High school Bible teaching is a difficult job. Hopefully this series makes that job a bit easier.

1. 3 Goals for High School Bible Teachers
2. 7 Reasons to Expose High School Students to Biblical Controversy
3. 6 Pitfalls of High School Bible Teaching
4. 9 Tips for Navigating the Pitfalls of High School Bible Teaching
5. 19 Icebreakers for High School Bible Class
6. 15 High School Bible Class Assignments for the Mind
7. 11 High School Bible Class Assignments for the Heart
8. 5 High School Bible Class Assignments for the Hands
9. 3 Review Lessons in the Bible

We’ve already considered high school Bible class assignments which target the mind and heart. Unfortunately, I’ve had a much more difficult time coming up with assignments which target the hands—ways to encourage students to put into practice what they’ve learned. How can we really get students to do something in a classroom environment? And if they do it, how can we put a grade on it?

Nevertheless, targeting the hands is still worth a try because as James says if we only hear the word without doing it we’re deceiving ourselves (1:22). Feel free to add to my rather pathetic list of five items.

Hands: Active Work (Do it)

1. Prior experience – To encourage students to reflect on and modify a particular behavior, begin class by asking how they currently perform a particular task (e.g. showing hospitality, serving the poor, granting forgiveness, etc.). After teaching on that topic, end class by asking students how their performance of that task should be affected by the lesson.
2. Student lessons – To encourage students to teach the Bible, place them in groups of three to four and have them prepare a lesson to be taught to the class or another class or chapel.
3. Community service – To encourage students to serve, facilitate community service events or a introduce a community service requirement (with the approval of your administrator).
4. Prayer journal– To encourage students to pray, have them keep a prayer journal for a specific period of time. (I don’t recommend using this assignment for non-Christian students.)
5. Application day – To encourage students to consider what actions they need to take, have an informal class where you sit on the floor or in a circle and ask the students what they learned and can put into practice from the past week/month/semester of Bible lessons.

[This post is part of a series for high school Bible teachers.]

The last post listed 15 high school Bible assignments for the mind so this post will focus on Bible assignments for the heart. We not only want students to know biblical content, we want them to feel it—to engage with it on an emotional and volitional level. Here are 11 high school Bible class assignments for the heart.

Heart: Creative Work (Feel it)

1. Journal entry – Have the students write a journal entry for one of the characters in the story. You can specify whatever content you want (e.g. use the five senses) and how long you want it.
2. Drama – There are many ways to incorporate drama into Bible class: act out the story using skits or mimes, create a talk show with characters from the Bible story, present TV commercials promoting a theme from the passage, and show a life situation illustrating a particular theme. If you want quality skits give plenty of class time for the students to prepare.
3. Drawing – Allow students to doodle as you’re lecturing then collect and share with the class. A more structured assignment is drawing a biblical scene (on the whiteboard or on computer paper) and a major project could be creating a Children’s Bible.
4. Reflection – Ask students to summarize the passage in their own words, record their own questions of the passage, pose questions to a character in the passage, and explain how the passage connects to some area of their life.
5. Artwork – Many of the great artists painted or drew biblical scenes so incorporate these masterpieces into your lessons. (Use Google images to find these works of art quickly.)
6. Article – Have students create a newspaper or magazine article from the assigned passage. The article should include a title, picture, summary, and interview.
7. Questions on Feelings – Ask questions such as the following: How does this passage make you feel? Why?
8. Craft – Bring play-doh, magazines, or other materials, and have students make something related to the lesson.
9. Music/Poetry – Have students write song/rap lyrics or a poem that relates to the lesson. You can also begin class with a song or play an appropriate song during a lesson then discuss the lyrics.
10. Prayer – Students can write a prayer incorporating the passage they’re reading. If you’re comfortable with it, you can also lead students through a meditative exercise where they imagine they’re in the biblical scene and then turn their thoughts into private prayer. Of course, you can always begin class with prayer or pray during class for a particular need. The degree to which you incorporate prayer, however, may depend on your school’s admission policy. If there are non-Christian students in class, you’ll need to be more sensitive to how you incorporate prayer.
11. Case-Study – Give an example of a life situation then discuss appropriate responses.

[This post is part of a series for high school Bible teachers.]

In the last post, I listed 19 icebreakers for high school Bible class. But icebreakers only take five or ten minutes so what are we going to do for the rest of the class period?

Since the Bible aims to affect our head (intellect), heart (emotion/will), and hands (behavior/actions), I’ve separated my Bible class assignments into those three main areas. While all three areas are interconnected, seeing assignments under separate headings helps us intentionally target each area. Again, our goal is to help students know it, feel it, and do it.

Here’s my list of Bible class activities targeting the intellectual dimension. Feel free to add your own activities to the list.

Head: Content Work (Know it)

1. Reading – There are a variety of ways to read a passage in class: silently, randomly call on people, popcorn reading where the reader finishes reading wherever they want and then calls on another student to read, dramatic reading, assigned character roles, etc.
2. Observations – Help the students to see details in the passage. You can give guidance by tell students what to look for such as repeated words and phrases or you can give them freedom to record whatever they notice.
3. Q and A – Have the students write out any questions they have about the passage and then discuss. (Of course, you can always prepare your own questions to test the students’ knowledge as well.)
4. Partner discussion – Place students with a partner to read and discuss the passage together.
5. Notes – Have students take notes on the lecture then collect at the end of class. Students can record notes in a variety of ways such as dividing the paper into four sections to write down facts, new ideas, questions, and action steps.
6. Handouts – use the handouts included in your curriculum or make your own.
7. Outline – Hand out the passage without subheadings and have the students outline it.
8. Summarize – Give guidelines such as a minimum number of sentences to be written.
9. Prior knowledge – Find out what the students already know about the topic before you explore it together, then end class by reviewing how they’ve grown in their understanding of that topic.
10. Scripture memorization – Give a passage to be memorized by the end of class. You can also have students memorize a chapter or passage as a whole class – e.g., memorize one or two verses each, then go around the class.
11. Translation comparison – Give three or four translations and have students compare the similarities and differences. Use www.biblegateway.com for free access to different translations.
12. Surveys – Poll students in class or send them out to collect data on a specific topic.
13. Crossword puzzle – Make one for the students or have the students make one for each other as a review activity.
14. Research paper – Make sure to give the details of what you’re looking for and how you’ll be grading.
    
15. Debate – Divide the class into two groups and assign positions to be argued for. Give class time for the groups to prepare their arguments then have representatives from each group debate then rotate in new representatives.

[This post is part of a series for high school Bible teachers.]

Since we’ve already identified 6 pitfalls of high school Bible teaching, this post will focus on how we can navigate those pitfalls. Here’s a list of nine navigation tips for avoiding the pitfalls of high school Bible teaching.

1.  Emphasize primary biblical teachings. In other words, enable students to grasp the essential truths of Scripture (point #1).

2.  Target the whole person. The Bible aims to affect our head, heart, and hands (point #2) and Bible class should do the same.

3.  Use a variety of teaching strategies. Class shouldn’t always begin the same way and only rarely should students do the same thing for an entire period. While teachers shouldn’t feel pressured to put on a variety show every period, they should have a well-stocked and frequently-used collection of activities at their disposal.[4] One of the most effective and flexible teaching strategies is also one of the simplest: ask thought-provoking questions. The greatest teachers (i.e. Socrates, Confucius, Jesus) understood the importance of asking questions. There’s no substitute for a good question.

4.  Implement grace in grading. For example, don’t be a stickler for a specific word in a memory verse if a student has captured the same idea with a different word. After all, there are a few dozen English versions. Give the students credit for being close enough. From time to time, when giving a quiz or test, allow students to work with a Bible, a notebook, or a friend. Of course, don’t take grace to an extreme, but consider incorporating it into your grading. After all, grace is at the heart of what we’re teaching. Being a stickler in grading usually communicates a legalistic and grade-centered emphasis.

5. Teach to their level. This is not easy to define because every class is unique, but the point is that high school teachers shouldn’t teach on the seminary or the Sunday school level. When we make things too hard or too easy for the students, we run the risk of losing their interest or even provoking their disdain. One of my former colleagues told me that she had to memorize about fifty verses for her high school Bible final exam. I asked her how she felt about it and she replied, “I hated it and I forgot all the verses anyway.”

6.  Get to know the students and help them get to know each other. The message of the Bible focuses on our relationship with God and with each other. Teachers can emphasize the relational aspect by cultivating a respectful-listening atmosphere, facilitating group activities, and celebrating the unique attributes of each student. Ideally teachers should enjoy the company of their students. Jesus is the supreme example; he ate with his students, walked with them, washed their feet, and died for them. We can start small by eating lunch with our students from time to time or just shooting the breeze in class. Surveys can also be an aid in getting to know the students. For sensitive information use an anonymous survey.  (Of course, remember to take survey results with a grain of salt.)

7.  Change the classroom environment. For example, have the students sit on the floor or move the desks away from the chairs for a period or two. “Over fifteen hundred years ago St. Augustine insisted . . . that the learning environment in religious education should be physically ‘comfortable’ for the participants.”[5] Accomplishing this in an academic setting won’t be easy, but it’s something to be aware of and work toward. Maybe the Bible classroom could be painted a different color or perhaps there could be cushions on the floor where students could sit once in a while.

8.  Teach honestly. While we shouldn’t emphasize controversial or difficult teachings, we also shouldn’t ignore them. Plan to address difficult Bible issues in your lessons and if a student asks a difficult question don’t brush it off. There’s no way around the fact that there are difficult verses to interpret and there are complicated issues to consider. We’re not doing students a service when we shield them from Bible difficulties or when we act like we have everything figured out. Honesty means saying “I don’t know” and even “I’m sorry.”

9.  Live honestly. First, be a genuine follower of Christ. Hypocrisy is a powerful corroding agent that eats away at our work. In five or ten years, the students will probably forget almost everything they heard in class but they won’t forget their teachers. They will have caught certain things from our lives. They will remember if we were serious about our faith and loving toward them. Antidotes for hypocrisy include a disciplined habit of prayer and Bible reading, regular confession, and close godly friendships. Second, be a learner. As a teacher, you’re presenting yourself as someone who’s interested in learning so keep learning. Read in your field and read outside your field. Read everything you can. And continue to consider new ideas just as you did when you were a student.

Most teachers would agree that full-time teaching is difficult and demanding. And that assertion is supported by the high turnover rate among teachers. Since I have five years experience as a full-time high school Bible teacher, I’ll focus on that particular subject, but a few of the following thoughts apply to teaching in general. So before we learn to navigate the pitfalls of Bible teaching in the next post, we’ll attempt to identify them. Here’s a list of six pitfalls that have the potential to sink the high school Bible teacher.

1. The high number of classes. Full-time Bible teachers teach twenty to twenty-five classes per week. At that rate, a pastor would need to preach twice a week for forty years to equal the number of lessons taught by the high school Bible teacher in five years. The amount of required teaching leaves little time for in-depth study and lesson preparation. And a lack of study and learning usually leads to a lack of passion for the subject.
2. The limitations of the academic setting. Of course, the perfect setting doesn’t exist yet, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations of the academic setting. First, many biblical topics are not easily taught in an academic environment – e.g. love, joy, peace, etc. These vital aspects of the Christian life can’t be graded. The Bible doesn’t only teach head knowledge, but relational or heart knowledge and that kind of knowledge can be difficult to convey in a formal academic setting. Second, the teacher and student relationship tends to be one dimensional. Students sit and listen while the teacher speaks and when the bell rings, the teach stops speaking and the students leave. Jesus’ approach was different. While Jesus lectured, he also lived with his students on a daily basis. Third, the school setting makes it easy for both teachers and students to miss the point. The primary purpose of teaching the Bible is not for students to pass a test or get an A. The goal of biblical knowledge is biblical belief and action. The Bible isn’t just another textbook.
3. Student misbehavior. Responding appropriately to student misbehavior is one of the hardest aspects of teaching because it’s full of judgment calls: Was it right for me to call out this student and not that student? Was the discipline I gave fair? Did I have the right attitude? Do my administrators approve of this discipline method? There’s enough here to make one’s head spin, but suffice to say that appropriate discipline is essential. If we don’t discipline well, we could be undermining our teaching.
4. A lack of student interest poses a major problem for any subject, but especially Bible class where students must be humble and receptive for it to make an impact. Sin is a major cause of disinterest because it directs our attention away from God’s Word. However, sin is not the only factor. Poor teaching and the school setting may contribute to the problem in the following ways: 1.) To turn students off to the Bible (or anything for that matter) here’s the recipe: run class the same way every day (ideally lecturing for the entire period), don’t listen to honest doubts and questions, ignore student suggestions, act superhuman by never showing weakness in front of the class (e.g. ignorance, error, sorrow), discipline harshly, avoid students outside of class, don’t worry if the students are enjoying class, don’t bother to rethink issues in light of new evidence, teach below or above their level, don’t prepare for class, and stop reading. Basically the more we think about ourselves, the less students will care about our classes. 2.) Specifically in a Christian school environment, students who perceive hypocrisy in fellow students, teachers, or administrators may become jaded to the Bible and the Christian faith. It’s important to keep in mind that the perception of hypocrisy may not be accurate. 3.) Because of the different levels of knowledge among the students, at times it will be necessary to teach material that some find repetitive and boring. Augustine noted, “A speaker who clarifies something that needs to be learnt is a blessing, but a speaker who labours things already learnt is a bore.”[1] The degree to which you face this challenge depends on your school’s admission policy.
5. The controversial issues in biblical interpretation. With a two-thousand-year history, we are the beneficiaries of a vast library of opinions and the library is growing daily. A good teacher understands different points of view, presents them fairly, and ideally is able to offer an educated opinion on the matter. A good teacher is also aware of where they are and doesn’t spend too much time traveling down the rabbit trails of controversy. This is no small task.[2]
6. Hypocrisy in the heart of the teacher. This is an enormous pitfall for any public speaker and that’s because it’s all too easy to say one thing and do another. In the book of James we find this warning, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (3:1). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt a disjunction between what I was teaching and what I was living. For example, why do I talk all day about prayer and not pray? Why do I talk about God, but not to God? This personal struggle isn’t fun, but it is important. It keeps us honest and it keeps us focused on what’s most important—being a disciple and not just talking about it.

What do you think? What pitfall would you add to the list?

[This post is part of a series for high school Bible teachers.]

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[1] Augustine, On Christian Teaching, in Oxford World’s Classics, trans. R.P.H. Green (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 116.