There is a room full of students watching a video clip and all of a sudden “ *&%#!!!$^&”
You jump up and quickly hit pause. Embarrassed you now have to teach your whole lesson following those words coming out of that characters mouth.

It happened to me once, and many other people I know. We didn’t review that clip, or perhaps even worse we put on a curriculum that could make you snore.

Many youth workers if not most, have to use curriculum in order to keep afloat. That is a fine place to be, we have tons of brilliant content created by people who have the time and resources to do it.

But if you have been around curriculum for a while, you will probably realize that sometimes you have to sift through stuff to find the right message for the right time.This means reviewing your curriculum.

In our ministry we use video or book curriculums for our small group time. The thing is even though I am using curriculum I need to be ahead. I need to order or download my curriculum. Just today I preordered a book to look at for using September of 2014. I have my self set up through to the summer, The reason I ordered it now is so I can take a read and then know whether or not its what I want to use. Does it meet my objectives? Is it well written for students?

In the past when I have used curriculum that was garbage, it undermined my leadership. People were unhappy, and they were skeptical about my next couple choices of material. When I played a video clip with foul language, I undermined myself by making myself look careless.

So how do you review your curriculum? What makes it work for you or not? Not everything is going to work, but there is tons of great resources available.

*Shameless plug here-> Check out DYM’s store for good curriculum.*

Kyle Corbin has been serving youth as a volunteer or pastor for over 10 years and blogs exclusively here on LoveGodLoveStudents.com. He is currently the youth pastor at the Bridge Church in North Vancouver B.C. Hit him up on Twitter @CorbinKyle