Bethel Hill
United Methodist
Workshop Rotation Model
We’re Doing Something New in Children’s Sunday School!
I
t's called the Workshop Rotation Model, and at Bethel Hill it works like this: Children from preschool age up through Grade 6 are divided into age-specific groups. Major Bible stories and concepts are presented through kid-friendly multimedia workshops, for example, Art, Drama, Music, Games, Audiovisual, Puppets, Storytelling, Cooking, Computers, to name just a few. We teach the same Bible story in each of the workshops for three to five weeks, rotating the groups to a different workshop each week. One Scripture memory verse underlies the lessons during the entire rotation and is emphasized each week. In this way, children have opportunity to take in the lessons from Scripture through several means, and over several weeks.And here is the extremely teacher-friendly part: a workshop leader teaches the same workshop for the entire rotation, teaching the same lesson each week to the different age groups coming to that workshop. Teachers volunteer based on their own area of interest and expertise. This provides the opportunity for church members to plug in as a teacher doing the type of activity they love and are comfortable with. After a 4 week rotation, the teacher may continue teaching in the next rotation or opt out. Teachers can make short-term or long term commitments resulting in less teacher burnout and increased opportunity for many in the congregation to participate. In addition, often during a specific rotation, the workshop leader will teach for only three of the four weeks allowing for busy schedules that preclude "perfect attendance" on the part of the teacher.
Every group has its own "shepherd," a caring adult who stays with the class as it rotates through each workshop, providing continuity and accountability. The shepherd works with the children, reflecting on the lessons learned and applying them to their own lives. Shepherds also write cards or phone their students on birthdays, when they've been absent, and so on.
Here are some reasons this model of Sunday School is becoming so popular and successful:
Repetition. The Workshop Rotation Model concentrates on the major stories of the Bible over and over again. The model's philosophy recognizes that kids not only love repetition, but they need it to develop a lasting memory and understanding of content.
Multi-modal learning. Children learn in different ways. The various approaches to learning employed over the five-week presentation of a Bible story take advantage of this. Frenetic lessons with six or more different steps, a game, a craft, Bible study and music all in 45 minutes leaves teachers breathless and often overwhelmed.
Teacher repetition. By the second week of the rotation, the teacher is already improving the original lesson plan for the next class. Since each workshop uses essentially the same lesson plan for several weeks in a row, every week isn't a production. And because the teacher is assigned to teach in the creative mode they are comfortable with, the teaching and learning experience are enriched.
No more costly weekly curriculum. Most of which is left in the car or thrown out when the child reaches home. There are many, many websites with free workshop ideas. One is www.rotation.org -- which features complete rotation lesson plans, a resource directory and a creative ideas area for each workshop, all of which can be printed out for free. There are lessons and ideas on the Web contributed from other Workshop Rotation churches across the U.S. We can use these ideas to develop our own lessons, allowing us to use the money budgeted for Sunday School in new and creative ways to teach Bible Lessons to our children.
How is the Workshop Rotation Model different? In traditional Sunday Schools, teachers are recruited for a whole year to teach a different lesson each week. The Sunday school is oriented to a verbal-linguistic approach where there is reading, writing, listening and responding. A craft may be thrown in; most likely, it is not a keeper. Teachers often feel that they have to stay within the constraints of the printed lesson; they aren’t given permission to use their own natural talents. The special talents of the congregation are not brought into the classroom. There has to be a better way to pass the faith onto the next generation!
What does a Workshop Rotation Model Sunday School look like?
Classrooms are workshops. It’s Sunday morning. The children in Sunday School are learning about the Lord’s Prayer based on the Scripture, Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4. First, as the entire group gathers in a central space they may watch a video on the Lord’s Prayer (check on-line at http://www.interviewwithgod.com/playprayer.htm ) The K-1st graders may be in the large Sunday School room modeling attitudes about prayer with their physical bodies. The 2nd and 3rd graders may be in an upstairs class room learning about the food pyramid and how God provides us with our daily bread. The 4th, 5th and 6th graders are creating puppets and contemporary skits that resolve temptation issues. A fourth workshop using games to learn the words and the meaning of each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer is ready to go for the next week while the workshop leader is attending an adult Sunday School class or perhaps needs to be away from church that Sunday due to family obligations.
For four weeks, these groups will learn about the Lord’s Prayer. The teachers stay in the same workshop, teaching a different group each week. The classes are the ones that rotate from one workshop to another. This is great for the children. Regular attendance reinforces the lesson each week in a new and exciting way; irregular attendance does not breed confusion, as each lesson stands on its own. They are learning the lesson in a variety of formats
Some people worry about the continuity that may be lost with this model, the opportunity for one teacher to really get to know the children through the course of the year. The answer: Shepherds. Let the teachers do the teaching, making a one-month commitment and focusing on the lesson. Shepherds are recruited for the full year. They do not prepare the weekly lessons, but are the nurturing component of the Workshop Rotation Model. They may be an extra set of hands on Sunday morning, but more importantly, they get to know the children. They send birthday cards, Christmas cards, Easter cards, "I hear that your hamster died" cards, "We missed you" cards. Because they have been in the classroom from the start, the Shepherds are the ones that make the connections between the shared concepts from one workshop to another within a unit, and from one unit to another.
Beginning March 12, we are going to give this a try. Then over the summer we can work out all the details and be ready –full speed ahead – in the fall. If you have any questions about this exciting new approach to faith formation please call Pam Kulp or Elaine at the church office. Then begin to think of ways you can be involved – once you get a taste of the enthusiasm, you’ll want to be a part of this new venture, too.