Teaching a class takes energy, lots and lots of energy, and it’s so easy to become lazy about it.  Never does a Sunday pass by when I don't arrive home exhausted, happy, but exhausted.  Yet being committed to education, and especially Christian education means that being willing to go the distance and committing to giving the children you teach the best you have to offer.

Here are a few practical suggestions, particularly for Hands-On Bible Curriculum:

1)      For Sunday School Superintendents:  Be a resource.  It goes without saying that when teachers feel like they have a safety net, they're happier about teaching.  Sometimes it’s simple things: on Saturday night they're getting ready for the next morning and discover their flashlight is out of batteries, they haven't any, and haven't any way to get any – let them know that they can call you, about anything, no matter how small.  It’s amazing how little things can be the stressors.  I had one teacher who was frustrated that the suggested lace would not glue to the Styrofoam plate in her sample craft – and what will not work for the teacher surely won't work for the children.  She called, and I suggested paper doilies – same look, but much easier to glue than fabric.  Once teachers realise that there is someone with even more experience to call on when they need an extra idea, alternative craft, time-filling game, or some such thing, they relax.

2)      Split it up.  Many classes have more than one teacher, or at least for the younger classes, a teacher and a helper.  Get each person involved in preparing a different aspect of a lesson.  For example, I'm the teacher and Sue is my helper.  I prepare the room, the opening activities, and the Bible lesson.  Sue gets the craft ready, prepares the parts for the interactive bulletin board, and performs with the puppet.  For snack, we have volunteers from the church prepare them on a rotational basis.  It makes life much easier for everyone when we all work at it together.

3)      Pare it down.  Unless your class time runs an hour-and-a-half, there is no way that you will have time to do everything in the Hands-On Bible Curriculum, so don't plan to!  Tell your teachers to pick and choose according to what works for them and for the children they have.  One teacher who did the toddlers and 2s class when I was superintending never bothered with Cuddles the Lamb or the interactive bulletin board.  She wasn't much of a puppet person.  Her crafts were elaborate, though, and the children were learning and having a blast.  Remind the teachers not to overdo, and it’s not such a big job after all!

4)      Prepare in advance!  This is so important to do and so difficult to achieve (says the woman notorious for finishing her Sunday school lesson prep at 1:00am Sunday morning)!  But there are occasions when it’s vital, because there are some things that neither the teachers nor the church might have on hand.  (For Sunday School Superintendents I've found two ways to combat the “but-I-don’t-have’s.”  If you're full- or part-time at the church and want to make your teachers lives a breeze, photocopy the “This Lesson at a Glance” pages from the Teacher’s Guide.  Highlight anything in the “classroom supplies” columns that the church doesn't have, and make a one-time shopping trip to gather together those items.  When I did this once for all of my teachers, they could have kissed me!  The other way is to tell them to look a week ahead, and write a shopping list of anything they'll need the following week.  Either you or they can then get it during the week.

5)      If there are any odd/difficult-to-find items, get extra and stick them in the Learning Lab.  One of the awesome things about Hands-On is that it’s reusable, and in two years time, when all of that age group has advanced, you can do it again – but you may as well make next time easier!

6)      Write down what works – and what doesn't!  (This also goes along with the reusability of Hands-On.)  For example, when I told one of my teachers that paper doilies worked much better in a certain craft than fabric lace, I had her write it down in the lesson by the description of that particular craft, and also in the “Lesson at a Glance” section, so that when we go back to use that unit again, we'll know better!  The Teacher’s Guide can be an even greater resource when used this way!

7)      Another thing… PAPERCLIPS!  There is nothing more frustrating to excitedly turn to prepare a lesson in a previously-used Teacher’s Guide with an awesome Learning Lab sitting before you, only to discover that half the pages from the Teacher’s Guide are missing!  I was extremely displeased when this happened to me, and then I had to go back over to the church and search… in vain… for the missing pages.  As a result, that particular unit was lost to us, and I wasn't going to let that happen again.  The danger of the reproducible, tear-out pages in the Teacher’s Guide is the possibility of loss.  When I had four teachers all using Hands-On in their respective classes, I put a package of paperclips in each of their Learning Labs.  Every time they pulled out a page to make copies, they took a paperclip and clipped the loose page to the page before or behind it.  Ta-da!  No more lost pages.  (An alternative is completely pulling apart your teacher’s guide, 3-hole-punching it, and putting it in a binder… but who has the time!?)

8)      For Sunday School Superintendents: Support your teachers.  It seems so obvious, but if they know you're praying for them, rooting for them, and if you get them a special little treat every now and again to remind them of that, they will feel appreciated, and they will really want to do their best for you.

Pastor Alisha Melanson, Sunday School Superintendent