The Monday Morning Debrief: Curriculum

Now that we are well into the Spring semester, it is a good time to re-evaluate where you are at with curriculum.  Some questions to consider:

• Are you planned out through the rest of the school year or are you week to week choosing what you will teach about?
• How is your curriculum plan working so far?  Is it effective or do you need to scrap it and go with something else?
• If you need to scrap your current curriculum for another one, why do you feel the need to do that?  Is it because your audience has changed, because the curriculum you have chosen to use is not effective or appropriate or another reason?

Planning out a semester at a time is a much more effective way to plan curriculum as it keeps you on a set path and objective for what you want students to learn for that time period.  For example, one time I spent the whole Spring semester on Genesis because it introduced the Old Testament to many new Christians (as was most of our audience) and it gave them a great history of many of the great, well-known stories in the Bible.   It work well for where our students were.  But at other times I have changed up curriculum to be more topical.  But again that was based on where our students were at the time.  I was still planned out for the semester but they were based on a topical theme.

Even though planning a semester at a time is usually best for your sanity and keeps you focused, there may come a time when you need to scrap it.  If you are at that point where you are feeling the need to scrap your current curriculum for another one, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.  It is my hope that when you choose your spring curriculum you went before God seeking his wisdom and based on where your students are at spiritually and emotionally, you choose that particular curriculum.  So, again, before you change topics and/or curriculum, go before God and re-evaluate your students to see if the message needs to change or maybe the approach needs to change.  I have found that sometimes just changing how you present the material is just important as what you present.

So where are you at?  Right now TAKE A MINUTE and process how you are doing with your curriculum.  Are you comfortable with what you are teaching your students at this moment?  If not, what changes need to be made to better address where your students are at.

Also, as you process the curriculum options out there, TAKE ANOTHER MINUTE and post as to what curriculum you use and why you use it. As you know there are many different curriculums out there.  Which ones do you like and why do you like it?