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Godly Play Teacher Training
LOPC is a Godly Play Center of Excellence providing four model classrooms and support for other regional Godly Play programs. Godly Play is a discovery learning model of religious education that supports children making their own discoveries about faith. It is formational as opposed to educational. Consequently teachers require specific training to support this approach and need to feel equipped to:
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Lead a worship based program
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Tell stories orally as opposed to reading them from the bible or a bible storybook
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Implement a program that requires a basic understanding of the Montessori approach to the education of children.
The goals of Godly Play are:
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to model how to wonder so that children can enter religious language.
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to show children how to create meaning with the language of the Christian tradition.
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to allow children to choose for themselves what their work will be (what is an issue for them at this time in their life)
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to organize the time based on the pattern of worship.
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to model how to work in Christian community.
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to organize the classroom so children walk into the system of Christian language.
Volunteers attend three sessions so they feel equipped to support this ministry with children.
First, they are simply a fly on the wall and observe in the classroom.
Secondly, they attend a full session for adults. Godly Play is based on experiential learning and is therefore best learned from the inside out. If adults do not experience it for themselves, they are not able to support the child's experience with integrity.
Thirdly, they attend a two hour session covering the following topics: the spirituality of children and how to best support a child's faith formation, the adult roles in Godly Play, and how time and the classroom are organized. The first year we try to involve volunteers as doorpersons and pair them with experienced teachers who can support and mentor them.
Anyone who loves being with children and has an interest in children's spiritual formation should contact Joel Bullock at (925) 283-9990 ext 234.
Photos of Object Lessons in use at LOPC
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