[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/GN6_FGS1whI” align=”center”][vc_column_text]If you’ve never worked with a digital curriculum, or perhaps have used a digital curriculum and found it overwhelming or cumbersome, we’re excited to tell you about DIG IN. DIG IN is designed to help teachers create deep Bible experiences for kids week after week. It’s also the easiest—and fastest growing—digital Sunday school curriculum.
Three Myths of Digital Curriculum
When people think “digital curriculum,” they might think…
- You have to be tech-savvy to use it.
- It’s always complex, stressful to modify, and overwhelming.
- My teachers won’t be comfortable with it.
For those who feel like digital curriculum is just too complex for their ministry, we’d like to show you how simple lesson building is when you use DIG IN. We’ll also demonstrate the advantages of having flexibility to create lessons that are uniquely designed for your classroom.
Myth #1: You have to be tech-savvy to use a digital curriculum.
With DIG IN, you don’t have to navigate through a complicated system. You build your lesson in three simple steps:
- Choose format;
- Drag and drop activities; and
- Download and print.
The first step is to select your format. I’ve selected an age-graded classroom format. I could also choose a large group/small group or one–room format. [/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33325″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Next, I need to drag and drop the activity blocks I want to use in my lesson. There are 11 different activity blocks to choose from for each lesson (12, if you are teaching preschool and want to use Preschool Puppets). Every lesson always starts with three activity blocks—Welcome, Core Bible, and Wrap-up—but you can move these around and even delete them if you want!
Now I know that my kids love games, so I’m going to add Low-Energy Game. I pick the low-energy game because I know we’ll be in our classroom and don’t have as much room to run around. I use my mouse to drag and drop that block into my lesson, and now I have a 40-minute lesson.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33326″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]The third and final step is to print my lesson. I’ll click this button on the right that says “Publish.” When I click publish, it downloads my lesson, and I’m ready to print it.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33327″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
Myth #2: Digital curriculum is complex, stressful to modify, and overwhelming.
The second myth I hear most commonly is that digital curriculum is too time-consuming. It’s complex, it’s hard to navigate, and above all, it’s overwhelming and stressful to modify. So let’s take another look at the 40-minute lesson I’ve just built, but this time let’s modify it to see how it adapts when faced with the everyday scenarios that you run into as a children’s leader.
Scenario 1: Sick teacher
Probably the most common scenario you’ll run into is, what happens when a teacher doesn’t show? So let’s say the worst has happened, and I am sick with the flu and no longer able to teach my regular classroom for Grades 1 and 2 on Sunday. How can I adapt?
Here’s what DIG IN allows you to do. I’m going to change the format to one-room. That way I can teach to a wider age range of children, from Grades 1 and 2 all the way up to Grades 5 and 6.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33328″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]What’s really great is that all my activity blocks stayed the same! It’s the same 40-minute lesson, so there’s no extra prep work that I need to do. It is ready to go for me. I can click that Publish button and print it or email it to whoever needs it.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33329″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Scenario 2: Longer Sunday school hour
For this scenario, let’s say that my pastor has emailed me because he has a special message this Sunday, so instead of 40 minutes, I’ll have 90 minutes with my kids. Yikes! That can be pretty overwhelming, especially if you need to write a bunch of curriculum material to fill the time. But with DIG IN, you don’t have to write anything. It’s really simple.
We’re just going to add activity blocks. I love doing crafts, so I’m going to click and drag Craft into my lesson. That puts us at an hour. I definitely want to bring in Music Video after the opening so we can get some of those wiggles out. And I love the Talk-About Video, so I’ll add that. Now I’m at one hour and 20 minutes, so I’ll add one more—High-Energy Game. Again, I’ve got some rambunctious kids, so I want to make sure we get them moving. Now I’ve got my 90-minute lesson![/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”33330″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
Myth #3 – My teachers won’t be comfortable.
We often talk with children’s ministry directors who are very excited about DIG IN, but they have some teachers who won’t or cannot log in to their DIG IN account, create their lesson, or print their lesson. Some teachers do not have a computer at home or access to one at church. So here’s the good news: DIG IN does not have to be an online lesson builder for all teachers.
As a director, you can create and print the lesson for any teacher. You can even print out all the lessons for the quarter and put them in a binder. Then that teacher can still be comfortable teaching from a physical lesson in a physical book.
The great thing about DIG IN is that teachers can interact with DIG IN in a way that’s going to work best for them. Most will build their own lessons—we designed DIG IN so they could! But if they don’t have a computer at home, directors can very easily print the lessons and email or hand them out.
Try it out!
Did you know you can explore the DIG IN lesson builder for free? Go to DIGIN.GROUP.COM, and build your own lesson. You can choose your format, click and drag your activity blocks, and save it just like we showed you. We even recommend that you try out a lesson at your church to see how it works with your teachers and your kids![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”33335″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://digin.group.com”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
