WELCOME!

Gathering Activity: Gift Boxes

Each of us brings gifts to share with the group.

Decorate one of the “gift boxes”Write on it one gift you bring to the group.

Keep the box with you.

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Welcome to the Teacher Development Renaissance Module

Session 1: Teaching and Learning –

What Shapes Us?

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Please share

* Name* Congregation or setting* Role or position in congregation* Number of years in Unitarian Universalism* Number of years in the field of religious

education/ministry* Number of Renaissance Modules taken* RE Credentialing status (level completed or

in progress)

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Orientation to Teacher Development Renaissance

Module

Online Evaluationhttp://www.uua.org/careers/re/renaissance/277437.shtml

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Renaissance Program

AdministrationAdult Faith Development

Curriculum PlanningMinistry with Youth

Multicultural Religious EducationPhilosophy of Religious Education

Teacher DevelopmentUU Identity

UU History (online)Worship

UU Theology (online - in development)

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Think of a teacher who made a difference in your life.

What was it about you that allowed that to happen?

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Thomas Groome

Shared Praxis

• What?

• So what?

• Now what?

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What?

1.Focusing activity; naming our own knowing

2.Critical Reflection

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So what?

3.Make available the vision/story of the faith community

4. Dialectic -- reflecting on our new information

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Now what?

5.Decision/response(invitation to action)

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1. Focusing Activity – the hook:

What do YOU know about this? not, what have you been told to think about it?

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2. Critical reflection:

An activity to help evaluate or learn more about what we already know

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3. The story/vision of the faith community:

An image that helps make meaning of life; disclosure, not closure.

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4. Appropriation:

Make this your own! What do you affirm, question, add? (the safety valve that keeps us from controlling)

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5. Invitation to response, action, decision:

To return to ones own lived experience again.

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The Courage to Teach

On your card……a moment of joy you have had in teaching and on

the other side of the card, a moment of despair.

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SLT Hymn 118 This Little Light of Mine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine (3x)Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Ev’ry where I go, I’m gonna let it shine (3x)Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Building up a world, I’m gonna let it shine (3x)Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

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Session 2: Teachers as Learners and Seekers

Please share an “aha moment” – something that occurred to you during the first session or since that was a new learning, changed

your point of view about something, raised a new question, etc.

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SLT Hymn 389 Gathered Here

Gathered here in the mystery of the hourGathered here in one strong body

Gathered here in the struggle and the powerSpirit, draw near.

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“Reduce teaching to the intellect, and it becomes a cold abstraction; reduce it to

emotions and it becomes narcissistic; reduce it to the spiritual, and it loses its anchor in the world. Intellect, emotion, and spirit…are interwoven in the human

self and education at its best.”-Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

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Safe Congregation Practices

Specific aspects of safe congregations that affect volunteer teachers are:

•Providing personal information requested when recruited

•Abiding by the two-adults-in-the-classroom policies (For the protection of the teacher as

well as the students)•Reporting any incidents that arouse concerns

about safe congregation practices

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Session 3: Supporting Learners and Seekers

SLT #123 Spirit of Life -words by Carolyn McDade

Spirit of Life, come unto me.Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;Move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.Roots hold me close; wings set me free;Spirit of Life, come to me,Come to me.

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SLT Hymn 367 Allelu, Allelu

Allelu, allelu, allelu, alleluia!Sing and Rejoice.

Allelu, allelu, allelu, alleluia!Sing and Rejoice.

Sing and rejoice. Alleluia!Sing and rejoice. Alleluia!Sing and rejoice. Alleluia!

Sing and rejoice.

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Reflect about the role of space in teaching and learning in faith…..

What’s important in an environment beyond safety? What makes a

teaching and learning environment in a faith development setting

welcoming?

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The Paradoxes of SpaceParker Palmer

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Space should be bounded and open

Space should be hospitable and “charged”

Space should invite the voice of the individual and the voice of the group

Space should honor the “little” stories of the students and the “big” stories of the disciplines and traditions

Space should support solitude and surround it with the resources of the community

Space should welcome both silence and speech

Session 4: Toolkits for Teachers – Empowerment for Learning and Seeking

Meditation on BreathingSinging the Journey

#1009

When I breathe in, I'll breathe in peace.When I breathe out, I'll breathe out love.Breathe in, breathe out.

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Planning a Teacher Development Event

Include:•Mission and goals for the workshop or event

•Number of teachers to be involved•Format and length

•Scheduling (with leadership)•Content (including activities)

•Tools that teachers need for ongoing support and daily use(continued)

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Presentation should include:•An overview of the teacher development

workshop/event•With statement of the mission and goals of the

workshop•A list of the tools that teachers need for ongoing

support and for daily use as they facilitate in lifespan faith development classrooms

• A demonstration of at least one activity you would do with your teachers

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STJ Hymn 1009Meditation on Breathing

When I breathe in, I'll breathe in peace.When I breathe out, I'll breathe out love.Breathe in, breathe out.

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Session 5: Group Presentations and Closing Worship

Hymn 1000 Morning Has Comemusic and words by Jason Shelton

1. Morning has come, arise and greet the day!Dance with joy and sing a song of gladness!

The light of hope here shines upon each face.May it bring faith to guide our journey home.

cont’d

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2. A new day dawns, once more the gift is giv’nWonder fills this moment shared together.

The light of peace here shines upon each face.May it bring faith to guide our journey home.

3. Open our eyes to see that life abounds;Open hearts to welcome it among us.

The light of love here shines upon each face. May it bring faith to guide our journey home.

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Collective Reflection

•What are the tools teachers need?•How can we frame teaching as spiritual

development?•What were some of the best elements

across presentations?

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Closing

Blessing Ritual

(Name), may your teaching project the condition of your soul onto your students and bring a blessing to your ways of being together on your spiritual and religious life

journey.

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