Links to Lesson Sets:
GATEWAY Awards Celebration - 18 May 2003
The following information and photos were presented by Ted Edwards to the West-Ark congregation on 9 December 2001.
BIG CHANGE
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If you have been upstairs in what used to be the Learning Center, you may have noticed there have been some big changes! It is only the beginning! There are many more changes coming in the near future. Why the changes??? Children are not all the same and, therefore, they don't all learn the same way. We want to teach children the way they learn. In other words, our teaching styles should be directed towards the learners' styles of learning in a multisensory approach. Teachers need change sometimes, too. We all need some excitement and fun and enthusiasm and what could possibly be more important than having excitement when teaching about our Lord? And certainly there couldn't be any more important students than our children!!! When our Sunday school fails, it also fails the youth group, the church and our Lord. We don't want our Sunday School to fail. WE NEED TO FIND A WAY TO MAKE CHILDREN WANT TO LEARN ABOUT GOD. |
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LEARNING CENTER/WORKSHOP
Since 1979, we have been known as the Learning Center. As you probably know, we had regular, traditional classrooms and lessons. We also had learning center stations to reinforce those lessons. When we started that program, it was comparable to how children were learning in school and served us well for many years.
Times change, our world changes, and we have learned more about how children learn best. On October 7th we began a new type of approach in our teaching. Our classes are now all known as workshops. Each workshop is designed to use a particular teacher's talents to teach children, and each workshop is different. Our rooms reflect the type of multisensory teaching we are trying to accomplish because the more multisensory the learning, the more broadly and deeply it is stored and recalled. Each workshop teaches a complete lesson through its own particular style or medium, using teachers who are skilled in those styles. Each teacher teaches the same lesson for five weeks with minor adjustments for age appropriateness. The weekly repetition allows them to improve and feel better about their teaching experience. It is no longer necessary for teachers to need to be able to be a powerful storyteller, skilled in music, a master of games and creative ideas, an artist, and a record keeper. Now the teachers focus on the lesson and on the learning style or medium that they have chosen.
GATEWAY
After making the decision to change to workshops, we also wanted to change our name for the 2nd through 6th grades. We are now known as Gateway to Heaven or just GATEWAY for short. "GATEWAY" stands for
| God's
Amazing Teachings Enable West- Ark Youth |
VIDEO
Click here to view mpg video {13 MB} of some GATEWAY activities.
Our children now rotate each week to a different workshop. Each group of lessons is called a
rotation. Each rotation consists of one Celebration week where we have a preview of the coming
rotation and celebrate accomplishments, projects, etc., and then five weeks of workshops. Again,
the teachers sign up for a 5-week rotation where they teach the same lesson each week to a
different grade. Our very first rotation was Creation. Each workshop has its own name which
depicts the style of teaching which happens in that workshop. For example, the first week the
fourth graders were in "THINE ART STUDIO" making an art project of the 6 days of creation. In the
"CREATION CAFÉ" sixth graders were making cupcakes with all kinds of creation creatures,
etc., on them. Our second graders visited "THE WORD" and had a lesson about creation
complete with black light. Third graders were in "WWW.GATEWAY" workshop searching "Adam's
Home Page" on a computer program called "Bibleland.com." Meanwhile, the fifth graders were
watching a movie in the "HEAVENLY VISIONS" workshop while munching on fresh popcorn
and enjoying cold juice. We have plans to include other workshops in the future such as Drama,
Missions, Science, Puppets, and Newsroom.
MISCELLANEOUS WORKSHOP PICTURES
As you can see, the kids are having a great time learning. As you may have noticed in some of the pictures, in addition to teachers and teachers' assistants, we have "shepherds." Shepherds are very important to our program because they stay with the same grade each Sunday and provide continuity to the children. They also do record keeping and assist the teachers when needed.
TRADITONAL & WORKSHOP PICTURES
The Workshop Rotation Model changes the teaching method from the traditional lecture method to exciting, interesting, and multisensory lessons that stimulate learning.
OLD ROOM/NEW ROOM
Not only have our styles of teaching changed but also our teaching environments. For example, this is a before picture of our typical classroom and then a picture of what we are transforming them to. Everything is changing -- name, lessons, teaching styles, rooms, and even our hallways. (Have you seen what John Lankford, Cami Stancil and helpers have been doing?)
Our Wednesday evening program has changed as well and will have a similar format in that we will also be doing workshop rotations. They will be divided into 3 groups. The first workshops will be "The Moral of the Story," (applying concepts in Bible stories to everyday life), "www.gateway" and "Total Recall" (a Bible quiz bowl).
WE STILL NEED
We have been so blessed with volunteers and donations. Without them, we would have never been able to accomplish what we have. This is an ongoing process and we still need teachers, assistant teachers, shepherds, artists, seamstresses and many other helpers from time to time. Whatever your talent, we can use you. If you can help, please sign one of the sign-up lists in the foyer or see Carolyn Harrell.
MOST OF ALL
Most of all we need all 2nd through 6th graders each Sunday and Wednesday. So please come each Sunday and Wednesday with your Bible, your eagerness to learn, and remember to BE ON TIME. You don't want to miss a thing.
Check out FLOCK - Feeding Lambs Of Christ Knowledge
Link to related sermon by David Chadwell
Link to
West-Ark Church
of Christ Home Page