Jesse Joyner, PhD

Book My Show

Category: Education

  • Coming Soon: “Holy Fools”

    My PhD dissertation will be available to the public very soon! I am so excited to share that my full 274-page PhD dissertation will be available (for free) to the public very soon. Stay tuned for the details. The title is “Holy Fools”: Exploring the Journey of Calling for Christian Variety Performers. I didn’t know…

    Read More: Coming Soon: “Holy Fools”

  • The Joy of Teaching Circus Arts

    Some people may think that the circus is a dying form of entertainment. But I am here to tell you that it is alive and well. Despite the recent closing of the legendary Ringling Brothers circus show, other iterations of the circus are on the rise. And the younger generation is picking up on this,…

    Read More: The Joy of Teaching Circus Arts

  • Teaching kids to use their talents for good

    When I was in elementary and middle school, I was small. I couldn’t keep up with the stronger kids in the popular sports like football and basketball. I was pushed around and bullied by the bigger kids. Then I discovered a unique talent – juggling. While in fifth grade, my friend Tim taught me how…

    Read More: Teaching kids to use their talents for good

  • Teacher Tip: The Right Question to Ask Yourself

    Teacher Tip: How can I help these kids best learn what I’m teaching? Notice I didn’t say, “How should I teach the content of my topic to these children?” There’s a big difference there. Do you see it? One is teacher-focused. The other is learner-focused. Your work as someone who teaches kids in any capacity…

    Read More: Teacher Tip: The Right Question to Ask Yourself

  • These kids ran away with the circus…

    I’m so proud of the first class of students of Camp Carnival RVA! This was the first circus arts camp of its kind ever in the state of Virginia. Every day for two weeks, these kids got to “run away” from home and join a variety of instructors who taught them the ins and outs…

    Read More: These kids ran away with the circus…

  • Are the Sciences Better Than the Arts?

    Mega-bank Wells Fargo recently put out an advertisement for their upcoming “Teen Day.” In it, the wording appears to suggest that the sciences are a higher calling in life than the arts. Many celebrities in the arts took to Twitter to make the case that we should not send a message to teens that makes…

    Read More: Are the Sciences Better Than the Arts?

  • Faith Development Resources: Early Childhood

    INTRODUCTION Finding quality resources that help nurture the faith development of children and families can sometimes be difficult. This is the first post in a series, broken up by age-level focus, that can be of help to children, family members, and ministry leaders as they navigate the pilgrimage of the Christian faith. I will start…

    Read More: Faith Development Resources: Early Childhood

  • Godly Play: A Model for Ministry with Children

    Godly Play is a teaching system used by many churches around the world to educate children about God, the Bible, and also invite them into the Christian narrative. Jerome Berryman developed the curriculum and he was influenced by the educational theories of Maria Montessori. I observed Godly Play in action once when I was in…

    Read More: Godly Play: A Model for Ministry with Children

  • Is Jesus Our Superhero?

    A metaphor that some people use for describing Jesus Christ is that he is our superhero. But, I feel that the metaphor (like most) breaks down here – and so much so that I am uncomfortable saying that Jesus is my superhero (and teaching kids the like). Here’s why: I believe that Jesus is beyond the…

    Read More: Is Jesus Our Superhero?

  • Juggling Ice

    I ordered some silicone molds that make perfect ice spheres about the size of a baseball. I put them in the freezer and out came the ice balls for juggling. I went outside and tried them out. I was able to do it – and of course my hands got very cold! The balls began to…

    Read More: Juggling Ice

  • Large Group Game: Hot Potato Extreme

    Here’s a great group game that actively involves everyone and no one gets “out.” It also involves an element of juggling that anyone can do without practice. It is like large group hot potato juggling. Here’s how it works: Have the group sit in a circle. You can do multiple circles if you want to…

    Read More: Large Group Game: Hot Potato Extreme

  • A Brain Game for Ministry

    I like finding neat science tricks and visual illustrations that can be used to help communicate Biblical concepts in teaching. I found this neat brain game trick which I like to call the “curved arcs” from Steve Spangler Science. He sells the pieces I bought below. But you can also make your own and he…

    Read More: A Brain Game for Ministry

  • Super Easy Scripture Slides and Images

    I recently stumbled upon a fast and free way to make Scripture slides for Children’s Ministry (or any other ministry, for that matter) with an array of free and attractive backgrounds. And it may already be in your phone/device. It’s built into one of the popular apps out there – the free YouVersion app of the…

    Read More: Super Easy Scripture Slides and Images

  • Vintage Richmond in the Public Domain

    I love Richmond, VA history. I especially love finding old photos showing the way things used to be in this lovely east coast city. Some things have changed dramatically and some things have stayed mostly the same. I just found out from smithsonian.com that the New York City Library recently made nearly 200,000 photographs, documents,…

    Read More: Vintage Richmond in the Public Domain

  • The Power of Collaboration

    We visited the Auguste Rodin special exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts yesterday. We learned something interesting that caught my attention: at lot of Rodin’s work as a sculptor was done collaboratively by “the school” of Rodin. In other words, while Rodin was the creative genius behind the design of his works, there…

    Read More: The Power of Collaboration

  • Bring Me Game Ideas

    The ‘Bring Me’ game is a group activity ideal for engaging children. The leader requests random items, and the first person or group to bring the item gets a point. The game uses technology as it allows for internet-based scavenger hunt challenges. The leader needs to adapt the items according to the group’s characteristics. The…

    Read More: Bring Me Game Ideas

  • Teaching Kids About Street Performing

    I performed for a small group of three to five year-olds at my daughter’s school today. They were studying about Europe, so I figured I would teach them about Europe’s rich tradition of busking (another term for street performing). I showed them a picture of a busker at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland as…

    Read More: Teaching Kids About Street Performing

  • Overcoming Stage Fright

    I performed at a company holiday banquet on Sunday night in Pennsylvania. As I was eating dinner with the owner and his family, one of his children asked me, “Do you ever get nervous before your shows?” My answer was a quick and simple, “Yes.” Then I explained a little more. Yes, I still get nervous…

    Read More: Overcoming Stage Fright

  • Teaching Kids About Money

    Thanks to Dave Ramsey and other financial teachers, we were inspired to use clear labeled jars to show our daughter how much money she has and how to categorize it. I know that she will grow up in an even more digital world than we did, which means money will become more and more “invisible”…

    Read More: Teaching Kids About Money

  • The Interrobang as a Metaphor for the Hypostatic Union

    If you have no idea what that title means, that’s OK. It is actually fairly simple to explain those weird words, which I will attempt to do. The “hypostatic union” is an important theological concept to understand about the person and work of Jesus Christ. It basically says that Jesus Christ is one person, two…

    Read More: The Interrobang as a Metaphor for the Hypostatic Union

  • The Best Teachers are Lifelong Learners

    So I’m taking a PhD course called Adult Learning Foundations. We’re reading authors such as John Dewey, Paulo Freire, Sharan Merriam, Malcolm Knowles, and David Kolb (as well as stuff about Mezirow’s Transformative Learning). One of the overall themes I’m getting from the content is that the idea of lifelong learning and continuing education (not…

    Read More: The Best Teachers are Lifelong Learners

Search

Popular Posts

  • “Holy Fools”: Exploring the Journey of Calling for Christian Variety Performers
    “Holy Fools”: Exploring the Journey of Calling for Christian Variety Performers

    I am happy to announce that my PhD dissertation has been published to ProQuest, an academic database for published research. I have made the dissertation open source, which means anyone anywhere can access the full content free of charge. Here is the full dissertation: https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/holy-fools-exploring-journey-calling-christian/docview/2622316783/se-2 Please share far and wide. I am very much excited…

  • The Easiest Large Group Game Ever
    The Easiest Large Group Game Ever

    This is probably the easiest large group game ever invented.  If you can think of an easier one, please let me know in the comments. Heads or Tails! This game of heads or tails involves EVERYONE in your large group.  It is actually better the larger the group gets.  There is an elimination factor to…

  • Merry Christmas from the Joyners!
    Merry Christmas from the Joyners!

    Greetings from our family in Richmond, Virginia! We are thankful for you, our friends and family. We are also thankful to the Lord for His gift of the love to us all this season. This past year has been a roller coaster of experiences and emotions, specifically regarding our spunky little Annie, who is now…

  • Book Release! Incredibly Bad Dad Jokes
    Book Release! Incredibly Bad Dad Jokes

    I have been writing down my original Dad jokes for several years now, but recently they dramatically increased. While the past five months of my life have been the toughest for me as a Dad (with Annie’s medical crisis), the Dad jokes actually came out in full force during this season. You see, in my…

  • A Children’s Ministry Poem
    A Children’s Ministry Poem

    From the mouths of children come questions galore about heaven and angels and Satan and more. They speak what their hearts say without holding back, so the wonder of God is something they never lack. Oh God, who are you? Who inspires the minds of little ones many, so that they may find this Jesus…

Categories