Getting students to talk. You would think it would be the easiest thing in the world! This is a generation that has been raised with communication devices in-hand. (iPhones, iPads, texting, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, kik, Snapchat, Skype, FaceTime, etc.) It seems everything out there from milk to toilet paper has socialization and connection in mind. Combine that with todays technology and anything is possible.
So you would think that in a world so social and connected, it would be no problem to get students to…well…talk.
Spend 15 minutes in a small group and you KNOW this is simply not true. Connectivity can be a fabulous thing! I feel very connected to my students and have the capability to reach many of them at a moments notice. However, this same connectivity can kill face-to-face communication, and the ability to be truly present.
This is why we encourage our Small Groups to stack the phones! As soon as it is time to begin the group, all phones go on the table or in a basket.
Can you hear the voices? “But I use my phone as my Bible…” Yup, in the 15 minutes of Bible study it will be your Bible and a million other things that will keep you from being…present.
So I encourage you to try it! Make a “Tower of Babel”…get it? Babel, as in talking, as in people talk on their phones…sorry. Sure you will get some push back initially, but in the long run you will have students focused on conversation, present in community, and who know how to use their Bible! Now get off this communication device and open yours!
Just wondering… Before you started “stacking” the phones, did you teach on the Tower of Babel? (Or was the reference to the Tower of Babel just for the sake of this blog? Do you call it something else in your youth group?)