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Eighteen Ways (and counting) teachers can use their cellphone in Sunday School
is a Rotation.org Teacher Training Resource article written by Neil MacQueen.
The following is an excerpt ("ways" 1-10).
Today’s cellphones and tablets have revolutionized our ability to communicate, keep organized, access and share content, and connect to the internet. And unlike any other teaching technology that has ever graced Sunday School, today’s teachers already own these new devices and routinely bring them into their classrooms as part of their personal equipment.
More than “just phone,” it’s time now to harness their potential for "calling disciples!"
Several of the following 18 ideas involve connecting your cellphone or tablet to a bigger TV screen via an inexpensive adapter cable so you can share photos, videos, and internet content on a big screen and bypass the church’s weak internet or lack thereof. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how easy it is. (how-to link). Keep in mind that each of the following tips also applies to tablets/iPads.
Here's my starter list of "18 Ways." Please add your suggestions by replying.
- Take photos and recordings of classroom activities and then show them on your TV by connecting your cellphone (or tablet) to it. You can also share recorded content to student and parent cellphones (great promotion too).
- Play Christian music videos before and after class, or during class as a teaching activity. YouTube is full of great ones. You can also google and print or display the lyrics to virtually any song for discussion purposes. (link to some of our favorites)
- Save illustrations, Bible maps, texts, and photos in advance on your phone or tablet and share them in class.
- Show Bible text by viewing an online Bible passage on your big screen. Search for your passage at sites like www.biblegateway.com or use a Bible app.
- Show a YouTube video, such as an animated Bible clip. There’s a wide range of Bible stories on YouTube. Some are just a few minutes long and can be used to help promote discussion. Visit the “Video” suggestions in Rotation.org’s Lesson Forums.
- Create Facetime connections or text discussions between students or between your students and a volunteer actor. Or... “call the expert” during discussion (perhaps your pastor is standing by, or an adult class that has been prepped).
- Have the class “Facetime” a student who is sick or hospitalized.
- Turn your TV into a “live” monitor by connecting it to your cellphone and use this setup to create fun “Selfie Stories” or “Live Bible TV Shows” or “News Broadcasts” or "Singing Shows" as you also record the performance. (how-to link)
- Make a video of a classroom activity and upload it to YouTube so your kids and families can enjoy it at home and your church website can easily LINK to it. (Sounds "techie," but YouTube makes it really easy.)
- Create a text group or Facebook group of your older students and parents so you can send group reminders of upcoming classes and activities, and post photos from recent events.
- View and Print the Full PDF Handout
- View and Print the Full PDF Handout
- View and Print the Full PDF Handout
- View and Print the Full PDF Handout
- View and Print the Full PDF Handout
- View and Print the Full PDF Handout
- View and Print the Full PDF Handout
- View and Print the Full PDF Handout
Connecting your cellphone to your TV is easy.
It requires the purchase of an inexpensive adapter cable. For example, to connect my iPhone to my classroom TV, I purchased a six-foot “Lightning Plug to HDMI ” cable for about $15 on Amazon. If your TV has older “red/yellow/white” inputs or you have an Android cellphone, just look for an adapter cable with those types of connectors. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how easy this is. (how-to link, or click this small graphic below to make it big!)
FORWARD THINKING
...not BACKWARDS or the "same old."
Rotation.org has been at the forefront of finding and recommending good internet-based content for Sunday School and showing teachers how easy it is to connect their cellphone, tablets, and laptops to modern televisions that have bigger screens. We're not part of the "scared about screens" crowd. It's about WHAT we put on the screens, not "should we have screens." We're also all about multiple-intellegience-informed teaching, meaning: teaching with a variety of approaches and not over-doing sitting and talking, and certainly NOT over-doing "boring."
In addition to all of our online lesson plans and ideas, you’ll find lots of links to good YouTube videos and music videos, Bible illustrations, maps, and more on our site. Browse our classroom design and technique forums, and our Bible Lesson forums.
View more Teacher Training articles.
Neil MacQueen is a Presbyterian minister specializing in Christian education. He's always on the look-out for new teaching twists and classroom tools to capture his students' imaginations and make his teaching more engaging and memorable.
