Organizing Ideas

Scripture: Genesis 31-33

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will review the story of Jacob leaving and reuniting with Esau focusing especially on how Jacob organized his family and gifts to encounter Esau.
  • Students will learn that when writing a paper, it is important to organize the information before writing the paper.
  • Students will learn and or review how to use a basic outline to organize information for a paper.
  • Students will participate in an activity helping them practice organizing information for a paper.

Guiding Question: How can we organize our thoughts when writing a research paper?

Materials: A list of random facts from the entire life of Jacob. Facts should be listed in an extremely random order. If there is a lot of time, consider mixing in facts about Isaac, Rebekah and Esau.

Procedure: Review the story of Jacob leaving and reuniting with Esau, focusing especially on Jacob organizing his family and gifts before encountering Esau. Explain to the students that as they get older they will be asked to do research papers in school. Tell students often they will find a lot of random information from a variety of sources. Explain that in order to get a good grade, they will need to organize the information they found before writing the paper. Teach and or review how to create a basic outline. Give each student a sheet with the random facts from the life of Jacob. Have students create a basic outline using all of the facts. (Remember student outlines may vary. Look for an organized thought pattern)

Additional Questions:

  • How can you organize material for a fictional story?

Supplemental Activity: Have the students repeat the activity, this time for a fictional story they can write later.

search previous next tag category expand menu location phone mail time cart zoom edit close