To understand how to work with children of various ages,
this link recommends the book
Building Faith One Child at a Time
By Becky Schuricht Peters
Concordia Publishing House St. Louis MO,
Revised edition copyright 2016.
Publisher’s description:
Twenty-first-century strategies for designing and creating age-appropriate lesson plans and activities that provide the context for faith to begin and grow.
The author emphasizes that the teacher can create the context for faith to develop, but only the Holy Spirit can create that faith.
This book is valuable to you because it includes:
Lists of activities appropriate for school-age children at various levels
Insights especially geared for 21st century needs and digital strategies
The insights of 7 researchers into understanding child development.
Separate chapters on how to work with each age level,
Preschool through high school ages are included
Charts that summarize the insights of each chapter
The publisher adds that the second edition also covers:
- Utilizing technology for age-appropriate lessons and activities
- Dealing with cyberbullying and negative online behaviors
- Building faith through service to others
- Understanding society’s changing demographics
- Helping children experiencing stress and violence
You can email the author by asking cph.org to forward an email to her.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Becky Peters was a professor of education at Concordia University Irvine and is now retired and living in Colorado
ONLINE RESOURCES:
Here are links to age level characteristics
These are the seven researchers mentioned in the book:
Jean Piaget – recognized 4 stages of development of the thinking process. Description
Erik Erikson – 8 stages of personality development. A closer look
Lawrence Kohlberg – 3 levels of moral development. A description
Lev Vygotsky – the Zone of Proximal Development. A description
James W. Fowler – recognized 6 stages of faith. A Summary
John H. Westerhoff – recognized 4 types of faith. An analysis
V. Bailey Gillespie – recognized 7 situations in which faith develops
(no online references)
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