Supporting Teaching in Lifespan Faith Development

The Teacher Development web site provides resources about teaching and learning in lifespan faith development programs. The deep generosity of religious educators has made it possible for us to draw on work developed within our congregations. The website offers tools to support pragmatic aspects of teaching in faith as well as tools to awaken the souls of teachers and sustain them in the quest for spiritually rich engagement. There are seven sections of the web site including: Teacher Development Survey, Framing Teaching, Understanding Learners, Sustaining Teaching, Supporting Teaching, Teaching as Social Justice Work, and Enriching Teaching.

Inquiries about the website or teacher development can be addressed to teacherdevelopment@uua.org. We invite submissions to the Teacher Development website.

Teacher Development Survey

The survey of religious educators conducted by the UUA in the fall of 2004 revealed that congregations use a variety of innovative methods to support and sustain teachers in their ministry to children, youth, and adults. Many religious educators feel torn between providing the pragmatic resources for teaching (curriculum, supplies, information about programs) and nurturing the spiritual journeys of teachers. The survey revealed interest in deepening the experience of teaching and expanding the connections to community and faith that are made through religious education programs. In addition, there is commitment to efficiently providing resources to support and sustain teachers in the everyday moments of teaching. This section offers reports generated from the Teacher Development Survey

Framing Teaching: Models of Teacher Development

Teaching and learning, we grow in faith and spirituality. If we attend to teaching as spiritual practice, we plant the seeds for individual teacher development. By deeply considering teaching and learning as the currency of our shared faith development, we place our faith development programs at the heart of our inherently diverse and intergenerational congregational life. How can we best frame teaching in faith? This section offers perspectives on how to frame teaching as spiritual development.

Understanding Learners

Children, youth and adults are all learners in religious education programs, regardless of their designated roles. Lifespan faith development programs are central to our inherently intergenerational congregational life. Our connection to each other is at the heart of these programs. This section offers materials to better understand children, youth and adults as evolving and developing individuals. There are resources for learning more intimately about teachers and learners, including human development, and paths of faith and spiritual growth.

Sustaining Teaching

Teaching involves curriculum, connection to each other, and authentic engagement between participants. To sustain teaching, lifespan faith development programs offer pragmatic resources that address "who, what, when, and how" issues of religious education, including teacher handbooks, evaluation and feedback forms, periodic newsletters and other communications about programs. This section offers examples of practical resources developed in congregations that help sustain teaching.

Supporting Teaching

Teaching and learning is supported by the scaffolds of community. In lifespan faith development programs there are nested communities: the class or learning experience group is encircled by the religious education program, and then the wider congregation. Keeping participants safe, healthy and held in faith is essential to teaching and learning. Providing structures that ensure integrity and mutual respect is integral to good teaching. This section offers resources, including covenants and behavior guidelines, which strengthen communities and support teaching.

Teaching as Social Justice Work

Social justice and religious education beckon us towards the transformation of individuals, and our greater communities. They are often called "branches of the same tree." Anti-racist, anti-oppression work is an essential part of teaching in Unitarian Universalist faith. And we need resources to answer kids' questions, which may include: Where does prejudice come from? Is this UU church gay? What do I do when I meet someone in a wheelchair: Should I be on his/her eye level? Is it always polite to help someone with disabilities? This section provides resources for and about teachers and learners.

Enriching Teaching

Teaching and learning in our religious communities deepens our relationships to each other and our faith. Rev. Barry Andrews writes that "To be effective teachers we need to awaken and excite our slumbering souls, to rediscover a sense of wonder." That searching and sense of wonder often leads us to become even more active seekers of faith and connection. This section provides resources for and about families, faith and worship that can enrich the experience of teaching in faith.