Three steps to a strong SRE lesson

The rule of threes states a trio of events or characters is more effective than other numbers, so it’s no wonder our SRE curricula follow the rule of threes.

Do you remember this slogan, “a Mars a day helps you work, rest and play”? How about the Japanese story of the three wise monkeys who “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil”? Or for those with a historical bent, the famous words spoken by Julius Caesar, ‘Veni, vidi, vici’—a triad translated from Latin as "I came, I saw, I conquered".

What do these all have in common? The rule of threes.

The rule of threes states that a trio of events or characters is more humorous, satisfying, or effective (see–I just did it again!) than other numbers.

Just as in joke-telling or yarn-spinning, so too in SRE lessons. In fact, the SRE lessons in the Kindy, Primary, and High School curricula all follow the rule of threes.

To have an effective SRE lesson, I have found focusing on these three sections is helpful.

1. Introduction to the lesson: a time of connection (5 mins)

In Kindy and Primary this is called: Way in; in Year 6: Intro; in High School: Connecting

The key thing to focus on in your first five minutes of every lesson is connections. These connections come in multiple forms.

First, you want your students to connect with you, (and vice-versa!). You haven’t seen them in a week – spend a few moments asking them how they are and what’s been happening in their world!

Second, you want to make a connection between last week’s lesson and this week’s lesson. A quick revision question is usually enough. This week, mine was as simple as:

“Who was the person you learned about last week?”

and when faced with blank faces, I gave more detail,

“The one the angels sang about when he was born?”

Soon almost the whole class could remember.

Third, you want to connect last week’s lesson to this week’s lesson. A simple link statement like,

“Last week we saw what happened when Jesus was a baby, this week we’re going to see what happened when Jesus was a little boy.”

A final connection you might want to make is to connect the lesson content to the students’ lives. In the story of the boy Jesus at the Temple, Jesus is lost from his family. Maybe you might want the students to reflect on a time they lost something.

2. Main teaching section: a time of Bible focus

Kindy and Primary: Bible Focus; Year 6: Core; High School: Exploring

Once your time of connection is completed, you now want to spend at least 15 minutes or so on God’s Word. The curriculum materials give you ample options for how to go about this: using scripts, plays, audio dramas, approved multimedia clips (check the multimedia policy and submit for approval). In addition to all these amazing techniques, always make sure God’s Word is read to the students.

Of course, this will look different in a Kindy class compared to a Year 6 or a high school class. For instance, a Kindy class may listen as you read to them the Psalm from the lesson. They then might act out (for example, stretching up to the sky when you read “God’s love reaches higher than the heavens”). Then, they might repeat back key words.

If you want to use Bibles in primary school, be aware that it will take time for the students to find the book, chapter and verse, and you will need to make a choice about what activities to leave out. However, teaching the students the skill of finding passages in the Bible—although time-consuming—is something they will be able to use outside of the classroom should they want to read God’s Word in their own time.

Whatever method is most appropriate for the age and stage of your students, make sure God’s Word takes up the majority of your lesson time.

3. Conclusion: a time of student reflection

Kindy: Students’ response; Primary: Connections; Year 6: Pulling it together; High School: Forming

Finally, your conclusion time should wrap up the key point of the lesson while also giving students the chance to reflect on what they have learned. In Primary SRE, workbooks are a wonderful way to do this. In High School, the Ticket to Leave exercise is the perfect opportunity for students to write a few sentences about what they have learned at the end of the lesson.

I hope and pray that these three steps will help you as they have helped me in teaching God’s Word in SRE.