wfn.org | Newsline: Children's Disaster Services updates training curriculum

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl Brumbau gh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

CHILDREN'S DISASTER SERVICES UPDATES ITS TRAINING CURRICULUM

(Aug. 17, 2009) Elgin, IL -- Children's Disaster Services (CDS) has updated  the workshop and curriculum used to train its volunteers. CDS is a ministr y of the Church of the Brethren serving children and families following dis asters.

"It started with a gathering of experienced trainers, where we discussed th e workshop, its vital concepts, and updates that were needed," reported ass ociate director Judy Bezon. Training materials were enhanced through consul tation with Kathy Fry-Miller, a CDS volunteer who writes curriculum and tra ins child care givers professionally. The result is a workshop that has bot h an instructor's and a participant's manual, and an updated "look."

The updated curriculum is designed to be easier for instructors to present,  offering a selection of activities to tailor a training workshop to indivi dual teaching styles while ensuring that participants receive a standardize d curriculum and learn the things they need to know to work with children a fter a disaster.

"We then tested the new curriculum to see what worked well and what needed  to be changed
before it was finalized," Bezon reported. The updated curriculum was tested  at workshops in March and April, one in La Verne, Calif.; and the other in  Fort Wayne, Ind. "As a result of these workshops, we found things that nee ded to be fixed--places where the instructor's and participant's manuals co uld be clearer, and additional ideas that would enhance the workshop. These  ideas are being incorporated into the final version of the curriculum," Be zon reported.

Two "Train the Trainers" workshops are being held in August at the Brethren  Service Center in New Windsor, Md. The three-day workshops will cover prin ciples of adult education, the revised curriculum and its presentation, and  the basics of using PowerPoint slides to enhance instruction.

For more information contact Children's Disaster Services at 800-451-4407 e xt. 5.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in  community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 125,000 members across the Unit ed States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria,  Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org