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Judith A. Frediani, Curriculum Director Department of Religious Education, UUA A Comprehensive Curriculum? As you probably know, the UUA is in the process of envisioning the goals and scope of a new lifespan curriculum series for our congregations. A comprehensive curriculum (a concept increasingly requested by UU religious educators and parents) would provide an opportunity
The first organizational step was to convene a Curriculum Visioning Committee (CVC) to begin the process. The first significant task of the committee is to gather input throughout our Association. The CVC is made up of UU religious leaders with diverse areas of experience and expertise. UUA staff members include Judith Frediani, chair, Rev. Cynthia Breen, Rev. Pat Hoertdoerfer, Jen Harrison, Jacqui James, Rev. Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley, and Abbey Tennis. Other members include Rev. Barry Andrews, Rev. Susan Archer, William Doherty, Pat Ellenwood, Rev. Roberta Nelson, Rev. Rebecca Parker, Lee Sanchez, Rev. Gary Smith, Rev. John Tolley, Rev. Ann Tyndall, Lynn Sabourin, and Elizabeth Capone-Newton. The Curriculum Visioning Committee held its first meeting in July 2000 and spent two productive days focusing on such themes as: review of recent curriculum eras; our concepts of curricula; our visions for UUism in twenty years; our visions for the role of religious education in realizing those visions; possible goals for a new curriculum; the challenges and opportunities we face in developing that curriculum; and the processes for gathering input from UU individuals and groups. Gathering Input Since soliciting the needs and visions of everyone interested was of immediate importance, we formed subcommittees to begin the task. Since we want everyone to have an opportunity to participate in the process, we decided to provide both individual opportunities (a survey) and a group process (focus groups). A survey subcommittee that includes Pat Hoertdoerfer, Ann Tyndall, and Diane Rollert (DRE in Concord, MA and not a CVC committee member) developed a survey that appeared in the Nov/Dec UU World magazine and on the UUA website. Individuals had until February 1st to respond. The focus group process has been used with a great variety of groups including Youth Council, LREDA, District RE Committees, LREDA chapters, divinity school students, and others. This process is still ongoing, and input from such groups will be received by the Curriculum Director until GA 2001. (If you are going to GA in Cleveland, you might want to attend the workshop on Envisioning a New Lifespan Curriculum.) If you would like to convene a group to discuss your visions for the new curriculum, you can obtain a copy of the process from Pat Hoertdoerfer (phoertdoerfer@uua.org). As input is received, it needs to be organized and interpreted. Another subcommittee, comprised of Judith Frediani, Bill Doherty, and Susan Archer, is working on that process. A third subcommittee (Judith Frediani, Barry Andrews, Pat Ellenwood, and Jacqui James) is working on the goals envisioned by the full committee in July. Of course, the ultimate goals will be determined after all the input is processed. Next Steps The second and final meeting of the Curriculum Visioning Committee will be held in Boston in March 2001. We will prepare a preliminary report of our findings for John Buehrens to present to the UUA Board in April. The work, of course, will have only just begun. A follow-up committee will be formed, with some members from the Curriculum Visioning Committee, to serve in a more ongoing advisory capacity as curriculum development actually begins. We have no timeline at this point for the availability of a product that has not, after all, been envisioned yet (sorry). We will know more about the specifics of the next steps after the March meeting and the analysis of the input we receive. We are grateful that this project will be funded in part by the current Capital Campaign. We will continue to try to keep you informed of developments. Please feel free to contact any committee members, or Judith at jfrediani@uua.org. |
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Information:
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