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Fall 2013 Self-Guided RE Teacher Training

First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City

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Welcome!

Please set aside 20 minutes or so to click your way through this Self-Guided RE Teacher Training presentation before your first Teaching Team meeting. RE staff will also schedule some drop in Q&A sessions and tours and be available to meet with and orient new teachers to help you feel prepared for your service as an RE Teacher this year.

This presentation will continue to be available in the Teacher Resources section of our website throughout the year for your reference.

This is a PowerPoint presentation that provides our RE Teacher volunteers with an overview of:

Religious Education Staff

Curriculum

Scheduling procedures and resources available to support RE teachers

Classroom supplies

Sunday morning logistics

Introducing the Religious Education Staff

You will be supported in your volunteer work throughout the year by our RE staff members:

Mary Kroener-Ekstrand, has been Director of Religious Education (DRE) at First Unitarian since 2009. Previously, she has worked as a middle school Social Studies and English teacher, a service learning coordinator, a university teacher educator, and a museum educator. She has a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and Bachelor's and Master's degrees in History.

Nancy Moos joined the staff as Religious Education Assistant in the spring of 2012.  Nancy has been a member of First Unitarian since 1997.  She has previously worked as a Special Education aide in Canyons School District. Prior to that she was a Marriage and Family Therapist.  She has a masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and a B.A.  in Psychology and Communication.

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Table of Contents

1. Curriculum

2. Scheduling and Resources

3. Classrooms and Supplies

4. Sunday Morning Logistics

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Religious Education Curriculum Goals

Our goals:

(1)We want children and youth to have fun and feel they are part of our religious community.

(2)We want children and youth to learn about our UU faith and to gain some of the basic religious literacy expected of informed citizens in our society.

(3)We want to support young people in their personal and spiritual development. We hope participants will feel…

Capable - Aware that each individual has unique skills, abilities, and talents. “Something to offer.”

Connected - Aware that our congregation exists as a supportive spiritual community in which they can find friendship, compassion, and inspiration. “Someone to be with.”

Contributing – Aware that each of us can choose to make a difference in our own community and in the world beyond our church. “Something to do for others.”

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Many of our classes will be using curriculum from the Tapestry of Faith series. This program was developed by the UUA and is available on line free-of-charge. A few classes will use curriculum from independent publishers, which may not be available electronically.

Each lesson session includes a number of alternate activities -- you simply cannot fit them all in a single 60 minute Sunday school session -- so you will need to read the lessons in advance and choose which activities seem like they would be fun and engaging for you as a teacher and for the group of kids who are regulars in your class.

If you would like help with lesson planning, Mary or Nancy will be happy to read the lesson and send you a recommendation of which activities we think you should do. Please email us at least one week in advance of your scheduled teaching date so that we prepare and email you our suggested lesson plan.

Religious Education Curriculum Programs

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The following curriculum programs will be used at 9am this year:

Early Elementary (grades 1-3)- Picture Book Unitarian Universalism

Upper Elementary (grades 4-6)- Faithful Journeys

The following curriculum programs will be used at 11am this year:

Grades 1-2 - Picture Book Unitarian Universalism

Grades 3-4 - Faithful Journeys (Tapestry of Faith)

Grades 5-6 – Toolbox of Faith (Tapestry of Faith)

Grades 7-8 – Coming of Age

Grades 9-12 – Charting Our Own Journey

Religious Education Curriculum by Grade Level, cont.

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There will be a binder with a printed copy of the curriculum located in each classroom for use by all teachers/staff. PLEASE do not remove this copy!

We encourage you to use the online version of the curriculum for planning and preparation if one is available. This will save a lot of paper and cost for the church. It will also allow you to click links to external resources (images, videos, etc.), which are sometimes included in the lessons.

Each teaching team will receive a link to the online curriculum in a RE Start Up Info email at the beginning of the year. The links will also be posted on the church website in the RE Resources tab.

If any teacher volunteer wants a printed copy of the full curriculum, please email your request to RE Assistant Nancy Moos at reassist@slcuu.org.

Religious Education Curriculum Availability

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The curriculum materials we have chosen are a guide for you, but you should not feel limited or confined by these lesson plans. We want you to use your creativity and judgment to create an RE class that is fun and engaging for you as a teacher and for the children and youth in your class. And in most cases, there are fewer lessons in the curriculum than there are Sundays, which means there is plenty of time to fit in new ideas and activities.

To this end, we encourage you to set aside time in your weekly lessons and in your schedule throughout the year for games, parties, field trips, social justice projects, or whatever your teaching team and the kids and families in your class can dream up and support.

Please do communicate with RE Staff and with all of the teaching team about changes that you are making to the curriculum. This will make your class function more smoothly! Staff are happy to assist with scheduling, communicating with families, logistics, etc.

Adapting the Curriculum

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Table of Contents

1. Curriculum and Instruction

2. Scheduling and Resources

3. Classrooms and Supplies

4. Sunday Morning Logistics

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Scheduling Needs

Our commitment to families in the church is that we will make every effort to have two adults in the classroom each Sunday. This is important to provide a reasonable adult/child ratio for the safety of the children and youth in our care. It is also important to allow for the development of supportive and caring relationships between adults and young people in our church community and to provide support to each teacher volunteer.

We have tried to recruit teaching teams of 3-4 volunteers for every age group so that you can rotate to turns amongst yourselves to lead teach and assist in the classroom, and to have some Sundays available to attend worship services in the sanctuary as well. We hope to use parent volunteers to fill in as assistants when only one member of a teaching team is available on a given Sunday.

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Setting Your Teaching Schedule

Each teaching team should try to work out a schedule at your start up meeting in the fall. You can submit the schedule in writing – as far as you know it – to Mary or Nancy after this meeting.

Teaching schedules are maintained online, in Google documents. Each teacher will receive a link to the Google Doc for your class in an RE Start Up Info email at the beginning of the year, along with a link to a Google Doc tutorial. On the Google Doc, you will be able to view who is scheduled to teach on any given week, change the schedule based on swaps you make with other team members, and make notes about which lessons you have covered or other relevant data. These Google Docs are a really useful tool for communicating among the teaching team and with the RE staff.

Each week, RE Assistant Nancy Moos will send out an email confirming who is scheduled to teach and reminding you to submit any requests for classroom supplies to her. Please do take a moment to reply to this email so that we know that you are aware that it is your turn and that you plan to be here!

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Changing Your Teaching Schedule

If you will be unable to teach on your scheduled day.

First, coordinate with the other RE teachers assigned to your class and see if one of them can cover the day that you are unavailable. Change the Google Doc once you have settled the changes within your team. If the confirmation email for the week has already gone out, then please email RE Assistant Nancy Moos and DRE Mary Kroener-Ekstrand to let them know of the change.

If none of the RE Teachers in your team are able to cover the Sunday, please email RE Assistant Nancy Moos and DRE Mary Kroener-Ekstrand ASAP so that they can begin to search for a substitute.

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Last Minute Sunday Substitutes

If you need a last minute Sunday substitute, please email Mary Kroener-Ekstrand and Nancy as early in the morning as possible.

It is difficult to reach us by phone on Sunday morning. But if you do not have email access for some reason, please do call and leave a message for BOTH Mary and Nancy. If one of us if off for the day, we don’t have access to each other’s voice mail.

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Resources and Additional Training for RE Teachers

In addition to the online curriculum, each teacher will be given a Teacher Packet (hopefully at your initial teaching team meeting) that includes many resources such as…

•Copies of RE Policy and Procedure Documents

•Information about Classroom Management and Discipline

•Suggestions for check in questions, games and other fun activities

Copies of some of these documents are also posted on the church website in the RE Resources tab.

Occasional teacher development and support meetings will also be held throughout the church year.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email Mary with your questions and concerns.

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Table of Contents

1. Curriculum and Instruction

2. Scheduling and Resources

3. Classrooms and Supplies

4. Sunday Morning Logistics

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Your classroom

Each grade/class has a particular space assigned to you as a home base. Please take a moment at the beginning of the year to browse around your classroom. You will want to take particular note of:

Emergency evacuation information near the door

Location of First Aid Kit, usually in a cabinet labeled on the outside

Behavior covenants

Bulletin Board Space available for class use

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Supplies in the Classroom RE Cabinet

Each classroom has a RE cabinet. The cabinet has been organized to enable you to find the materials that you need each week.

At the beginning of the year, each RE cabinet is stocked with the following supplies:

Construction paper

Scissors

Crayons, markers and colored pencils

Glue (bottles & sticks)

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Teacher Supply Room

Room 206 is our Teacher Supply room. In it you will find many craft supplies, games, books, etc. that you can use in your classes. The room is unlocked on Sunday mornings. You can gather your own supplies and/or send children in to get the items you need for your class.

Please remove only what you expect to use so that supplies are available to other teachers.

Please return any unused items to the places where you found them.

RE Library

The RE Library is also located in the Teacher Supply Room (Room 206). It includes a collection of picture books as well as a variety of adult resource books for your use.

Nancy Moos has created a wonderful catalog of our library collection, which you can search by author, title, and subject. You can find this terrific resource on the Library Thing website.

www.librarything.com

Our account name is: 1stuuslc

Our password is: chalice

These links will also be posted on the church website in the RE Resources tab so that you can find them when you need them.

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Multimedia Supplies and Procedures

Many RE teachers enjoy using internet resources in the classroom. We do have WiFi throughout the RE building. The password will be sent to you in the a RE Start Up Info email.

The RE department owns a projector and speakers that can be connected to a laptop (yours or ours) to display online resources in your classroom.

Anytime you are using technological resources in your class, please allow extra time for set up and troubleshooting. And have a backup plan in mind (a game, a more traditional craft project, a book to read, etc) in case the internet is down or other technological failures interfere with the best laid plans…

We own a tv/dvd/vcr on a cart, which can be rolled into Little Chapel or brought upstairs on the elevator for your use. Please let us know in advance that you will be needing it.

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Other Teaching Spaces

While your regular classroom will be your usual meeting place, there are other spaces available if you need space for movement, a place where you can set a different tone or mood, or other alternatives. Some of these spaces are:

The playground and lawn area

The meditation garden

The new “outdoor classroom”

Little Chapel

Off site (requires special permission, please contact Mary)

If you know that you will be using an alternative space, please let Mary or Nancy know so that we can avoid conflicts with other classes and so that we can find you if we need you.

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Table of Contents

1. Key Curriculum and Resource Changes

2. Online Resources

3. Classrooms, Snacks and Supplies

4. Sunday Morning Logistics

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Sunday Morning Logistics:Preparing for Class

The following will ensure a smooth start to your RE class.

Arrive at least 15 minutes early!

Pick up your classroom folder from the rainbow drawers in Little Chapel. This will contain your roll sheet and forms you may need.

Go to your classroom to set up and check that you have the supplies you need.

Depending on the routines for your age group, be ready to meet children/youth in your classroom about 10 minutes before service time OR join us in the Sanctuary for the beginning of the worship service.

After the first hymn, those in the Sanctuary will exit through the door to Eliot Hall and proceed to the Little Chapel.

RE Staff or a designated volunteer will help you gather your class, welcome newcomers, and send you off to the classroom from Little Chapel. They may also give you special instructions about snack.

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Sunday Morning Logistics:Taking Attendance

You will take attendance using the roster in the class folder.

Taking attendance is a priority and should be done early in the class. It is easy to do during an opening check in.

Taking attendance early lets you know who is there in case of an emergency, and to welcome visitors at the beginning.

When taking attendance, list each visitor’s first AND last name on the roster. When the parent picks up a visiting child, please ask if they have completed a visitor form. Hopefully RE Staff will have already collected the form. However, if not, please find one in your folder, have the parent complete it, and return it with your roll sheet.

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Sunday Morning Logistics:Snack

Usually, kids love snack time. Our RE kitchen will be stocked with basic non-perishable snack items (animal crackers, pretzels, etc.)

If you wish to have snack during your opening check in, as some classes do, please pick it up in the RE kitchen before heading upstairs to class.

If you wish to have snack on the playground at the end of class, please pick it up on the way outside.

If you wish to serve snack in the classroom at the end of class, please send a volunteer (teacher assistant and/or child) downstairs to pick it up when you are ready.

Please remember to load trays, cups, and pitchers in the dishwasher and put away any other kitchen items that you use.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE RE KITCHEN MUST BE A NUT FREE ENVIRONMENT. Do not bring any products that contain nuts or come from a facility that processes nuts into the RE kitchen or classrooms.

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Sunday Morning Logistics:Clean Up

At the end of your class, please plan to engage the kids in clean up.

Tables should be wiped down, especially following messy crafts and snacks.

Chairs should be stacked so that the custodian can clean the floor.

Unused supplies should be put back where they belong.

Garbage and recycling should be placed in appropriate bins.

All windows should be closed and locked.

All snack items should be returned to the kitchen and put away or loaded in the dishwasher.

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Sunday Morning Logistics:Class Happenings and Incident Reports

There are two important forms in the RE class folder- Class Happenings and Accident/Injury Reports.

Class Happenings and Notes to Mary should be completed by the RE teacher each Sunday. This is your opportunity to provide feedback about the lesson and to provide any info about issues in the class that the DRE should know about. Place them in the class folder with your roll sheet and return the folder to the rainbow drawers in Little Chapel.

Accident/Injury Reports are used to provide staff with details about specific class events. If something occurs that staff and parents should be informed about, please fill out the form and give copes (labeled) to parents and staff.

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Thank You!

Thank you for completing the Self Guided RE Teacher Training!

Mary is available to you to answer your questions and provide support throughout the year. Please contact to set up a phone or in-person meeting to address your questions. And please watch your email for announcements about teacher support meetings throughout the year.

With your help, we are looking forward to a dynamic RE year!