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Ideas for Session Plans
As you become more experienced leading religious education, you may
want to incorporate some of the following ideas to deepen your religious
education practice. (Before using these ideas, please become familiar
with the Introduction to the Curriculum Plan.)
- Use a "Key Concept Statement"
One way to increase the effectiveness of your teaching is to focus
your session by developing a "key concept statement" (KCS).
A key concept statement helps you to identify the main objective of
the session, to focus the children's experience, and provide a basis
for future review.
As you prepare your session plan, decide what your objective is for
the session. For example, in a session based on the story of Jesus'
birth, you may wish to emphasize that although the story talks about
the miraculous aspects of Jesus' birth, we believe that every birth
is a miracle. Then your key concept statement would be something like:
"The story of how Jesus was born is a wonderful fairy tale that
helps us realize that it's a miracle every time a child is born."
A key concept statement should reflect strong Unitarian Universalist
values.
Once you have a key concept statement, you can organize the whole
session around that statement. Begin the session by saying the key
concept statement to the children. Develop the key concept statement
through discussion and activities. Restate the key concept statement
at the end of the session. Or as some educators put it: "Tell
'em what you're about to teach 'em. Teach it to 'em. Tell 'em what
they just learned."
Key concept statements can be used in regular review sessions with
the children. Introduce the review of a past session by restating
the key concept statement from that session.
- Literacy and religious education
Sunday school started out in the late 18th Century as a literacy program
run by Protestant churches. The Protestant Reformation was based in
part on the idea that all people should be allowed to read the Bible
without the mediating influence of a priest. As a result, widespread
literacy was strongly encouraged by churches.
As offspring of the Protestant Reformation, Unitarian Universalists
today still support widespread literacy. We believe all persons should
have full access to books and the human wisdom that has been written
down, to the knowledge and insight that can be found in both religious
and secular literature.
Most Unitarian Universalist religious education programs don't have
to worry about providing basic literacy skills (if you're home schooling
your children, you may be teaching basic literacy skills, but usually
not as a part of religious education). However, there is more to reading
and writing than basic literacy. For example, a child may know how
to sound out words, but that doesn't mean that he or she can understand
and read critically the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis.
How can we teach Unitarian Universalist children to read religious
texts both respectfully and critically? Here's one technique that
works well: Begin by reading a religious text (or a story) aloud,
straight through without interruptions; then go back and read the
text (or story) out loud again, but this time interrupt your reading
periodically to comment on the text.
The idea is to recreate for the children how you read the text yourself
-- what you question, what you agree and disagree with, how you bring
previous knowledge and experiences to bear on what you're reading,
etc. You are modeling for them the process that Unitarian Universalists
go through when we read religious subject matter. You are serving
as a role model, someone who takes reading religious material seriously,
and someone who (we hope) inspires children to read on their own.
(This technique is particularly helpful for children who have learning
disabilities that inhibit fluent reading. When you read aloud to them,
they can concentrate on the content without being distracted by the
difficulties they have with the process of reading (i.e., problems
in decoding). Thus they can participate fully in discussion and activities.
You also demonstrate how you engage with a text so that they can experience
the joys of reading once you can get beyond basic decoding. )
- Working with units of curriculum
Many curriculum designers believe that curriculum plans should be
organized into units, each unit consisting of several sessions. A
course or year's worth of curriculum is divided into units; each unit
is divided into sessions.
In practice, three to four sessions seems to be the ideal number for
one unit. Since most often we only do formal religious education sessions
once a week, three to four sessions means three or four weeks, and
that seems to be about the right length of time for a unit -- long
enough to feel like you're getting somewhere, not so long that you
forget where you started.
When creating units of curriculum, group together sessions that are
related in some way. In the first session, introduce the unit by stating
in one sentence what that theme is, e.g., "This week we're going
to start a unit on Jataka tales, which many people believe are stories
that Buddha himself told to his followers." In each succeeding
session in the unit, open the session by restating the unit's theme.
In the last session of the unit, allow time for reviewing the whole
unit. For example, you can restate the key concept statements for
each session, and/or have children show off the portfolios they have
developed during the unit, etc. Ten or fifteen minutes should be sufficient
for simple review sessions.
- Creating portfolios
Portfolios are collections of material that has been produced by the
children in the sessions. Portfolios may contain of drawings, sculptures,
stories, poems, songs, or anything that children have created. Portfolios
may also contain records of activities, such as a journal entry about
a field trip, a photo of a skit, a video of a dance or active game,
etc. Anything that helps record and show off what a child has created
or done can go into his or her portfolio.
Children's portfolios should be reviewed at the end of a unit of curriculum,
at the end of a quarter, or where it most makes sense. One method
for review is to allow the child present her or his portfolio to the
adult and the other children. Everyone present applauds to acknowledge
the work that has gone into creating the portfolio. Then the child
is asked what part of the portfolio he or she likes best, and whether
there is anything he or she wished had come out better. the adult
may choose to make one or two constructive comments, and should end
the review by thanking the child for sharing his or her work.
Portfolios help adults and children understand what children have
accomplished in a unit of curriculum. A feeling of accomplishment
helps both adults and children see the value in the sequence of sessions.
A portfolio can be a tangible result of a religious education program.
Portfolios can also help adults discover (or assess) what children
missed or did not retain. Adults can compare the contents of the portfolio
with key concept statements from, or objectives for, sessions. Were
learning objectives met? Did the children understand the key concept
statement? Based on this assessment, adults may review some topics,
or adjust future teaching plans.
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Last updated June 12, 2005
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