Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/62

Contributor - Joan Drost

Title - Running The Race

Topic - Sunday School

There's a race track in the Church School! The word curriculum in its derivation means "race track", thus the curriculum is a prepared path along which learners are guided. It not only includes the track, but the race he runs, and the personal changes which take place as he runs. In other words, curriculum is a series of activities through which a learner is guided by leaders so that desirable changes take place in his living. Note then, that the curriculum is much bigger in its scope than books and materials.

PREPARING THE TRACK

It is impossible to teach something well unless the teacher knows the pupils whom he is to teach. If the message of Christian Education is so important that we wish children to learn it and to put it into practice, then it is important that we know what he requires and prepare the track according to his needs.

Physical - It is necessary to utilize the activeness of children and direct it so that the desired results will be produced. How are you going to provide for your students' need for activity ? How do you plan to harness his excess energy for worthwhile production ?

Intellectual - It is important to meet the students' interests but also to give them the opportunity for real learning experiences. Such experiences should help clarify matters in his mind, bring about good thinking habits, and introduce new and interesting f acts. What new activities are you going to use to challenge and enlarge your students' interests ?

Social - Children have a natural desire to be with people, especially those of his own age. He needs to learn many things about getting along with the group nd still maintain his individuali@. Group experiences can provide the individual with worthwhile Christian principles which he has actually seen and experienced, and which he knows will work. How do you plan to increase learning experiences within the group ?

Spiritual - It is important that the learner develop a sense of God's presence, a relationship to Christ, a personal experience in Christian living, and an appreciation for the Bible as God's Word. The more practical experiences he has, the clearer his insights will be. How will you witness to your faith in the classroom? What are you going to do to be aware of worshipful moments ? A time to pray? And how will you use the Bible effectively ?

RUNNING THE RACE TOGETHER -

Now that the "track" has been prepared and the teacher knows where he is going, the "race" begins, but not in any haphazard, pull-a-plan-out-of-a-hat way. The teacher guides the race and helps the runners have a rich experience by:

Launching out - He discovers the problem around which he hopes learning will take place. He has his main purpose clearly in mind. With these facts before him, he lists many types of activities and chooses one in which the group will be able to have the most interest and which also offers the greatest possibilities for good learning to take place.

The next four steps the teacher and students perform together:

Purposing - The children should sense some value in the work they are engaged in and know their purpose in undertaking it. Much error is made when the teacher tells the children the purpose and gives them all the plans. They should discover their own purpose for pursuing something and work accordingly to achieve their own goals, for here is where the real value lies.

Planning - If there is to be real value in any activity it is necessary for both teacher and group to plan the work together. Once again, there is no value when the teacher makes all the plans and forces the children to follow them. If the children are so young that they cannot do long range planning, they can plan one or two steps at a time and as they progress continue their planning until they reach their goal.

Executing - In the carrying . f the work it is important out that, the group constantly see it in trie light of its Christian purposes- The teacher must be able to maneuver discussions and make suggestions which will help the children see the direction toward which they should be going. Unpleasant attitudes, indifference, or carelessness must be seen and it is the teachers' duty to keep directing the learning experience so that its relation to Christian purposes can be seen and experienced.

Judging - Lastly, there should be values derived from an evaluation of their work. The group should go over their experiences and judge them according to their fruitfulness. What was good? What did we learn? What did we fail to grasp? What more must we do ? Here again it is up to the teacher to continue to suggest and question, to encourage and to get the most from the children in this evaluation. This is the time to learn those things which will improve the next learning situation.

These steps take time, effort and patience but if practiced will produce a precious teaching-learning situation where teacher and learner are in the race together both learning, sharing, and growing. Gone are the days (or they should be) when the teacher sits in front of a restless group trying to maintain order and at the same time trying to get the learners to do the impossible, to swallow his ideas and his plans which he has taught over and over again in the same way year after year to each of his groups.

APPROACHING THE GOAL

The runners in the race are not to be left alone as they run toward The Goal. Always standing by should be the congregation lending their support and prayers. Constantly undergirding the runners should be the parents, backing up and reinforcing the church's teachings. And always guiding and prodding gently, are the teachers seeing that each runner stays on the track, keeps the goals in sight, and approaches THE GOAL at his own speed and according to his abilities and special needs. Of course there are many subordinate goals toward which the runners run throughout the year, but always we press forward to the ultimate one - that each runner becomes a growing disciple, enjoying the abundant life, and as he lives in the world to inform it, through his words and deeds, of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

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