By Jan Cagno

Gwen Switzer looked around at the exciting faces of her class of six-year-olds. "Are you all ready?" she asked. "Yes, yes" came the answer from eight young throats. "Okay then, let’s go," she said. Instantly the children fell into line in their proper places. Two of the children carefully carried a small chair between them. That was the Ark of the Lord. Two carried cardboard rolls from paper towels. Those were the trumpets. Two others had paper swords and the remaining two were prepared to march silently along representing the Children of Israel. Gwen’s class was marching around the city of Jericho (which happened to be several cardboard boxes in the center of the classroom). They had carefully listened to the story of the glorious victory of Joshua’s people at Jericho. They understood the rules God had given His people and now were ready to witness for themselves in a representative fashion the miracle that took place so many years ago.

Across the hall, Julie Banks was playing "I see" with her eight-year-old students. They had traveled back in time to join the Israelites in the land of Egypt. Today they were hiding outside the home of Moses’ parents. As they peered into that home in their imagination and then followed along to the river bank, they took turns telling what they saw. "I see a baby crying, " said Peter. "I see a mother weaving a basket," said Jill. On and on they went until the class had "seen" the entire lesson of the baby Moses.

The young teen class was putting together a newspaper account of Paul’s shipwreck and upstairs one of the adult classes was holding a panel discussion on the day’s lesson.

Creative teaching is not reserved for a few especially talented teachers. Anyone can present creative lessons if they are willing to devote a little extra time and effort to planning and preparation. Most creative people have acquired the ability to be creative by constantly looking for ideas that have worked for someone else. They are people who read current religious magazines and periodicals, as well as "idea" books that can be found in most Christian bookstores. They are eager to attend teacher training sessions and to swap ideas with other teachers. They observe the activities that are used to enhance learning in the school their children attend, and finally, they ask themselves, "If I was the student in my class, what would I enjoy doing in order to understand this lesson? What would help me most to see how I could put the truth of this lesson to work in my own life?"

We live in a world where we are constantly learning through creative media presentations. Let’s bring Sunday school "up to date" so that our students will find the Sunday school class more interesting and relevant than the evening news broadcast or the Saturday morning cartoons. Use audio visuals, play games, dramatize, debate, give individual assignments and sing together. There are a myriad of activities to make learning a pleasure for every age level. If you are just willing to work at it, you can do it!

(This article appeared in the "Spring, 1993" issue of "The Herald.")