Ever feel as if your students are bored during your mission trip meetings? If so, perhaps that’s because you’re the one doing all the teaching, while students learn by doing. For this reason, require students on your mission trip team to work together to prepare and give a presentation to your team.
Divide students into groups with others they don’t yet know. Being with people they don’t know well will give them an opportunity to form new friendships, but also will force them to work through and resolve any disagreements that result, thus preparing them to respond more appropriately to similar situations during the trip itself.
Once groups are established, assign or allow them to choose their topic. Relate all topics to your destination and include things such as:
• History;
• People (ethnic makeup, tribes, languages, etc.);
• Political systems;
• Educational systems;
• Culture;
• Geography/weather;
• Economy (including currency).
Give each group 10 to 20 minutes to share its presentation at one of your mission trip meetings. Set specific expectations for presentations such as:
1. Don’t bore us.
2. Everyone in your group must speak.
3. Provide the team with at least one handout.
4. Don’t be shorter than 10 minutes or longer than 20.
Remind groups of their forthcoming presentation two weeks before it’s their turn to present. Check in with them one week before. On the day of their presentation, turn your trip meeting over to that specific group and watch what happens.
Some groups will be more prepared than others. Others will be more engaging. Some will stumble and even fail. Regardless, teens always will be more engaged and respectful of their peers than they will be of you.
What’s more, by requiring teens to give a presentation, you’ll force them to research their topic. In the process of culling through information, they’ll learn and retain far more than they would if you simply were to give them the same information. In many ways, group members will become your team’s experts on their topic. Thus, by making students teach, you’ll eliminate boredom. As an added bonus, you’ll see leaders emerge from each group who will continue serving as leaders during the trip itself.
