o lesson, others will be unique to the current lesson. The most important (and sometimes most difficult) thing to keep in mind as you write objectives is that they should be measurable: each objective needs to be able to be evaluated in the closing of the lesson. So, when you write your objectives, think, as you do so, “How will I know if we have met these objectives? How can I measure this objective in the closing?”
Resources: List all needed resources and materials here. If you are playing a game, doing a craft, or even using props to tell a story in your lesson, this list can be invaluable as it helps you think through exactly what you need before you begin the lesson.The resources/materials list is also quick way to double check that you’ve got everything for the lesson; and it will make it easier for someone else (or even you, should you repeat the lesson in years to come) to prepare for the lesson.
Opening: This is the beginning part of the lesson. In a Sunday Church School class, this would be where you welcome students into your classroom, casually chat about their week, and then begin the formal opening of your class time with prayers, a song, or however you usually begin each class.
Introduction: The introduction portion of the lesson is part segue and part hook. This is the part of the lesson where you review previous learnings, and prepare the students to build on what they already know with this lesson, making a connection between prior knowledge and newly acquired information. The challenge for the teacher in this part of the lesson is to find a fun “hook” that will grab the students. This hook could perhaps be an object lesson, a riddle, a game – something that captures the students’ attention and inquisitiveness, grabs their curiosity, and makes them eager to pay attention as you continue with the lesson.
Content: The majority of the class time will be spent completing the activities in this part of the lesson plan. Once you have grabbed the students’ attention with the “hook” in the introduction, you move on to this “content” portion of the lesson. This is the meat of the lesson; the theological concept(s) you are passing on. This part of the lesson will contain some teaching, some related/building-on activities (such as games, art, crafts, writing, etc.), and many, many questions. As you write the content section of the lesson, keep in mind the objectives and how they will be measured, so that you stay on task in your planning. Plan a variety of activities: not all students learn in the same way, and you want to incorporate as many learning styles as possible. You will not be able to teach to every style, every Sunday Church School class. However, be aware of the different learning styles and if you miss one learning style in one lesson, be sure to include that learning style in the next lesson. (Think of it this way: if you are energized by hiking, you would not pay attention – in fact, you may eventually just tune out or stop coming- if every time you went to a woods, you were forced to sit and listen to someone talking about people hiking and you never got to hike! In the same way, your Sunday Church School learners are varied in what energizes them, what clicks in their minds, and they need variety to engage them and to make the lessons more effective.) Throughout each lesson, ask questions. Make the students think. Encourage them to summarize. Ask them to explain it back to you. See what connections they can make to previous learnings. As you ask questions, be sure to use questions at varying levels of questioning. (See http://antiochian.org/sites/default/files/blooms.pdf for suggested questions to use for each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.)
Response: This is the part of the lesson that will allow the students to grasp the main ideas/theological concepts for themselves, and challenges them to find ways to apply those ideas to their own lives. This part of the lesson can be oral, written, drawn, or you can have the students respond in some other way, depending on the lesson and your group of students.
