RE teaching ingathering
Sep. 11th, 2010 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingTomorrow is the resumption of regular services at First Unitarian (summer services are smaller, earlier, and mostly lay-led, so as to give our minister a vacation), which means it's also the first day of RE classes. And that means that today was the teacher ingathering, or orientation as we seem to call it in Ithaca.
(It's funny how much of my reflexive religious terminology is still set by the Summit, NJ congregation, when I haven't really been part of it for ten years now. I know the UUA is a bottom-up organization -- each congregation runs itself in its own way -- but I guess it's only normal to expect what you grew up with.)
Anyway, we have a new DRE this year, after last year's stint with an interim, and Jennifer is much better at organizing orientation sessions than Bob was. Last year I was only able to attend from 10am to noon, and Bob set up the orientation such that the first two hours were basically him talking at us, and all the teaching-team interaction and scheduling and other decision-making happened after lunch, when I had had to leave and go to work. So I sat around listening to him reiterate general pre-digested religious education theory (which I already knew, because seriously, I have been doing this since freaking high school), thereby wasting two hours I could have spent catching up on sleep... and didn't even get a free lunch out of it!
This year Jennifer spent about twenty minutes talking at us, after which we split into our teams and moved around through six stations: "Support for the volunteer teachers/teaching as spiritual practice," which had suggestions about teaching in general and how to avoid burnout; "First day of church," which is pretty much what it says on the tin; "Business," which was about teaching styles and classroom management, so we could hash out guidelines in advance; "Curriculum, syllabus, and scheduling," which is also self-explanatory; "Your classroom," in which we went to look over our classrooms so we could ask for necessary changes; and "Chalice circle coffee klatch," which was for Jennifer to tell us a few other things and listen to any questions or concerns we had.
Every team ran through three stations before lunch and three stations after lunch. I am on a four-person team, but David and Joanna were unable to attend and Helen Ann had to leave at noon, as I did last year. But because of Jennifer's organization, Helen Ann and I were able to hurry through all six stations and still have time for her to eat a quick lunch. So much better than last year!
I am teaching the "Moral Tales" curriculum for a combined 2nd and 3rd grade class this year, which means, oddly enough, that I have taught all of these kids before. The 3rd graders are the same kids I've taught the previous two years (when they were in 1st and 2nd grade), and the 2nd graders are the kids I taught in pre-K several years ago! Funny how that worked out.
(It's funny how much of my reflexive religious terminology is still set by the Summit, NJ congregation, when I haven't really been part of it for ten years now. I know the UUA is a bottom-up organization -- each congregation runs itself in its own way -- but I guess it's only normal to expect what you grew up with.)
Anyway, we have a new DRE this year, after last year's stint with an interim, and Jennifer is much better at organizing orientation sessions than Bob was. Last year I was only able to attend from 10am to noon, and Bob set up the orientation such that the first two hours were basically him talking at us, and all the teaching-team interaction and scheduling and other decision-making happened after lunch, when I had had to leave and go to work. So I sat around listening to him reiterate general pre-digested religious education theory (which I already knew, because seriously, I have been doing this since freaking high school), thereby wasting two hours I could have spent catching up on sleep... and didn't even get a free lunch out of it!
This year Jennifer spent about twenty minutes talking at us, after which we split into our teams and moved around through six stations: "Support for the volunteer teachers/teaching as spiritual practice," which had suggestions about teaching in general and how to avoid burnout; "First day of church," which is pretty much what it says on the tin; "Business," which was about teaching styles and classroom management, so we could hash out guidelines in advance; "Curriculum, syllabus, and scheduling," which is also self-explanatory; "Your classroom," in which we went to look over our classrooms so we could ask for necessary changes; and "Chalice circle coffee klatch," which was for Jennifer to tell us a few other things and listen to any questions or concerns we had.
Every team ran through three stations before lunch and three stations after lunch. I am on a four-person team, but David and Joanna were unable to attend and Helen Ann had to leave at noon, as I did last year. But because of Jennifer's organization, Helen Ann and I were able to hurry through all six stations and still have time for her to eat a quick lunch. So much better than last year!
I am teaching the "Moral Tales" curriculum for a combined 2nd and 3rd grade class this year, which means, oddly enough, that I have taught all of these kids before. The 3rd graders are the same kids I've taught the previous two years (when they were in 1st and 2nd grade), and the 2nd graders are the kids I taught in pre-K several years ago! Funny how that worked out.
