Here's the Workshop Rotation Model in a nutshell:
Teach major Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia
workshops: an Art workshop, Drama, Music, Games, A-V, Puppets, Storytelling,
Computers, and any other educational media you can get your hands on. Teach
the same Bible story in all of the workshops for four or five
weeks rotating the kids to a different workshop
each week. And here comes the extremely teacher friendly part: Have the same
teacher in each workshop for all five weeks teaching the same lesson week
after week to the different classes coming in.
Here's why it works:
The Workshop Rotation Model concentrates on the major stories of the Bible
over and over again. It eschews the popular but educationally unsound new
lesson each week lectionary approach to curriculum currently in fashion
among curriculum writers. The model's philosophy recognizes that kids not
only love repetition, but they need it to develop a lasting memory and
understanding of content.
The multiple
intelligences approach in the model isn't a fad or merely kid-friendly, it
is calculated to take advantage of our student's God-given thirst for
multi-modal learning.
The model also emphasizes
teacher repetition. By the second week of the rotation, the teacher is
already improving the original lesson plan for the next class. No more "if I
only would have...." in the parking lot after class. No more Saturday night
planning. No more recruitment hassles, --teachers are happy to sign up for
five week rotations. And because the teacher is assigned to teach in the
creative mode they are comfortable with, the teaching and learning
experience are enriched. No more lectures and music cassettes still in their
cellophane wrappers, no more overused worksheets, or fumbling popsicle stick
Jesus' crafts.
The Model also buries the
beige and boring classroom in a blizzard of creative kid-oriented design. It
says we're teaching kids, not cons, and we want them to come back.
Some great designs include: an A-V room that has theater seats and a
popcorn machine, a Bible Skills and Games workshop built like an ancient
synagogue, or a "Scripture Tent," with floor cushions instead of folding
chairs. Many of those who visit Workshop churches say the design looks and
feels a lot like Vacation Bible School, only more permanent. And why not?
VBS is one of the most successful educational models the Church has ever
created.
There is no need to buy
curriculum, prompting one denominational publisher to describe it as "the
third rail for curriculum publishers." Instead, in a fit of connectionalism,
educators are calling each other and saying "I'll trade you my Moses
rotation for your Ruth, and do you have any good art projects for the
Prodigal Son?" Churches are gleaning from each other. They're digging into
their stockpiles of creative materials and hitting their resource centers.
In-house "design teams"
composed of a minister, elders and C.E. leaders provide the educational and
theological backbone. Together they help shape the simple but creative
lesson plans and then count on the teacher to improve on them each week.
Unlike earlier models which fell by the weight of their planning, this model
is proving easier to implement and maintain. Because each workshop uses
essentially the same lesson plan for about five weeks in a row, every week
isn't a production.
A website for the Rotation
Model ---www.rotation.org--
features the model manual, complete rotation lesson plans, a resource
directory and a creative ideas area for each workshop, all of which can be
printed out for free. "All along one of the strengths of this model has been
the willingness of churches to share with each other. We believe that the
grassroots co-oping of resources and lesson materials is a vivid
manifestation of the connectional nature we have professed for so long,"
says Hansche.
