last week, we completed our very first year of writing custom curriculum at willow chicago. as i've been reflecting on the year, i've realized a few lessons:
1. it was just as tough as i expected. i knew it was a crazy idea -- writing weekly lessons for the kids of my church ON TOP of volunteer care + development, pastoring families, child dedication. every single week, i felt the lessons staring me in the face, challenging me to quit. even as hard as i worked to get ahead, i NEVER felt ahead. there was always more to write, more to brainstorm, more to communicate, more to plan. the writing train never slowed down.
2. and yet, TOTALLY worth it. creating lessons specifically for the kids you know + love is worth the work. teaching lessons in which i saw kids make connections to how God's spirit was leading them to serve the city, notice + care for each other, and contribute to the good of the kingdom was almost like nothing i've experienced. i understand that not everyone is in a place to write their own lessons. BUT, if you've got a smidge of room to even consider and pray about it, DO IT.
3. it took a small village. an amazing group of people contributed in all sorts of ways: Chi Chi, Melissa, Rosario, Matt, Noel, Dan, Cara brainstormed activities and content, Aaron + Molly created visuals, Jill + Crystal organized supplies. it was an EFFORT. no one should and can ever do this alone. not only because the workload is too great, but because one person's perspective on the curriculum process from start to finish is not what's best. we need various voices {racially, culturally, parent/non-parent} contributing all along the way in order to create lessons that are deep, full, and applicable to all kids.
4. there are missing pieces in kidmin curriculum support resources. i've been working in the children's ministry curriculum industry for a LONG time, and am very familiar with all that's available. YET, this year, was the first i noticed a few glaring holes. first, and not suprisingly, there's a great lack in multicultural visuals available. when i'd look to add a supporting image or video to one of our lessons, it was difficult EVERY time to find videos {bible story teaching videos, worship videos, countdown videos} that included non-white folks. i especially found this to be true when looking for early childhood videos -- which appear to be mostly white.
this is not ok for my context, naturally, but really, this shouldn't be ok in all of our contexts. i'm committed to contributing to the solution as we move forward. let's do this together, ok?
second, there seems to be a lack in certain bible story resources. specifically: Acts 2 {holy spirit, pentecost, and early church} videos, games, creative art. i showed this video almost every week because it was the best and one of the only i could find! other stories seemingly lacking: esther, jesus + the children, the greatest commandment, deborah.
5. training is key. there's two phases to curriculum: creation + implementation. both are equally important. i gave a lot of effort to creation this year, only to see quickly how i needed to shift my attention to helping teachers implement well. our volunteers are AMAZING. but, most weren't part of the creation process -- so needed extra vision, goals, training on how to best implement the lessons so that the full vision was accomplished. next year: BIG focus on this area.
alright. i'd love to hear from you. what have you learned this year about curriculum?
PS: catch up with these posts from this year's curriculum writing adventure.