Customer Reviews

Ready-to-Go Game Shows That Teach Serious Stuff: Bible Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Think way back to your years in school. Do you remember playing a game of classroom "baseball" to review important information before a big test? I can still remember the question and answer from our government class that gave our team the "grand slam."

Do you remember "Dale's Cone of Learning" from your teacher training? Dale Edgar's model is that students learn best through direct experience, simulations, games and excercises.

If you would like to add fun "game show" style learning to your programs, please get a copy of the latest spiral bound book from St. Mary's Press: "Ready to Go Game Shows that Teach Serious-Stuff-Bible Edition" by Michael Theisen. This little book contains a dozen learning activities modeled after popular current shows such "Who Wants to Be a Millonaire," "Wheel of Fortune" and others. By the way, a variation of the baseball game I mentioned above is in this book.

Preparation for these games is easy and the supply list is, in typical St. Mary's Press style, inexpensive and easy to obtain. A working knowledge of the game shows helps, but is not required. Unless your teens have been raised in a media vacuum, they will recognize and be ready to play these games. If, however, it is you who has been in the media void, Michael explains the games in a clear, easy manner. The included diagrams for the room set up will help you to quickly construct the right environment. Questions and answers are clearly listed for the Bible based subjects and include simple notes for the "teachable moment."

Both classroom school teachers and volunteer teachers will find this volume useful. You will also like the size of this book. It is small and light which makes it easy to put into a book bag. The spiral binding lets the book lay flat for easy reading. We need more spiral bound resources!

I would invite you to encourage your teams to create their own question sets for future games. What a great project for older teens to do- create questions and games for young teens. The old quote, "If you would truly know something, teach it." applies here.

"Who wants to be a better teacher?" You will be when you use your copy of "Ready to Go Game Shows."

And that's my final answer

This is a helpful resource. What I find most useful is the clear structure for each game show. With some tweaking, a catechist could use any of the games in a variety of settings, from a small group to a larger class. Even though the games are clearly explained, it is still time consuming to "stage" any of them because of the supplies the host/teacher needs to assemble. Also, if you want to adapt the questions to your specific curriculum/chapter/unit, you'll have to write the questions yourself. Overall, I think this is a good kick start for your own creative thinking.

This book was very helpful in teaching the class..It is very good on the information and the kids enjoyed it tremendously..