This year’s worship theme is the Seven UU Principles, which we will also observe in our RE Program. Exploring one principle each month is such a great way to learn more about its meaning and application in our lives and in our congregation. It’s also a great amount of time for discovery with our children in the RE classes, for them to observe when each principle is being enacted and to learn how to call upon the various principles in situations they encounter beyond our congregation.
While many of us are familiar with the principles and do enact many of them in our daily lives, I wonder how many of us would consider ourselves expert enough to teach them? Understanding something and teaching something require different skill sets, right? I would like to pose Richard Bach’s words here as a nudge, “We teach best what we most need to learn.”
To support our congregation’s exploration into the Seven Principles, I am creating a “Lab Learning” RE experience this fall for those who would like to become more comfortable leading RE classes once a month (or more, or less). This lab experience begins with an RE Leader Orientation on Sunday, September 17 during potluck; we’ll grab some food from potluck and then head back to learn about the routine of Sunday RE Classes. It will be a time to get the overview of what happens in RE, learn the nuts and bolts of leading a class, and perhaps talk about the why as well.
After that, RE Leaders in training can come to “Lab Learning” in which they can assist or observe in the classroom as Grechen or I lead the RE class for elementary age children. So, for the months of September. October, and November, prospective RE Leaders can get comfortable being with the children, getting into the routine of class time, and learning how to lead lessons from our curriculum. The goal here is for us to gain a larger group of Westsiders who can step in and lead RE classes starting in January of 2018.
We’d love to expand the range of adults that our elementary children interact with in RE! With a rather minimal time commitment, we’ll help you get comfortable and confident leading an RE class. Act locally; enact our UU principles right here in our very own congregation and help to build a strong congregation that works, explores, and plays together!
Our RE Program Year officially begins on September 10 with Water Communion. We’ll have water play after the service during RE class time.
Contact DRE Wendy Weiss Southern at dre@westsideuuc.org, 865-226-9191, or during office hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday from 9 am- 3 pm.