Program Structure
All nine workshops in the Spirit of Life program follow a similar structure. Between an opening and a closing ritual, participants engage in up to six activities. The opening includes a chalice-lighting, and the closing includes an extinguishing of the chalice. Each workshop includes a time for sharing names and regarding one another. Most workshops feature a central story.All workshops offer one or more additional activities for extending the workshop from one hour to an hour and a half, or longer. Leaders should decide in advance how long each workshop will be so that they and participants can schedule the time and arrange transportation and/or childcare.
Every Spirit of Life workshop offers ideas for participants to continue exploring its themes after the workshop's conclusion. The section called "Taking It Home" supports participants' continued engagement by suggesting topics to discuss, things to notice, and questions to consider in journal-writing. While these activities are optional, Taking It Home is an important element of the Unitarian Universalist Association's Tapestry of Faith curriculum series. The leader preparation for each workshop should include reviewing the Taking It Home section, choosing relevant suggestions, and creating a Taking It Home handout for participants.
Quote
Excerpts from the Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations introduce the focusing principle and source for each workshop in the Spirit of Life program. These quotes are incorporated into the introductory handout for each workshop and you will read them as part of the opening.
Co-leaders may like to discuss the quote as part of preparation for a workshop. Exploring the quote together can help you each feel grounded in the principles and sources of our Unitarian Universalist living tradition as you prepare to lead.
Introduction
The introduction provides a short summary of the workshop's content along with guidance for leaders about implementing the workshop.
Goals
The Goals section provides general participant outcomes toward which the workshop is geared. Reviewing the goals will help you connect the workshop's content and methodologies with the four strands of religious development that inform the overall Tapestry of Faith religious education series: ethical, spiritual, faith, and Unitarian Universalist identity development. As you plan a workshop, apply your knowledge of your group, the time and space you have available, and your own strengths and interests as co-leaders to determine the most important and achievable goals for the workshop and the activities that will serve them best.
Learning Objectives
The Learning Objectives section describes specific participant outcomes which the workshop activities are designed to facilitate. It may be helpful to think of learning objectives as the building blocks with which the Spirit of Life program's larger, "big picture" goals are achieved. If particular learning objectives appeal to you as important for your group, make sure you select the activities for this workshop that address these outcomes.
Workshop-at-a-Glance
The Workshop-at-a-Glance table itemizes the workshop activities in order and provides an estimated time for completing each activity.
Workshop-at-a-Glance is not a road map that you must follow. Rather, use it as a menu for planning the workshop. You will decide which elements to use and how to combine these to best suit your group, your meeting space, and the amount of time you have.
Keep in mind that many variables inform the actual completion time for an activity. Whole-group discussions will take longer in a large group than in a small group. While six teams can plan their skits as quickly as two teams can, your group will need more time to watch all six skits than to watch two. Remember to consider the time you will need to relocate participants to another area of your meeting room.
Spiritual Preparation
Each workshop provides suggestions that leaders may use to prepare themselves for leading the workshop. Take advantage of these suggestions as a way to experience the Spirit of Life program yourself, to grow spiritually, and to grow as a leader.
Workshop Plan
The workshop plan presents every element of the workshop, in detail, in the same sequence established in the Workshop-at-a-Glance table. Additionally, the workshop plan presents a Taking It Home section and a Resources section. The Resources section includes additional sources to help you, the leader, further explore the workshop topics.
If you are reading the Spirit of Life curriculum online, you can move as you wish among a workshop's elements—Opening, Closing, Activity 4, Handouts, etc. Each element occupies its own web page. You can click "Print this Page" to print just the Opening, for example, or a single handout. You can also download a single entire workshop—or download the entire Spirit of Life curriculum—to customize and print as you wish.
Opening. Each workshop begins with a chalice-lighting ritual and an opening activity that involves reading together and considering the Unitarian Universalist principle and source that center the workshop. Take the liberty you need to shape your opening ritual to suit your group, any space limitations, and the culture and practices of your congregation.
Activities. Up to six activities form the core content of each workshop. The variety of activities presented within each workshop helps you address different learning styles you may find among your participants. In most workshops, one activity focuses the group's attention on a story that illuminates the workshop theme.
Presenting the activities in the sequence suggested for each workshop will help you provide a coherent learning experience. In general, workshops are structured to first activate participants' interest in and prior knowledge of the main topic, next offer hands-on engagement with the topic, and finally provide opportunities to process and apply new reflections and knowledge. The suggested sequence balances listening and talking, and complements individual exploration with small group or whole group exploration.
As you mix and match activities to form a workshop that will work well for you, keep in mind your participants' journey of learning and the benefits of a well paced workshop that includes different kinds of activities. If you are leading an hour-and-a-half or longer workshop, sequence in the Alternate Activities in an order that makes sense within the flow of the workshop.
Materials for Activity. Provided for each activity, this checklist tells you the supplies you will need.
Preparation for Activity. Review the bulleted preparation "to do" list for each activity at least one week ahead of a workshop. If your group meets less frequently than weekly, review the preparation items several weeks ahead. The list provides all the advance work you need to do for the activity, from securing musical accompaniment for a hymn to creating a poster to arranging supplies just before your participants arrive.
Description of Activity. This section provides detailed directions for implementing the activity with your group.
Read the activity descriptions carefully during your planning process so that you understand each activity and its purpose. Later, when you are leading your group, you can use the description as a step-by-step how-to manual.
Including All Participants. Adaptation to include all participants should always be part of your planning process. For certain activities, the All Participants section suggests specific modifications to make the activity manageable and meaningful for participants with limitations of mobility, sight, hearing, or cognition. This section is not exhaustive. The Unitarian Universalist Association provides more extensive accessibility information online; visit the UUA.org Leaders Library and search the keyword "accessibility."
Closing. Each workshop includes a closing ritual which includes a closing reading, extinguishing of the chalice, and introduction of the workshop's Taking It Home ideas. For workshops in which participants are invited to read closing words together, these words appear on the introductory handout that also provides the workshop's chalice-lighting words, principle, and source.
The closing signals the end of your group's time together. LIke the opening, the closing of a workshop grounds the experience in ritual. Use the curriculum as a resource to shape a closing that fits your group and your faith home culture and practices.
Leader Reflection and Planning. This section provides guidance, including some questions, to help co-leaders process the workshop after it is concluded and use their reflections to shape future workshops.
Taking It Home. The Taking It Home resources for each workshop are designed to help participants extend their Spirit of Life experiences. These resources include conversation topics, journaling assignments, and other ideas for incorporating learnings from the workshop into participants' lives at home, in their workplaces and towns, in their congregations, and as members of other communities to which they may belong. Taking It Home is designed to be inclusive of all participants in any living situation or family configuration.
After you download the Taking It Home section, you can print out and photocopy it "as is" for participants to bring home, or you may customize it first.
Alternate Activities. Most workshops feature one or more alternate activities. You can use these to extend the total time of the workshops to an hour and a half or longer, or you can use them as substitutes for core workshop activities. Sometimes the alternate activities are simpler to implement than the core activities. Materials checklists, preparation, and descriptions for alternate activities appear in the same format as they do in openings, closings, and the core activities.
Resources. In a workshop's Resources section, find all the handouts and other materials you will need to lead every element of the workshop. You will also find supplemental resources to help you, the leader, further explore the workshop topics.
Under the heading "Handouts," find any material that you need to print out and photocopy for all participants to use in the workshop. Some handouts present the full text of stories that you will read aloud to participants; photocopying these handouts for all participants is optional.
Under the heading "Leader Resources," find materials that you will need to print out and modify in some way for use in the workshop.
Under the heading "Find Out More," find book and video titles, website URLs, and other resources to help you learn more about the workshop topics.
Last updated on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
