Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about the Workshop Rotation Model

Q. What is the Workshop Rotation Model?

Q. What is the educational basis for this model?

Q. What are the multiple intelligences?

Q. Why does Potter's Publishing curriculum work with the Workshop Rotation Model?

Q. How do I know that kids are learning?

Q. What are spiritual journals?

Q. What workshops does Potter's Publishing curriculum use?

Q. How many workshops should I use? Do I have to use them all? How do I choose which ones to use?

Q. How do children rotate to six workshops if our church has only a small group of children or a large group?

Q. What is a shepherd?

For further information on the Workshop Rotation Model go to Articles link under Resources.

Questions about The Potter's Publishing

Q. What is new about Potter's Publishing curriculum?

Q. What do I receive when I order a rotation unit?

Q. What do I receive when I order music?

Q. How do I store the curriculum on my PC or Mac computer?

Q. How do I find my curriculum on the hard drive?

Q. If I have more than one Potter's Publishing CD, which CD do I use for installation?

Q. How do I install more curriculum on my computer?

Q. What computers can I install the curriculum on?

Q. What about installing computer games?

Q. What kind of computer do I need for my computer lab?

Q. Can I pay for my curriculum with a credit card?

Q. Can I return curriculum that I don't like or cannot use?

Q. What is a PDF file and how do I open it?

Questions about the Workshop Rotation Model

Q. What is the Workshop Rotation Model?

A. The Workshop Rotation Model is a relatively new paradigm for Sunday school dating back to the early 1990's. At that time it was a grass root movement by Christian educators to change the way Sunday school was done. The model is based educationally on Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory, which determined that we all have multiple intelligences and learn best through multiple ways. It is Biblically grounded using biblical concepts from Bible stories that connect to children's lives through experiential learning experiences in workshops. In this model children learn a particular Bible story through multi dimensional learning experience by rotating to a different workshop each Sunday. Each workshop utilizes a particular learning modality for its approach to the lesson. A Bible story, it's concept and connection to daily living is taught through the workshops over the course of 4-6weeks. Children come to know the Bible and God through a variety of different ways - puppets, drama, art, storytelling, games, and cooking, science to name a few. Workshops are flexible.

Q. What is the educational basis for this model?

A. Educational studies show that we learn in a variety of ways. Our own personal experiences verify this. Educational theorist Howard Gardner has verified we possess at least nine different intelligences. He contends that we possess each of the intelligences, but in different degrees. We do our best learning through our dominant intelligence. But we can strengthen our less dominant intelligences by practicing them. Knowing this, how do we then teach God's children? Traditional education generally focuses on a verbal approach with passive listening. Some children learn this way. Many do not. The workshop rotation method of Sunday School changes the method on teaching form "sit" and "listen" to "learn by doing." Since each workshop focuses on a particular learning style, children come to know and understand God's word in ways that they can understand.

Q. What are the multiple intelligences?

A. To recognize our intellectual gifts in ourselves and others is to recognize God's awesome creation. To recognize them in Christian education opens up new doors of opportunities for children to know God. Outlined below are descriptions of the seven intelligences. Do you recognize your intelligences and how you learn best?

VERBAL/LINGUISTIC - Your ability to use language adeptly. You are a communicator. You learn best by verbalizing, reading, writing, and hearing words. Verbal linguistic kids may enjoy writing, storytelling, journals, movies, drama and more.

LOGICAL/MATHEMATICAL - You are a problem solver, critical and abstract thinker. You learn best through measuring, categorizing, analyzing, or quantifying in some way. Mathematical logical kids may enjoy listing facts, using symbols, computers, experiments and more.

VISUAL/SPATIAL - You have the capacity to think in visual images. You learn best through seeing and observing. You are creative. A visual spatial kid may enjoy creating charts or posters, creating with color and shape, drawing and painting, pretending to be someone else.

BODILY/KINESTHETIC - You have an acute sense of body position in space and timing. You learn best by acting things out or with hands-on experiences. Bodily kinesthetic kids may enjoy role playing, dancing, sports and games, puppets and more.

MUSICAL/RHYTHMIC - You have a capacity to use rhythm, tone, and pitch. You learn best when things are put to music. You probably express your feelings through music. Musical kids may enjoy writing or singing a song, choral reading, moving to the beat, creating dances and more.

INTRAPERSONAL - You have the capacity to be reflective. You know yourself and your inner feelings. You have the ability to be intuitive. You learn best by working alone. Intrapersonal kids may enjoy journal writing, self reflection time, asking why and more.

INTERPERSONAL - You possess the ability to interact with others. You are a team player, good at mediating conflicts, and a socializer. You learn best through group activities. Interpersonal kids may enjoy working with others, cooperative learning, giving feedback to teacher, and more.

NATURALIST - You have the ability to discriminate among living things. You have the capacity to appreciate nature and care for plants and animals. Nature kids may enjoy learning in a natural environment, global environment concerns, working with plants and animals and more.

EXISTENTIAL - You have the ability to ponder and pose questions about life, death, and realities. You enjoy probing deeply. You enjoy philosophical issues. Existential kids may enjoy asking why questions, probe further into information and issues and more.

Take a Multiple Intelligence Survey to find your multiple intelligences. Click on the link: Surfaquarium Consulting

Q. Why does Potter's Publishing curriculum work with the Workshop Rotation Model?

A. Variety of learning activities: Kids are motivated to learn when there is variety. Each workshop provides a variety of activities which stimulate children's desire to learn.

Based on current learning theories: The design of Potter's Publishing curriculum fits the philosophy of the workshop rotation model and current research on ways children learn. The curriculum provides a variety of workshop activities that incorporate the multiple intelligences, knowledge of child development, and interest of children.

Kids are learning: Children learn through repetition. Our curriculum and the workshop rotation model offer repetition in a new and stimulating way. Children do not learn if the same thing is repeated over and over in the same way. If they didn't get it the first time, more of the same thing will get the same results. However, if the same concepts are repeated through different learning experiences, children experience greater retention. Teachers can see light bulbs go on and connections made. This is why children benefit from rotating to different workshops each Sunday. Over the course of a rotation unit children learn the same Biblical concepts and story in a variety of ways.

Kids are making connections: Research shows that children do not learn in isolation. Opportunities to make connections in learning need to be provided for learning to take place and be meaningful. Potter's Publishing curriculum provides experiential activities, mission projects, intergenerational activities/lessons, and reflective thinking opportunities that help children make meaningful connections from the Bible to their daily lives. Children do not only learn the Bible but live it.

Kids get the whole picture: Our rotation units challenge kids to learn. An advantage of rotating to different workshops is that each workshop covers different aspects of the story. Kids get a total picture. This cannot be done in the limited time allotted for a lesson in a traditional Sunday School situation. The range of experiences in one story can be endless through workshops. Children can learn feelings of characters through drama, foods of the times through cooking, geography of an area, customs of the time, and architecture of buildings...all creating greater meaning for the story.

Kid Challenging: We do not water down the Biblical message. We believe kids can be challenged to grow in their faith understandings. Our writers have years of teaching experience with children of all elementary grade levels and understand children's abilities and cognitive levels. Our years of working with children in the Workshop Rotation Model using Potter's Publishing curriculum proves this to be true. Children are remarkably living out their faith and even challenging their parents!

Recruiting teachers is easier: Teachers love teaching in this model. Teachers can use their God-given spiritual gifts and natural skills. You'll find those that love to do drama or puppetry or those that haven't used their artistic talents in years and would love to use them with children. More dads are teaching in this model than ever before. Teachers also find that teaching the same workshop each week is easier. Each week they gain experience as to what worked for them. Feelings of being the Lone Ranger with a group of kids is eliminated as the kids are shared as they rotate and the lessons in the workshops are connected.

Potter's Publishing curriculum is teacher friendly: The curriculum is laid out in an easy-to-read format. It provides teachers with background information, theological background and what children can learn from it. It provides flexible lessons with a variety of activities to use and ideas for dialogue. Lessons are intended to be springboards for the creative teacher, yet provide comforting structure for the novice teacher.

Potter's Publishing curriculum is adaptable: Our curriculum is produced on separate CDs. It is created in Word, so it allows for adaptability to your church situation and theology. You can make changes on your computer and tailor lessons specifically for your children and church situation, or you can use lessons as they are. We allow copies to be made for your church use only.

Q. How do I know that kids are learning?

A. The traditional method of testing learning with paper and pencil multiple choice or fill in the blank tasks has proven to be an unreliable measure. These tasks only measure retention or understanding at the moment. William Glasser maintains that we retain and understand most when we "do" or teach others. Our workshops follow that philosophy. Observe and listen to your children. Watch for understanding as children act out stories in drama. What meaning is displayed in their art? Does their game playing show knowledge of the story? Does their conversation demonstrate that connections are being made? What are they writing in their spiritual journals? We have had parents tell us how lessons have had impact on their children's daily lives through things they have done or spoken. Recently one group of junior high students, while on a retreat, remembered a workshop drama lesson from years ago which led them to a new level of understanding on the current lesson. We have churches that have told us that our mission component has their children begging to do mission and are coming up with their own ideas.

Q. What are spiritual journals?

A. Spiritual journals are journals in which the children write in weekly. In some fashion children respond to and reflect on the workshop lesson. Children start journaling as early as kindergarten with pictures, progressing through the years to concrete responses and eventually to more abstract responses. Hopefully writing about their faith through the years will help writing a faith statement in junior high confirmation less intimidating.

Potter's Publishing curriculum provides a journaling idea to be used at the end of each workshop. Journals can be spiral notebooks or paper stapled together with a designed cover. We provide Spiritual Journal booklets for both Primary and Intermediate children in the Appendix of each unit. Journals may be kept together by grade levels in a central location for teachers to pick up each Sunday. If you are using shepherds for each "flock" of kids, the shepherds can be in charge of the journals. We suggest that you decide beforehand what you will do with the journals at the end of the unit or year. There are benefits both to sending them home or keeping them over the years.

Q. What workshops does Potter's Publishing curriculum use?

A. Our units all have six workshops, which translates into six weeks of lessons. Because the workshop rotation model is designed to be flexible, the kinds of workshops included in a unit often reflect the nature of the unit. There are some core workshops, which are generally used with most units. They are: Bible Knowledge or Bible Variety Workshop, Drama or Puppetry Workshop, Art Workshop, Science Workshop and Game Workshop. Other exciting workshops that are included in various units are: cooking, geography, missions, video production, journey, archeological dig … and more.

Potter's Publishing curriculum often includes ideas for Celebration Sunday and intergenerational activities that provide continuity for the unit. These activities are well developed, yet are flexible and can be used as a springboard for your own idea. Some of these activities include ideas for ways to involve your children in mission or stewardship. Intergenerational activities, which involve the whole church body or different age levels, are often included. If a unit has a definite theme, we include ideas for setting the stage for that theme.

Q. How many workshops should I use? Do I have to use them all? How many units do I need in a year?

A. All of Potter's Publishing curriculum units have six workshops. We recommend that you use six workshops. We realize that there will be times in the church calendar that you may have to limit a unit to 4 or 5 workshops. We have designed our curriculum so that six workshops provide well rounded, integrated, challenging faith learning experiences. Most churches use anywhere from 5-7 units in a school year. The number of units you use depends on your church calendar and whether or not you will be using Celebration Sundays following each unit.

Q. How do children rotate to six workshops if our church only has a small group of children or a large group?

A. All size churches can use the workshop rotation model and six workshops. You do not have to open all six workshops at a time. If you have only two groups of children, you would only have two of the six workshops open on the first and second Sundays, two different ones open on the third and fourth Sundays, and the last two workshops on the fifth and sixth Sundays. A large church would have all six workshops open each Sunday. See the Sample Rotation Schedules under Resources > Helpful Articles > Sample Rotation (make this a hot link) for more ideas. It has ideas for rotating groups of 1 to 6.

Q. What is a shepherd?

A. In traditional Sunday school children had one teacher for the whole year. That provided a caring person that the children would see each Sunday. In the Workshop Rotation Model shepherds provide that continuity. Since children rotate to different workshops each Sunday with a different teacher, the shepherds provide kids with stability, caring, and security. The shepherd is the consistent one who knows the children well and the one they know, recognize, and trust. The shepherd may call children when they are absent, send birthday cards, and also be a helping hand for the teacher.

Questions about Potter's Publishing Curriculum

Q. What is new about Potter's Publishing curriculum?

A. Our curriculum is being constantly revised and updated. New rotation units and Special Activities are added each year. We have listened to our customers through the years and strive to provide a product that is fresh and organized.

Our former company, Potter's Workshops, used an installation technology usable for PC users only. We are not sending our entire curriculum on a single CD with password protection. Each rotation unit comes on a separate CD without password protection. This makes our curriculum usable by PC and Mac users. All our files are in RTF and PDF formats.

Q. What do I receive when I order a rotation unit?

A. First, you will receive a very complete and organized curriculum. Each rotation unit contains complete directions and printable resource materials.

Second, you will receive your rotation unit on a separate CD for each rotation unit you order. We highly recommend that you store each of the curriculum CDs in a secure place. We also recommend you put it on your hard drive for easy access.

Inside the CD case you will find two copies of the invoice for the units ordered. One you keep in your Potter's Publishing file as a record of what rotation units you have ordered. The other is given to your church treasurer or whoever pays the bills.

Q. What do I receive when I order music?

A. You will receive a CD for each music unit. We highly recommend that you store each of the curriculum CDs in a secure place. We also recommend you put it on your hard drive for easy access.

It contains two tracks for each song, one with vocal included and one instrumental only. The CD also contains .PDF copies of the sheet music for each of the songs.

Q. How do I store the curriculum on my PC or Mac computer?

A. For all customers, existing and new, we highly recommend that you create a new folder on your C drive called Potters Publishing curriculum. Inside this main folder, create separate folders for each unit you purchase, for example, Paul. Each rotation unit we produce has subfolders.

For PC users, to install the curriculum on this CD, place it in your CD drive. Listen for the CD drive to begin running. In XP, right click on Start, use "Explore"; you can locate your CD/DVD drive with the name of the unit showing. Double left click on CD/DVD drive, all the files will show on the right hand side. From Edit menu, Select All. Right click highlighted files, select copy. Locate your folder for storing curriculum. Highlight that folder and right click, select Paste. All the contents including subfolders should be copied to Potter's Publishing Curriculum folder on your main drive.

For Mac users, we recommend the same method that works best for you.

Remember that your curriculum is in Potter's Publishing Curriculum folder on your main drive.

Q. How do I install more curriculum units on my computer?

A. Remember that your curriculum is stored on your hard drive under Potter's Publishing. Inside that main folder, create a unit new folder(s) named after the rotation unit(s) you have just received. Insert CD in your CD/DVD drive and let it start running. Navigate to CD drive and locate files to be copied. Copy files and paste them into the new folder named after your new rotation unit.

Q. If I have more than one Potter's Publishing CD, which CD do I use for installation?

A. With the company name change, all CDs are Version 6.00. As we update or change a unit, we will change the Version number to a higher number. Some changes will be relatively minor; other will be quite significant. Use the highest number version until a new version is released.

Q. What computers can I install the curriculum on?

A. Our trust agreement allows for our curriculum to be copied on any computer affiliated with your church. This includes every computer in the church, any computer owned by staff or teachers. You may not share the curriculum with any other church, even if you have already used it. Our trust agreement is based on Christian moral principles from Scripture and copyright laws of the United States.

Q. What about installing computer games?

A. For Potter's Publishing created computer games on our CD, the licensing agreement is the same as for the curriculum. For any other computer software, you must follow their licensing agreement. This usually requires a license for each computer the software is installed on. Potter's Publishing created computer games require an Internet browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) in order to run. They do NOT require an Internet connection.

Q. What kind of computer do I need for my computer lab?

A. This is a complex question because it is a moving target. Neil McQueen of Sunday Software keeps track of current Christian Education software development and the hardware requirements necessary. See his article "Hardware FAQs & Tech Support" on SundaySoftware.com.

Q. Can I pay for my curriculum with a credit card?

A. At this time we do not accept credit cards or other electronic payments. In the near future, as Potter's Publishing we will be adding this feature. If you order by mail you may include a check. Otherwise, when you receive your curriculum, pass the copy of the invoice to the person that pays the bills. Our payment due is net 30 days from date of order processing.

Q. Can I return curriculum that I don't like or cannot use?

A. Because our curriculum is no longer password protected, our return policy is stricter than before. However, we will accept rotation units back with a written letter stating reasons for the return and the assurances that the curriculum has been removed from all computers where it was copied. Upon receipt of that letter, we will gladly offer you any other unit in exchange for the returned unit. We will no longer send refunds

Q. What is a PDF file and how do I open it?

A. Open a PDF file by using Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can get a free download of the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader from www.adobe.com On the Adobe's home page, you will see on the left side of web site, Solutions and products. Underneath that title you will see two "buttons", one being "Get Acrobat Reader". Click on the logo "button" and it will take you to the page to download the Adobe Reader. It is very helpful to have a broadband or DSL to download this file quickly.

Once you install the Adobe Acrobat Reader, simply click on any of our PDF files and the Adobe Acrobat Reader will launch and open our files.