How to Write and Design Cirriculum for the Workshop Rotation Model

By Dennis C. Wilson

To begin with, I do not publish curriculum and I do not claim to have the corner locked on the "best" way to do anything. I am presenting the things I learned, having written curriculum for five years at a mid-sized Presbyterian Church.

I hope to provide you with tools and information to allow you to make a truly informed decision about writing the curriculum for your Christian Education Program.

The information below does not explain the Workshop Rotation Model. You will have to understand what the Rotation Model is before you decide to write curriculum for it. I recommend that if you do not know about Workshop Rotation or multiple-intelligence in Christian Education, you should read WoRM 101 also on this website.

The Forms and Information I have included in this CD are the same used my writing Curriculum Workshop provided at the CMA National and regional Workshop Rotation Model Conferences. Mary Jane Huber and Beth Wagner gave these forms to me at the 1st National Rotation Model Conference while teaching a similar class. These writers now publish curriculum for Rotation Model Education, under Cornerstones and Potters Workshop respectively.

If you are like me, it is always easier to fill in the blanks, than create a new format for each lesson. What will follow is the format I and my writing team used.

I want to express the importance of being scripturally sound and not just creating fun busy work for the students. We always want to remain conscious of the important responsibility of being the Christian Educators in any congregation. You have been given an awesome responsibly, to teach God's word to the future of the church. Coloring papers and word search's are not a substitute for the child's theological understanding and how they know God on their own spiritual journey.

Nuts and Bolts

All good things come from well-planned and clearly directed information.

This is why I will use the following information, not to teach a writing style, but as a format for your own creativity.

Start out by creating a Six-year Plan: The Christian Education Director, the Pastor and the Christian Education Chairperson did this in our congregation. We decided what we felt our congregation wanted our children to learn over the six years they were typically in our CE Program.

You may send any questions to me at contact@jdbdirect.com.

Our six-year curriculum had the following Basic themes

Year 1. History of the Church

Year 2. Repentance & Forgiveness

Year 3. Discipleship and Service

Year 4. The Triune God

Year 5. The Resurrection Faith

Year 6. Stewardship & Dominion

We then had to decide what Workshops we would provide for our curriculum. We decided on starting the first year with;

Synagogue, Art, Movie Theater, and Drama/Music

You can use the following format for any rooms. It is important if you are writing your own curriculum that you have a plan.

Workshop focus activity

Synagogue

Art

Drama / Music

Movie Theater

As an example to help you understand the curriculum design format, I am including a lesson from Year 5 with the theme "Discipleship and Service."

The lesson is for the Synagogue and is called "Dense Disciples."

Teacher Background Page

The teacher needs to understand the biblical and theological position you started fr