Adapted for EDUC 362 Teaching the Christian Faith

Name: Paige Borcherding Grade Level: 4th-5th

Topic/Central Focus Subject: Religion

Parables part 2: The Prodigal Son

Time Frame: 50 minutes

Standard(s) to be met in the lesson: (2 of Fryar’s 4 Goals)

That we may put our trust in God (#1; faith)

That we may have loyal hearts, faithful toward God. (#4; attitudes)

Learning Objective: Assessment Tool(s) and Procedures:

1. The students will be able to summarize the
parable of the Prodigal Son and describe what
Jesus meant when He shared the parable.
2. Students will develop a story that shows the
point of views of both the son and the father in
the parable.
I will assess the students’ knowledge of the
parable by listening to their explanations of
the parable with a partner. Then, I will
collect their journals and read their stories/
explanations of the points of views of the
son and father. I will be looking for
creativity as well as checking to make sure
that each student understands how the
father and son probably felt during this
story.

Research-Based Best Practice – Marzano or other – Must cite here.

1. This lesson incorporates summarizing and note taking in that the students will be able to
summarize the parable of the Prodigal Son.
2. This lesson incorporates homework and practice in that students will be assigned writing in
their journals and showing the perspectives of the son and the father.
Student Engagement used throughout the lesson
Students will be engaged by reading the parable of the Prodigal Son, discussing with a person
next to them the meaning of the parable, and writing in their journals from the perspective of
both the father and the son from the parable.

Key Vocabulary:
Prodigal
Materials: Technology:
Bibles Laptop and projector to show YouTube video
Journals
Paper
Potential Integration into other subjects:
Language Arts— writing in journals

Assets (Knowledge of Students: personal, cultural, community)

Knowledge: Students know about perspectives and will be able to do the journal assignment.
Skills: Students know how to find Luke in the Bible as well as the chapter and verses. They
also know how to read and write.

Differentiating Instruction – not required for DCE

Identify the elements of the lesson that are differentiated (content, process, product).

Identify the student characteristic you will use to differentiate (readiness, interest, learning profile).

Explain how you differentiate (whole class, groups of students, individuals, or students with IEPs or 504 plans)

The lesson is differentiated by process based on learning profile. The students talk to their
partner, they write and/or draw in their journals.
Procedure with time allotments:
A) Hook/Engage/Pre-Assess Students

I will begin by sharing the video of the Prodigal Son presented by the Skit Guys. It’s a
video that goes along with the journaling that the students will be doing in class, and
it opens the lesson about the parable nicely while also adding some humor.

B) Communicate the purpose of the lesson to students (objective/assessment)


The purpose of this lesson is to describe what Jesus meant when He shared the
parable of the Prodigal Son. Then, students will develop a story that shows the point
of views of both the son and the father in the parable.

C) Instructional Sequence:

1. “Today we are going to learn about the Parable of the Prodigal Son.” Discuss the
verses that were read, including any important points that the students didn’t cover.
2. Ask the students the following questions:
“Why do you think the son wanted his share of his father’s estate right away?”
“How do you think the father felt when his son asked him for everything and
then left?”
“How do you think the son felt after he realized he spent everything that his
father had given him?”
“What do you think was going through the Son’s mind when he decided to
come back home?”
“We read that the father was overjoyed to see his son coming home. What does
Jesus say in the parable that shows us the father was overjoyed?”
Invite the students to hypothesize what they think Jesus meant behind this
parable of the prodigal son. “God forgives our sins in the same way the father forgave his Son
when he left him. No matter how far we get from God, we can always come back to Him and
He will be waiting for us and running to us with open arms.”
3. Tell the students to pull out their journals. Have them to journal in first person from
the perspective of the son (allow 10 minutes), and then from the perspective of the father (10
minutes) including what was going through their minds as the story goes along. Invite them
to answer the following questions that were discussed in class, emphasizing that this is meant
for them to be creative and add ideas of their own that we didn’t talk about together.

D) Closure:
I will close by sharing the video of the Prodigal Son presented by the Skit Guys again.
After students finish writing their journals from the perspectives of the father and the
son, they will want to watch the video again to see the perspectives that the skit guys
created.

E) Clearly state where (above) Law and Gospel are taught in the lesson:
Law: our sins push us away from our Father.
Gospel: our Father will always wait for us to come back to Him. In fact, He doesn’t wait for us
to come to Him, He’s running to us with His arms stretched out.
 Analyzing Teaching (Reflection):

Completed after the lesson is taught.

Give evidence that the lesson was successful for students meeting the learning
objective(s).

If you could teach this lesson to the same group of students again, what are two or three things you would do
differently to improve the learning of these students based on their varied developmental and academic needs and
characteristics? Consider missed opportunities and other aspects of planning, instruction, and/or assessment.
Explain in the table below.

Clearly state each change you would Explain why and how you would change
make. it.

Resources
BibleGateway. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2018, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?
search=Luke 10:25-37&version=NIV

Fryar, J. L. (2004). Go and Make Disciples: The Goal of the Christian Teacher (2nd ed.). River
Forest, IL: Lutheran Education Association.

Mcdaniel, R. (1970, June 10). Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved April 03, 2018, from https://
cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Link to Skit Guys’ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyVlF24u5dY