Note: Cathy Walz originally kicked off this discussion by posting what her church did to "train" their teachers in the Rotation Model. They held monthly teacher training sessions.

Here are her notes about those meetings.

Monthly Teacher Training Sessions

Every month we have a teacher training session for the next month's rotation Bible story. This is especially helpful for the new teachers rotating into the program each month.

I spend the first part of that training session talking and refreshing about the Rotation Model, and covering some of the "how-to's."  "How much" depends on how many new teachers we have and how different that month's rotation of workshops will be.

We have a folder of handouts about the Model, Bible story and individual workshops that I update each month as needed.

Then... the pastor then does a Bible study on the upcoming Bible story.

Here is the basic outline I use for each monthly session:

1. Welcome and Open with Prayer--Introductions

2.  A reminder of why we changed to the Rotation model.

Rotation = interactive/multi-dimensional benefits enhanced through repetition of the story from week to week, and reduced prep time because teacher repeats their workshop.

How the workshops in the upcoming rotation fit together to tell the story. (This is important so that each teacher understands what will be happening in the other workshops.)

3. The Lesson

a. Brief overview/introduction so you can see where you fit in with the other lessons
b. Please do NOT make major changes to the lessons—they are designed for a
purpose. Discussion of adjustments you might make based on your teaching style, the different ages of students coming into your workshop, and what worked or didn’t work the previous week.
c. Rotation Schedule so you can see which age is coming to you—handout on age-
appropriate characteristics.
d. Journaling —how to do it, and why it is important for them to process the activity.
e. Evaluation tool—feedback from the teachers we want them to fill-out and turn in.
f. Supply List--which supplies do you already have and which will need to be obtained by the supply coordinator

4. Logistics

Check on your workshop. Go through your supplies. Be sure you have things like nametags.

We have a two-pocket folder that I prepare for each teacher.

The Left Pocket has information about the upcoming rotation, story, lesson plan, etc.

The Right Pocket has general information about teaching, Rotation, age characteristics. We update this from time to time and reference it during our monthly meetings.

Right pocket:

• "Salvation Stations" Teacher Position Description--outlines what their role is.
• Short Article explaining the Workshop Rotation Model and its benefits.
• Short article on Multiple Intelligences.
• Handout on journaling--why we do it, when we do it (end of every class), how it is done, the responsibilities of the teacher and guide in this process.
• Helpful Hints for Teachers and Guides--some basic common sense reminders on how to interact positively with their students.
• A Table of Age-appropriate Characteristics that can help guide them each week with the different age groups.
• A list of the class guides for the year so that they know who they will be working with.

Left Pocket:

• Teacher letter that notes which station they will be teaching, the dates, the location of the station. Plus some general introductory information (some of which is also covered in the job description)
• Introduction and Bible Background--lists the purpose and goals for that month's story, the memory verse, and a short description of all the stations. There is also a handout about the Bible story.
• Their lesson to teach, which also lists the needed supplies
• Station Teacher Evaluation Form to be filled out and returned at the end of the month
• Workshop Rotation Schedule for the month

The following post was moved here from our Help! Forum...

Jan FPC Napa
Posted March 10, 2006

"Monthly teacher sessions started great, then people stopped coming"

When we first started, our monthly workshop leader training sessions were a blessing and well-attended. Our leaders and shepherds attended a meeting 2 weeks prior to the start of a unit they were leading. We did a brief Bible study, reviewed objectives, shared ideas and had good fellowship. This was done on a weeknight evening for about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs.

Over the next few years, however, fewer and fewer folks would attend, even the ones who were new to rotation had reasons they couldn't be there. Finally, it got down to a faithful few who did keep attending, but I felt those folks were the ones who knew it backward and forward and were already immersed in the program.

This year I gave up and started providing a "self-study" with the lessons that *hopefully* people are doing on their own prior to leading, however, it's clear that some don't.

Questions:

Is a meeting like this necessary, or am I frustrated over nothing?

If your church does do a meeting at the start of each rotation, what does it look like and do folks respond to it positively?

If you don't provide one, how are the pieces joined together at the start of each unit so leaders are on the same page?

Looking forward to your responses,
Jan

We schedule a Tuesday morning meeting (during an existing Bible study which several teachers already attend, including me.) We have about 10 attend.

We also schedule an evening meeting for the same day. 6 attend that one (3 of us from the morning plus teachers who couldn't make the morning meeting).

It's frustrating when people miss the training, but then, isn't getting adults to attend always kind of like that? And this is one of the reasons we "rotate" -- so they can learn from their first week's lesson (and mistakes) and do the lesson better for the next week's kids.

With my lessons, I usually include an overview of all the classes and background information (what I find on this site is usually a good adult lesson). I have been trying to include a Teachers FAQs as well, a sample is below: I am always available the first Sunday of a rotation, but have yet had anyone w/ free time for “a quick prayer and Q/A meeting”. 

The first Sunday of a new rotation we also hold a teacher's meeting for a quick prayer and Q/A.

(Content abbreviated by Rotation editor)

We hold our "next Rotation's planning meeting" on a Sunday after church -- everyone is usually there and if not then I make sure I connect with them about their workshop.

We have been running rotation for 3 yrs now and the meetings are positive. I concur with other posts -- accentuate the positive. We get our leaders and shepherds together so that the new pairings can meet one another and everyone knows what everyone else is teaching -- I emphasize that the lessons are part of a whole and are not meant to cover the entire Scripture teaching individually.

We talk about what's working and what's not in what, I think, is a spirit of teamwork and cooperation. We mention kids who are moving, struggling, causing problems and acknowledge the successes.

Blessings.
Hilary

Lisa,
I find it is helpful to help people understand their spiritual gifts. We use a spiritual gifts inventory that can help people sort out what their gifts are. The gifts on the inventory are all biblically based, although we are considering adding some questions that would apply to high-tech giftedness.

Then we pass out a sheet to them showing ways to serve the church using each gift. I place pieces of WoRM jobs here, too. For instance for a nurturer, we suggest shepherding or teaching younger children; for a creative person we suggest the art rotation; etc. People who have a true teaching gift can fit anywhere in the program.

I have found that this helps inspire people to service.
Peace,
Lisa

Exchange Volunteer adds link to spiritual gifts inventories:

http://www.spiritualgiftstest.com/test/youth
http://cozmtzion.weebly.com/up...ual-gifts-test-1.pdf

Lifeway has another great on-line resource you can print out called "Levels of Biblical Learning" and another called "Levels of Bible Skills". Go to this page on their website and you'll see both resources under Ministry Training Tools:
https://www.lifeway.com/en/spe...of-biblical-learning

Also there's a great book called "Teaching on Target: Age Level Insights" by Dr. Robert Choun and Jane Willson Choun, published by Group. ISBN 0764422324. I can't pull it up at their site any more, but saw some listed 'used' at Amazon.