Preparing and Delivering an SRE Lesson (Module 3 Refresher)

One of the joys of attending the SRE Conference in February each year is being alongside so many SRE teachers, many of whom have taught faithfully for a very long time. There are many unsung heroes of faith who serve in SRE. They teach year in and year out, loving kids, and teaching the Bible.

The requirement for continuing teachers is completing two hours of Development training each year (usually the SRE Conference) but that means the five accreditation modules for beginning teachers are something of a distant memory. So here’s a refresher of the Module 3 training, ‘Preparing and Delivering a Lesson (Primary)’.

SRE lessons are unlike other lessons at school. They focus on one specific faith and are taught from a faith perspective by a person who claims that faith. As Christians, we pray that students would be growing in their faith as we teach the Bible faithfully and age-appropriately. We never coerce or manipulate children into professing faith but pray God would be at work in their hearts.

All SRE Providers are required to have and use an approved curriculum. The Anglican Diocese of Sydney, led by our Archbishop, has approved the SRE material produced by CEP: Beginning with God (for Kindy), Connect (in three stages) and Big Questions (for Year 6). The overview of Connect can be found here. It is possible that some Anglican SRE teachers use a different curriculum but only if they are in a combined arrangement with another SRE Provider.

How strictly do we need to stick to the curriculum? In some areas we can be ‘open-handed’ and in others, we are ‘close-handed’. The aspects we are ‘close-handed’ about are the Lesson Aims and Outcomes and the bible passages. This means we can’t change or alter those.

For example, my lesson is on the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18, and the Lesson Aim is ‘To help students to understand that God offers forgiveness to those who put their faith in Jesus’ (Big Questions Lesson 11). I can use the Lesson Aim to formulate a ‘Big Idea’ in my own words but I can’t change the focus to something else like ‘Christians should be forgiving people.’ That point may come out in the lesson but it is not the focus. I also can’t teach that Aim but choose a different bible passage, though I might bring in other passages.

We can be ‘open-handed’ in other areas of the lesson. That means we can be as flexible and creative about how we teach the set passage and Lesson Aims and Outcomes. To continue with my example, the Teacher’s Manual suggests drawing a sketch as I retell the parable. I might choose another teaching strategy which, from my experience, I know would engage my class more. That is ok. The Teacher’s Manual contains more content than anyone can use in a 30-minute period. Therefore, we may choose from these options what would be best for our class. We can also use another activity not suggested, as long as it is age-appropriate and effectively teaches the Lesson Aims.

Our Connect curriculum has a helpful structure. Being mindful of the structure and referring back to the Big Ideas for the lesson, term and year, helps the students to remember key truths.

There are three years of Connect:

A: Life of Faith               B: Promises of God                 C: Kingdom of God

Within each term, there is a Big Idea. B Cycle is all about God’s Promises and in term 3 the Big Idea is ‘God keeps his promises’, teaching stories from Exodus to Joshua. To keep highlighting the Promises of God as we teach the different lessons within this series, helps students see how it all fits together and aids memory. Ultimately, less important if students remember the exact details of Old Testament stories (although it’s great if they do). It is more important for them to know that God keeps his promises, then and now.

One helpful way to refer back to these themes is to use Big Questions to shape your lesson. Big questions help you to clarify the Big Idea of your lesson, as well as sparking the curiosity of the students when you raise the question at the beginning of your lesson.

Module 3 also goes through how to prepare a lesson. The recommendation is to read the passage and spend time allowing God to speak to you for a time before starting to think about how to teach it to your current class. There’s also a lesson template you can use in your preparation time.

What about videos and multimedia? Just as our lesson material needs to be approved, so does the multimedia content we use. To protect our students and respect the guidelines set by the Department of Education, we can’t use just any YouTube clip we find that looks good. The CEP MyConnect website contains a library of existing approved material for most lessons in the CEP curriculums. With a free login, SRE teachers can find the lesson they are up to and all the approved options available. There is also a place to submit new content for approval. You can also view the multimedia policy and make submissions via our website.

Module 3 finishes with a reminder that taking time to evaluate your lessons is helpful and part of continuing to improve as an SRE teacher. Yearly Observations are another great way to get fresh eyes on your lessons and new ideas about how to improve.

Whether you’re a new teacher (hooray!) or one of the faithful few continuing on (so thankful for you!), keep up the good work!