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September, 1996: Volume 9, Number 3



A resource for Christian educators

Minute Motivator
by Dave Wiebe

“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you!”

This was the caption of a poster featuring Isaac Newton sitting under a tree, getting bopped on the head by a falling apple. Of course he did something with that experience.

Recently there’s been a lot of talk about experiential learning. Give kids experiences. Take them on mission trips, or service opportunities.

The real challenge is, to help them unpack what they’ve experienced. What changes will take place because of your experience? What are the next moves in your life?

How about the classroom “experience?” How much time do you devote to helping your class members understand nuances and ideas. But do you short-change the application process? People want to know how, not just what. It takes planning ahead, and careful control of the time together to make the point, and then get down to the real business: what are we going to do with what we’ve learned?

This ministry year, let’s work on helping our spiritual “Isaac Newtons” really do something significant with their experiences in our ministries!

Till the next apple falls,

Dave

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Last modified October 31, 2000.

Ideabank is a quarterly newsletter published by the Board of Christian Education Ministries, a board of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

© 2000 Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.
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