What we did to Replace the original WT's Lesson Sets
Back in 2015, the Board of Directors undertook a review of the original Team's work and decided it was time to do better.
After hiring a professional Rotation-style lesson writer to work with us, a Team of volunteers spent the next three years upgrading or replacing the original team's work. The new Team continues working under the auspices of our professional Lead Writer whose job is to organize the team, provide guidance and training, maintain standards, and improve the final drafts from our volunteers. This work is overseen by members of the Board of Directors.
Here's what we did with the original WT sets:
- Every lesson was either rewritten or replaced using our new higher standard of creativity and teacher-helpful detail.
- We introduce new resources and new ways to teach in each workshop.
- We made sure lessons appeal to our older kids in grades 3-5, with plenty of "age-appropriate" adaptations for younger students, and those with shorter class times.
- We added more instructions, "say this," and explanations for those teachers who need extra help or options.
- We re-wrote all the Bible Backgrounds with classroom-ready, teacher-friendly language and insights. Less "academic," they are more understandable to the average volunteer and written to be more inspirational.
- We added more "in-lesson" explanations of key points and reasons why we are doing things a certain way.
- We made sure each lesson follows the set's teaching objectives, and that activities strongly relate to the teaching points and aren't just tangential.
- We added extra special lessons in each Lesson Set for those who want a "bigger splash."
We certainly appreciate the work of the original team which involved over 25 different writers over ten years. But one of the philosophies of the Rotation Model and strengths of being a web-enabled ministry is that WE CAN and SHOULD CHANGE and IMPROVE. And so we have.
Read: An Interview with the Writing Team Renovation Project's Lead Writer
