Listening in to the "Echo the Story" Class...  

 

Have you noticed the flurry of activity in the youth room on Sunday mornings? A record number of students are enrolled in the "Echo the Story" class along with their faithful teachers, Bernon Lee and Dwight Zscheile. These 6th - 8th graders are exploring 12 key biblical stories, from creation to the formation of the church, and entering into each story imaginatively - making observations, drawing, writing, and discussing the meaning of the story and how it resonates with their own lives. Then, students are able to respond to the stories, re-telling them in their own voices through creative projects using digital storytelling techniques, music, animation, and other art forms. .... We thought it would be fun to hear what the students had to say:

What do you like about your class on Sundays? What is cool about it?

• "We learn the story and then get to interpret it however we want - using i-movies, any art supplies or even legos." - Jack
• "It's really creative. There are no rules about how to interpret-it's just you"- Mingli
• "Something I like about class is that you really get to know other kids in class and when you go on retreats you have other people you know from church but also still get to know new people." - Christine 
• "I really like my class because it's not just a bunch of lectures - it's hands on. It's nice to visualize the story instead of hearing them or watching a movie."- Betsy 
• "It's fun that we have multiple options and can do whatever we want, not just one thing." - Luke 

Can you give some examples of what you are working on right now? Is there anything that has really captured your imagination? 

• "One thing that we have done most recently - we read about when Jesus healed a paralyzed man who was lowered on a pallet through the roof of Jesus' house. What really captures my imagination is when we retell a part from the story that we just read in class. Usually I draw a part from the story but other kids have made movies and used clay or legos to illustrate a portion of the story." - Christine.
• "Using i-movies and pictures of waves on the computer, I made a movie of the waves parting briefly before crashing on the unsuspecting soldiers. To do that I made the surfers in the video into Egyptian soldiers." - Luke

Do you have a favorite story? 

• "The parting of the sea - with Moses showing them the way." - Jack
• "The story of Abraham" - Mingli
• "David and Goliath" - Luke
• "Jesus calming the sea" - Christine

You might want to ask these students more about their experiences if you happen to see them at church or during coffee hour! They include: Mingli Halker, Jack Kiehne, Luke Zscheile, Christine and Loice Howard, Betsy Hofer, Eleanor Craig, Alaric Johnson, Phil Reitz Jones, Noah Jenkins, Jonas Carlson, Zoe Johnson.