My Tool Box

In a typical tool box, you might find a hammer or a tape measurer. Each has a specific purpose that is unique and different from the other. The tools I use when building and presenting creative lessons are not so different.

• Gathering (might be a rake)
• Search for valuables (might be a shovel to dig, or a metal detector)
• Putting the pieces together (with glue, a screwdriver, hammer and nails, or duct tape)

Every lesson has a topic or an objective. I start there, with a plan of what I'd like to build. I then gather materials from all kinds of sources (books, talks, quotes, scriptures, stories, music). This step takes me the longest. If I have enough notice before I teach, I could spend weeks gathering. I feel like a treasure seeker, looking for valuable items, such as words, pictures, or objects that could be tied to a gospel principle or lesson topic. This process is supported by the prayer I offer before my search begins. Sometimes I don't know exactly what I'm looking for until I it "jumps out" at me when I find it.

Example:

I recently taught a lesson on sacrifice. In my search for materials, I came across an object lesson in a book that involved a peanut. The object lesson itself was short, but very relevant to my objective. Rather than just use the object lesson, I found a way to incorporate the peanut into each aspect of my lesson: beginning, middle, and end.

Once I've gathered all my materials, or more than enough to work with, and have found that word, picture, object, or song that I can develop my lesson around and tie to my objective, I begin to put my pieces together like a puzzle and decide in what part of my lesson each piece will fit.

Example:

In a lesson I taught on gratitude, I had a skit, an object, a story, and a demonstration that I wanted to include in such a way that it flowed easily. The story was about the pilgrims putting 5 kernals of corn on their plate each year at Thanksgiving to remind them of their first dinner when that's all they had to eat. I built my entire lesson around those 5 kernals of corn. They became the 5 kernals of wisdom from the talk I was teaching from. I incorporated the skit, the story, and the demonstration into the lesson using the kernals as the object.

These are just a couple of examples to start with. My goal for this blog is to post my ideas here, as they come, hoping that you will use them with your own lessons. I would also love to hear how you used them, who you used them with, and how effective they were. If you have other great ideas to share, please comment.

- Happy Coloring!