaching Goals
* Maximize your Creative Energy
* Incorporate More Variety
* Increase Consistency
* Decrease Emergencies
* Sleep Better!

Start Early
* Scan your lesson topic
* Pray about it
* Your brain will be thinking about the lesson during other activities
* Record how much time it really takes to prepare a lesson, so you’ll know
* Get the hardest part out of the way first           or
* Get the easy part done and dwell on the hard part
* Gives you a chance to purchase craft or object lesson ingredients

Know Your Focus
What do you want the kids to say when Mom asks “what did you learn today”?

* Make this the point of every review activity, discussion, worksheet, and craft
* This helps you decide what the craft, worksheet, etc. will be

Use a Template
* Prompts you with a variety of activities you can include
(reminds you of learning styles and levels of learning)
* Keeps you focused
* Gives you a base-line for creative adaptation
(true/false becomes wise/foolish)
* You don’t have to use each section each time
* Contributes to your lesson library
(congregational collection of what all the teachers have done for reuse next time)

Different Learning Styles
* Include activities for as many learning styles as you can
* Repeats focus without repeating activities
* Increases the chances that each kid will “get it”
* Gives you ideas for adding variety

Long Term Goals
* Work on some long-term projects in each class (books of Bible, etc)
* Provides continuity and a chance to review (use a timeline to review the quarter)
* Put your time and money in the materials you use the most
(laminate items to preserve them)
* Always keep a couple “I’m out of stuff” activities on hand

Involve the Class
* Have the students make up the hand motions, write new lyrics, ask review questions, create games
* Increases “buy-in” and likelihood that they’ll remember
* Have them make projects for other classes
* Have them read certain scriptures or tell parts of the lesson

Brainstorming Ideas
Stuck?

* What have I learned from the lesson this week?
* What’s the opposite of this lesson?
* How would the villain in the story tell this lesson?
* What other Bible / secular story is it similar to?

Adapting Material
* Turn coloring pages into crafts with tissue paper, glitter glue, foam, and scissors
* Too many kids?
* Break them into teams
* Use one master craft or worksheet
* Too few?
* You can play, too

Copyrights
* If material is copyrighted with specific stipulations, then you must / can abide by them. Read it – some specifically ALLOW broad use.
* You are always free to contact a copyright holder for permission. Just because it’s copyrighted doesn’t mean they will refuse.
* If it just says “Copyright 2005”, then the Fair Use Act may apply.

Final Tips
* Have two emergency lessons prepared:
* one in classroom, for when you’re sick
* one at home, for when you get called
* It doesn’t have to be perfect, or a huge production
* All you need is willingness, God will provide the rest!

Share Your Lessons
If you have material you have developed, and you are willing to share it, send it to me. I’ll put it on the web site, you’ll get full credit and teachers worldwide will benefit.

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Kim Dailey, kim@eBibleTeacher.com