Multiple Intelligences

http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/articles/7_ways.htm

I was re-introduced to this theory last spring as I was taking classes on Child Psychology, as well as Educative Process in Technology. Both classes brought up this idea of multiple intelligences, and it intrigued me, but I was never sure how to incorporate all of the intelligences into one (and had never really tried). However, for some reason it sparked in me when I started planning for the fall semester, so I've tried actively to tie them together for each lesson on Wednesday nights.

The whole idea of the theory is that kids learn best when the lessons are presented to them in different ways. There are all sorts of studies out there that say if a child repeats something eight times, he/she'll retain it. I don't want the kids in our ministry to just come to church and leave--I want them to retain all of the information we give them, and then use that information to impact their lives. And the way we do that is through repetition, repetition, repetition. Sounds boring, doesn't it? Well, not if they don't realize you're repeating it! I've been planning my lesson trying to get each of the 7 spokes of the multiple intelligences in there, knowing full well that our kids are diverse and were created for their own specific purposes (PSK).

The different learning styles are helpful to know when you're teaching your kids anything, or trying to help your child's teacher understand your child more. Here's a brief description:

• linguistic - these kids learn best through words. reading, writing... one of the more traditional types of learning.
  
• logical-mathematical - learn best through formulas, logic, math... the other traditional type of learning.
  
• spatial - visual, so they'll learn from flow charts and presentations.
  
• bodily-kinesthetic - learn through movement, so games, active participation, hands on.
  
• interpersonal - learn through talk with others, small-group cooperation.
  
• intrapersonal - learn through examining themselves, alone time
  
• musical -learn through music.
  
• (and some theories add in naturalistic) - learn through experiencing.

As I've been planning the lessons and trying to incorporate all of them (which I've done pretty well), I've realized how resistant I am to the musical one. I think it's a little bit ironic, since kids LOVE music. I am not musical and am self-conscious about my voice and my inability to make music, but I want these kids to learn the best they can and I want to use music to teach them, so it's something I need to pray through and ask for God's healing (?) in it all. I never thought children's ministry would be a place where God would stretch me, but it most certainly is. It's funny how much my kids teach me about myself, and how many things in my own life God brings up through teaching them (and their teaching me!)

To Live is Christ (Paul): Week Two

"Christ came into the world to save sinners--of which I am the worst!" - 1 Timothy 1:15

I left church Wednesday night feeling really encouraged about the kids at Holy Cross and what they're learning, and moreso, how much fun they're having learning it. The kids are really passionate about Jesus and what He's doing and what He's done, and I can see in their faces and their actions how much they've changed and how their relationships with God are going. This week, one child told me that she wanted to start praying every day before she went to bed and when she woke up (we talked last week about how Saul did that growing up--I guess it had been on her mind!), and a few of them came into the program spouting off the bible verse from the week before (as well as the stuff they're memorizing Sunday mornings!) All of the kids remembered the bible verse from the week before--even our youngest! One of the kids brought a friend, and one of the parents told me there had been waterworks last week because a child didn't finish her homework (and the Mom wouldn't let her come to church without her homework done). It's great to see God moving in these kids lives--I can see a marked difference in the activities we do. Where a Wednesday night program used to be a ten minute lesson and thirty minutes of games and activities, I've found that recently, we haven't been doing any games that weren't biblical related, and the kids are having even more fun! We're teaching for a whole hour and a half to two hours, and the kids are LOVING it. And I am too. It's such a blessing to see how much they're learning each week at church, and what they're inspiring in their families at home.

So, keeping with our lesson on Saul, this week was Week 2, which was a more difficult lesson. The Stoning of Stephen. I was somewhat anxious about how to get this lesson across in a way that the kids could understand both the seriousness of it all, and at the same time, not go home scared out of their minds. I think the lesson came across well. The kids were sobered about life afterwards, but not discouraged, which was really good.

We opened with a review of last week's lesson (I really need to be more diligent about opening in prayer!). I opened up the timeline and the kids went crazy about what we learned about last week. I think they did my entire lesson in the three minutes I gave them to review.

Lesson: We cracked open the bibles and read Acts 6:8-15. We talked about what the issue was, and what the Jewish council was doing (lying to kill Stephen because they were scared) and about why that was such a big deal. The kids all agreed that it was not good what they were doing (one child even said, "I don't know why they were so scared! They should have just put it in God's hands!"). We then read Acts 7:54-60, and we talked about what it meant to be stoned, and how much it would have hurt, and how it was a really awful way to die, but Stephen had so much faith in God he did it anyway. Then we stopped and read Acts 8:1, and talked about what it meant that Saul urged the Jews on.

Activity #1: Stoning of "Stephen". We pulled out the cotton balls, some duct tape, and a trash bag. We cut a hole in the top of the trash can for "Stephen" to stick her little head out, then taped the trash bag (sticky side out). The kids circled around her and took turns throwing "stones" (cotton balls) at her, seeing if they would stick. Hindsight is 20/20 and I should have picked an older child to put in the center because "Stephen" got scared and started crying :-/ We calmed her down though, and I used it as a teaching lesson. We talked about how the kids felt when they were throwing the cotton balls at "Stephen", and how they felt when "Stephen" started crying. And we talked to "Stephen" and asked her if she'd done anything wrong, and what it was like having the "stones" thrown at her when she'd done nothing wrong. Then we talked about how it was different with Saul because in our game, we didn't want to hurt "Stephen", but these people did. We talked about how Saul urged them on and how he wanted to hurt Stephen, and how awful that made him seem. The kids were really sobered by this exercise.

Activity #2: We added the next week to our timeline. The kids did a great job figuring out the most important parts of the story. I had a great helper who made sure that we added Saul into the mix instead of focusing on Stephen. The kids also drew a picture of Saul throwing stones at Stephen. We taped them to the timeline and talked about them. The kids were all really excited to see what goes next on the chart!

Activity #3: We had stones left over from VBS decoration, so we pulled them out for an activity. All of the kids sat quietly and we thought of people we know who get persecuted, just like Stephen did. The kids all thought of somebody they know at their schools, the gym, the church, wherever they go who gets picked on or maybe doesn't have a lot of friends. They wrote the name of the person on the stone in sharpie, and then we held the stones in our hands and prayed for the person. It was really cool hearing all of the kids praying for the kids at their schools. They took the rocks home with instructions to put them somewhere they would see them, and when they did see them, to pray for the person on the rock. The kids were really excited about this activity and all said they would pray lots for the person on their rock :)

Activity #4: This activity worked with the help of a little bribery! We read the bible verse to memorize this week (all of the verses are verses Paul penned), and wrote it down on a big piece of paper, and set it in the middle of the circle. We played a game called "popcorn". Generally, the game works where you try and count as high as you can. However, you can't premeditate who says what number, and if two people say a number at the same time (or count out of turn), you have to start over again. We did it with the bible verse, and it was great! The kids had the bible verse repeated multiple times! I told them if they got through it, they all would get a cookie. And then I added to the mix and made them stand in line to get their cookies. They all had to repeat the bible verse to me while in line to get a cookie. All of them passed with flying colors, and one of the Moms even got in line and memorized the bible verse for a cookie! It was really great, hearing all of the little voices memorizing God's word.

The kids are really impressing me with how much they're learning and how on fire they are about Jesus! I'm having a blast planning the lessons, and I really feel like this semester is ordained by God! I can't wait to get into the next two weeks, which are about Saul's conversion, and talk about what it means to be a new creation! I think the kids are going to be really blown away by how DIFFERENT Paul is than Saul. I can't wait to see their reactions!

To Live is Christ (Paul): Week One

"Remain faithful to what you have been taught!" - 2 Timothy 3:14

We started our semester-long lesson on Paul last week, and it started out awesome. The whole focus of the semester will be on being a new creation (after PSK over the summer, this seems like an awesome next step and I'm excited where God is taking us!) and there seems to be no better person to illustrate how different life with Christ is than the apostle Paul. And so, for the next 12 weeks (or so), we'll be studying a different part of Paul's life, starting with his birth, and ending with his death (and as much as we know about in between!). We're also trying to incorporate as many of the different learning styles as we can into each lesson--it's been a challenge, but the reward has been great!

Week one, we talked about the beginnings of Paul's life. I've been doing the Beth Moore study "To Live is Christ" and got a lot of my information from that. The kids LOVED this lesson! I thought for a moment that some of them might actually go subscribe to Judaism if we weren't careful!

The Lesson: When the kids walked in, we started out by telling them that this semester we'd be learning about Saul. I was shocked to find that most of them didn't know who Saul was! (One of the girls talked about King Saul, and I was impressed by that, but alas, wrong Saul!) So, we started out with Jewish traditions. The first thing we talked about was how much Saul's father wanted him to be a rabbi (as a Pharisee), and what a Jewish child went through when on that track. We started out with talking about how a five year old would need to know the torah, and have it memorized, and then worked into dressing like one of the Jews of the time. We made our own yarmulkes (yamakas) out of paper plates and markers (and talked about the meaning of the yarmulkes, which the kids maintained!), put on the tzitzits ( tassels around the shoulders ), and then put on the phylacteries (boxes of God's word over the forehead and the heart). The kids LOVED this portion and asked a lot of questions!

Activity #1: We had two sets of Jewish gear (yarmulkes, tzitzits, and phylacteries) and put together an obstacle course. The kids had to keep the jewish gear on throughout the entire obstacle course. Inside their phylacteries (Styrofoam cups), was the bible verse for the week. The team that won was the team who had every player go through the obstacle course (derobing, and rerobing) and had the entire bible verse for the week written down. The kids loved it, and boy did they learn the verse!

Activity #2: We have an ongoing timeline for the kids to work on throughout the study. The kids are separated into two groups -- writers and drawers. One group draws a picture of the lesson, and the other group writes a summary. The kids have to talk about the lesson first and pick out the most important points. They really seem to like this activity, and it's great to watch them get so excited about it. Each week we review the timeline up to that point, and it's great what they've retained.

Activity #3: Memory Verse game. Each week we spend about twenty minutes going over the memory verse. This week, we played catch. Whenever someone caught the ball, they had to say the memory verse. Then they threw it to the next person. The goal was to give everyone the ball (in an order), and shorten the time it took to go through everyone. The kids finally got it to just over a minute, and every single kid knew the bible verse when they left. It was awesome!

This week was shorter than normal too. We had a party because all of the kids had learned the bible verses over the summer and I'd promised them a party! It was fun having a party the day we learned about Jewish customs!! The kids all seemed to really love the first week! :)