The Cycles of Growing as a Godly Play Teacher

I am currently re-reading Teaching Godly Play: How to Mentor the Spiritual Development of Children by Jerome Berryman. The first time I read it was after I had been teaching GP for about two years. I read it, but hurried through some parts that did not seem that relevant to me at the time. Now I am going back to "digest" a few things. 

One of those things is the personal growth of a Godly Play teacher. The last few GP gatherings that I have been to have put an emphasis on this topic, so I am trying to listen with fresh ears and reflect on my own growth and how to keep developing it.

Berryman writes about three year cycles in the growth process. Now that I have been through one of these cycles, his words resonate with me a lot more. (This is also one important reason why a requirement to train to be a GP Trainer is a minimum of three years' experience.) 

 "The first year of a teacher's growth cycle feels somewhat awkward and mechanical, because one is thinking and trying to remember so much . . . One is not yet fluent."

I stumbled upon Godly Play almost by accident. I ordered the first two curriculum guides in German and set out with my friend Galina to try and figure out what to do. While we in general liked the philosophy and the stories, we were completely bewildered by some aspects of the stories. Why in the world would you ask the children to name the bird in the Parable of the Mustard Seed? (What a silly thing to do!) And why would you ask the kids what they would leave out in a story? (Are we saying that certain parts of the Bible aren't important?!!?)

Then, a friend suggested that I try to find another church in Berlin that was also doing Godly Play to find out more. Lucky for me, there was a "Kennenlernen Tag" (Get-to-know GP Day) three weeks later in Berlin. There I saw an experienced storyteller, Ulrike, who would be my future trainer, tell a story from each genre. And I was hooked. 

Thus began a long process of learning stories, experimenting, and making materials. Three months later, I spent a lot of money and a whole week doing the Basic GP Training. (In the States and England, it is a 3-day course, but in Germany it is a week long course.)

"The second year things flow better . . . a teacher's confidence grows. There is enough experience to do Godly Play better, but not enough experience to realize how much more there is to learn."

Boy, does that ever sound like me. I started the blog at the beginning of the second year and I cringe at some of the things I wrote back then.: )  But I don't delete them, because that is part of the journey. At that point, I thought that I really knew a lot about Godly Play and children. I know that I at times probably even sounded a bit arrogant with friends and co-workers about what I knew. I also only had a vague understanding of children's spirituality at the time, and how it might be different from adult spirituality. 

"In the third year of the cycle, confidence about mastery begins to evaporate, because teachers realize how much more they need to know to be really good at this art."

By the third year, I had told a lot of Godly Play stories, but began to see that there were many details that I didn't know. (Do you continually focus on the board in "Faces of Easter", even when the part of the story you are telling isn't in the picture? Or is it okay to glance at the children every now and then?) This sort of thing became particularly evident to me when I was in Belarus last April. People there had lots of questions that I wasn't entirely sure how to answer. 

I also realized that it was important it was to have a solid background in  children's spirituality. I began to read more literature from theologians and researchers in this area. Better than that, I started to listen to the children in a different way than I had before.

"The fourth year a teacher begins again and as a conscious effort is made to get better, awkwardness again intrudes. Teachers also realize that this time a new cycle and real growth is taking place  . . . Each three-year cycle adds to ones wisdom not only about teaching but about ourselves as well."

September marked the beginning of my fourth year.  I am very eager to learn more and allow myself to be stretched in new ways. I think it also a season of allowing God to work on my inner life as well. We'll see what happens next!

What about you?  Have you found this cycle to be true in your experience as well?