Vacation Bible School and Sunday School offer children the chance to learn about the Bible, but also to memorize verses. We know that if children benefit from knowing Bible verses by heart. Yet both VBS and Sunday School are optional activities and children will avoid them if they don't have a good time. The question becomes, how do we help children learn from the Bible without losing their motivation for learning.
For the past three years, I have been teaching Bible verses at our Vacation Bible School. About 95% of my students (Grades 1-6) learn six Bible verses in five days. Here are some tips I have found to be helpful in teaching.
Rewards: in our VBS, when a child can say a Bible verse, he or she is allowed to go to the school director, say the verse, and choose a prize. Towards the end of the week, children who can say all six verses in a row can choose a larger prize. We have seven opportunities to earn prizes and with the variety we have, every child is sure to find something to enjoy. We have small toys, gum and candy, necklaces and bracelets, coloring books, games, all things purchased at the dollar store. Larger prizes are more expensive-large stuffed animals, larger toys, and so forth.
Enthusiasm: each year I set a personal challenge for myself, to see how many children I can teach the verses to. This personal challenge motivates me and I am very enthusiastic about the whole project. Children start to share my enthusiasm by the second day (on the first day if they have had me in previous years).
Confidence: I know that every child in our VBS is capable of learning the verses. I am committed to doing whatever it takes for each child to learn. Sometimes this means working one on one with a child who struggles or adapting my teaching methods to meet the needs of each learner. Part of my personal challenge for myself is making sure that even children who don't do well in school can succeed with Bible verse memorization in VBS.
Multiple teaching methods: every person learns differently. Some people learn by reading, some learn by watching, some learn by listening, some learn by moving their bodies. I use all those ways of learning at the same time. All the week's verses are posted in my classroom. We make up signs for important words in each verse. For example, if the verse is John 14:6, we have a sign for “way,” “truth,” “life,” “no man,” “cometh,” “father,” and “me.” I ask the children to help me create the signs. We read the verses out loud, and do the signs several times. Then they turn away from the written verses and we say them out loud with the signs. I cue them if they can't remember. Then I ask who would be ready to say the verse by him or herself and usually someone is ready.
Aerobic Bible teaching: some kids have a hard time sitting still and need a lot of activity in order to enjoy learning. We sometimes recite Bible verses while doing jumping jacks. I have seen children studying their verses while doing the jumping jacks by themselves.
Patterns: some Bible verses have patterns, which we work on first. For example, 2 Timothy 3:16 has four “fors:” doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness. We work on the “fors” before we attack the beginning of the verse.
Meaning: I make sure children understand the meaning of the words they are memorizing as well as the meaning of the whole scripture. I might say the scripture in different words or use examples from their lives to illustrate the meaning.
Rap: we use the King James Version, which I really love not only because of its poetic language, but also because it frequently has rhythmic patterns in the verses. “I am the way, the truth, and the life” has a real nice rhythm, so we clap our hands and “rap” it.
One on one: as soon as a child knows a Bible verse, I send him or her out of the room to the VBS director. The quick learners become occupied by reciting their verses to the director and I am left with children who need more time for learning and more specialized one-on-one work. I try to figure out how these students learn and emphasize that in my teaching. I tell them I am a teacher and none of my students fail. I'm willing to work until they learn. Two years ago, I spent most of my 20 minute sessions with a young man who struggled and struggled. I think most of his problem was that he didn't believe in his own capability for learning because the next year he was one of the first to learn all six verses.
Over the past three years, we have created a Bible verse learning climate where even first graders tackle difficult verses-and enjoy the challenges and rewards of learning.
When I grew up in AWANA (and currently help out the one next to my university), I was taught through a lot of repetition. However, that was through my parents dedication for me to grow in my faith.
I definitely enjoyed this post!