Christian Education

The Workshop Rotation Model
A Brief Introduction & History

The Workshop Rotation Model for Sunday School began in 1990 when a Presbyterian church in Chicago decided it was time to reinvent Sunday School or close it down. By 1995 enough churches in the Chicago area had successfully adopted the Model to call it a movement. Many of the original Chicago Rotation educators began organizing conferences. Several started publishing ministries. As of 2005, it is estimated that over 8000 churches in the U.S. and Canada have now adopted or adapted the Model.

"We weren't trying to invent a new model, -we were just trying to solve our problems," said Melissa Hansche, D.C.E. at the Presbyterian Church of Barrington, -the church in Chicago Presbytery where the model got its start. What problems is she referring to?

	Bored kids and teachers
	Declining attendance
	Lack of Bible literacy
	Drab and uninviting classrooms
	Sedentary teaching
	Expensive curriculum (that's half used)
	Poor teacher preparation
	Trouble recruiting teachers
	(your problem here)

The decline in Sunday School is one of the worst kept secrets in the Church. Some say "it's a sign of the times." Others of us wonder out loud whether the traditional model EVER worked. (Where are all those kids we had in our Sunday Schools back in the so-called "good old days" of the 50's and 60's? They're at home reading the Sunday paper.) "Like a lot of other churches in our Presbytery, we knew we had to do something and soon." said Hansche. "And we knew that looking for yet another ‘new and improved' curriculum wasn't the answer either. Been there, done that."

Here's the Workshop Rotation Model in a nutshell: Teach major Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops: an Art workshop, Drama, Music, Games, A-V, Puppets, Storytelling, Computers, and any other educational media you can get your hands on. Teach the same Bible story in all of the workshops for four or five weeks rotating the kids to a different workshop each week. And here comes the extremely teacher friendly part: Keep the same teacher in each workshop for all five weeks -teaching the same lesson week after week (with some age appropriate adjustments) to each new class coming in. The results, says Linda Beckham, D.C.E. at Tampa's Palma Ceia Church are astounding. "The kids love it, the teachers love it, and we can't ever imagine going back to the old way."

Here's why it works: The Workshop Rotation Model concentrates on the major stories of the Bible over and over again. It eschews the popular but educationally unsound lectionary idea of changing the story each week. The model's philosophy recognizes that kids not only love repetition, but they need it to develop a lasting memory and understanding of content. The multi-intelligences (creative methods) approach in the model isn't a fad or merely kid-friendly, it is calculated to take advantage of our student's God-given thirst for multi-modal learning. Traditional designs have long attempted to teach through multimedia, but their frenetic lessons with six or more different steps, a game, a craft, Bible study and music all in 45 minutes left our teachers breathless. And few had the gifts to teach in each mode properly.

The model allows teachers to get better at their lesson. By the second week of the rotation, the teacher is already improving the original lesson plan for the next class. No more "if I only would have...." in the parking lot after class. No more Saturday night planning. No more recruitment hassles, --teachers are happy to sign up for five week rotations. And because the teacher is assigned to teach in the creative mode they are comfortable with, the teaching and learning experience are enriched. No more lectures and music cassettes still in their cellophane wrappers, no more overused worksheets, or fumbling popsicle stick Jesus' crafts.

The Model also buries the beige and boring classroom in a blizzard of creative kid-oriented design. It says "we're teaching kids, not cons," and we want them to come back. Because each room is organized around a specific teaching medium, dramatic makeovers don't get torn down a week or a month later like they do in traditional classrooms or VBS. Theater workshops can sprout theater seats and a popcorn machine. Drama workshops get a stage and accumulate props and lighting. Computer workshops get dedicated secure space for their equipment. Art Workshops become messy exciting places to learn.

This site was last updated 01/06/10