Day Two: Signs and Symbols

I don’t want to waste time in this blog describing the “housekeeping” portion of my class, which finishes the first day. That is the time when I ask students to review the syllabus with me. There is nothing interesting about that! So, let’s move on to Day Two.

Like it was stated in a previous blog, most of the classes start with a Bellwork. Almost every Bellwork is intended to “activate prior knowledge”. The lesson of that particular day “sticks” if students already have some prior knowledge they can use to relate to the new knowledge they will be receiving.

Students are asked to do the following:

•       Write your name on the slip of paper that Mr. Smith gave you.

•       Think about if you were with your friends or family and they could only characterize you with one word (not your name). What would that word be? Write that word next to your name and fold the piece of paper and put it in the jar.

They have just a few moments to do this. As they finish, I collect the slips of paper in a jar and transition into prayer.

I show them the following image and discusses how the mystery of God is beyond human language and so we need symbols to represent who God is. If we think about it (contemplate) we can actually grow closer to the Truth of the mystery, but we should always remember that we can only grow closer to the mystery of God; we cannot fully know the Truth of that mystery.

After the prayer, I asks students to share their Bellwork.

I pick slips of paper out of the jar and ask students if they can determine who the “word” on the sheet of paper belongs to. I do this several time; if the class is small enough, I make sure everyone’s slip of paper is read. This is a way that we can continue to cultivate Love in the classroom. As students share their Bellwork, it gives other students a chance to communicate how the view themselves or how they think other people view them.

At the end of the exercise, I conclude for the students that the word is only a representation of the person, but it is not the person themselves. This is obvious, but I stress that we can use signs and symbols to point us to the person, but we cannot confuse the sign or symbol with the person, themselves. This will connect to the lesson for the day.

Before I give the lesson, I always review previous concepts discussed in class. I encourage students to take notes on the review as the review is often the last time.

I ask students to complete the following sentences, one at a time. They can use their notes from the previous day to assist them. This is not a test or a quiz. It is just practicing using language that will be commonly used in class.

•       Christianity is not a religion about God….

•       It is a Relationship with God.

•       The result of a relationship with God is…

•       Knowledge of our Authentic Self.

•       If we know and live our authentic self then…

•       We can be Truly happy.

These concepts will drive the course and students will revisit this often and try to understand everything studied on class as they relate to this logical progression.

The next blog will discuss the objective: Students will be able to define what sign and symbol are in relationship to the thing that it represents.

(His head is too heavy sometimes)

Day One: Cultivating Love

Every day I am intent on making sure my students know the learning objectives. I write them on the board as clearly as I can. Because my whiteboard skills are as effective as drinking with a fork, I also put them in powerpoints and my students can always view my lesson plans online.

            I direct my students to the whiteboard where the daily objectives have been written. They can be a good title for their daily notes, and when they are studying for tests and exams, they can look to the objectives to help them find particular notes from the unit, semester, or course.

Students will be able to (SWBAT) introduce themselves and begin to create a classroom of acceptance and understanding.

I lead students in this exercise. The class takes a more “social” tone at this point.

•      Before we do anything else, let’s answer this question: How can we cultivate Love in this classroom? What can we do to create an environment of compassion and sisterhood?

•      At your tables, introduce yourselves to each other and brainstorm ideas of how we, as a class, can make sure everyone feels accepted and welcome in this room.

•      When you are done making your list of ideas, send someone to write those ideas on the board.

Students create their own classroom expectations of how they are going to treat others and how they will be as students. I try to lead the students to “promise” they will cultivate Love in the course. Theoretically, these expectations will allow for more freedom of expression and learning in the classroom. Students will be able to share their thoughts and feelings openly and, as a result, be able to develop better relationships within the classroom. Also, as the class will be introduced to later, it will allow for more fruitful “Full Faith Fridays”. This will be explained more fully later.

The class looks at the notes on the whiteboard and they create a document entitled:

•      Cultivating Love and fellowship in this Classroom

I record this information and tell them I will formalize this document for the class. The trick to this assignment is to make sure everyone is participating so everyone feels ownership of these expectations.

Students introduce the person to their right to the rest of the class, stating their name and something interesting they noticed about them. I really only have one rule for this exercise; everyone who is not talking needs to do what they can to communicate that they “Love” the speaker. I encourage students to interpret this any way they can. If they are serious about becoming more Loving, then, naturally, I will see cell phones put down, iPads closed, and students giving non-verbal cues of participation and concern for the speaker. I stress to students that body language, eye contact, and posture can communicate volumes in terms of Love (or not) to others. For students who are not interested in cultivating Love, I really just tell them that these are the same kind of habits and skills they need to develop before they go to a college or a job interview. They can practice here so they don’t have to think about it later. Of course, as students practice cultivating Love, they discover that it is in their nature to want to show Love, so it actually gets habituated into them either way.

This is something that we will do regularly, but in a social and an academic sense. As a teacher, I am interested in becoming better and more Loving people, but if I can also coach them on becoming adequate students, then that’s nice too.

(Yep. High School Patrick)

Day One: Introduction and Prayer

Being predictable and consistent is key to developing a positive classroom environment. If within the first few weeks of class the students know exactly what the routine will be and how to figure out where to find the daily objectives, you will not have to suffer much of that "What are we learning?" nonsense.

Normally, the first thing students do in my class is a bellwork or bell ringer or whatever term you want to use. This is the first day, so I will spare you the details until I actually have an example.

After the bell rings, I introduce myself and ask the students to take out their notes. (We will get to know each other better in just a few minutes). I tell them to write the following on the first page of their notes in large letters so it will stand out:

“Christianity is not a religion about God; it is a relationship with God.”

When they have done this, I give them my personal objectives for the course:

•       This course is not about converting you or forcing you to believe or to act in any particular way.

•       Instead, by the end of this course, you will be able to describe and explain what Catholic Christianity believes and teaches, and you will be able to explain why the Church believes and teaches what it does.

The course is designed for anyone. You do not need to have any particular creed or Faith background to take this course.  If you are a Catholic or a Christian, you may grow deeper in their Faith. But if you are not, this course provides important critical study of Catholic belief.

I explain the following; this is the essential thesis of the course:

•       Simply put…

•       Christianity helps us to develop a relationship with God.

•       If we are made in the image and likeness of God, then the more we know God, the  more we know our Authentic Self.

•       If we know our Authentic Self, then we can be Truly happy.

•       Yes…the goal of Catholic Christianity is happiness…a happiness beyond imagination.

All parts of this class (and Catholicism) relate to this thesis. Essentially, at the end of the course students should be able to use material studied in the class to elaborate on this thesis.

I just want students to have a clear understanding that this class is really a rational approach to knowing and understanding Catholic Theology and practice.

The next thing we do is prayer. 

I ask students to open their Bibles (or use their iPads to access Scripture). They should open to Matthew 13: 45-46. I gives students a link to where they can find this easily, and I make sure they know how to do this. They will use Scripture often in class for prayer and for study.

I make the sign of the cross and asks for any prayer intentions. After students share intentions, I call on a student to read the Scripture passage.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

Prayer doesn't have to be rigid and overly solemn; it can be instructional and intelligent. I lead the class in a reflection, connecting the Scripture to the thesis of the class. The “Kingdom of Heaven” or the “pearl of great price” is happiness like one cannot imagine. It is perfect happiness, not as we define happiness, but more. Christianity says that God is the one who knows where that pearl is and how to get it. By developing a relationship with God, we also grow in knowledge and experience of that happiness.

It really isn't that complicated. I start by telling my students that the end will look like. Everything that follows explains how we can grow in relationship with God. The next step is a challenge to challenge students to "Cultivate Love" in the classroom.

(Henri found my sleeping bag)

If you have any comments or questions at any time, feel free to email me or just comment on this blog.

Teaching Theology: Introduction to Catholic Theology

In another one of my blogs, Teaching Theology: Sacramentality, I begin by discussing the entire framework and scope of my classes. This blog has the same general format and methodology, but the actual content differs. At my school, the current curriculum for 9th graders includes exploration of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Communion of Saints, Ecclesiology, Sacraments, and Moral Theology. Any one of these topics could consume years of study; I get nine months to teach it. So, it is a bit of a survey course, but taking a survey course in Catholic theology is really a disservice to all my students, Catholic or non-Catholic. Catholic Christianity, as I stress to my students, is not a religion about God; it is a relationship with God, and with that, it is really not enough to just study the material beliefs and practices...it also requires some component of encounter. So, I try to balance the learning of theology and the doing of theology.

This blog is intended to show what I teach and how I teach it in addition to how I create space for students to begin to encounter God in a real and powerful way. I am not a priest so I cannot offer Sacraments for my students, and we can't take classroom time to go on retreats or do service, so I have to get a bit creative. Hopefully this blog will introduce the reader to some basics of Catholic theology and help the reader to find some ways in which they can do that theology and not simply know it.

(Henri is spotting some mountain goats ahead)