EVENTS

Edit project SPEAKER - MN South District Educator's Conference 2018

Martin Luther School 
Teacher Training, August 30, 2021

Reaching Goals through Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

As a society we seem to be lowering our expectations for academics and behavior in every area of life and it's not doing our students any good. This workshop gives upper level teachers practice in creating goals and expectations using Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. Students will rise to the challenge if we expect them to, but they will settle for the easy way out if we don't. How do we raise the bar? Let's talk about it and practice.

Atlantic District Festival of Workshops
Special Invited Speaker, March, 2020

Teaching Adults: Developing a Culture of Participation

My favorite part of Adult Bible Study is when the room is abuzz with conversation in groups or people are asking multiple questions. They’re excited. They’re curious. They want to know more. The key is in how the class is structured, how to ask questions in a way that people want to answer them, and how to turn your statements into questions. 

Bible Inquiry - It's About the Questions

How can we change from a passive Bible STUDY to active Bible INQUIRY at any age? It’s about creating a culture of curiosity through stories and questions. People often ask: How do you get them to talk? Discuss? What’s appropriate for each faith education stage? In this session we’re shifting paradigms and learning about how to get kids of all ages to bring Bible study alive. 

The 5 Stages of Faith Education

Most Sunday school teachers are volunteers who are not professional educators. How do you train your volunteer teachers about teaching their grade level? The first step is to understand the 5 stages of faith education: Narrative (PreS-2nd), Knowledge (3rd-5th), Understanding (6th-8th), Reason, (9th-college), and Wisdom (adults). What is the difference between the stages and how does knowing them change how you teach? More importantly, how will it change how they learn? Let’s talk about it.

MN South District Educator's Conference, Mankato, MN October, 2018

10 Survival Tips for Struggling Lutheran Schools
In this session participants will use an evaluation tool to look at their school from different perspectives. From knowing the competition in your area and your values to board governance and finance, seeing your school objectively from different perspectives gives valuable information that will help your school stay strong for the future. (If you're uncomfortable with change, this session may cause some discomfort.)

Boost Education Effectiveness in Your Church Tomorrow 

• This session begins with answering the question, what does effective education look like in the church? Participants will use an evaluation tool to look at education in their church from an effectiveness standpoint. This will help identify areas that need a boost. We will look at the culture of Adult Bible Study, Children's Messages, Youth Bible Studies, Training Teachers/Facilitators, and more.
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Best Practices in Ministry, Phoenix, AZ, February, 2018

Child Development and Teaching the Faith

Understanding how children develop socially, emotionally, and cognitively, can and should affect how we teach the faith. There are millions of volunteer teachers of Sunday School and facilitators of Bible studies who have not been trained. They often don't feel confident in what they're doing or whether or not it's effective teaching. Nobody wants to waste their time, especially when teaching the most valuable information in anyone's life. This presentation is a hint of how to teach from preschool through adult.

MN South District Educator's Conference 2017, Mankato, MN
October, 2017

Child Development and Teaching the Faith

Passing on the Word of God and what He has done for His people and doing our part in helping grow faith is the most important thing we do as Christian people and parents. This session integrates faith building and child development. When adults have a greater understanding of how children develop it becomes much easier for them to encourage faith growth in meaningful ways when teaching or raising children. This information enables professional or volunteer church educators feel more comfortable and confident when teaching at any grade level. If you train volunteer teachers, this will help you.

Best Practices for Ministry, Phoenix, AZ, February, 2017

Rethinking How We Teach in the Church

Bible literacy in the church is at an all-time low and membership loss is at an all-time high. Many active members cannot tell you what the LCMS believes/teaches at any given moment. Research shows that attendance at adult and high school Sunday morning Bible studies represents only 9.5% of our confirmed membership. About 50% of children aren’t attending Sunday School. Why? Our teacher-centered curriculum is neither engaging nor challenging. With little or no training and ineffective materials we, as a church, don’t educate well. It’s time to renew our passion for effective parish education so everyone can confidently answer the question: What do you believe and why do you believe it?

Best Practices for Ministry, Heartland, October, 2016

TEACHING TEENS: Interesting + Meaningful = Effective

It's not what you teach, but how you teach that makes the greatest impact. In this session you will learn how to get students to interact in a meaningful way with what you're teaching; the most important thing they'll ever learn. How do you use your class time wisely? How do you get them to think? What is interesting and meaningful to a 13 to 17 year old teenager?

Camp Omega, Waterville, MN

Developed courses for the Environmental Learning Program (ELP)

Created 21 ELP courses to provide a more academic and faith building experience for each student. Each lesson includes a Bible connection, topic information and outdoor or experiential learning activity such as collecting data for weather forecasting, dissecting owl pellets, searching for edible wild plants, investigating marsh life, testing lake water, wilderness survival, and others. 

LCMS Atlantic District Youth Leader's Summit, Concordia College, Bronxville, NY January 30, 2016

THE ART OF TEACHING CONFIRMATION - In this day-long workshop the following questions will be answered. 

SESSION 1 - Development & Planning: Who are you teaching and how do they learn? How do you spend your class time?
SESSION 2 - Discussion & Questions: How do you get them to talk and what is a significant question?
SESSION 3 - Assessment & Strategies: What is effective and how do you know and find out?

LCMS MNS Pastor's Winkels on Confirmation Education

This presentation touches on the social, emotional, and cognitive development of middle school aged children, brain development, effective curriculum and class session planning, the value of discussion, questions, and homework, classroom management, and meaningful education strategies.

Circuit 11, Belvedere, MN, December 4, 2012
Circuit 6, Minneapolis MN, November 27, 2012
Circuit 8, Chanhassen, MN, November 13, 2012
St. Croix Circuit, Cottage Grove, MN, December 6, 2012

MNS-LCMS President's Conference, Mankato, MN, October, 2013

The Art of Teaching Confirmation

This session touches on the social, emotional, and cognitive development of middle school aged children, brain development, effective curriculum and class session planning, the value of discussion, questions, and homework, classroom management, and meaningful education strategies.

LCMS Congregation Workshops on Faith and Development

This workshop for Sunday School teachers and parents shares the information needed to build confidence in sharing Scripture with children in ways that coincide with their developmental abilities while challenging their understanding. Faith formation, brain development, teaching at various age levels, and the importance of stories and significant questions.

Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Mound, MN, September, 2013
New Life Lutheran Church, Hugo, MN, September, 2013
St. Peter Lutheran Church, Afton, MN, January, 2014