Top Tips for Differentiating Bible Lessons

Differentiating curriculum or lessons is not a conversation ministries to children commonly have. To make life as simple as possible for volunteers, publishers have developed a “one size fits all” mindset. They assume the Bible lessons and activities they provide will work equally well for every child in the room. As any experienced master teacher will tell you, that assumption is about as incorrect as assumptions can be.

You see, in the average Bible class for children, you may have children who are different ages and on different grade levels. You have some who are gifted learners and some who are struggling. You probably have at least one student with a learning disability or special learning needs. You have some students who know very little about the Bible and some who could probably teach a lot of the adults in your congregation a few things about the Bible. Some, if not all, of these children will suffer from being given the exact same lessons and activities – unless there are ways to make things simpler for those who need more help and more challenging for those who are ready for the next level of spiritual education.

Differentiation is looking at a lesson and the activities that go with it and determining what each individual student will need to be challenged, learn and understand new information, all without being bored or overly stressed. We don’t do it in Bible classes because it takes a little extra time and effort, and our Bible students are suffering as a result. Actually, differentiating lessons and activities isn’t too difficult once you understand the basics and practice them a few times.

  • Learn each child’s educational and spiritual background and needs. It would be nice if the information were given to you, but often you are going to have to use any clues you have observed. How easily does learning come to each of them? Who seems to struggle with school and who learns quickly or is in the TAG or gifted programs at school? Who seems to know a lot about the Bible and has a family who obviously has spiritual discussions at home and who seems unaware of even major people and stories in the Bible? You aren’t trying to rank the children, but rather determine who needs things to be simplified a bit, who learns fine with the lessons as written and who needs to be challenged more.
  • Examine each lesson and activity carefully. Put yourselves in the shoes of your students on the various levels. Who will struggle to understand and participate? Who will be bored? It’s important to remember kids who refuse to participate or act out in class are often one of those extremes. They are acting out either to avoid embarrassment or because they are bored.
  • Think of ways you can make the lesson and activity meet the needs of every student. This is an art, not a science. It may take some experimenting to find what works best. Varying your questions based on Blooms Taxonomy helps. So can project based learning and activities that encourage students to demonstrate how they are thinking about and understanding what they are learning. Giving background information on Bible people and stories can help students who don’t know much Bible. Throwing in any extra information about archaeological finds, interesting facts, fun connections and other extra information that is interesting can appeal to kids with more Bible knowledge.
  • Use grouping to help differentiate. If you have multiple students in each group and the levels are very different, considering splitting them into small groups and giving them different activities or different versions of the same activity. For example, if you wanted them to understand the Tabernacle and the items in it. You might give the group who knows a lot about the Bible some random materials and the description and see if they can figure out from scripture how to build a model of the Tabernacle. The middle group may have a kit of the Tabernacle to put together while you are working personally with the kids who have no Bible knowledge showing them a model and explaining the stories behind the items in the Ark of the Covenant or other things where knowing background stories would be helpful.
  • Differentiation is not labeling. Groups should be fluid. Have some classes where everyone does the same activity. (Student created art work is often an activity that differentiates by definition.). No child should feel inferior or superior by your efforts to differentiate. Students should also understand you are attempting to give each student what he or she needs to grow spiritually. This means they won’t always be doing the exact same thing but each student should be equally engaged and enjoying whatever activity he or she has been given.
  • Differentiation is not giving extra work. Nothing frustrates a knowledgeable or gifted student more than realizing a teacher thinks differentiation just means giving them more of the same work to do to keep them busy longer. Or to ask them to do chores while others are finishing. They need more challenging and engaging activities, not being asked to do twice the amount of something everyone else is doing. If you do that, many bright students will slow down on purpose to avoid the extra work.
  • Sometimes differentiation means mentoring students outside of class. You may have students that are fine with your class, but would blossom with some mentoring. Encouraging them to read or study with you outside of class, participate in service opportunities or go on learning field trips can give them the extra spiritual mentoring every child needs. It also gives them more opportunities to communicate to you what help they need in growing spiritually.

Think carefully about your Bible class students and pray for wisdom and discernment. How does each child need you to adapt your lessons and activities to give them the best chance of growing spiritually? Taking the extra time to make those adjustments can improve learning for all of your students.

Categories Bible, Elementary, Faith Based Academic Program, Special Needs
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