CONFIRMATION: Take it Outside the Classroom! PART 3

This is the last installment of ideas to take what's being learned in confirmation outside the classroom. Unless, of course, I come up with a few more. Unfortunately these are kind of unrelated. When interviewing others please help them come up with appropriate questions to make sure they get the information you want them to have for the discussion.

Have students:

• Go on an information hunt. Give them a topic for the next week and tell them to search either online or at a library to find out specific information such as: definitions of words, examples of concepts, song examples related to a topic, descriptions of what other faiths believe, etc. Sometimes it's a lot easier to start a discussion about something when the kids have had to find out something about it first. It's also more fun for them than having you just tell them everything.
• Contact an adult and a child their age of another faith to find out what they believe. It would be a lot more interesting to find out about Muslim beliefs from a real person who practices them. See if they can find an atheist as well!
• Use a topical Bible to find scripture references on a specific topic. Not all verses fit a topic so it could lead to a great discussion regarding Biblical context.
• Use their Facebook wall to ask their peers a question. Tell them they need a certain number of responses.
• Text a specific number of people (or friends) questions throughout the week and record their responses on a chart.

I always find it so much more interesting to help students find out about the world and what people believe first hand. It's a real discussion starter and it's almost always surprising to them when they find out what friends believe as well as good for them to find out when others believe similarly to them and what specific things they believe differently. Give it a try!