Integration of Faith and Learning
In my unit plan, I hoped to be able to display my faith through my curriculum. Since I'm in a public school, I know that I'm not able to come out and say directly what I believe. However, through my questioning and my relationships with my students I am able to show perspective of my faith. Being a Christian shapes how I act and react to situations in the classroom. While my students were reading the book “Holes,” they came across moral dilemmas the main characters ran into. I believe that my beliefs can play a part in how we go about answering and figuring out what should or should not have been done in those situations. Through my unit, I wanted to implement my faith in what I'm teaching, even if that means in small ways.
The characters in “Holes” face many difficult situations. Often the characters have not made good decisions in their relationships with others. This can relate to our lives, and in extension my students lives. We all have things we've done that we're not proud of, and the hardest part is how we deal with the aftermath. Being a believer, creates accountability for our actions. We not only have to do right be one other, but by God. What mostly relates to how we live as Christians is how people live in relation to other people. In my class, I wanted to be explicit with explaining how we are to be with our neighbors. I hoped to show through my actions and words how to love one another. Even if we make bad decisions that hurt someone, it is important to keep our relationships intact.
Content-wise the students were reading a larger novel than they are used to. I think that for some students in the class it was extremely difficult. There was times where they had to take the book home and read for the next day. My faith will take a role in this area because I know that I will have to be gracious and compassionate to those that struggle, but also love them by pushing them to be the best they can be. This is the type of moral dilemma I will face, because I want them to not get down on themselves but I also want them to strive to their best potential. The ups and downs of the characters in the book, even though they are different, can closely relate to any hardships my students may be going through. After teaching my lessons, I realized that what I believed about being gracious was true. The students and I had to be flexible with each other and find what worked best with us as a class.
Some of my students have difficulties at home. There are those who have single parents working all the time or students living with grandparents because their parents are no longer around. In the book “Holes,” one of the main themes is patience. I believe that everyone needs to have a sense of patience, and especially relating to my students. I've seen first-hand how rambunctious some can be. I think that “Holes” can give an example to why it is important to have the virtue of patience. The main character, Stanley, underwent multiple hardships. However, Stanley was able to have patience through each trial, and was ultimately able to overcome them all.
In my unit, I had the students work in pairs while reading and doing assignments. I did this to help create community within our class. I wanted to students to be able to feel comfortable talking with their classmates to what they think about some moral situations in the book. The author of "Holes," I think, was trying to get across to the reader the importance of friendship. We saw it played out in the book through the characters at Camp Green Lake, and also the historical characters in the book. I wanted to students to live this theme the book displays with the community in the classroom. The discussions our class had about "Holes" was one of the best things that came out of my unit. The students love the book, and they love talking about it. They especially love talking about what they would do in Stanley's shoes. It felt like the students were connecting with the characters, and they were able to make real-life connections to them.
Everyone must choose how they are going to live their lives. In Christian Teachers in Public Schools it says, “The modern child must actively realize that he or she is born into a condition of possibilities. He or she is this body of possibilities. To become a person, to grow up and to become educated, is to transform one's contingency into commitment responsibility—one must choose a life” (Stronks, 1999). My students are able to choose what they commit their lives to. Through our novel I hope that they grab hold of the main theme of patience, and apply it in their lives.
The characters in “Holes” face many difficult situations. Often the characters have not made good decisions in their relationships with others. This can relate to our lives, and in extension my students lives. We all have things we've done that we're not proud of, and the hardest part is how we deal with the aftermath. Being a believer, creates accountability for our actions. We not only have to do right be one other, but by God. What mostly relates to how we live as Christians is how people live in relation to other people. In my class, I wanted to be explicit with explaining how we are to be with our neighbors. I hoped to show through my actions and words how to love one another. Even if we make bad decisions that hurt someone, it is important to keep our relationships intact.
Content-wise the students were reading a larger novel than they are used to. I think that for some students in the class it was extremely difficult. There was times where they had to take the book home and read for the next day. My faith will take a role in this area because I know that I will have to be gracious and compassionate to those that struggle, but also love them by pushing them to be the best they can be. This is the type of moral dilemma I will face, because I want them to not get down on themselves but I also want them to strive to their best potential. The ups and downs of the characters in the book, even though they are different, can closely relate to any hardships my students may be going through. After teaching my lessons, I realized that what I believed about being gracious was true. The students and I had to be flexible with each other and find what worked best with us as a class.
Some of my students have difficulties at home. There are those who have single parents working all the time or students living with grandparents because their parents are no longer around. In the book “Holes,” one of the main themes is patience. I believe that everyone needs to have a sense of patience, and especially relating to my students. I've seen first-hand how rambunctious some can be. I think that “Holes” can give an example to why it is important to have the virtue of patience. The main character, Stanley, underwent multiple hardships. However, Stanley was able to have patience through each trial, and was ultimately able to overcome them all.
In my unit, I had the students work in pairs while reading and doing assignments. I did this to help create community within our class. I wanted to students to be able to feel comfortable talking with their classmates to what they think about some moral situations in the book. The author of "Holes," I think, was trying to get across to the reader the importance of friendship. We saw it played out in the book through the characters at Camp Green Lake, and also the historical characters in the book. I wanted to students to live this theme the book displays with the community in the classroom. The discussions our class had about "Holes" was one of the best things that came out of my unit. The students love the book, and they love talking about it. They especially love talking about what they would do in Stanley's shoes. It felt like the students were connecting with the characters, and they were able to make real-life connections to them.
Everyone must choose how they are going to live their lives. In Christian Teachers in Public Schools it says, “The modern child must actively realize that he or she is born into a condition of possibilities. He or she is this body of possibilities. To become a person, to grow up and to become educated, is to transform one's contingency into commitment responsibility—one must choose a life” (Stronks, 1999). My students are able to choose what they commit their lives to. Through our novel I hope that they grab hold of the main theme of patience, and apply it in their lives.