Learning Strategies for Youth: Ages 12-18
Bizarre hairstyles, outlandish clothes, annoying music, and unintelligible speech patterns tend to be common marks of the nearly adult of our species. When adults think about teenagers, they usually think of whatever it is that adolescents are currently doing to distinguish themselves from the rest of the human race.
Teaching anything, especially the Bible, to these hormone-driven humans is a major challenge. Much of the challenge involves responding appropriately to their urgent desire to be rid of all childish things, while resisting the responsibilities that come with adulthood. The teacher who gives even the slightest hint of "talking down" to them is immediately classified as out of touch, and the teacher who sounds too much like an adult is obviously a hopeless old fogey.
Thus, youth leaders and teachers feel an intense pressure to "relate," to know the latest about everything. In addition, many youth workers believe that anything that is being done with any other age level in the church could not possible work with youth. They constantly strive to come up with something new.
Unfortunately, in the push to be current and new, many people who attempt to teach teenagers overlook this fact: The basic human learning mechanisms that worked so efficiently when the child was 2 are still in place when the child hits 12. The processes of receiving and organizing information, retaining what was discovered, evaluating reality, and applying truth to life situations are more fully developed than in the younger years, but are still very similar. Therefore, successful teaching methods for teenagers stimulate the same learning skills that young people have been developing and expanding throughout their lives.
The middle school and high school years are times of learning more than facts. Teenagers are anxious to learn about meaning and significance. They want to know what lies beneath the surface. Effective teaching accepts their questions as well as their often-frustrating inclination to doubt the answers they are given.
Teaching and Learning Strategies for Youth
Using the following grading system, rate your present and planned teaching efforts for teens by writing the appropriate letter in front of the numeral for each statement. Write additional ideas in the spaces provided.
E= Excellent
S= Satisfactorily Doing Now
I= Improvement Needed
N= Need to Start
Set Meaningful Learning Objectives
- Our curriculum resources effectively aid teachers in planning and leading clearly focused sessions that help teens understand biblical truth and apply it in daily living.
- Session objectives are stated so that teachers and leaders can evaluate whether or not young people accomplish the desired learning. Thus, objectives describe what learners will do or say to demonstrate what they have learned, rather than the objectives describing what teachers will do.
- All components (activities, music, Bible study) of each session are planned to contribute to the accomplishment of the learning aim.
Make Effective Use of Time
- Teachers involve teens productively as soon as they arrive. For example, they provide a choice of two or more small group learning and sharing experiences in which teens and teachers participate.
- Teachers follow a flexible schedule that balances familiar patterns with flexibility and variety. The sequence of activities starts with items of interest to teens, then guides them in studying, analyzing, and applying Bible truth. A sample schedule follows:
Welcome and Introduce Topic Bible Study Application Activity Decision Activity |
10-15 minutes plus presession 25-30 minutes 20 minutes 5-10 minutes |
TOTAL |
60-75 minutes |
- Teachers provide a balanced pattern of learning experiences: some quiet and some active, some familiar and some new, some done in large groups, some in small groups, and some done individually.
- All groups for teens follow similar patterns of flexible session plans, providing both familiarity and variety for learners, allowing teachers in different groups to benefit from sharing common experiences, and aiding leaders in efficiently training and guiding teachers.
Provide Positive Guidance
- Leaders and teachers of youth are carefully chosen through a clearly defined system of screening in which the spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being of each young person is the first priority.
_Background check: Leaders must request background information and check references on anyone who is allowed to work with teens. Questions must be asked and satisfactorily answered about a person’s fitness to be with adolescents.
_Personal knowledge: Leaders must personally know anyone who would work with teenagers. Leaders may personally know an individual before his or her service with teenagers, or they may spend time getting to know the individual and observing him or her with teenagers.
_Instruction: The church must provide training for all who interact with youth both in effective teaching procedures and in appropriate means of guiding behavior, which includes defining limits on verbal and physical contacts with teens.
_
- Leaders and teachers demonstrate qualities of positive Christian living so that they may serve as examples to young people of the values the church promotes.
_Church attendance: Consistent participation in the life of the congregation is important both for its contribution to the life of the individual as well as for the opportunities it affords for additional positive contacts with teens and their parents.
_Personal devotion: A regular pattern of personal prayer and Bible study is a positive indicator of a person who desires to grow.
_Family stability: Persons who work with teens should have a daily living environment that provides emotional and spiritual support. Persons who are undergoing stress at home and/or at work may find working with young people is a positive outlet, but they should be provided with ongoing encouragement and assistance.
_Integrity: The personal and business life of anyone who works with teens must be marked by honesty and openness. Teenagers do not need perfect people as their teachers and leaders, but they do need people who will admit their mistakes and demonstrate a willingness to learn from them.
_Acceptance of guidance: A person who expects teens to follow his or her leadership must be willing to follow the leadership of those the church has appointed as supervisors.
_
- Leaders and teachers should be chosen to reflect the diversity of people involved in the life of the church. Teens benefit greatly from interaction with both men and women, older and younger adults, couples and singles, and people from varied ethnic backgrounds.
- For the protection of both teenagers and workers, at least two responsible persons should be present with any group at all times. Supervisors should regularly be present for observation and support. It is wise to require that one-to-one ministry to teens be done by persons of the same sex and at a time and place when other responsible persons are available for support.
Plan Valid Learning Procedures
- Learning activities are chosen for teens that enable teachers to make easy connections to the Bible learning and life application emphasis of the session.
_Bible study: Teenagers are able to explore a wide variety of biblical material in addition to stories. They respond well to passages from the epistles, Psalms, and Proverbs, as well as to some of the sermons of Jesus, Paul, and Old Testament prophets. Teens tend to be most interested in finding out what the Bible says when they discover that it deals with issues of concern to them. Teachers involve students in using the Bible themselves, discovering what God’s Word says about the issues being discussed.
_Lecture: A verbal presentation of information is often the most efficient way to present a body of information to a group. A skillful speaker can entertain, inform, and motivate listeners. With young people, lecture is usually most effective when interspersed with a variety of involving activities, introducing, explaining, or summarizing important points. The main drawbacks to a lecture are that learners’ minds may easily be engaged elsewhere and that hearing is only one part of the learning process. Unless learners are led to follow their hearing with other responses, little or no lasting change in understanding, attitude, or action is likely to take place.
_Discussion/question and answer: Teachers ask questions to promote participation and stimulate thought about Bible content, its meaning, and its application. Teachers phrase questions to encourage open sharing of ideas, not just to seek answers. Young people love to hear themselves talk, and they have ideas on many topics. Engaging them in verbal interaction is a valuable way to keep them mentally involved, to help them grow in understanding of each other, and to guide them toward a fuller understanding of the lesson topic. Be aware that in any group of teens, especially when boys and girls are together, there is a very strong tendency for young people to give responses that they think will impress others, rather than to expand their learning.
_Video/media: Teenagers view television as a means of entertainment, not as an aid to learning. Thoughtful selection of video or other media (audio tape, slides, computer) can be a helpful way to secure attention or stimulate thoughtful discussion. Often, brief clips followed by guided interaction are more effective in instructional settings than more lengthy presentations.
_Art: Young people enjoy opportunities for carefully selected art activities that allow them to express thoughts and feelings about their experiences and what they are learning. Art activities are often useful ways to involve teenagers in cooperative group interaction. Usually, art activities work best when a light-hearted approach is needed for stimulating thought about a topic.
_Games: Games may occasionally be used for a change of pace in reviewing content and encouraging relationships. Be cautious of using games that require Bible knowledge, since students who lack that background may feet excluded.
_Research: Young people are capable of using a variety of tools to discover information: Bible dictionary, atlas, concordance, and so on. Students are also challenged by comparing Bible passages to discover points of emphasis, differences, or commonalities.
_Service projects: Young people are eager to work together on projects that benefit others, and they have the energy and skills to do a variety of useful work. Teachers and leaders who schedule opportunities for service projects also find them to be ideal means of building interest and enthusiasm.
_Music: Some youth groups avoid music as though it were a plague. Others find it a powerfully unifying and motivating tool. Besides group singing, which requires a leader with skill, enthusiasm, and rapport with group members, teens enjoy and learn from listening to music, both live and recorded (including audio and video). Music with a contemporary sound and a clear message that is related to the session topic can attract attention, stimulate a discussion, or provide a means of response to what has been learned.
_
- Teachers provide adequate space and a comfortable environment that invites young people to participate as part of group experiences.
© 2003 Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, MO. Permission to duplicate for local church use only.
