The 7 Most Common Mistakes Teachers Make

Here are the seven most common mistakes children’s ministry teachers make where they need to either talk less or talk more efficiently.

Teachers, on the whole, are doing a great job. They love children, pray for their students. and prepare for their lessons. They’re just pretty wonderful. But, often, even the best teachers can talk too much. And this “teacher talk” creates static in the classroom. With a little fine-tuning, teachers can remove the static and become even more effective as translators for the most important Messenger.

7 Most Common Mistakes Teachers Make

Mistake #1. Lecture

In many classrooms, kids sit the entire time while teachers lecture. Some curriculum publishers are mostly to blame for this one. Their story-time suggestions amount to 20 minutes of teacher-talk with a few uninteresting visual aids. But it’s not all on the curriculum writers—even a good teacher can steamroll a good curriculum with lecture. Instead, teachers can be artists whose brush strokes color kids’ discovery process with meaning. An effective teacher involves children in hands-on, direct experiences. As kids discover Bible truths, effective teachers subtly direct their experience with a few well-placed comments or questions.

Mistake #2. Teacher-Centered Communication

To determine if a classroom is too teacher-centered, bring a ball of yarn to class. (Tell kids you’re doing an experiment.) Every time anyone says anything related to the lesson content (don’t count kids’ unrelated comments), hold onto one end of the string and toss the ball to that person. That person holds onto one end of the string and tosses the ball to the next person who says something.

At the end of class, you’ll want to have a tangled web that goes all over the room—rather than from teacher to student to teacher. The latter is a sign of too much teacher talk. Encourage the children’s ministry teacher to ask questions and get kids to discuss their answers in pairs before they tell the teacher. Even better, have kids debate or defend differing answers. When a child answers a question, ask the others to comment on the answer—”What do the rest of you think about what Kelly has said?” Get kids talking to each other instead of only with the teacher.

Mistake #3. Teachers Use Inadequate Transitions

Children’s ministry teachers, and kids, get caught up in the pace of the lesson. We do this thing, then we move on to that thing, and now we do this thing. This approach to the lesson is fragmented and results in children not seeing how everything fits together. Rather than saying after each activity, “Now, let’s move on to the next thing,” teach your teachers to tie each activity together (if the curriculum doesn’t).

First of all, encourage teachers to read their curriculum and determine if the transitions have always been there but they haven’t been using them. Look for transitional words such as “also,” “however,” “therefore,” or “let’s find out more about” to tie one activity to another one. If the transitions aren’t there, have teachers write in the margin of their lesson what they could say to give that activity meaning. Or have them restate the purpose of a just-completed activity and then lead into the next activity. For example, they could say, “We’ve just discovered that Jesus is God’s gift to us. In this next activity, we get to thank God for Jesus.”

Mistake #4. Storehouse of Knowledge

Some children’s ministry teachers feel they have to expound on everything. They may drone on and on about Bible minutiae while children yawn and long for the “bell” to ring. Have teachers think about how much kids really need to know. Then have them explore how kids could discover those things on their own. If it’s important for kids to know all about sackcloth and ashes, don’t tell them about it. Bring burlap and ashes in and have kids put them on their bodies. Ask lots of questions: How does it feel? Why do you think people wore this when they were sorry for their sins? Would you want to wear it? What do we do when we’re sorry for our sins?

Mistake #5. Total Coverage

Another problem is that teachers talk so much they don’t let kids share their personal experiences. “I gotta cover the material,” they think—as though the curriculum is some kind of magical cure-all that’ll teach children if it can only be completed. Help teachers see the God-ordained lessons apart from the curriculum. Encourage them to let children talk about things that even remotely connect to the lesson. Children will remember the things they say much more than the things the teacher says.

Mistake #6. One-Upmanship

You’ve seen it happen a hundred times. In fact, you’ve probably had it happen to you at some point. You venture to give an answer to a question. It’s a good answer. In fact, the teacher thinks it’s such a great answer, that he goes on and on giving further background and related information to shed light on your great answer…until, you feel like a dummy because you didn’t think of all that, and you wish you’d never said anything at all. When a child gives an answer, avoid the temptation to do a mini-lecture on that point.

Mistake #7. Teachers Using Incomplete Directions

Teachers often tell children to start an activity before they’ve given full instructions. Children excitedly begin, only to be interrupted by a teacher yelling, “Oh! I forgot to tell you!”

It’s very difficult to regain the children’s attention, and it’s distracting. Teachers need to give full instructions, repeat them, answer any questions, and then have children move into position to do the activity. The bulk of the talking during the activity should be the excited hum of kids learning.

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