#8 Christ in the Classroom

My New Normal #8  Christ in the classroom

I am about to begin week six of my long term sub job. It has not been easy, but I am having a blast. One of the tough parts of teaching “Newcomer” ELL is that there are no real curriculum guides to follow. So I know that I need to work on reading, writing, speaking, culture, and math; but I pretty much have free reign as to what I want to do and how I want to teach it.  Thankfully, the teacher I am subbing for left me some ideas and books to use, but she told me I can pretty much do what ever I want, I just need to test them every 10 days so we can mark their progress.

For those of you who are not familiar with my teaching style, let me fill you in. I am a planner, big time. It was not unusual for me to have the entire school year mapped out by the end of August. If something needed to be changed or supplemented, it was no big deal because I knew where I was and where I was going.  This assignment really had me thrown for a loop, because I had about a week’s worth of plans to start with, then I was on my own. 

The Language Arts  (Communication Arts is what they call it here) section was no problem, we had books to use and workbooks to follow up with. Math – um, hello – I had more resources than I knew what to do with. I didn’t have to teach science – thankfully. This left social studies and another Comm. Arts, but both are for kids who are really new to English and living in the USA, so the Comm. Arts is really more like American Culture class.  When I got there, we were working on the different regions of the USA and clothing. This moved into Native Americans and going to the doctor. You might think that these are pretty general things to be teaching, but try teaching a kid (who can barely read and write in their own language) how to say “I have a sore throat.” or “Iroquois’ lived in longhouses.”  Before I knew it, it was Thanksgiving.  We learned about the Pilgrims and why they came here, later in the day, we talked about what families do on/for Thanksgiving. It is not easy to not talk about Christianity when you are talking about Pilgrims – so I didn’t dance around it – I just told it like it was. Thankfully, the Discovery Channel has multiple movies which explain why the Pilgrims came. My students had lots of questions, like “Why couldn’t they pray the way they wanted?” “Why was the king so bad?” “How come they move here instead of staying in Holland?” etc. We had some good discussions – then it was onto the Spanish Explorers  - wouldn’t you know it, religion comes back into the class discussion again. Who are missionaries? What do they do? Why do they leave home to teach people about God?

We just started talking about Christmas. I wasn’t too sure how I was going to teach it, as you are not supposed to favor a religion or get too “preachy” when teaching about holidays. So, I planned units on Hanukkah and Kwanzaa as well. Hanukkah is all about religion, there is not a whole lot of “gotta have for this year.”  Kwanzaa is about family and thankfulness (not about a $79 Kindle or $199 iPhone). For me, teaching about Christmas and leaving out Christ is like teaching about Thanksgiving and leaving out thankfulness. I did a lot of praying as to how I was to teach this without getting into trouble. Last week, we learned about the history of Santa Claus. Some of the kids knew who he was, some had no clue. One kid was really worried that some strange man was going to come into his house and leave stuff without anyone knowing who it was. We discussed who Santa was in each of their cultures (six different countries in all). Then we read about the history of Santa in the USA. Wouldn’t you know it, Christ pops up, thanks in part to Pope Julius I; a Turkish Priest who helped out sailors, kids, and unwed young ladies; and the Dutch pilgrims. The Scandinavian pilgrims came next and before I knew it, Christ was all over the lesson and I didn’t have to say a word. Yay God!

We are in the midst of breaking down Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs. I am trying to keep it “jolly” and Christ is still there – in the lyrics. Every really listen to “Here Comes Santa Claus?” “…Santa knows we’re all God’s children…” Hanukkah songs don’t mess around – you are singing praises to God who kept the lamp burning for 7 days, 8 nights.

We are going to play Christmas Bingo this week using familiar images of Christmas. I am going to have to explain why we use the Evergreen tree for Christmas trees (symbol of eternal life), the dove (peace/love), the nativity scene, wreaths (eternal life, unending circle of love), carolers (those spreading the joy of Christmas through song), and why we give gifts in the first place (pagan festivals + three wise men).

Please say a prayer for my students. Most are Christian or Catholic, but I do have some Muslims and Buddhists. For several, this is their first holiday season in the US, and they are overwhelmed with the marketing, to say the least. What I teach them may well be their first introduction to Christianity and how it is worshipped/celebrated here. I want them to go on their break knowing the real reason for the season – not just the hyped up ads and cheesy symbols. Let me know how I can pray for you at your workplace, and hopefully, we can keep Christ in Christmas!