It’s A Women’s World

One of the things we have to realize about children is, just because they are in church, it doesn’t mean they won’t be children. Kids need stimulation and if you don’t have the right Sunday school materials, the lessons simply will not sink in. Not only are good Sunday school lesson plans required, but the activities must be timed perfectly. You need to strike the right balance between individual work, group work, lectures and games. Your Sunday school material has to be fresh, up to date, interesting and relevant to the lives of the kids you are teaching. I am not saying that you shouldn’t use the Bible in your Sunday school materials – of course you should. There is just more than one way to teach that book.

I try to never use the same Sunday school materials for more than two years in a row. That way, I will change my Sunday school lesson plans as frequently as possible. I am not saying that all of the Sunday school material gets old. A lot of it remains relevant for decades at a time. It is important to make yourself constantly re-examine and re-work in the Sunday school materials that you are using. There are too many Sunday schools that preach in an outdated manner to kids who are no longer listening. You can talk about the decline of teenage culture as much as you want, but the fact remains that unless you talk to the kids in their language, they won’t listen.

Some of my favorite Sunday school materials have been made by the kids themselves. The more you can get the kids to participate and the more ways you can get them to work together, the better. This means that it can be a lot of fun to make the kids do the lesson plans themselves. I always have each of the kids come up with some of the Sunday school materials. One day a month, the children will teach the lesson. They’ll make their own Sunday school materials, plan out their own mini-lessons and be quizzed on what the other children presented. In this way, they have to engage with the materials Sunday school more fully. They have to become aware of what is involved in teaching and learn their lessons well enough to explain them to the other children. You never really understand the subject fully until you have had to teach it!

School counseling jobs are a really rewarding way to work as a therapist. When I was in school, I had some really serious trouble. I was definitely what you could call a troubled teenager. I didn’t feel like I fit in, I was trying drugs, I was falling in with the wrong crowd and I was getting poor grades. I had expected the school counselor to simply patronize me when I was called in, but instead he was very understanding and compassionate. He listened to my concerns and really gave me some good advice. The most important thing he did for me was to give me a sense of perspective. He reminded me that high school doesn’t go on forever. The reason I was there was to get prepared for my future and if I didn’t do that it would make the rest of my life a lot harder. He did not try to shock or scare me. He told it to me straight and I appreciated that.

The reason I got involved in school counseling was because I wanted to be like him. I have met too many school counselors who don’t tell it to you straight. Many of them will tell you what they are supposed to, try to scare you away from making the wrong choices. The thing is that shock doesn’t really work with teenagers. Teens have always been cynical, but they are becoming more cynical than ever before. They know when you are lying to them and they won’t listen to you. People in school counseling who tell the truth and give good, straightforward information can really help teenagers out. The world is a scary enough place without making exaggerations.

Before you go into a school of counseling, you should really think carefully about whether it is right for you. Getting involved in education is quite a commitment. A lot of education professionals, whether they are in school counseling, teaching or administrative work, get involved because they think it will be easy. When they realize just how much work it is, some of them burn out. Unless you really have a passion for school counseling, you should stay far away from it. There are so many opportunities in this world that there is no reason to not do what you love. You will do your job better and have a more rewarding and successful life.