Greetings,
Welcome to Powerful Points Bible Study for Kids.
I am grateful that you have given me this chance to tell you a little about
myself, what I am trying to do and why?
My name is Linda Shanks and I am from the mid-west, more specifically Iowa.
I'm not a teacher by trade. By that I mean I do not have a certificate
in professional education. But I do a lot of teaching. As a
consultant for computer software, the usual need is to know how to solve a
problem and teach the client how to avoid it.
I've taught children in church for more years than I really like to think
about. I was teaching the Nursery and Kindergarten Sunday School Classes
by the time I was in 8th grade. Tell the children a Bible story, keep them supplied with
crayons and pictures to color and hey, they were happy. Teacher of VBS???
You bet!!! More Bible Stories and lots of children go together with crafts
and snacks. When I went to Vacation Bible School it was the start of
"summer vacation." It lasted all day. We took our lunch in a sack
and did two weeks worth of lessons.
The times have changed, but much is still the same. We are just much more sophisticated. Children in
the school system these days are much more technology savvy. While
telling a story and coloring is still a great option for youngsters, it just
isn't enough for more than a few classes. They want to be challenged or
you lose their attention and they are off doing something else. Usually
messing with the kids in the class and disrupting everyone.
I've spent many hours looking at the commercial products for my classes and
I've used a lot of them. But many times I've wanted something new...
something more up to date. I make no claims to have the whole
answer, nor will this fit everyone's curriculum. But with some additions
to the class room or making use of home computers it can work for anyone who
wants to make the effort to rise above the ordinary Bible classes for children.
As the director of the K-6th grades at Franklin Avenue Christian Church I was
challenged every week. I am also fortunate that with the help of members
and local computer stores we have the option of having a computer lab for anyone
who wants to make use of it. They beg me to let them use the computers.
There are some great Christian programs that make use of computers for teaching
children, but not enough!!!! There can never be enough.
I'm putting together a series of lessons using a program that is used by
many. The only difference with my lessons are that they are converted into
flash, thus saving my "copyrighted" version from being "abused". By
using a PowerPoint Presentation converted to flash series of lessons, teachers can make their way through the lesson at their own pace. The same
can be said of a book, but if you only have one book, only a few can see what
the teacher is reading. Telling the Bible story is fine, but children these days
are so much more stimulated if there are good graphics to go with the story.
I'm simply taking an old principal and putting it in a new format.
The possibilities are many when you use a Multi-purpose presentation program
to get the POWERFUL Biblical POINTS Bible Study for Kids series of lessons
across to the children, or whom ever you may be teaching. Businesses do it
... Churches are now doing it more and more in church services. Why
shouldn't the children have the same benefits?
So I make a promise to add to the collection of electronic Bible lessons.
This is a huge challenge and I will make use of all the resources that are
available to me to give you the very best Bible study tools I can. GOD WILL PROVIDE, because this is not my project but
HIS!!! Every goal is being met and always just when I feel I can't
figure out the next step there is an answer. I am listening and we are
doing. I have the best support team there is. In fact, I have
several teams working towards the end. I love them all.
God bless you and those you are teaching,
Linda
