Reaching every child

Every child in your group is equally important to God. Every one of them needs to have the same opportunity to come to know Jesus as their loving Saviour.

The more you understand about children in general, the greater your responsibility as a teacher becomes. Each child in your group is unique. They are at different stages of development – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually – and they prefer to learn in different ways – each would choose to learn through different activities and even in different environments. But our natural inclination is to teach in the way that we prefer to learn – we feel happiest offering the activities we enjoy. We may even judge the children that we teach as good or bad depending on how closely they match our own skills and preferences.

Acknowledging that God makes each of us unique, you are challenged to adjust your teaching to match the development stages and learning preferences of all the children in your group. If you are not willing to do that, you are effectively saying that some of the children in your group are less important, or even not important at all, and that you are content to ignore their need for Jesus.

But, whilst every child is different, the good news is that we can categorize the differences and find ways of constructing sessions that enable every child to learn effectively.

Learning preferences
Children are constantly learning new skills and information, but the way that they learn and the circumstances under which they learn most effectively will not be the same for all children. Each one of us has a preferred way of learning, some elements varying with age and other elements remaining fixed throughout our lives.

God made each one of us unique – just as we all have distinctive fingerprints, so we have distinctive ways of learning. But just as fingerprints can be categorized by whorls and other patterns, so our learning preferences can be broken into groups and categories.

Preferred senses
We receive information through all of our senses and, generally, the more senses we involve in any learning experience the better we will retain the information. However we each have sensory preferences for learning and, if we are not given the opportunity to bring those senses into use, we will tend to ‘switch off’ and will be far less likely to learn effectively.

Watch a baby begin to make sense of a new object. If she is able, she will pick up the object and put it to, or in, her mouth. Her tongue and lips are sensitive receptors, her nose is close by, and she wants to be able to experience the object – what it feels, tastes and smells like. Toddlers are into everything – the way they learn best is by touch and activity. This method of learning is known as tactile/kinesthetic, or T/K for short, and all pre-school children can be described as having a T/K sensory preference for learning. Many people, especially boys and men, retain a T/K preference for learning right through adulthood – wanting to learn through experience and needing to move around, constantly shifting in their chair if they are forced to remain seated.

Between the ages of five and nine some children shift to a visual learning preference and by nine-years-old it will be the preference of the majority of children. They lose the need to move around and will find that the stimuli of pictures, diagrams and words are their best aids for effective learning. These children will want a pencil in their hand – drawing, doodling or (as they get older) note taking – as they are taught. Again, many people retain a visual preference for learning through adulthood.

Around, or after, the age of eleven some youngsters will shift to an auditory learning preference, remembering most effectively what they hear (words, music and other sounds).

The apostle John may have been the first to record the importance of involving different senses in learning:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 1 John 1:1 (my underlines)

But whatever the preference, the more senses we involve in learning, the more effective the process is. Whether they have a T/K or visual preference all five- to nine-year-olds need the opportunity to see (an object, visual aid, picture or video), talk about and, if possible, interact with new information or practise a new skill.

Preferred styles
Some of the children in your group will always want to be talking and others will be fiddling with any craft materials on the table before you ever want them to. Yet others will be coming up with crazy suggestions as to what you should do during today’s session whilst the remainder will be sitting waiting for you to start and getting annoyed that you haven’t yet told them what today’s story is going to be about.

Such children are showing the characteristics of the four categories of learning styles. We don’t all fit neatly into one category, but most people have one, or possibly two, dominant styles and these traits apply throughout our lives – from childhood through adulthood.

The children who always want to talk are classified as ‘imaginative’ learners. They learn best by interacting with others. They like sharing and building on other people’s ideas and would much rather work in groups than individually. They are people-centred, caring about the impact of events on the characters in a story, but the details of the story are rarely seen as important – only the broad sweep and its implications. They will want to understand the relevance of a session to their own lives before they see any point in taking part in the lesson. They will often pull the whole group together but they can be disruptive by monopolizing conversations and refusing to stop talking. These children generally like background noise and a setting with plenty of colour. They are ‘can I tell you what happened to me when…?’ children and they are particularly attracted to faith because of the love available through Christ.

The children who want to be ‘hands-on’ are classified as ‘common-sense’ learners. They are active, often with a T/K sensory preference, and practical. They have an idea, or are told something, and they want to try it for themselves. If something works one way then they want to experiment – to see what happens when they change some of the variables. Common-sense learners are logical and they need to see the relevance of learning – they don’t enjoy reading, unless it is an instruction or guide book. They will be determined to make projects succeed, but this can become a negative if they start to dominate other children to try and achieve a deadline. These children generally like background noise and the opportunity to move around as they learn. They are ‘what happens if I press this button?’ children and they want others to see their faith validated by service.

The children with crazy ideas are classified as ‘dynamic’ learners. They love to stand out in the group – they want to be different, they can make others laugh and their enthusiasm often causes them to become the natural leaders of the group, but they often don’t have organizational abilities and are not necessarily the ones you would choose to lead! They are rarely interested in detail and will guess answers rather than ‘waste’ time looking them up, but they will come up with creative ideas, particularly regarding the application of a story to your own surroundings. They can make intuitive judgements and decisions but they can also be egotistic, manipulating others and refusing to recognize their contribution. These children generally like to learn in a setting that they have had the opportunity to influence. They are ‘but why don’t we do this instead?’ children and they tend to be intuitive believers.

Finally, the children who fit the description of the ideal scholar – those who sit quietly and wait to be given all the facts. These children are classified as ‘analytic’ learners. They prefer to work alone and need to know if they are ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ – they would much rather sit and watch than join in open-ended discussion or role-play activities. They want to know what the ‘expert’ says (that may be the Bible, another book, the Internet or you) and they get very frustrated if you run out of time and they can’t finish a story or an activity. They are focused on knowledge rather than people and they may be intolerant of others in the group if they don’t show a similar commitment to learning. These children generally prefer a formal and quiet setting. They are ‘please tell me, have I have done this right?’ children and they will weigh all sides of the Christianity issue, reading the Bible and making sure that what Christ offers makes sense, before they are willing to move forward in faith.

This extract draws on the work of Marlene LeFever, presented in Learning Styles: Reaching everyone God gave you to teach. If you wish to explore this topic in greater depth I would recommend Learning Styles as a very readable book.

Extract from Children’s Ministry Guide to Tailored Teaching for 5-9s by Sue Price