Journey to Adult hood

1. Journey to Adult hood Class room tips for raising up our young people to be strong, vibrant, caring, deeply spiritual people 

2. Sharing our stories Experiences of J2A at St. Andrew’s Relationship and community building

3. Its about their faith and their souls for the sake of our souls

4. Tee up tips for teaching

5. ESTABLISHING A SHARED PURPOSE. • BECOMING A COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS who are prepared to share the Gospel • A positive classroom culture contributes to purposeful learning • LISTEN MORE, TALK LESS. • Connect with parents early –hold "connected parents" events where parents can learn their role in J2A

6. What about the Holy Space? • Students arrive to find blank bulletin boards and furniture piled in the middle of the room. Their first assignment: Working in small teams, come up with a blueprint for a holy space ---how they'd like to see the room arranged. Teams present their designs to the rest of the class and then vote on their favorite.

7. Cheat Sheet for the first classes • 1) Develop an easy slogan for expectations in your classroom. • 2) Be very transparent about the way you structure your classes. • 3) identify three things that went well before they leave the room • 4) Be Weirdly Creative 

8. Tools for teaching • The Amazing Sticky note Use sticky notes in very creative ways To check for understanding, give each student a sticky note and ask each them to give concrete examples of what they learned in class and then when they return the next week have special messages written for them

9. From Management to engagement • If you want your students to be engaged, facilitate self-directed activities; Create spaces in your classroom where students direct their own learning; Use goal setting sheets; Have students set their own goals • Show the progress • create authentic contexts, tasks, and audiences for their students to display their work.

10. Insights to teaching teens or dealing with the fear of being a boring teacher • Current events; CURRENT EVENTS IN AN ATTEMPT TO GENERATE RELEVANCY IN THE CLASSROOM. In one summer we were treated to the Olympics, the engineering marvel of NASA's Mars Curiosity, and the statistically significant fingerprint of the Higgs Boson

11. How much we can expect from young people Adolescence – and faith development This is a time when the mind begins to question. We try to discover some unity and meaning in the multiplicity of sense impressions, facts, teachings, beliefs and experiences presented to us. We develop plans for the future - based on a theory about our lives. As adolescents we do not accept obedience that is unquestioning or accept whatever is presented by the teaching authority - We want to criticize, read, and listen to opposing theories. True Christianity is always critical, questioning and continually developing in its understanding of God and of human life.

12. Preparing to understand the adolescent • "Today's adolescents develop an accelerator a long time before they can steer and brake” • Being "compelled by curiosity." Curiosity is the name we give to the state of having unanswered questions. And unanswered questions, by their nature, help us maintain a learning mindset.

13. Social Context Dynamically Influences Faith Development • The home situation, relationships with parents and the quality of the model parents provide directly affects the child's view of God, their ability to trust or believe in Him • Authorities outside the home and peer relationships affects the teen as they seek to correlate what they have being taught with what other voices are saying. • Adolescence is a time during which faith will be questioned

14. Common understandings • The Journey to Adulthood program is meant to be a structure upon which a church community can create a comprehensive youth ministry program, but allows for plenty of individuality • Young men and women face important developmental challenges as they emerge into and from adolescence and move toward adulthood

15. The Whole Picture: The four goals of the Journey to Adulthood (J2A) curriculum are: • To celebrate the transition from youth to adulthood • To train young people in the skills of adulthood • To explore the mystery of our faith heritage • To establish our experience in the strength of community and liturgy The J2A program is divided into three sections: Rite-13, J2A (includes the Pilgrim year) and YAC. In order to give our young people the best possible experience, to develop true community and to provide for their holistic growth into adulthood, St. Andrew’s is supporting teachers, parents, families and especially the teens!

16. Role and Responsibilities • Adult responsibility (decreasing) • Teen responsibility (increasing)

17. Components of Journey to Adulthood • Rite-13: The first two years (Grades 6-7 or 7-8) celebrate the individuality of each young teen and their creative potential, while exploring Biblical stories of God and God's people. The Rite-13 liturgy (Celebration of Manhood and Womanhood) is the community expression of this and serves as a rite of passage from childhood towards adulthood. Rite 13 Ceremony Each person will celebrate their 13th birthday with the community at St. Andrews. The Celebration (similar to a bar mitzvah) will mark the journey from childhood to young adulthood. • J2A: The next segment (Grades 8-9 or 9-10) helps teens create and understand the importance of Christian community as they develop critical thinking and other skills they will need in adulthood.  The end of J2A is marked with a spiritual pilgrimage that is often a life-changing experience for the group

18. Key to understanding the Journey to Adult hood program • A prominent tension during the years between 6th and 12th grade is how to balance the need to be independent and the yearning to belong, how to compose an increasingly differentiated sense of self and at the same time integrate that self into an increasingly meaningful network of relationships • In their religious views they often describe themselves as doubting, seeking, and conflicted, “how can there be pain and illness in the world and God still love us?” • They are often asking deeply spiritual questions that take them into a deeper understanding of God.

19. Content of J2A • Self • Society • Sexuality • Spirituality The J2A class will establish a level of trust amongst themselves and facilitators. Participants begin to focus on their individual talents and gifts so they may effectively contribute to the church, local and world community. At the completion of the two class the youth will go on a pilgrimage together.

20. Outcomes: The Six Skills  Active listening—the ability to listen creatively and constructively to others and to the self.  Negotiation—the ability to recognize difference and conflict and to manage compromise while showing respect to all parties.  Assertion—the ability to express one’s opinions and feelings without aggression or violence.  Research and information management—the ability to see what questions need to be asked, to track the path to find the answers and to make the newfound information useful to the self and to others.  Partnership—the ability to establish relationships built in mutual responsibility and accountability.  Leadership—the ability to think “proactively,” to share the ownership of ideas, inspiration and effort, and to recognize skills and interests in others.

21. Connecting Sunday morning to mission and youth group

22. Best Practices in Adolescent Faith Formation • Religious commitment:Teach Prayer Practices-Infuse a Contemplative Approach--equips and engages young people to participate in the life, ministries, and practices of the congregation; 2. Community: belonging, believing (a sense of meaning), and achieving competence 3. Nurture the spiritual life of teenagers and the adults who minister with them.