Students start the
class with this question: What is something that you HAD to share with your
friends? (news, gift, etc…). They have thirty seconds to jot down a response.
Nothing fancy. I don’t normally collect bellworks, especially if I have
students who really do think about these things. When they are done, we do a quick prayer,
starting with intentions. Some days the prayer is more elaborate or nuanced. Other
days, we may say a simple Our Father or just take a few moments to share
intentions. As long as I instill in them a routine of prayer and reflection,
the standard is set. Too often we, as teachers, are fixated on the material we
have to cover that day and we forget that even just a few moments of prayer, in
any form, habituates the students into, at the very least, thinking about God
regularly. If they can think about God on a semi-regular basis, then God can
work with that.
“What is something
that you HAD to share with your friends?” I ask them. The normal responses
range from topics like relationships to school to sports…whatever interests
students. I shift the conversation and ask them why they want to share this news. The goal of this sort of
discussion is to develop some metacognition or reflection techniques. “Why do
you want to share this news with others? Why do you desire this?” I give my students credit; when challenged to do so,
they are thoughtful. Their responses are deep. “Because by sharing news that is
important to us, we can grow closer to our friends and family”. “Because we
sometimes need someone to cry or celebrate with to make us feel better.” “Because
we want our friends to be happy, too.” We desire to share news, both good and
bad, so we can grow in relationship with someone other than ourselves. This is a
concept in theological anthropology that I actually teach to students later,
but for right now I shift, once again, to the theme of the day. I tell them, “One
of the key attributes of God is that He desires
to share His “Good News”…His Gospel…with us. And He will do whatever He can to
make that happen. He will call us to help share that “Good News” just like you
will ask your friends to retweet or forward a message of good news to people
who you think should hear it.” Most of the students start to understand.
Before we go into
the objectives for the day, we review briefly. This is the routine, and routine
gives students a sense of ownership in the classroom. When the class is
predictable and consistent, students know what is happening and it can give
them a sense of control and comfort. I often remind students that I will use
the review portions of the lesson plans to write my tests because I know that
we have covered the review material at least three or four times over two or three
lessons. So, they often take notes on the review section. It is an easy method
they can use to begin studying for any upcoming test, and it helps them to be
prepared for any new knowledge coming their way that class period. I show them
the following concepts and sometimes call on students to explain what these
ideas mean:
• Christianity
is a relationship with God.
• God
is Trinity; God is relationship.
• By
developing a relationship with God, we learn to Love and to be Loved more
perfectly.
• All
parts of Christianity should help us to develop a relationship with God.
• God
uses signs and symbols to communicate to us (Scripture and Tradition) because
He is transcendent and beyond human comprehension.
I already told them that God’s desire
to share His Good News is a key attribute. The rest of the class will explore
more of His attributes. If we know what His attributes are, we can know Him a
little better.
(After a long day of playing at the park, he snuggles like this on my arm.)
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