Summer is here and it’s time to review the year, and consider ways to sharpen our teaching skills for our future students. If you’re in children’s ministry, you’re probably teaching throughout the summer. But one thing is for sure if you’re a good teacher, you’re always learning new things and looking for ways to improve your teaching! In my last blog, I discussed the importance of helping children memorize Scripture. Here are some practical ways to help them learn—and retain Bible verses in their long term memory.
- Psychologists tell us that information that’s presented both visually and verbally is easiest to remember. This is why using visuals and objects when teaching children is important. And why explaining an idea with words, and visually is especially effective. When teaching children something new, associate the new concept or information with something they already know, and build on that. For example, when teaching about baby Moses, using a doll wrapped in a blanket will help young children associate something they’re familiar with, with a new story about a baby who was protected by God.
- Before you have children memorize Scripture, teach them the meaning of the verse. They’ll remember it longer and be able to apply it in their life (in keeping with their age and maturity).
- Children also learn through experiences, and they remember activities more when they talk about them. The experience of working together to put the words of a memory verse in order, filling in blank spaces of a verse, or playing games that reinforce Scripture will help them memorize better. Children will look forward to your class each week if you make it interesting and fun. Surprise them occasionally with a new game or activity that will bring enthusiasm to your Bible verse learning time.
- Because short-term memory is very brief—only 20-30 seconds in duration according to memory experts, it will be lost unless new information is connected to your long-term memory. For example, most people can only remember a new telephone number briefly unless they write it down, repeat it, or associate it with something for recall. Experts tell us that long-term memory comes from well-learned information, which leads us to the importance of organization and repetition
- Well organized information is easier to learn and memorize than disorganized material presented in a haphazard way. For this reason, we should take care to teach Bible verses in a systematic way. Teaching, explaining, reviewing, and linking verses from week to week will help children retain them in their long-term memory.
- Repetition is essential for helping children memorize new information. Once they’re familiar with the verse and its meaning, use a variety of methods to repeat and review the verse. Do this periodically with verses they already know to reinforce them as well.
(The above steps for teaching Scripture to children are taken from my book, First Steps for Effective Teaching)
In my next blog I’ll share a variety of Bible verse learning activities.
God Bless You Today!
Verda Rubottom
