As teachers, we want our students to “get it.”  Frankly, students need to know if they understand or they don’t understand.  The test at the end of the unit is often too long of a time frame and we most likely will not re-teach a lesson after the unit test is over.  So, how do students know along the way if they are ‘getting it’?

I like to use informal assessment in my Bible class.  Here are five ways to see students get what you are teaching in your Bible classroom.

1.  Exit Slips

-Students have to give you a piece of paper at the end of class with the correct answer to your question. You can either write this question on the board or ask it verbally.

2. Thumbs up or Thumbs down

-You ask the students a question and then require the students to give a thumbs up if they understand and a thumbs down if the don’t understand.

3.  Journal Writing

-I love to see students write in Bible class.  It does not take long to go through a student’s Bible journal to see the answer to a question you gave. It also allows them reflection time on what is being learned.

4. Think/Pair/Share

For Think/Pair/Share you give students a question. They will have a certain amount of time to think about the answer. Then they will turn to a partner and talk about what they are thinking. After a short amount of time,  they will give you the answer audibly during classroom discussion time.

5. Colored paddles

This is fun for younger students. They would each have a colored paddle (I have seen some teacher have colored cups) and then would respond with the blue paddle if they understand and a red paddle if they don’t understand.

Informal assessment is a great way to see if students understand in a short amount of time. It helps students stay engaged with what you are doing and allows them the opportunity to get clarification on things they may not understand.

On my last blog post, I talked about the reputation is that some Christian school students are not hungry for the Word of God.  If you did not read it, click here.

I talked about emphasizing the “Heart and Hands” piece of the Walking with God and His People as a way to guide students to respond to God in a way that is genuine.  Another way is to give students an opportunity to grow spiritually within the school community.

When I taught at San Jose Christian School (www.sjchristian.org), I started and led a spiritual retreat for the 7^th graders. I took my students up to Santa Cruz Mountains to worship God.  I brought in a praise band and a youth speaker.  We also had times of fun that included Olympic games and rope courses.

At first the students did not participate much as they the worship band played. Toward the end of the retreat, the students were busting the doors down to worship God.  It was a phenomenal site to see.  One of the best parts was that I could continue the teaching that was started at the retreat throughout the rest of the school year.

No one would say after the spiritual retreats that the Christian school students were luke-warm or not hungry for the Word of God. Teachers and parents often commented about the difference they saw in the students in the way they approached life and their personal relationship with God.

Whether an actual spiritual retreat is possible at your school or not, think about ways that you can help turn up the spiritual temperature with your students. How can you help them become hungry for the Word of God and for applying it to their lives?

I hear often from youth pastors that Christian school middle and high school students are not hungry for the Word of God. I am not always sure what the youth pastors mean by this. I think it means, for example, that during corporate worship at youth group, the Christian school students are not participating or are goofing off. Maybe they mean that Christian school students don’t always enjoy doing the homework that sometimes youth pastors give (i.e. memorize memory verses, word studies, etc) or they don’t attend youth group or other church functions at all.

When I led a youth ministry many years ago, I saw some of the apathy too. I did not find that to be true of all my Christian school students, but some of them. I think it is important not to paint all Christian school students with a broad stroke.

One of the many reasons that I love “Walking with God and His People” is that it connects the heart and hands pieces to the head part. CSI Bible curriculum has always been strong at head knowledge. In other words, our students know the Bible well. Now, the curriculum has connected the heart and hands piece to it, too.

We need to make sure that we when we are teaching the curriculum that we emphasize the heart and hands pieces. This is a valuable part of keeping our students hungry for God’s Word.

Each part of the curriculum’s lessons is coded with a head, heart or hands symbol. This is to point out to you what the curriculum is trying to influence in the students.

This blog is part one of a few blog posts that I am going to write about how to engage our students to live out the Word of God in their lives.