New sunday school teacher

Yup, I am the new Sunday school teacher for the 16-17 year olds. Tough group, lucky for me there is a second teacher who has been with the group for a while. Dan is my neighbor and all around great guy...



The first lesson we had (where I was teacher) I felt like we should do something fun and at the same time try to give myself some help in learning names and faces. The class is large (24 kids), but only about half of the usual group showed up. There has been a bug going around and I know a few were out of town. We spent some time getting to know each other, I told the kids about what I do, showed some pictures of my little family and then we took some pictures which I told the class I would turn into a slide show. I have the slide show ready for them....

I really felt like I needed to do something to build a friendship with these kids, and well everyone loves to see themselves, enjoys being the center of attention, especially if they think they look good or cool. We took about 10 minutes of the time allotted for the lesson to do this little exercise leaving 30 minutes or so to dig into the real lesson.

Part of this is so I can remember names (I have always had a hard time with names). I had each student hold up a print out of their name for one pic, then they were supposed to put down the name tag and do something fun, a pose that shows their personality. Here are the personalities...

RANDY (the cool cat)


HUTCH (trying to look confused but he never is)


DOUG (in perpetual state of dubiousness, about the new teacher)


SCOTT (Some kids are jokers)


JOY (tough girl and regular strong arm)


ANNALEE (a real scholar and philosopher)


TRENT (Going for the "I go caught red handed look")


CHARLEY (His hair is on end, I just don't know what else to say)


RYAN (Calm and collected, unfazed by anything thrown his way)


I am really excited to be a teacher for this age group. I also think it is going to be a monumental challenge as when these kids all are in the same room things can get a bit rambunctious. I really feel like we connected, and as experience tells me with kids this age it is important to connect. Communication is key and trust pivotal. This is going to be a fun year.