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Senior High (Grades 9-12)
Curriculum
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Published in 1985 by UUA
Out of print. Available from some district libraries and the UUA Lifespan Faith Development Loan Library |
Life Issues For Teenagers (LIFT)By Wayne Arnason and Cheryl Markoff Powers
- Theme and Description
- A structured program for 15 to 18 year olds that explores ethical, social, and political issues and concerns important in the lives of teenagers. Covers values, family dynamics, sex roles, peer pressure and conformity, sexual expression, crisis intervention, choices in drug and alcohol use, loss and grief, and spiritual identity.
- Goals for Participants
- To empower young people to deal creatively with life issues that they choose to explore;
To explore the nature of conscience and to respect the rights of conscience for themselves and for others;
To help leaders to model mutual respect and participants to embody these qualities;
To present mutual respect as an essential ingredient for dealing constructively in all human relationships;
To help young people feel their own dignity and worth;
To honor and support each participantŐs search for new insights and wisdom;
To engage them in learning about their own responsibility and potential for creating more peace, liberty, and justice on this planet;
To encourage participants and group leaders to nurture their own LIFT group as a religious; community: a context in which people interact authentically, offer genuine acceptance to one another, and encourage and support each other's spiritual growth.
- Age Range
- Ages 15 to 18
- Size of Group
- 5 to 25
- Space Requirements
- A comfortable, attractive meeting room that is large enough to accommodate the group
- Number and Length of Sessions
- 20 sessions
Length: 2 to 2 1/2 hours - Leader Training
- A leader team of 1 male and 1 female is strongly recommended. A leadership training program of 8 to 10 hours is also strongly recommended. The UUA has trained leaders in each district. Contact the District Religious Education Committee Chair for information on training sessions.
- Leader Preparation
- 2 to 3 hours per session (may take considerably longer, depending on the focus and research required)
- Strengths
- Focuses on life issues of major concern to youth today, with the church providing a safe place in which to deal with them openly.
Combines trained adult leadership with a process to facilitate youth empowerment.
Encourages independence by allowing teenagers to choose the issues they wish to.
Follows the successful educational model of the About Your Sexuality program: initiation, interaction, investigation, and internalization. - Limitations
- Requires ingenuity from the leaders in guiding the sessions.
Needs brief opening and closing rituals, which can be developed by leaders. - Adaptability
- The program is adaptable to small or large groups. Although the sessions are designed to be 2 to 2 1/2 hours in length, they can be adapted to a 60- to 90-minute time frame. The key to successful adaptation is to allow two to three 60- to 90-minute meetings for each session plan.
- Unitarian Universalist Values
- Five Unitarian Universalist Principles are clearly and explicitly addressed in the leader guide.
Reviewed on June 30, 1996
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Curricula
