They didn’t forget. They never learned.
Recently, I played a trivia game at a restaurant. My team took 3rd place. Some things, like the time for the slowest winning time for Olympic marathon, were tucked away in the recesses of my mind. Other things, how many US presidents had only four letters in their last name, were empty blanks in my mind.
I probably had to learn all the US presidents at some point in my schooling so it should have been easy to access the list and quickly answer correctly. Sadly, that question is part of the reason we only took third place.
While this might seem odd, especially since US presidents was taught in school and the marathon times were not but there are features of the way I learned the Olympic time that were memorable while the US presidents was sorely lacking.
Why the Olympic Marathon Time?
An Emotional Hook
I learned the slowest winning Olympic time via podcast. It came with a tale of an underdog runner, rat poison, cheating, lack of water, and a scandal that took first place from the original first place winner.
I have never lived in 1904, run a marathon, or taken rat poison but I could appreciate the challenge of doing something difficult. The story did exactly what it was supposed to do: it created an emotional connection. I gasped, laughed, and winced at all the right times. I connected on an emotional level with the story and the details stayed with me.
I learned the US presidents because I had to. We had a list and I had to memorize it. We repeated the information over and over and over again. I remembered the list long enough to pass the test but that was it.
Attention Span Awareness
Podcasts often break information into sections. The particular podcast I listened to had information at the beginning, usually listeners writing in about past episodes, the story, the team discussing the story, and a fun finish. The story 1904 Olympic marathon was the largest portion of the podcast but it wasn’t so long what I became bored. It address the portions that the hosts deemed to be most important. The hosts were aware of the listeners attention span and kept it brief.
I don’t even remember when I learned the US presidents. I’m sure my teacher was aware that students have a short attention span but he or she had to tick a box saying that we learned the presidents. It was a requirement that had to be met and attention spans were not brought into the equation. We repeated and repeated until we could repeat independently (at least long enough for the exam).
Encoding Happened
Encoding is the process by which information or experience gets processed into memory. An encoding failure happens when this process fails to happen. It’s when the information goes in but never processes into memory.
This is why you can watch a whole show and not remember a detail. It’s why I can ask you which way Lincoln is facing on the penny and you can’t seem to remember. This is different than forgetting. Forgetting means that encoding happened but it later became inaccessible. Encoding failure is when memory never properly stores the information in the first place.
Encoding happened the day I listened to the podcast because it had my attention. It had my full attention through storytelling, it connected to something I already understood, I had time to process alongside the hosts, and nothing else was competing for my focus.
Attention as grasped through storytelling. Meaning occurred because I know what it feels like to face an impossible situation that looks like an unorganized circus from the inside.. The discussion at the end gave me time to process along with the hosts. I had no other information competing for brain space while I was listening. I felt safe (podcast hosts can’t judge my lack of knowing). I was engaged because the podcast felt more friendly conversation rather than forced learning.
What this means for your Bible Class
In Matthew 13, we can read the Parable of the Sower. We see that the seeds fall among hard soil, thorny soil, shallow soil, or good soil. This is not about the quality of the seeds but the conditions in which the seeds were received.
When we teach, we are supposed to be teaching the Truth of God’s Word. The Truth always holds power and love in a perfect balance. The “seed” of the Word never diminishes in quality.
What does change is the condition of our students.
We can’t manipulate or force our students into being “good soil.” A false “good” will eventually corrupt and the damage will be worse than the original state.
However, we can be intentional to ensure that our students are given good conditions to learn and grow.
Help Your Students Remember
Connect Emotionally
Retelling a Bible story with added details is not changing Scripture if you’re clear that “this is how I imagine it might have happened.” But if you’re concerned about it, try telling a different story that emphasizes the Big Idea you’re trying to convey through the lesson.
Questions like “How would you have felt in this situation?” or “What would you have done differently?” help your students to connect with the story on a personal level. Asking questions like “When is a time God did something like this in your life?” brings it into their reality.
When you connect the information to students’ emotions, students are able see the lesson as relevant and applicable to real life.
Monitor Your Information
Most lessons have too much information. We try to cover the entire message of the Bible in one lesson and our students get overwhelmed.
Some lessons have too little information. Students get bored and tune out what we’re saying if we’re not giving them enough to hold on to.
Know your Big Idea. This is the key information that you want students to know. Yes, the entire Bible is important but what does God want them to know TODAY?
Eliminate anything that does not work towards that Big Idea. Get focused. Know what you want your students to recall time and again and repeat it often in class in different ways.
Improve Your Process
If you were going to plant wheat, you wouldn’t go out to a big, grassy field and just throw seeds out and hope for the best. You would till, weed, and fertilize before the first seed was ever sown.
So why do we just throw out Bible information and get frustrated when our students don’t seem to be “getting it”?
Capture their attention through stories, questions, discussion, and vocal changes. Give the lesson meaning for their lives. The Bible doesn’t need to “be made relevant.” It already speaks to every human condition. What it needs is a teacher who helps students see where it touches their actual lives.
Give your students time and space to process. Spaced practice can happen through questions sprinkled through the lesson, asking a student to reword, or even an activity or discussion about the Big Idea of the lesson.
Don’t assume that the information is enough and say “The Holy Spirit will do the rest.” The Holy Spirit can and will do the work because God’s heart is toward people but it’s lazy thinking especially because the Holy Spirit has given us the tools.
If the Holy Spirit has given us the tools to help our students give meaning to the message then He wants us to utilize those tools.
Is it a Forgetting Problem?
Once you've addressed the conditions for encoding, you can look more honestly at what's actually happening in your classroom. Our Bible students aren’t forgetting on purpose. In fact, they might not be forgetting at all.
They can’t forget what they never converted in the first place.
If we continue to fight the Forgetting then we’ll be frustrated because that’s not the root issue. The root issue is that they never really learned the information in the first place. It’s our job as Bible teachers to look at the correct root and make the necessary changes to our teaching process.
Once we know that our students are actually encoding the information correctly, then we can examine the forgetting issue. But until we have healthy roots, we’re just hiding a rotting fruit.
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