How to plan for your first SRE lesson back

Get ready to return to SRE by reviewing your past lessons and preparing your upcoming content.

Each week I teach two SRE classes in a local school. My first class is from Kindergarten to Year 2, and my second class is students from Years 3 to 6. These groups are so different but they contain many wonderful kids, making SRE the highlight of my week.

When SRE was paused due to Coronavirus I was devastated. Everything happened so quickly and there was no chance for me to warn my students we wouldn’t see each other for a while or to ask how they were feeling and to let them know I would be praying for them.

The past term has felt very long for me and I’m sure you’re feeling the same. A few weeks ago I was searching for any glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully, that light is now very bright and very close! Next term SRE resumes and teachers will get to walk into their classes and see their students’ smiling faces again.

Needless to say, I’m excited. But I also have a lot of other emotions. I know I have to adjust to new hygiene procedures in the school. I may need to use the classroom differently. I have to consider new questions – is it okay for me to handout workbooks? Will I need to sanitise them each week? Do I need to make sure all my students are maintaining physical distance and if so how will I do that?

You may have similar questions and a great place to start getting answers is to read through the Return to SRE Guidelines. In the meantime, there are many ways you can start preparing for that first week back.

Pull out your class list and start praying

This is a great habit to get into and many SRE teachers will be doing this already. Personally, I have begun to use my usual SRE time to pray for my students by name. I’ll pull out my class lists and pray for them one at a time.

Many SRE teachers only taught two or three lessons before pausing teaching, so you may not know all your students yet. But praying for them will help you to remember their names. Even if you can’t put a face to the name, you’ll find this an easier task in the classroom if you have memorised the list of names.

Review your last lesson

Do you remember what your last lesson was? Now is the perfect time to go back to your teacher’s manual and look at the curriculum again. Review the visual aids and lesson props you used last.

Remember, if you can’t recall your last lesson it is very likely your students won’t be able to either, at least not without some prompting.

Know what’s coming next

If you don’t know already, ask your SRE coordinator which part of the authorised curriculum you are going to teach. Will you continue with the semester one lessons or move on to semester two? Which lesson will you start with?

If you’re continuing with semester one, it’s a great idea to help your students remember their prior learning, so it would be wise to set aside your first lesson for revision.

However, many will start afresh with the semester two curriculum. The advantage of this, for those using Connect, is that A2 is all about the one who trusted completely and obeyed God perfectly – Jesus. Teaching Jesus’ words directly is something that many SRE teachers look forward to and will be a wonderful way to begin your lessons again.

If you are going to use semester two curriculum you still need to have a plan for what revision will look like in your first lesson. You may choose to look back on the lessons you got to teach in the first term. Or you may begin with the topic of trusting God as you would at the start of a new teaching year.

Also, no matter which part of the program you plan to teach, you will need to ensure you know where you are headed for the rest of the year.

Anticipate questions and have a plan for answering them

Anticipating questions is another great habit to get into, as it helps you to diligently prepare for your lessons. In this case, you might try to think about the questions students have about Coronavirus, about whether God is really in control, about suffering and many other related topics. SRE should an opportunity for students to ask these kinds of questions, to help the Bible to connect with their lives.

Now, you won’t find answers to Coronavirus questions in the teacher’s manual. But what you will find is the mega narrative of the Bible, which reveals to us the character of God and the way he has faithfully throughout history worked to bring his promises to reality. This is where the answers to many student questions are found. You will also receive more guidance about answering questions over the coming weeks.

A great way to deal with questions is a question box. This allows students to ask as much as they want (and anonymously) while giving you an opportunity to take their questions home and think about how you’ll answer them. You can talk to other SRE teachers and you can look at upcoming lessons to see which ones will provide natural opportunities to answer.

I know that I will take extra time to prepare my first lesson back. I’ll probably arrive at school a little bit early to make sure I know what the day is going to look like. As we get close to that light at the end of the tunnel, I’ll be praying a whole lot more.

What can you do this week, to start preparing for your first lesson back?