 November/December 1999 (XXXVII 5) |
nyone who's ever taught First-day School knows what it is to be grateful to those wonderful people who've put together the curricula that enrich PYM's Religious Education resource bank. Call Marty Smith (PYM director of Religious Education) and say, "Help! Our First-day School is facing the challenge of (fill in the blank)," and Marty will not only come to your Meeting and talk to the teachers — and/or to those you're trying to encourage to become teachers — but also pull out samples of all sorts of lesson series planned down to the last supplementary story or Popsicle stick. It's all there, ready to pick up and use, for toddlers, teens, or ages in between.
Of course, these wonderful lessons need to be renewable resources. Times change; children's lives change. Our First-day School teachers need new materials to fit those changes; well-loved existing materials may need updating to reflect the realities of today. And that's where the Curriculum Working Group comes in.
Clerk Meredith Swift describes this hardworking group's job as a demanding but stimulating one. Besides thinking up and threshing over ideas for courses, members both research and write the material, which means spending plenty of time in libraries (college libraries in many cases). Then they bring their work to the meeting, read it aloud — and generally find themselves peppered with questions and critiques from fellow members. ("It's not for those who take offense easily," Meredith remarks.) In the long run, those questions and critiques are vital to producing curricula that are both solid in factual content and interesting to their intended audiences.
If you think you're up to the challenge of producing curricula, and if you'd value the bonus of learning more about your faith as well as helping children learn, call Meredith Swift at 610-527-4679. At present, the working group meets monthly on weekdays, making it ideal for retirees who enjoy and are close to children and young people. But don't let timing stop you from making inquiries, says Meredith; the schedule could change to suit a new group of members.
Deborah Lyons
West Chester Meeting (PA)
PYM Standing Committee on Education
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM