RBP Children’s Ministries

Teachers, hold on to your hats! Child development experts refer affectionately to the junior years as “roller-coaster years.” Some of your students are on the preadolescent fast track of asserting their independence and experiencing new feelings related to the opposite sex. Others continue to view life with childlike simplicity and seek to please adults. With so many changes happening, no wonder juniors experience many ups and downs!

Growth Gaps
Juniors’ growth occurs in spurts, and not all areas develop at the same time. For example, a sixth-grade boy may look strong physically, but he might burst into tears easily. A fifth-grade girl’s mental maturity enables her to think more abstractly, yet she might daydream during class discussions. Puberty enhances these developmental differences. Research indicates that girls experience puberty as early as nine or ten years old, with boys lagging a couple years behind. Juniors who are experiencing the onset of puberty may display sudden shifts in behavior. Students may temporarily appear to reverse in emotional maturity as their bodies accommodate physical changes.

Significant Surroundings
No two juniors are alike. Not only do their body clocks differ, but also their home and school environments differ. Some students attend middle schools where they change teachers often and interface with eighth graders in the hallway. Others participate in home schools or attend other schools where classrooms are self-contained.

Your students may come from single-parent homes or have parents who are divorcing. Some family schedules revolve around church. Other parents are apathetic about church attendance. Abuse may be an issue in some students’ homes. The children may or may not have exposure to good literature, musical concerts, or travel. Education may be highly valued in some homes and downplayed in others. All of these factors play a role in your students’ rate of social, emotional, and mental development.

Tenacious Teachers
What’s a teacher to do during these topsy-turvy junior years? Three words offer the best practical advice—hang in there! One good thing about such changeable behavior is that negatives can turn into positives in one week’s time. By remaining calm, consistent, and positive, you provide a secure base for your juniors.
Capable teachers do not let students’ mood swings affect their own dispositions or undermine their confidence. As adults, we often experience uncertainty when we begin a new phase in our lives. Children have similar fears when approaching adolescence. We can encourage them by praising their contributions and relating Bible truths to issues in their lives.

Passionate Pupils
Junior students are an exciting group to teach. They have a zest for life and an eagerness to learn. Juniors’ mental maturity enables them to look beyond surface meanings and question inconsistencies. They love to help others and are concerned about social injustices.

Juniors enjoy challenges and want to achieve. Positive role models can have a major influence in their lives. Often they will respond more positively to a teacher’s suggestions than those of their parents. When juniors commit to doing a Christian service project, they give of themselves wholeheartedly. The wise Sunday School teacher is aware of juniors’ characteristics and incorporates them in planning instruction. (See the chart below.)

Apply God’s Word
Don’t let juniors fool you! They may seem self-reliant, but they continue to desire and need adult guidance. Juniors are entering uncharted territory—the years between childhood and adolescence. They worry about their appearance, peer acceptance, school performance, and the future. The Bible has the answers to their worries and insecurities. By showing juniors how God’s Word applies to their everyday circumstances, you are helping them find the true answers to life’s questions.

Think about Your Students

1. Juniors enjoy helping others. Have your class compile a list of ways they could help senior citizens in the church. Plan together the who, what, and where of a fall service project. Celebrate the project’s completion by going out for a snack together.
2. Juniors live in the here and now. What matters to your students? List illustrations you could use with next week’s lesson that relate to your students’ lives.
3. Juniors love to achieve. Set goals together for attending Sunday School, bringing Bibles, doing memory work, and completing “Daily Digging.” Recognize or reward students’ efforts.

Improve Your Teaching

This chart may assist you in shaping your teaching to take advantage of juniors’ characteristics.