Category Archives: Discussion Plan

Discussion Plan: Journeys and Journeying

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Discussion Plan: Journeys and Journeying

  1. Does a journey need to have a place of departure? Explain
  2. Does a journey need to have a set destination? Explain
  3. Are there different kinds of journeys? What makes them different?
  4. If I start walking but end up back where I started from, have I taken a journey?
  5. Can I end up in a different place without taking a journey?
  6. Can I take a journey without moving at all?
  7. Can journeys be good or bad, or is it the things that happen on them that are good or bad?
  8. Could a trip to the end of the street become a journey?
  9. Is there a difference between a journey I take on my own and a journey I take with others? If so, what are some of the differences?
  10. In what ways might a journey change you?
  11. In what ways might a journey surprise you?
  12. Is there a difference between a journey someone instructs you to take, and a journey you choose to take? If so, what are some of the differences?
  13. Explore this image of journeying and its possible meanings.
Journeying

Discussion Plan: Growing Up and Growing Old

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Discussion Plan: Growing Up and Growing Old

  • Do you celebrate your birthday? If so, what exactly are you celebrating?
  • If we didn’t have time (days, months, years), would we still get older? Would we grow up?
  • As we grow older, do our memories grow older?
  • As we grow older, do our thoughts grow older?
  • If we had a magic lotion that stopped us aging, would we still grow older each year?
  • Is it possible that some things become smaller as they grow older? (can you give an example?)
  • Could you grow older without growing up?
  • What is the difference between growing up and growing older?

Discussion Plan: Growth and Identity

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Discussion Plan: Growth and Identity

  • Could you grow if you didn’t have any food?
  • Could you grow if you didn’t have any ideas?
  • Could you grow if you didn’t have the ability to change?
  • Are you the same person today as you were when you were 2 years old?
  • Are there some things about us that don’t change as we grow older?
  • Are there some things about us that don’t change as we grow up?
  • Can we know who we will become?

Discussion Plan: How do Blessings work?

Discussion Plan: How do Blessings work?

1. Can you ask for a blessing? If so, what do you think happens when you are ‘being blessed’?

2. Can you demand or force someone to bless you?

3. Can anyone receive a blessing?

4. Can anyone give a blessing?

5 .Can you give a blessing without realising you have done so?

6. Can a blessing ever be a burden?

7. Can you believe in blessings without believing in curses?

8. Can you believe in blessings without believing in God?

9. What blessing would you wish for?

10. What blessing would you like to give to someone else?


 

Discussion Plan: How do blessings work?

  1. Can you ask for a blessing? If so, what do you think happens when you are ‘being blessed’?
  2. Can you demand or force someone to bless you?
  3. Can anyone receive a blessing?
  4. Can anyone give a blessing?
  5. Can you give a blessing without realising you have done so?
  6. Can a blessing ever be a burden?
  7. Can you believe in blessings without believing in curses?
  8. Can you believe in blessings without believing in God?
  9. What blessing would you wish for?
  10. What blessing would you like to give to someone else?

 

Discussion Plan: Being blessed and giving blessings

Being blessed and giving blessings

  1. Can you be blessed with good health? If so, what does this mean?
  2. Can a day be blessed? Explain
  3. Can a person’s life be blessed? If so, did it need someone to bless it? Explain,
  4.  Can we be a blessing to our parents? If so, what does this mean?
  5. Is there a difference between ‘being blessed’ and ‘receiving a blessing’?
  6. I bless you saying “May God grant you long life”, is that the same as wishing you a long life?
  7. If I bless you saying “May God grant you long life”, is that the same as hoping you will have a long life?
  8. Does giving a blessing guarantee that the content of the blessing will happen or come true?
  9. Can people give blessings, or only God? If people can give them, do you think there is a difference between a blessing given by God and a blessing given by a person? Explain.

Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Curses

Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Curses

  1. Can you be cursed with bad health? If so, what does this mean?
  2. Can a day be cursed? Explain
  3. Can a person’s life be cursed? If so, did it need someone to curse it? Explain,
  4. Can we be a curse to our parents? To our teachers? If so, what does this mean?
  5. If I curse you by saying “May all your friends abandon you” is that the same as wishing that all your friends would abandon you?
  6. Can people give curses or only God? If people can give them, do you think there is a difference between a curse given by God and a curse given by a person? Explain.
  7. Can having someone curse you ever be a good thing?
  8. Does giving a curse guarantee that the content of the curse will happen or come true?
  9. Can you believe in blessings without believing in curses?
  10. Can you believe in curses without believing in God?

Discussion Plan: Leaving Home – PS

Discussion Plan: Leavings

  1. Do you think we all have to ‘leave home’ in order to grow up? Explain.
  2. Avram took his extended family with him – so what was he really leaving behind?
  3. If you go away but you still think about people a lot, and text them/e-mail them, have you left them behind?
  4.  If you still hear them speaking to you – telling you what to do – have you left them behind?
  5. In growing up – do you think the important thing is what you are leaving, or what you are heading towards?
  6. Are you attached to places as well as people? Describe these places.
  7. Which do you think would be more difficult – to leave individual people, or to leave your language and culture?

Discussion Plan: Leaving Home -HS

  1. Discussion Plan: Leavings
  2. Do we all have to ‘leave home’ in order to grow up? Explain.
  3. Avram took his extended family with him – so what was he really leaving behind?
  4. Is there a difference in growing up between leaving your parents and leaving your brothers/sisters? If so, what is it?
  5. If you go away but you still think about people a lot, and text them/e-mail them, have you left them behind?
  6.  If you still hear them speaking to you – telling you what to do – have you left them behind?
  7. In growing up – do you think the important thing is what you are leaving, or what you are heading towards?
  8. Are you attached to places as well as people? Describe these places.
  9. Do you think that places are tied to our identity in the same way as people are? Explain.
  10. Which do you think would be more difficult – to leave individual people, or to leave your language and culture?

Exercise: Journeys

Exercise:  Journeys

This exercise strengthens our reasoning skills by asking us to reason toward the best explanation. If someone sets out with these items (amongst others) on a journey, what might you infer regarding:

  • Where they might be going;
  • What they might be planning to do;
  • How they plan on getting there.
  1.  Sunscreen, thick boots, compass, a water bottle and a back pack with a box of worms
  2. Shorts and T-shirt, a leather jacket, gloves, goggles, a beach towel and book.
  3. A can of gasoline, bottle of water,  spare tire, MP3 player, and horse in a trailer
  4. A 50ft rope, pegs, hammer, hard helmet, 4 wheel drive
  5. Iced chocolate cake,  change of clothes, a CD wrapped in wrapping paper, train schedule,  candles

As a variation, in pairs prepare to tell the story of this journey to the rest of the group.