Comments on: So, You Were Asked to be the Sunday School Superintendent! http://mintools.com/blog/sunday-school-superintendent.htm equipping believers for ministry Sun, 20 May 2012 19:26:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Ron Giddens http://mintools.com/blog/sunday-school-superintendent.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2674 Ron Giddens Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:22:11 +0000 http://mintools.com/blog/?p=2872#comment-2674 Thank you for your encouragement. God bless your efforts to "equip the saints." Thank you for your encouragement. God bless your efforts to “equip the saints.”

]]> By: MinTools http://mintools.com/blog/sunday-school-superintendent.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2673 MinTools Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:41:07 +0000 http://mintools.com/blog/?p=2872#comment-2673 You are most welcome, Ron. We would be glad to pray for your church and specifically its Sunday School ministry. Though small, God can still use it right NOW to lay some good foundations as you seek to line up with God's heart and ways for it. Let me encourage you to make it the best and most impacting it possibly can be NOW. An increase in attendance would certainly be a good thing but also very, very important is what is happening in the lives of those who attend NOW. In addition, those currently attending will have a major role in the growth of your Sunday School. A study was done years ago, which I believe to still be true, concluding that a significant percentage of the people who initially attend Sunday School, become a Christian, or become a member of a church, do so because of friends/relatives. What this suggests is that in the final analysis the people currently attending are going to have a more significant role than special programs/events, visitation, etc. in the growth of your Sunday School. If those currently attending aren't excited about it or aren't being personally impacted as a result, they will be less likely to bring friends/family with them. And, if they do, the friends/family won't be as prone to keep coming back and bring their friends/family if they don't sense anything happening there. So, again, I repeat, make your Sunday School the best and most impacting it possibly can be NOW while you are small. Your request for prayer is so strategic to this. You are most welcome, Ron. We would be glad to pray for your church and specifically its Sunday School ministry. Though small, God can still use it right NOW to lay some good foundations as you seek to line up with God’s heart and ways for it. Let me encourage you to make it the best and most impacting it possibly can be NOW. An increase in attendance would certainly be a good thing but also very, very important is what is happening in the lives of those who attend NOW. In addition, those currently attending will have a major role in the growth of your Sunday School.

A study was done years ago, which I believe to still be true, concluding that a significant percentage of the people who initially attend Sunday School, become a Christian, or become a member of a church, do so because of friends/relatives. What this suggests is that in the final analysis the people currently attending are going to have a more significant role than special programs/events, visitation, etc. in the growth of your Sunday School. If those currently attending aren’t excited about it or aren’t being personally impacted as a result, they will be less likely to bring friends/family with them. And, if they do, the friends/family won’t be as prone to keep coming back and bring their friends/family if they don’t sense anything happening there. So, again, I repeat, make your Sunday School the best and most impacting it possibly can be NOW while you are small. Your request for prayer is so strategic to this.

]]> By: Ron Giddens http://mintools.com/blog/sunday-school-superintendent.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2672 Ron Giddens Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:01:09 +0000 http://mintools.com/blog/?p=2872#comment-2672 There is a lot I don't know yet but I am willing to learn. Thank you for the information in this post. God bless you in your ministry. We are a small church of about 65 - 70 attendance in worship service. Our SS is considerably less. We are looking for ways to increase. We covet your prayers. Thanks There is a lot I don’t know yet but I am willing to learn. Thank you for the information in this post. God bless you in your ministry. We are a small church of about 65 – 70 attendance in worship service. Our SS is considerably less. We are looking for ways to increase. We covet your prayers. Thanks

]]> By: MinTools http://mintools.com/blog/sunday-school-superintendent.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2588 MinTools Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:06:03 +0000 http://mintools.com/blog/?p=2872#comment-2588 So glad it was helpful, Denise. May God use it to His glory. So glad it was helpful, Denise. May God use it to His glory.

]]> By: Denise http://mintools.com/blog/sunday-school-superintendent.htm/comment-page-1#comment-2587 Denise Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:53:56 +0000 http://mintools.com/blog/?p=2872#comment-2587 This entire collective piece of information was most helpful. Thank you. This entire collective piece of information was most helpful.

Thank you.

]]> By: MinTools http://mintools.com/blog/sunday-school-superintendent.htm/comment-page-1#comment-1228 MinTools Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:45:14 +0000 http://mintools.com/blog/?p=2872#comment-1228 Hello, Abbie. Evaluation is an important responsibility of a Sunday School superintendent and needs to be done with the right motivation but also using a process that is constructive. If you are sharing results with teachers, you need to prepare them for both positive and negative criticism. You do not want them getting defensive nor so discouraged that they want to quit. Help them understand that it is a tool. Having students evaluate the teachers is one way of doing it. Self-assessment can also be good. And, observation of teachers by leadership can be helpful as well. Ideally, a combination of all three would be good using a similar set of questions with each and then comparing all results. That way if any of the results are skewed, a look from the three perspectives could help bring a more realistic picture. The exact questions you use would have to be worded in keeping with the age of the students ... children, youth, or adults. The questions you use should also reflect what you want to measure. You might want to use a scale for them to respond with rather than a simple yes/no format of questions to potentially get a more accurate representation of how the teacher is doing. Or you might ask them to give examples. You want to avoid students being able to simply check off responses without truly thinking it through or being able to back it up so the evaluation doesn't become a personality check but rather is a true assessment of the teaching. You can ask: 1) if the teacher seems prepared 2) if the teacher seems to have a good understanding of the lesson himself 3) if the teacher communicates in ways they can understand (i.e., vocabulary, concepts, etc.) 4) if the teacher encourages participation 5) if the teacher uses enough variety & creative methodology 6) if the teacher uses enough visualization in the lesson 7) if the teacher uses class time wisely 8) if the teacher seems to answer questions honestly and respectfully 9) if the teacher explains instructions well 10) if the teacher is clear about expectations 11) if the teacher seems attentive to student needs You can also ask questions along the line of: 1) how the teacher has contributed to their spiritual growth 2) what they see as the teacher's greatest strength 3) what is most frustrating to them about the Sunday School class Hello, Abbie. Evaluation is an important responsibility of a Sunday School superintendent and needs to be done with the right motivation but also using a process that is constructive. If you are sharing results with teachers, you need to prepare them for both positive and negative criticism. You do not want them getting defensive nor so discouraged that they want to quit. Help them understand that it is a tool. Having students evaluate the teachers is one way of doing it. Self-assessment can also be good. And, observation of teachers by leadership can be helpful as well. Ideally, a combination of all three would be good using a similar set of questions with each and then comparing all results. That way if any of the results are skewed, a look from the three perspectives could help bring a more realistic picture.

The exact questions you use would have to be worded in keeping with the age of the students … children, youth, or adults. The questions you use should also reflect what you want to measure.

You might want to use a scale for them to respond with rather than a simple yes/no format of questions to potentially get a more accurate representation of how the teacher is doing. Or you might ask them to give examples. You want to avoid students being able to simply check off responses without truly thinking it through or being able to back it up so the evaluation doesn’t become a personality check but rather is a true assessment of the teaching.

You can ask:

1) if the teacher seems prepared
2) if the teacher seems to have a good understanding of the lesson himself
3) if the teacher communicates in ways they can understand (i.e., vocabulary, concepts, etc.)
4) if the teacher encourages participation
5) if the teacher uses enough variety & creative methodology
6) if the teacher uses enough visualization in the lesson
7) if the teacher uses class time wisely
8) if the teacher seems to answer questions honestly and respectfully
9) if the teacher explains instructions well
10) if the teacher is clear about expectations
11) if the teacher seems attentive to student needs

You can also ask questions along the line of:

1) how the teacher has contributed to their spiritual growth
2) what they see as the teacher’s greatest strength
3) what is most frustrating to them about the Sunday School class

]]> By: abbie butler http://mintools.com/blog/sunday-school-superintendent.htm/comment-page-1#comment-1227 abbie butler Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:53:06 +0000 http://mintools.com/blog/?p=2872#comment-1227 What questions can be asked of the students to evaluate the effectiveness of the Sunday School teachers ? What questions can be asked of the students to evaluate the effectiveness of the Sunday School teachers ?

]]>