Preparing a week long DTS teaching

Many of us want to teach in the DTS, but how do we prepare a week long teaching?

1. So make a list of the subjects that most interest you.

The first thing you need to do is find the topic that excites you. If you're not excited about it, your students won't be either.

2. Become a sponge.

After you've narrowed down the list of topics to the one that interests you the most then you go to work learning everything you can about that topic. Find resources online, your old DTS notes, write your friends who teach on that topic, write speakers who are well known in that topic, and get stories that will help you illustrate your point. Then start putting all that your collecting into one easy to reference area, maybe a file on your computer.

3. Organize.

Its at this point that you will hopefully start seeing themes emerging from all your notes. Begin to organize your notes into themes for your week. Then begin to put your themes into a logical order with each point building on the last. As you continue to gather information you can then filter it into your week wherever it makes sense.

4. Add space for students to process.

I've found it incredibly helpful to put a review time at the start of each of my sessions. This allows the students to verbalize what they've learned and hopefully it will help them retain what you've taught them. I've also found it incredibly helpful to put discussion questions at the end of each of my lectures (I get a lot of positive feedback from doing this). Discussion questions can be for pairs of 2, the whole class or just on their own. The point is that you are helping them process what your teaching and hopefully helping them retain the info.

5. Don't forget the details

I often remember stories better than anything else and I don't think I'm alone in this. Make sure to have stories, quotes, and movie clips to help your week. Also, spending time making a good power point presentation can help keep students engaged.

6. Don't get overwhelmed

Its very easy to get overwhelmed with trying to prepare a week long teaching. Instead just focus on working on your week a little each day. Even ten minutes a day will add up quickly. What often happens is we are overwhelmed with all we need to do, so we don't do anything.

7. Enjoy the process!

I've found that preparing a teaching is an incredible way to grow with the Lord. Don't see it as a burden, but a chance to serve others and to learn more yourself.

Hopefully this will help you prepare your week long DTS teaching.

Anonymous YWAMer

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