Visuals – Is that an Orange? Or a Basketball? (guest post)
on May 21, 2013 at 9:00 AMNo one has ever accused me of being a brilliant artist. Or even a good one. But that has never stopped me from trying. Although, maybe it should have.
I was taking my students through a series on the “Fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5 (Trust me – they needed it). I was looking for some sort of visual that I could keep up front to remind them of the previous talks. I thought that it would be fun to draw actual fruit to represent the Fruit of the Spirit every week (creative right?!). Surely it would be easy to draw an apple or a banana.
So, the first week came and I explained the visuals and how I would put a new one up each week. Then I proudly taped my orange to the wall… only to have a student interrupt and ask “What is that?!” Instead of being discouraged I decided to embrace my failed attempt at drawing. Every week turned into “guess Hannah’s miserable drawing!” The students loved it and I promise you every student to this day knows the Fruits of the Spirit.
Students love the attempt. They love when you try and for some reason they love it even more when you fail.
You can certainly use t
he fruit idea or even build on it. Here is a creative (or not so creative) way to engage your students that mixes it up from the typical powerpoint. Incorporate in your messages a “Guess My Bad Drawing.” Student’s often need more than hearing something; adding a visual builds on what you are trying to bring across. Use those large pads of paper, a white board, or an app that you put up on a screen.
What have you attempted to do and failed, but God still somehow used it?
–Hannah Greene