QUESTIONNAIRE - Curriculum Committee, Ownbey Class

Don and Bill: This is a great idea - to get this feedback as you guys start a new year and a new administration. Thanks for asking. Also thanks for agreeing to recording and doing the schedule, etc. DSR 10/30/03

1. Is Thursday evening a good time to meet? Any ok except weekend.

2. Should we include food? Yes beverage? Yes

3. The meeting should be how long. 2 hours ok

4. We should start at 6 PM 6:30 PM 7:00 PM 7:30 PM (Circle one) Earlier the better, but some work and early is hard. 7:30 seems late if eating.

5. Should we survey the class for lesson topics? Yes, and for ideas similar to this survey.

6. Do you have an area in which you are especially interested, and would like to teach? Sometime.

7. Are you interested in trying some different formats, perhaps once a quarter, such as: Team of two teaching, Interview, Debate, and Panel. We have outstanding teachers and lessons. Still variety could be good this way, and nothing wrong with a straight lecture every now and then. Also think we would like the benefit of hearing other teachers such as Mark Edwards, Melvin McIntosh, the Queens professors, Loy Witherspoon, our ministers, etc., – not every month but maybe one every six or eight months.

8. Should we introduce some flexibility to the schedule~ to allow attendance at church-wide meetings during Sunday school hour? Good Idea. This has been a concern in the past as we did not want to disrupt our set schedule but wanted to be supportive of church wide efforts. Ownbey efforts helped result in a better policy (announcements 90 days in advance). We could leave a blank in the schedule each quarter, and then rearrange slightly our lessons for the special unanticipated 9:45’s. If there did not develop a group session we could have a Class meeting to cover items we do not have time for during the normal schedule. Class meetings on class time was a suggestion at an earlier Advisory Meeting, but there was no room for it in the schedule and all our teachers showed up in 2003; in the past, a forgetting teacher was the occasion for a class meeting. Or we could use the blank for some outside teachers when it was clear there was no joint session.

9. Are you agreeable to looking over a book between meetings, to evaluate it as teaching material to discuss at the next meeting? YES

10. Please be prepared to give the group three teaching tips you have learned as you have prepared and presented lessons. (Three requested since there will likely be some duplication of ideas.)

1> Speak loudly enough. On a few occasions, I have been asked to make sure the teachers were aware of the need to do this. I believe we can make sure we can be heard and that we do not need to add a mike - then again as we get older, who knows.

2> Wrap up the main points of the lesson at the end of lesson. At one time I discussed the idea of a “red zone” in the last 5 minutes for the teachers (only) to finish and summarize. Some teachers, rightly so, pointed out that it was desirable from an interest standpoint to let the lesson end in the midst of a discussion, and I see the logic from an involvement viewpoint. Still one last question at the end of the lesson from the audience takes away from the benefit of the leader’s final points and summary based on his (hours of) preparation.

3> Not exactly a “teaching tip” but a device to help class appreciate the teacher better is the development of bios on the teachers and to “introduce” them at least sometime during a year. We know all the teachers, but even so, I really do not know what they do or their background other than generally. I think the “introduction” was worthwhile last Sunday to learn of William’s passion for the Stephen Ministry and his leadership role there. You might want to check the web page of the Luther Snyder Class to see what they do and they were the source of my revived interest in trying to do this.

4> If more of the class members read the books before class it would make for better discussions. We have tried to encourage the class to do so by mentioning it, telling we have the books and they may borrow, and by putting links on the web page directly to the books on Amazon. Still only a very few read the books. Some teacher even mentioned it is not really a discussion when only the teacher has read the lesson. You as teachers have been through this item before and know better than I that the desires of the class appear not to want to do it. Yet it is worth another try in my opinion. Of course there is a problem of availability of the books, and I do not know how to solve that issue other than having copies available early. Even though I found if I read the book and knew the book answers it was not as much fun, teachers could direct the lessons to take advantage of more people having read them.

PLEASE BRING THIS SHEET WITH YOU TO THE MEETING along with any material you would like to present to the group! DEH 10/29/03