Creative Questions

Who is the author?

Who are the recipients?

Why did the author write the letter?

What is the historical setting for the letter?

Sound familiar?  These are the typical kinds of questions we ask when doing a review at the beginning of a Precept Upon Precept class.

You will get no argument from me that it is super important for students to keep reviewing and reinforcing what they’ve already learned and use that knowledge as a basis for what they will learn. But can I just say — don’t these kinds of questions sometimes get B.O.R.I.N.G?  I mean, week after week, same old same old?!  Yes, we need our students to remember this information.  Still, I wonder: could we do the review in a more interesting or engaging way to help students remember without repeating the same questions every week?  I’m not suggesting anything complicated or time-consuming, just something different and possibly more memorable.

Still, I wonder: could we do the review in a more interesting or engaging way to help students remember without repeating the same questions every week?

I have tried a couple of things with my classes that may get you thinking of ways you can add interest to your weekly reviews. I am by no means an expert in this area, but thankfully our God is the Master of creativity and design, and He gives ideas and inspiration when we need them.

When my class studied the book of Daniel, it was important for the students to understand that the chapters were not necessarily chronological; some of the prophecy chapters fit in between the historical chapters.  There were also several time references and different Babylonian kings to keep track of.  My classroom did not have a whiteboard, so what’s a teacher to do?  I had chairs and lots of them. So I made up hand-printed labels for each chair with the chapter number, timing, ruling king and a one-word (hopefully catchy) chapter theme.  Each week, we simply arranged the chairs to reflect what we were learning from our study of Daniel about the actual order of events.  By the end of our study, students understood the chronology and main events with a pretty memorable visual.

 

My current class is studying Hebrews Part 1, and although we are only on Lesson 10 (with 15 more lessons to go), I just could not ask the same review questions again.  Being on Zoom, I couldn’t use my trusty chairs , so I created a Pop Quiz on PowerPoint (view it below).  I have not had much experience with PowerPoint (just learning by doing, no formal courses or training). Still, it was fairly simple to put together a few multiple-choice questions to cover the same material as the typical review questions, but in a more engaging way.

What about preparing some Jeopardy-style questions and answers?  Or perhaps an old-school Bible sword drill where you have your class look up specific Scriptures that will cover the main points of the review.  If every person in your class has a Smartphone, you could use an app such as Kahoot to have students “compete” against each other to answer questions that cover the review.

If you have used a unique review technique with your class, head on over to our Facebook group —  Precept Canada Bible Study Leaders and tell us what you did.  We can all learn from and be inspired by each other.

Do I ever use the typical questions? Absolutely — in fact, most of the time! But something tells me that when we change things up, our students sit up and pay more attention and are more engaged and will likely retain more and for a longer time.

Check out upcoming online Training Workshops for you to establish yourself in His Word and make disciples. 

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