Many Covens put a great deal of effort into religious instruction, in the practices, symbolism and mythology of our faith. Much of this work is done in Pagan Groves or study groups. When the teacher is someone other than the sponsoring Coven’s HPS or HP (for example, the Deputy or Maiden), the teacher should provide progress assessments to the HPS and HP, so that informed decisions can be made about Initiation when the student is ready for it. The HPS and HP use these assessments during their decision-making process. The purpose of a Teacher's Book is to give both the teachers and the leaders an effective tool to track the progress of teaching, and to record the milestones reached by each student.
The Teacher's Book is a tool that is designed and used by teachers, at all levels of expertise, for tracking their students' proficiency in pre-initiate skills, their personal developmental progress, and their readiness for advancement. The exact form of a Teacher's Book varies depending upon the needs of the teacher and the group, and the teacher's own increasing understanding of her or his need for accurate record-keeping. Specific uses for the Teacher's Book include:
Each teacher decides how to design and lay out her/his book. The physical form of the book is whatever the teacher finds most convenient: for example, a nylon-covered ring binder that has lots of pockets inside its covers (to store items such as flash cards and diskettes, as well as strap for closing the covers securely. Nothing is more disheartening or troublesome than losing loose pages to a wind-gust while walking down the street.
Lest the Teacher's Book become an immovable monstrosity, it should only contain what is essential to its purpose. An effective book is well-organised and easy to use, including indices, sticky-notes and dividers, according to the teacher's own preference. The following is a recommended format -- feel free to make adaptations to suit your needs and your students' needs:
As mentioned before, adapt the contents and format of the Teacher’s Book to suit your needs.
Individual student data sheets contain the information that teachers need to know about their students. The sheets can be specifically made-up by the teacher, or they may be partially or entirely copied from the sponsoring Coven's records. Information should include the following:
This information helps the teachers to teach more effectively, by meeting the personal needs of their students.
As each task is successfully mastered by the student, the teacher should update the relevant part of their records. part of everyday training. When the teacher keeps up-to-date records, the HPS and HP of the sponsoring Coven can make accurate assessments of each student's readiness for Initiation. The Teacher's Book can also be used to record progress of individual counselling sessions, with the caveat that the student is entitled to confidentiality (subject to certain clearly-understood exceptions: see the handbook, Counselling Basics for Wiccan Clergy, for an explanation of these exceptions).
The extent to which the Teacher's Book is used for counselling is up to the teacher -- far better it would be for the teacher to refer the student to someone better-qualified, such as the sponsoring Coven's HPS or HP, if the teacher does not have solid counselling skills.
In states or provinces where religious counselling records are subject to mandatory or court-ordered disclosure, it may be better to not keep such records at all. Under no circumstances should a student ever have access to another student's counselling records.
The teacher should consider the Teacher's Book to be one of her or his personal Craft tools, and an essential tool for all group meetings. Books only remain useful if they are complete and accurate, trusting as little as possible to memory. Students will appreciate their teacher's active note-taking, as it affords them a sense that the teacher is taking care to see that their learning stays on track. Be careful not to take this to extremes, though: the teacher should never hold up the session in order to catch up on scribe-work.
The Teacher's Book is the teacher's business, not the sponsoring Coven leader's business. The HPS ought not hold her Deputy or Maiden to task for recording information in a different form than she would have done. However, it may be appropriate to sit down and discuss the format and accuracy of the Teacher's Book, as part of the teacher’s own learning process. The HPS and HP of the Coven are responsible for passing on leadership and instructional skills to the teacher, as well as fostering the growth of the teacher’s own intrinsic talents.
The teacher should bear in mind the essential purpose of the Teacher's Book, as an individual tools to help her or him become more effective as teachers and leaders. There is no standard format for such a book, as everyone's circumstances and talents are different, and every instructional group has different needs.
No one Tradition or lineage within the Craft has exclusive claim to the idea of effective instructional record-keeping -- we have all struggled with the need to track our students' progress, and keep ourselves directed towards the goal of helping our students become happy, effective and well-balanced Initiates.
The Stone and Mirror Library
of pre-initiate teaching papers.
The Longwall Faceline home-page.