Over the past year I have been taking reading classes at UofL where I am learning how to teach kids to read as well as how to help struggling readers to read. Well this weekend I was just thinking about reading and the Bible, and how I can use many of these strategies to help me study the Bible. I have always read the Bible but when I hear a pastor or a speaker preach the Word beyond what the words on the page say I always ask, "How do they know that???" The words on the page don't say that so how do they know? I know that many of them studied at a Bible college or have done their own personal studies of the Bible, but nobody can go to college and learn about every verse of the entire Bible. So today I resolved to try some of the reading strategies I have been learning how to teach and apply them to what I read in the Bible. I wasn't sure where to begin, but my pastor and some other Christian speakers that I have heard recently have all been preaching from the gospel of Mark so that is where I decided to begin.
It went well today, but I am still not sure where to begin! The strategies I have learned about that are important for students when reading are to first build on prior background knowledge. How can I connect what my students are reading with what they already know? First I need to find out what they know and then build from there! So I did this myself when reading the first few verses in Mark. I didn't make a list of everything I knew about Jesus or John the Baptist (since that is where Mark begins), but I just thought in my mind of things that I had learned or heard about John the Baptist and referenced those thoughts as I read. The next strategy is to make connections with what you read. How does a text remind you of a personal experience, another text that you have read or something happening in the world? I don't have time to go into detail about every strategy but I can list some of them.
-make inferences
-predict what you think will happen
-ask questions
-re-read
-identify the main idea
-determine importance
-determine importance
I'm not sure how this little "experiment" will work out, but if I believe that teaching these strategies to my students will help them become better readers than surely it will help me in my study of God's Word. I tried looking up some free online resources for Bible study, but everything I found (in the whole 10 minutes I searched) were either very sunday schoolish or way over my head. Does anyone have any good, affordable reference materials that they would recommend?
Also, I last wrote about wanting my blog to serve some sort of purpose. Who do I want reading it, and who do I want to reach? Right now all I know is that I am 21 years old, married to a wonderful wonderful man, going to school full-time to be a teacher and living a very fast-paced life. If any of you readers fit that description than maybe you can identify with some of the things that I write. Many of us are in the same boat, and I think that it is important for girls to realize that they are not alone in what they are experiencing! Not all of my posts are going to be scripture related, but I want God's Word to have more priority in my life than it has, and I thought this post would be a great way to start!
Have a happy Sunday!
Love, Briana
