What are your “True Colors

	ACTIVE VARIETY SPORTS		ORGANIZED PLAN NEAT		NICE HELPFUL FRIENDS		LEARNING SCIENCE PRIVACY
	FUN ACTION CONTESTS		CLEAN ON-TIME HONEST		CARING PEOPLE FEELINGS		CURIOUS IDEAS QUESTIONS
	PLAYFUL QUICK ADVENTUROUS		HELPFUL TRUSTWORTHY DEPENDABLE		KIND UNDERSTANDING GIVING		INDEPENDENT EXPLORING DOING WELL
	BUSY FREE WINNING		FOLLOW RULES USEFUL MONEY		SHARING GETTING ALONG ANIMALS		THINKING SOLVING PROBLEMS CHALLENGE
	EXCITING LIVELY HANDS ON		PRIDE TRADITION DO THINGS RIGHT		NATURE EASY GOING HAPPY ENDINGS		BOOKS MATH MAKING SENSE
Total		Total		Total		Total

1) Primary:	Gold	Blue	Orange	Green
2) Secondary:	Gold	Blue	Orange	Green
3) Next:	Gold	Blue	Orange	Green
4) Least:	Gold	Blue	Orange	Green

In God’s Eyes (Bible Verses)

1 Corinthians 12:4-27

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

As Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders,
what can we learn from the True Colors testing
and small group activity?

____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

Workshop - Part Two: “The Brains of the Bunch: Concepts in Learning”

The First Step: “Types of Learning”

There are three types of learning behaviors: Kinesthetic, Auditory,
Visual or a combination often called multi-sensory.

· Kinesthetic: learns better by physically _______________ it (hands-on)

· Auditory: learns better by ____________ or reading it (hearing in his head)

· Visual: learns better by ____________ it or by viewing displays and presentations.

· Multi-sensory: learns most effectively by use of a ______________ of kinesthetic, auditory and visual.

How do you learn best?

How would you normally teach a Sunday school lesson or Youth Bible class? For example, the lesson is on forgiveness and the Bible story is about the Prodigal son. Give an example of what you could do for each learning method.

Kinesthetic: ______________________________________

Auditory: ________________________________________

Visual: __________________________________________

Multi-sensory: _____________________________________

The Second Step: “Problems with Learning”

30% of all children have some sort of learning disability.
One of the most frequently diagnosed is ADD.

Core symptoms for most LD situations is:

· Distractibility

· Restlessness

· Impulsive

Suggested learning devices for LD children:
*___________________*	· – Don’t be totally structured - “They may not go over the hill, they might go around it!”
*___________________*	· – Keep all the distractions and tangents leading toward the same goal or topic; Use distractions to your benefit.
*___________________*	· – Provide more opportunities to ask or answer questions.
*___________________*	· – Let them choose what they want.

ALSO:

· Physical exercise causes the brains glucose to flow faster,
which seems to help the thought process.

· Encourage verbal processing by pairing youth.

The Third Step: “Understanding Learning”

Everyone has TWO brains (not two sides of one).

*Left-Brain:* Sees the pieces	*Right-Brain:* Sees the whole (not good at details)
þ Analysis	þ Creativity
þ Logic	þ Imagination
þ Numbers	þ Dimension
þ Math	þ Images/Forms
þ Language	þ Music
þ Linearity	þ Rhythm/Rhyme
þ Sequence	þ Color

Text Box:

By the time you were three years old; did your parents pass out vocabulary lists, rules of syntax and grammar? Yet by five years old, you knew almost the entire language. Why?

______________________________________________________

Effects of Learning	Child	Student
*Environment*	Unstructured	Structured
*Knowledge Base*	Low	High
*Effort Expended*	Low	High/Work
*Retention Rate*	Lifetime	A few Years
*Fluency*	High	Low to None
*Learning Style*	Global	Sequential

Combining music with learning seems to improve learning
because it uses both the left and the right-brains.

	With Music	Without Music
*Method Used*	Assimilation	Rote Memorization
*Effort*	Low	High
*Repetitions*	Few	Many
*Difficulty*	Low	High/Work
*Retention*	Long Term	Short Term

Does the Left-Brain really slow us down? YES NO
(Check out Glen’s Screen Activities.)

G______________ Learning is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together without looking at the box.

It is the incremental accumulation of steps that become more difficult.

S______________ Learning exposes the whole product as one and the student assimilates as much as possible and fills in the rest later.

Russia’s “French Language” Experiment

· Showed no fatigue

· Had better sentence usage, flow, and syntax

· More confident

Learner Paralysis is caused by:

1. The ________________ classroom environment

2. Viewing learning as a _____________ (carry over from
regular school and typical educational system)

3. Believing some concepts are more ______________ than others

Offsets:

1. Create a ______________, fun environment

2. Keep structure ________________ (informal sessions, modified classroom setup)

3. Watch your ________________
(Avoid: “difficult,” “advanced,” “review” and don’t imply “steps” or difficulty problems)

How to Stimulate the Right Brain

· View everything at once

· Use color freely

· Use scent

· Play class related games or use toys

· Play and/or sing music

· Use rhythm, rhyme or mnemonics

· Relax your students

· Provide a quick run through (demonstrate everything you will cover that day)

· Possibly use music behind a lesson (see next section)

MUSIC Can Help!

** There are four types of brain waves:

þ Beta – full consciousness, highly analytical

þ Alpha – relaxed, alert, creative, fast facts

þ Theta – deep meditation

þ Delta – deep, dreamless sleep

Certain types of music cause Alpha waves to be more active.

Baroque Music: -Composed between 1700-1750

-Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, etc.

-Promotes alpha waves

-Promotes both brain learning

-Beats at the same rate as the human heart when at rest (50-70bpm)

The Fourth Step: “Applying Learning Concepts”

With an understanding on how people think, we can see that using the global method with it’s multi-sensory approach is more effective for the both LD and non-LD students. This is the goal of any Sunday school teacher or Youth Bible study leader: to reach as many students as possible!

Now… Can we think of activities or approaches that encourage global learning in our classroom?

1. Write the memory verse on the board and like a game, erase words from the verse until it is totally memorized.

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________

7. ________________________________________________________________

8. ________________________________________________________________

9. ________________________________________________________________

10. ________________________________________________________________

Workshop - Part Three: Small Group Activity

The Sunday School Scenarios

The following are scenarios for your small group discussion. While the situations may not have happened to you, the potential for them or a similar situation is possible. The purpose of this exercise is to find a solution, offer a direction, or to simply develop your problem solving skills. Use the learning concepts we have studied whenever possible. There may not be a perfect answer for the scenario and additional information may be required in a real-life situation. Throughout your discussion, remember, a Christian is like a tea bag - it doesn't come to full strength until it is put into a little hot water.' Plus, God says He will never give you more than you can handle. Trust Him, and all things are possible, even in a Sunday school classroom or Bible study class. PTL!

þ For the past six months, Julie has been a quiet girl who listened to directions and participated when asked to in class. However, for the past two weeks, Julie has been disruptive, obnoxious and at times disrespectful. It has become difficult to teach the Sunday school class. What would you do first? If the problem persists, then what? Why?

þ You want to teach memory work, but the youth don't want it and the parents don't seem to encourage their children to learn it? What would you do? Why?

þ Johnny always comes to Sunday school class 25 minutes late. He misses the Bible story time and always seem a little confused the rest of the class. However, he attends faithfully every week. What would you do? Why?

þ There is an argument between two children in the hallway outside your room. There is pushing and shoving, and the potential for someone to get hurt is high. You are the only one in your classroom at the time. What would you do? Why?

þ One of your students decides to question you in front of the rest of class about baptism. He says that his Mom doesn't believe that baptism is important and that he and his 2-month-old sister don’t have to be baptized until they are older. What would you do? What would you say? Why? What about Lutheran doctrine?

þ You have had a really bad morning and frankly, you don't feel like teaching this morning. You didn't get much sleep last night, your clock wasn't set, so you got up 15 minutes late, your children have been disrespectful, your spouse hasn't been very supportive, the car hasn’t been cooperative, and when you walk into class, you realize you prepared the wrong material. What do you do? Why?

þ You are a new teacher and are preparing your first lesson ... well, you are trying to, but you are not sure where to start. You've opened the book a few times, read the Bible story part of the way in your KJV Bible; BUT you aren't sure you understand either. What should you do? How should a teacher prepare? How could the teacher better understand the story or lesson? What should a teacher include in the teaching of the lesson so that the children will understand it?

þ The class seems bored. They seldom say anything, they just listen and leave. I follow the lesson plan exactly and even sing the song they suggest (usually by myself). I'm not even sure if they really are listening or simply sleeping with their eyes open. How could I find out if they are really listening? How could I get them to participate? What can I do to "liven-up" the class?

Last Thoughts

It is never easy, but effective teaching is doing

E_____________ P_______________ to get your students to
L_____________ and A ____________
the Gospel to their lives.

· Sometimes you will think you have failed, but remember God’s word never goes unblessed. After all, it is always His work.

· Continue to seek out new ways to help your class learn and pray that God will present new opportunities and methods to teach them everyday.

Prayer Requests:

1) Most like me:	Gold	Blue	Orange	Green
2) Next Closest:	Gold	Blue	Orange	Green
3) Next:	Gold	Blue	Orange	Green
4) Least like me:	Gold	Blue	Orange	Green