Workshop Rotation: A New Model for Sunday School

Received this book promptly and in like new condition. I am very pleased with the service.

Summary: A must-have book for all relgious education professionals or volunteer leaders. This easy-to-read and affordable book presents a creative new "from the grass-roots" model for Sunday School which is being adopted by many churches acrosst the country. While I'm sure having Dennis Rodman show up on a Sunday morning would add some color to any Sunday School program, in this case "WoRM" refers not to the outrageous Chicago Bulls rebounder but to the "Workshop Rotation Model." When the co-authors of Workshop Rotation: a New Model for Sunday School found themselves as new colleagues on the staff of a Presbyterian church in Illinois, they realized something needed to change in the children's Sunday School. They were confronted with sagging attendance, low teacher morale, difficulty recruiting new volunteers, a budget straining to afford costly curriculum which was of limited use, and a building that looked depressing even on a bright sunny day. Many church education leaders can relate to their dilemma. Armstrong-Hansche and MacQueen's solution was to reinvent the entire structure of the program. The result was what now goes by the term of "the workshop rotation model," or more simply, "rotation." Word of the new enthusiasm for learning and burgeoning attendance at their church spread, and WoRM is now used in many churches across the country.In WoRM, the school year is divided into six or seven "rotations" of approximately five weeks each. The age-level classrooms in the education building are transformed into "workshops." Sample workshops include drama, audiovisual, art, Bible times, computer skills. One and only one Bible story is the focus for each rotation. Each class spends one week in each workshop, rotating to a different one each week. By the end of the rotation, they have encountered and internalized the story in several different ways. Workshop leaders are recruited specifically for their skills in a particular area and are only obligated to teach for one or two rotations. They only need prepare one basic lesson plan for the five weeks, simply modifying it slightly for the different ages. Each workshop space is creatively decorated in a way that promotes its theme. Heavy wooden Sunday school furniture and bare walls disappear in lieu of canvas backdrops and art stools. Armstrong-Hansche and MacQueen freely admit that their model bears some resemblance to what has been done in limited ways for years as part of intergenerational learning events or Vacation Bible School. Their contribution was to devise a coherent way for their entire Sunday School program to function on the workshop model all year long. After their first year using Workshop Rotation, not only had the children's enthusiasm skyrocketed, but so had their volunteers. They had people walking up to them at coffee hour asking if they couldn't please teach Sunday School! Most importantly, they found that the level of bi