Memorizing Scriptures Ideashop Fall 2001 Subscribe to Ideashop

Research in memory began almost 100 years ago. Some facts revealed in an article by Ruth Beechick in Evangelizing Today's Child can help classroom teachers who are interested in teaching memory work to children.

Two important areas of memory are basic to our understanding the learning process. One is short-term memory, and the second is long-term memory.

Short-term memory has a limited capacity. Somewhere between five and nine items can be placed in short-term memory, and former items are cast out. We learn some things in chunks, and when this happens, seven chunks of information can be stored.

When an individual wishes to remove something from short-term memory and put it in long-term memory, he must process the information in some way. Simply seeing or hearing facts is not enough for most. Our goal of scripture memorization is to place scriptures in this long-term memory storage. Dr. Beechick stresses the fact that a deliberate process must happen at this point.

It is best to learn scripture by whole units, a unit consisting of an entire chapter or selected portion thereof for older children and perhaps a single verse for the little ones. Age and ambition of the student will be important.

The steps in memorizing by wholes are these:

(1) Become familiar with the whole unit.

(2) Practice the whole unit many times with concentration.

(3) Put extra work on difficult parts, if necessary.

(4) Overlearn.

With this method even a child just learning to talk can learn Psalm 23. To do this the child's teacher or parent begins by saying a short phrase, which the child repeats. Then the teacher says the next phrase and the child repeats. They continue this way through the whole psalm, never stopping until it is finished. The procedure is repeated often.

When the child is able, the teacher begins the phrase and lets the child complete it. With each repetition the child is repeating more and more and eventually says it alone.

The child will see the psalm as one piece. Soon he will recite it as he would the alphabet, without stopping at the end of each verse.

In the early stages progress is slow, and most teachers would like to see the child leave reciting at least "The Lord is my Shepherd." Teachers often reason that they can tack a verse on each week and the results are quicker. This is untrue. Using the whole unit method, a child achieves a smooth recitation without the problem of connections and proper order of parts.

With older children a variety of methods can be used to familiarize them with the passage and to give practice in Steps 1 and 2 of the memory process. The children can read the passage, answer questions about it, discuss difficult parts, have relays to put things in order or play various other games with it.

When the passage is learned, the games and drills should continue for a time so that overlearning can take place. And then, ideally, there should be an occasional review of the passage. Reviews should be placed close together at first and then gradually spaced farther and farther apart. It takes only a little ingenuity on the teacher's part to adapt activities or to think of original activities to enliven the drills, practices and reviews. But for a teacher who has never tried the whole unit memory system, it takes a pretty big dose of perseverance to stay with the system long enough to see results.

Many children have problems memorizing scripture. Among the problems are that children are not accustomed to biblical terminology and may have difficulty with it. Newer versions help here. Also, children tend to lose motivation, so variety in drills and activities will help overcome this.

Another problem is difficult passages. After working for a time on Steps 1 and 2, the easy parts will already be learned and thus the reason for Step 3. Step 3 is actually a departure from the whole unit method to allow for putting extra time on difficult parts. Do not attack all hard parts at once.

You will be well along on your section before you notice which parts are difficult. Step 4, or overlearning, then involves the drilling, reviewing and games.

MEMORY WORK CURRICULUM
This suggested curriculum for a systematic program of memorizing in the Bible school program is designed to teach a verse (unit) each quarter, which then becomes cumulative. When a child is promoted from the 2-year-olds' class, he would know four verses; a child promoted from 3-year-olds' class would know eight, and so on. You will want to adjust this curriculum to meet the individual needs of your congregation.

2-year-olds: "God is love" (1 John 4:8); "Forgive one another" (Ephesians 4:32); "Be kind" (Ephesians 4:32); "God has made me" (Job 33:4).

3-year-olds: "Love one another" (John 13:35); "The Lord is good" (Psalm 100:5); "The Lord is my helper" (Hebrews 13:6); "Give thanks to God" (Colossians 1:3).

4-year-olds: "I will not be afraid" (Hebrews 13:6); "God cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7); "Children, obey your parents" (Colossians 3:20); "Oh, how I love Your law" (Psalm 119:97).

5-year-olds: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105); "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16); "Jesus went about doing good" (Acts 10:38).

First Grade: Golden Rule (Luke 6:31); Apostles' names (Matthew 10:2-3); Days of creation (Genesis 1-2); "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word" (John 14:23).

Second Grade: Books of the New Testament; writers of the New Testament; "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22); "The Lord has done great things for us, And we are glad" (Psalm 126:3).

MEMORY GAMES
Are you constantly trying to think of ways to help your class learn Bible verses? Have you spent time and effort in selecting awards only to discover that your children do not think the awards are the greatest?

Have you given out awards and then discovered a weeping child who was overlooked or a frustrated child who thinks you were unfair or who does not understand the contest? If you are concerned about children's feelings, you know contests are not the best way to motivate learning.

As a general rule, awards reward the child who can learn quickly, who has cooperative parents, or who has a better memory. Awards can never measure what application a child makes of a Bible verse. Rather, make learning fun, and you have built-in rewards.

Here are some suggestions about encouraging memory work:

• Evaluate the material to be memorized. Will the verse help the child know the Lord and live for Him?

• Learn the verse yourself. Let it become relevant in your life.

• Teach in a positive way, with a you-can-do-it attitude.

• Make it fun.

Here are some games you can use:

(1) Write a verse on the chalkboard. Let the children take turns erasing a word at a time. Each time a word is erased, have the group repeat the verse.

(2) Pantomime verses such as Proverbs 20:11.

(3) Ask the children to draw a picture to go with a verse. As each child shows his picture, the verse should be repeated.

(4) Ask everyone with blue eyes to repeat the verse. Then use colors of clothing, location of home, etc.

(5) Hide cut-apart words and ask the children to find them and put the verse together.

(6) Jumble the words in a pocket chart. Let children rearrange them in order.

(7) Distribute verses on cards, asking the children to read the verse and tell its meaning.

(8) Let a child thumbtack words in jumbled order to a bulletin board. Ask another child to link the words in the right order using a piece of yarn leading from one word to the next.

(9) Distribute a few key words from a verse and see who can recite the entire verse.

(10) Some verses can be learned to a rhythm with the whole group clapping or standing up when reciting a key word.

(11) Hold a ball in your hand. Begin a verse, but after a few words pass the ball to a child who must complete the verse or pass the ball to someone who can.

(12) Put words on strips of construction paper and ask the children to arrange in correct order.

(13) Play Bible Tic-Tac-Toe. Have the diagram on paper or chalkboard. One child picks up a card with the Bible reference on it. If he can repeat the entire verse, he may make his mark on the diagram. If he cannot repeat the verse, he must replace the card and let the other player choose a card. The child with three marks running vertically, diagonally or horizontally wins.

SUGGESTED MEMORIZATION RESOURCES
• Heart Hiders - Kids Discover How to Memorize God's Word by Thony Thiessen, Off the Curb Publishing
• Memory Work Ideas by Susis Martin, Teaching Bible Facts Publications
• Memorize God's Word by Moody Press, 3 volumes
• Making Scripture Memorable by Susan L. Lingo, Standard Publishing

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