https://achieveressays.comMiss Professor
A Properly Formatted APA Student Paper
Your Name
Belhaven University
EDU###: Name of Course
Instructor’s Name (include title such as Dr. or Prof.)
Date Assignment is Due
Session 5 Notes
Inclusion Strategies
1. Give proper __________________________________________________________________________.
2. Create a welcoming ____________________________________________________________________.
Teaching about, versus instruction in, religion
Explain by attribution
Pledge of Allegiance
Language Arts
Science
Mathematics
Economics
Health
Reflection on Session 5
Session 6 Notes
Students’ Religious Liberties
Seven Religious Liberties
1.
2.
3.
For teachers:
4.
5.
6.
7.
Religious Freedom Day
Planning Time (how will you introduce religious freedom to your students)?
Reflection on Session 6
Session 7 Notes
Holidays
False Assumption
Correct Assumption
Thanksgiving
Christmas
Hanukkah
Easter
Passover
Reflection on Session 7
Session 8 Notes
Cultivating Character
The two steps for encouraging good character
Examples of character qualities
Understanding tolerance
What to do next
Reflection on Session 8
References
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. Publisher.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume (Issue), pp – pp. https://doi.org/XXXXXX
Session
5
Inclusion Strategies
1
So far we’ve looked at why is educationally sound to teach about the Bible and
Christianity in a public school environment. We’ve seen that it’s culturally accurate,
it’s academically expected, it’s legally supported and it’s morally imperative.
2
But the real question is, “How do I make it work in my classroom?” That’s what we
are going to be looking at in this session.
3
We think in two broad categories for how to include this in your classroom. One is to:
1. Give proper attention to religion in the curriculum and in school. We’re going to
spend some time unpacking that and what that looks like. That certainly can be
recognized in your subject matter and in the culture of your school.
2. The second thing is creating a welcoming environment for a religious expression
in your classroom.
Now Session
6
is where we talk about students’ religious liberties. That can really
lend itself more to this second point. So let’s take a little closer look to this first point:
giving proper attention to religion in the curriculum and at school — recognizing that
it is part of life, it’s part of our history, it’s part of our culture, and it’s part of the
student’s life, as well.
4
Now, in giving proper attention to religion in curriculum and in school, there are two
things to keep in mind:
One is that it needs to be instructional, not devotional. If you recall, in our spectrum
of views on the separation of church and state, different people interpret instruction
differently. For instance, there are those with the “Separationist Perspective” say that
any instruction is bordering on devotional – that your motive is really to have
students accept a particular faith. That’s not necessarily true.
On the other hand, you do have those teachers that look at any instruction as an
opportunity to have students accept the faith. So you need to really check yourself
and see “Are you instructing for academic reasons?” While it can be robust, it can be
interesting, and it can be creative, it cannot be devotional in nature.
The second thing is to “explain by attribution.” This becomes a lot easier for you to
talk about religious topics, religious events, religious people, and stories from the
Bible. You need to explain it by attribution. And we’ll take a look at some examples of
how to do that. But let’s take a look at how one state has addressed this issue of how
something can be instructional and not devotional.
5
The California Board of Education came up with a wonderful statement explaining the
difference between teaching about religion and instruction in religion. This explains
the difference between devotional and instructional. They say:
[Read Slide]
There’s a lot in that, and we are going to unpack that a little more.
6
It goes on to say that:
[Read the slide]
So, let’s take a look at how that divides up.
__________________
Footnote:
A Handbook on the Rights and Responsibilities of School Personnel and Students in the
Areas of Providing Moral, Civic, and Ethical Education, Teaching Religion, Promoting
Responsible Attitudes and Behaviors, and Preventing and Responding to Hate
Violence; California Department of Education, Sacramento, CA (1
9
95); p.
19
7
If we were to look at what are the things in that statement that have to do with
teaching about religion versus those things indicative of instruction in religion or
seeking devotion, we see to teach about religion is:
A study of, the appreciation of, information on, and talking about the influence of.
Those are objective. On the other hand, instruction in religion is…
Seeking acceptance or seeking commitment.
So you have to ask yourself, when I’m talking about the Bible, Judaism, and
Christianity, “Am I wanting to have the students accept it as their own faith, or am I
wanting to have them be committed to this as a religious truth, or am I simply
wanting them to understand it, have an appreciation for its impact, talk about its
influence, those sorts of things.
This becomes a wonderful guideline for helping you examine how you’re approaching
a topic.
8
Now let’s take a look at how that would apply to certain topics.
Everything inside the box is appropriate, and everything outside the box that I will be
listing here is not appropriate – – it is not instructional, but is devotional. And I find
that when we understand the parameters, we can fully engage — robustly, creatively,
interestingly, — in teaching about something of a religious nature. It is when we don’t
know where the barriers are that we tend to pull back and not teach as robustly as
we could because we are afraid of crossing the line—because we don’t know where
those lines are.
So, if we are going to be teaching about, for instance, with the holidays, we can teach
what Christmas is. We can explain it factually. This is what this holiday is all about.
Or, when studying something in history, you can say “This is what happened” –
explaining an historical event whether it is in recent history or ancient history. You
are simply explaining this is what happened.
“This person was motivated by.” If you are studying Martin Luther King, Jr., and you
wanted to look at his religious motivation for his civil rights actions, that is perfectly
acceptable. That is perfectly within bounds to look at his motivation.
Christianity gave to America. Again, if you wanted to look at how the Founding
9
Fathers were influenced by biblical views of the world and the rights of man and
liberty and so forth, you are attributing it to the Founding Fathers and what they say
they were using as a source.
Or you say what the Golden Rule is. If you are wanting to look at things that are
common vernacular, common phrases and talk about the Golden Rule—well this is
the Golden Rule. That is a fact.
Things that are outside the bounds — that are not acceptable — are things like:
“You should believe.” “This is the way.” “Christianity is better than other religions”—
and showing favoritism in that way.
Some are facts. Some are opinions.
9
Now we obviously are going to be getting into areas that are faith statements —
statements of belief. And the best way to handle those — the safest way to handle
those — is to explain by attribution. What do I mean by that?
Well, for instance, if you are talking about an item of faith, then you simply say
“Christians believe”. For instance, if you are studying Easter and why Easter is
important. You can say “Christians believe that Christ rose from the dead,” or “The
Bible records that…” If you are explaining something that the Bible says then that is a
factual statement. The Bible does record this, or it’s factual that Christians do believe
this. Or, if you are looking at a particular story, you could accurately say “In the story,
God said…”
There is a difference between saying “God said” versus “In the story, God said.” You
are attributing it to the story. Maybe the acid test would be this: “Could a non-
Christian say it?” You see it is not a faith statement. It is a factual statement. So, that
is what I mean by explaining by attribution. You are attributing it to the source.
10
Okay, let’s look at a very practical way that you can teach something about America’s
Judeo-Christian heritage using the Pledge of Allegiance. This is an everyday activity in
schools—even at a high school level if you are a homeroom teacher. That is where
the students are saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Over the last decade or so, there has
been a question as to whether we should say “one nation under God”. Is that an
appropriate sort of expression or is it somehow violating the separation of church
and state.
Let’s take a look at that a little bit so you can teach your students the proper
understanding of the Pledge of Allegiance. You might discover that your students
have never been taught what the Pledge of Allegiance actually means. Have you ever
taken them through an exercise of what each phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance
actually means?
11
Now let’s take a few minutes and actually go through the exercise of teaching each
phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance. I would be willing to bet that your students have
not gone through this exercise. I was a world history teacher at the high school level
and wanted the students to say the Pledge. They were not saying the Pledge of
Allegiance on a regular basis. And the response was: “Aw, Mr. B, we haven’t said the
Pledge of Allegiance since third grade. That is something kids do.” So, they did not
have an appreciation for it, and they did not understand what it meant.
So I said, “Let’s set aside what I had planned for the first part of class and let’s just put
on the board what each phrase of the Pledge actually means. And we had a
discussion about it.
So why don’t we do that right now.
I pledge allegiance—what does that mean? Well, a pledge is a promise, and
allegiance means to be faithful, to be loyal. So we are pledging loyalty or faithfulness
to something. So I pledge allegiance to the flag. Why a flag? And so we discussed
what flags represented, how countries developed flags, and what they mean. They
are a symbol of something. To the flag of the United States of America. I’d ask them
“What’s the United States of America? “ There would be this silence like it was a trick
question. Not, it is not a trick question, it’s our country. It is the United States in
America.
12
And to the republic for which it stands. What’s a republic? You know, oftentimes
when I ask teachers this question, there’s stunned silence. “Well I thought we were a
democracy.” We are a democratic republic. A pure democracy means the citizens
vote on everything that the country has to deal with. In America, we vote on
representatives who then go represent us, so we are a democratic republic. “To the
republic for which it stands.” It is our representative form of government.
I always find it interesting when we have protestors who are burning a flag as if that’s
a way to reflect their feelings toward a particular presidential administration or a
policy of government. What they are actually doing is trampling on and burning the
very symbol of our representative system of government which, of course, I am sure
they would cherish if they stopped and thought about it.
And then we get to the next phrase: one nation under God. Hmmmm. What do we
say about that? What does that mean? Why do we even have that in the Pledge? And
some people argue that it wasn’t in the original Pledge of Allegiance in the late
18
00s
when it was developed. It was added in the 1950s. My response is it just took them
50 years to get it right. This is a really important part of the Pledge of Allegiance. But
many people don’t think through why it is so important.
Is it a prayer? No, actually it is a description of the republic which we are in. Let me
explain what that means.
13
14
The second half of the Pledge of Allegiance is a description of the republic
that the flag stands for. One of the first descriptions of that republic is that we
are a nation under God. What does that actually mean? I believe it is an
important point that goes back to what Thomas Jefferson articulated in the
Declaration of Independence.
Let’s take a look at what he wrote. He wrote:
[Read the slide]
You see, what the founders understood was that it was God who gave us our
liberties, not the king, not a queen, not the president, not Congress. Our
country was established only to secure those God-given rights, and that was
the justification, by the way, for the revolution—that the king had usurped
those God-given rights. And so saying that we are a nation under God is a
recognition – and a nod — to what the Founding Fathers understood as
fundamental to our liberties.
Now, if we jump forward almost 100 years in the 1800s, Abraham Lincoln in his
famous Gettysburg Address, that’s engraved in the Lincoln Memorial, said this:
[Read the slide]
So he recognized that our nation was dedicated to the concept that all men are
created equal.
15
Lincoln concluded…
[Read the slide]
So again, there is that central concept — that fundamental foundational concept —
that we are created with certain inalienable rights and that these come from God—
not from a king, not from a president, not from anyone other than God Himself.
16
If we jump forward another one hundred years into the 1900s, Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. reflects this same thinking in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. He said:
[Read the slide]
17
As we look at American history, whether it’s the 1700s, we see Jefferson in the
Declaration of Independence and his reference to “all men created equal and
endowed by their Creator”. In other words, endowed by God with our liberties.
That’s repeated in the 1800s with Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and in the 1900s with
Dr. King and his “I Have a Dream” speech.
So, every century in American history reflects this fundamental — this foundational —
principle that our liberties come from God. When we say it in the Pledge of
Allegiance, we are recognizing this historical, fundamental principle of American
liberty.
18
In
20
15, the American Humanist Association sued the Matawan–Aberdeen Regional
School District claiming that the phrase “under God” was prejudiced against an
atheist student.
19
20
Plaintiffs asserted that their child’s humanist beliefs do not allow him to participate
fully in the pledge and that the child felt excluded from the other children when the
pledge is recited. They also argued that by including the term “under God” in the
pledge, New Jersey is defining patriotism in terms of God-belief and is ignoring the
non-theistic beliefs of atheists.
The Superior Court of New Jersey ruled in favor of keeping “under God” in the Pledge.
It wrote a very strong defense for the words “under God” being in the Pledge. Here’s
just one paragraph:
[Read the slide]
You can download a PDF of that quote as well as some of the other very inspiring
excerpts from the statement the Court wrote in its decision. In fact, the Court’s
statement would make for a very good handout and classroom discussion for your
students.
And, if you want to read the entire decision, you’ll find a link below.
21
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/nj-superior-court/1700792.html
21
Continuing on in our description of this republic in which we live, we are a nation
under God and we are indivisible. Now what does that mean? That means that we
are going to stay together even when we disagree. Originally written in the late 1800s
after, of course, we had gone through the Civil War, and we wanted to pledge
ourselves to staying together even when we disagree. And I think that is an important
point to remember in our political debates.
With liberty and justice for all. Now the push back I got from students was “Hey, we
don’t have liberty and justice for all. If you’ve got more money, if you are well
positioned, you are going to have more justice.” Well, let’s first look at what liberty
and justice mean. Of course, liberty means freedom and justice means being fair—
being right in our judgments of others. And yes we don’t have liberty and justice for
all. There isn’t justice being meted out in the courts and so forth. There are injustices.
But that’s what we are pledging ourselves to—we are describing a country where our
desire is liberty and justice for all. And we pledge ourselves to it every day.
And so if you explain to your students each phrase of the Pledge, it becomes much
more meaningful for them to engage in.
22
Now as a teaching aide to help you with this, Gateways to Better Education has
created a colorful poster. It’s 11” x 22” and fits on a bulletin board or door. It’s a great
reminder of the Pledge of Allegiance and its meaning. And you can obtain copies of
that at gtbe.org/store. And when it comes to that one nation under God, it says:
[read that portion of slide]
And I like to emphasize that it’s to secure these rights, not grant these rights.
It’s a good poster. I recommend you get one for your classroom.
23
I want you to take 60 seconds and just jot down on a piece of paper on your notepad
when you’ll teach your students the meaning of each phrase of the Pledge of
Allegiance.
I think every teacher needs to do this. So even if you are in a high school situation
and you are not a history teacher or a civics teacher, you can still include this if you
are a homeroom teacher and normally start your day with the Pledge of Allegiance.
So actually calculate when you are going to do this. I’ll start the timer for 60 seconds.
24
Let’s go across the curriculum and begin to look at some inclusion strategies. You may
not teach a particular subject that we cover, but it may give you some good ideas that
you can use in the subjects that you teach. We’ll look at Language Arts, Science,
Mathematics, Economics, and Health.
25
First let’s look at language arts.
It is very common for teachers to put a quote of the day, an inspiring quote, a
thought-provoking quote on the white board or the bulletin board. And you could
certainly include quotes from Jesus, Moses, or Solomon in your quotes of the day.
Now if they were quoted every day, then that would start to be too heavy-handed.
But certainly, they are part of our culture; they are part of our heritage. They are part
of our vernacular; so using famous quotes from them is perfectly appropriate.
Another idea is to make books available that mention biblical characters, values,
allusions, metaphor, and symbolism. This is part of western civilization and our
literary heritage. You could have books available or even if you are reading books and
those topics come up, you can obviously drill down on those and help them
understand the connections.
You could have a Bible in your classroom library — not as a devotional tool, but as a
reference—as something that students may be interested in reading in order to
enhance something they are learning in the classroom.
And you could include the Bible in your Accelerated Reader Program. Many schools
have an Accelerated Reader Program. If you are not familiar with that, it is a program
by which you can get computer comprehension tests that link up to books that
26
students can check out in the library. So they can read a book in the library, go to the
computer, and take a comprehension test. A lot of schools give them rewards for the
score they get on their comprehension tests.
The Accelerated Reader Program—the company that developed it—has now included
the Bible as one of its modules. And so we have actually had cases where local
community members purchased the module for the school. Then they help stock the
library with Bibles so that students can incorporate the Bible in their Accelerated
Reader Program.
26
You can find out more about the Accelerated Reader Program and its inclusion of the
Bible as one of the books that it has comprehension tests for by going to
www.arbookfind.com.
When you go to their website, there is a quick search, and you can type in the word
“Bible”, and it will take you to the list of books of the Bible they have comprehension
tests for.
27
So here you see they have each of the books of the Bible, and they have the module
for the reading comprehension test that goes with that.
28
They also include books based on the Bible. They’ve got children’s books: Everyday
Life in Bible Lands, Kings and Queens of the Bible, and Miracles of the Bible so
students can not only read the Bible itself, but books about the Bible.
29
When you deal with creation stories. Maybe you are reading a story that references
Native American creation stories, you can talk about, by way of contrast, other
examples of creation stories. You can actually have students read the biblical account
in Genesis. Now I recommend, by the way, that if you do that, go through a website
that has a Bible online. I would take the section that you want to have the students
read, cut and paste it in a Word document rather than merely photocopying the Bible
and handing that out to students. I think it is going to have a more academic feel to it,
and I think that is the point you want.
You can also reference Bible stories for cultural literacy. You can talk about David and
Goliath oftentimes as a metaphor for small against large or the odds being against
someone. Abraham, Adam and Eve obviously and the story of the fall and the
temptation. Jonah, Daniel, Esther, Ruth, Job, famous sayings of Jesus–these are part
of our culture, part of our literary heritage, and so to have students be familiar with
these stories and even find places where they are referenced in literature so they
understand the connections would be, of course, a part of their education.
30
If we look at the area of science, where are some inclusion strategies? Well one thing
I think is important for students to understand is the limited scope of science. Science
is about seeking naturalist explanations for our world.
You might illustrate it with a box. Science tries to describe things in the box. And if it
would lead to questions outside the box, science isn’t really equipped to answer that.
It has to explain everything by looking at what is only in the box. Consequently, it can
only explain things in naturalist terms. If evidence starts to lead us to something
outside the box, science cannot go there. Science has to come up with an explanation
for how it could have happened in the box.
So I think if students understand the limits of science, they’ll not only appreciate the
scientific quest more, but they’ll also not feel as though science is against, or has to
be against, their faith.
31
Besides explaining that science is seeking naturalist explanations for natural
phenomenon, another thing you can do in science is point out evidence of intelligent
design in things other than investigations of origins.
There is a big controversy going on between evolution, intelligent design, and
creationism. And yet, I think we can help students understand that science itself uses
the idea of evidence to point out intelligent design.
We do this in things other than just looking at the origins of the universe.
32
For example, if we look at cloud formations, this would be a good illustration of the
difference between random chance and intelligent design. By the way you look at
clouds in the elementary grade—even if you are at the lower grades, you can talk
about this.
If I look over here I see that kind of looks like a fish. But that happened by random
chance. That was just the way the wind happened to hit it and the way you look at it,
it kind of reminds you of something.
But if I look at this over here and say “Wait a second. That happened by skywriting.”
That wasn’t random chance. The sign of intelligent design is when you see a pattern
that communicates a message.
33
Another example would be Mount Rushmore. What a beautiful example of the
affects of millions of years and erosion over time. No, actually if you looked at these
rocks over here, you could say that those shapes come from corrosion and time.
But if you look at these shapes over here, you say “Wait a minute. That happened by
intelligent design.” That is, this is a pattern indicating a message—in this case an
artistic pattern communicating a message.
34
If you look at archeology, we don’t know how these rocks got here necessarily or why
they are there. But we know that it didn’t happen by chance. We know that
happened by design.
As an archaeologist, I go into a cave, and I see scratchings on a wall. How can I tell
whether they are random animal scratchings or if they are hieroglyphics? Well, I can
tell if there is a pattern that communicates a message.
This doesn’t mean that you then launch into “Therefore, God created the heavens
and the earth!” You’re simply helping students see that, even in science, we look for
evidence of intelligent design.
35
The third thing that you could do in a science class is teach about the controversy.
There is debate about how evidence is looked at and how it’s interpreted. And you
can talk about the controversy of that interpretation.
36
In the elementary grades, students learn the value of money, and they learn to count
money. Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters ….
But while you are teaching them that, you can also have them look at what is
stamped on the coins. In his book Still the Best Hope, Dennis Prager refers to what he
calls the “American Trinity”—the three things stamped on our coins. “In God We
Trust”, “Liberty”, and “E. Pluribus Unum” (out of many, one). These three things are
fundamental to American values. So you can teach these to students as you are
teaching them how to count money.
37
Another way you can use mathematics is to look at how math is used to benefit
others (charity, digging wells, micro investments, inventions, Habitat for Humanity).
Here you are measuring length, width, area. If you are digging wells, you are looking
at volume, depth, pressure, speed. And so in your illustrations for how math is used,
you can point out math is used in charity work.
38
An algebra teacher once pointed out to me how she uses the square root of negative
one, which is equal to an imaginary number. She uses that to illustrate the
differences between something that is invisible versus something that is imaginary.
Oftentimes in our world, we think if you cannot sense it with your five senses, it must
not exist. Sometimes then people are affected in their faith issues where they say
“Well, I can’t see God; therefore, He is just imaginary.” She uses this little lesson on
the square root of negative one to talk about the difference between something that
is invisible versus something that is imaginary.
I’m not going to go into detail on this, but you can download her lesson on how she
talks about this as an introduction to her lesson on the square root of negative one.
39
One more area in mathematics that you can use to teach a way of looking at the
world is through teaching standard deviations. Standard deviations are a standard,
and you have deviations from that standard.
As you are introducing this to students, one of the things you can do is help them see
that we use this in how we make judgments about things.
The issue of tolerance comes into play. Tolerance we often think of socially in terms
of acceptance. The more things you accept, the more tolerant you are. But there’s
another definition in the dictionary, and it’s more of a quality control standard. That
is, “the allowable variation from a standard.”
So if you are making or manufacturing something, you can have certain tolerances for
error or for changes. But beyond that it is intolerable. That’s the same way we
conduct ourselves socially. You might say “Our standard would be that in a classroom
we have good interaction and participation by the students.” The allowable deviation
from that standard is that you don’t have to say anything. But what is beyond the
tolerable deviation, what is intolerable, is you can’t fall asleep in my class.
If you look at life, there are a lot of areas of our life, where we have a standard and
then we have allowable deviations from that standard and, beyond that, it is
justifiably intolerable.
40
We are going to examine this more in the other sessions on character education. I
wanted to introduce this idea here because you can actually use math to help
students understand something about the way they socially interact with one another
and those around them and their values.
40
If we look in an area like Economics…well, religious thought had a lot to say about the
economic world.
The very purpose of work—why do we work? What joy do we get out of work?
Or what about being just in our labor practices and how we treat our workers and co-
workers. These are social interactions and religion has had a lot to say about that.
Attitudes towards money—the Bible has had a lot to say about how we are to treat
money, how we are not to allow money to treat us, and so religion has had a lot to
say about our attitudes towards money.
What about materialism? What about charity?
These are the way people really live their lives. So often, we just treat Economics as
“profit and loss,” “supply and demand,” and “macro economics.” But, when you drill
down into how do you actually live in an economic world, that’s where our religious
values oftentimes come out. And you can acknowledge this in a classroom and talk
about it.
41
In a health class we might cover topics like dating, marriage, mental health, and
decision-making skills. Religion has had a lot to say about these topics. While you are
not a religious teacher, you can certainly acknowledge to students that many of their
family backgrounds come from perspectives of a religious nature that deal with these
topics. They should be looking at those topics remembering their religious
upbringing, their family’s religious faith.
For instance, in the area of decision-making skills, are we helping them to think of
their decisions by also looking at it through the magnifying glass of their faith. Simply
acknowledging it—you are not telling the student they should be Christian, Jewish,
Buddhist, Hindu–you are simply acknowledging that many of them in the real world
make decisions that are based upon acknowledging their faith.
42
Too often, when we teach decision-making skills in a public school, we teach them to:
• gather information
• identify options
• predict consequences
• and take action based upon the consequence that they most desire.
The problem is, we forget a very important element in students’ lives.
43
It’s important that we acknowledge that many of them look at the options and make
choices based on their family’s religious faith.
Again, you are not advocating one faith over another. You are simply acknowledging
the reality that this is an important part of their life, and they shouldn’t exclude it
from their decision-making process.
44
In summary, and it’s important to remember:
[Read the slide]
45
Now I’d like you to take five minutes and reflect on what we have talked about in this
session. Think about your subject matter. Think about how you can find appropriate
intersections between your subject matter and America’s Judeo-Christian religious
heritage. I’ll start the clock.
46
You have completed Session 5. Now move on to Session 6.
47
Students Religious Liberties
1
If you remember from Session
5
on inclusion strategies, we talked about:
(Read the slide – #1)
And we mentioned the second point:
(Read the slide – #
2
)
2
This is supported by the Model Code of Ethics for Educators. Regarding an educator’s
responsibility to students, the code states:
[Read the slide]
It acknowledges that students have rights. And it expects educators to respect students’
culture.
3
In the glossary for the Model Code, culture is defined as:
[Read the slide]
So, respecting the rights of a student and the culture of a student include respecting the
student’s freedom of religious expression.
4
As I talked about before, many of your students come to school from a religious-
oriented family, so it’s just part of their life. How can you, then, create a welcoming
environment for their religious expression — their freedom of speech — in your
classroom?
5
A good place to start is at the U. S. Department of Education, because they’ve issued
clear guidelines on students’ religious liberties. They’ve actually issued them three
times. They originally drafted them and sent them out to every superintendent in the
country in 1
9
95. Then they updated them and resent them again to every
superintendent in the country in
19
9
8
. That was under the Clinton administration.
Then, the Bush administration updated them in
20
03, and reissued them to every
superintendent in the country. Now that’s three times since 1995 that these have been
sent out to every school district and every superintendent in the country. Each time
there have been letters sent with them encouraging superintendents to share it with
their staff, parents, and students. And, yet, too often this hasn’t filtered down to
teachers in the classroom or students or their parents.
6
In 1998, then Secretary of Education Richard Riley, issued this letter when they
distributed these guidelines on students’ religious liberties. He said:
(Read the slide)
7
When they were updated in 2003, then Secretary of Education Rod Paige, sent them
out to every superintendent with a letter that said:
(Read the slide)
8
Now you can find all of this on the Department of Education’s website. Go to ED.gov
and look for:
(Read the slide)
It’s a little bit misleading as the title, because it deals with a lot more than just prayer. It
talks about religious expression in general, prayer being one of those expressions. But
that’s the title of the document and you can find it at the Department of Education’s
website. I’ll be summarizing it here for you today.
9
One of the things the guidelines articulate, is that:
(Read the slide)
10
The guidelines state:
(Read the slide)
11
(Read the slide)
In other words, the government looks at this as a form of expression. You can speak to
whomever you want to, including your Maker, about whatever you want to, including
your faith.
12
(Read the slide)
In other words, you can’t pick it out as something that can’t be allowed, merely
because it’s prayer or religious speech.
13
Secondly:
(Read the slide)
14
[Read the slide]
15
(Read the slide)
16
[Read the slide]
17
[Read the slide]
18
Third
[Read the slide]
19
[Read the slide]
20
[Read the slide]
21
[Read the slide]
I’m always surprised at the number of teachers who feel as though they are defending
the First Amendment or the separation of church and state or something of that nature
by disallowing a student to express their religious faith in an assignment. I think of one
student, for instance,–this case came to us from the Los Angeles area where a high
school senior had to write a paper on the bush fires they had out in that area. The
assignment was to write a personal essay about how you felt when you saw those fires
on T.V.
This girl wrote about how it reminded her of God as a consuming fire and she wrote
about her faith in God. The teacher refused to even grade the paper because she dared
to mention God. And when confronted about it, and the principal agreed with the
parent and the student that she had the freedom to do this, the teacher’s response
was; “Well, now I have to go back and think about all my assignments, to make sure this
never happens again.”
What? Meaning make sure that I never allow my students to express their faith? I need
to create the parameters in such a way that there will be no mistake that you can
express your own personal feelings about their faith, in any of your assignments, even
when it’s a personal essay about how you felt about something.
22
Now, the fourth one applies to teachers:
[Read the slide]
23
The Department of Education guidelines goes on to state:
[Read the slide]
24
[Read the slide]
25
[Read the slide]
26
Fifth—
[Read the slide]
27
[Read the slide]
28
Sixth—
[Read the slide]
29
The guidelines state:
[Read the slide]
30
[Read the slide]
31
[Read the slide]
32
[Read the slide]
33
Seventh—
[Read the slide]
34
[Read the slide]
35
[Read the slide]
36
Again, you can find these guidelines on the internet at the Department of Education’s
website, that’s ED.gov, and just type in religious expression, or prayer in school, and
you’ll find these guidelines: Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public,
Elementary and Secondary Schools.
We’ve also put this together in a pocket size pamphlet, called Free to Speak, What the
U.S. Department of Education says about the public school students’ religious liberties.
You can purchase these in packs of 50 and distribute them to your colleagues or to your
students. You can check into those and find out more about them on our website.
37
So, I recommend that in order to help make your classroom a welcoming environment
for students, that you tell your students about their liberties. You can do this at the
beginning of the school year, as you go over the various rules of the school and
expectations of the classroom.
You can say: ”You know, my classroom is a safe place for you to express your religious
faith. I know many of you come from religious backgrounds, and I don’t want you to
feel like you have to leave that at the school gate. You can talk about your faith as it
relates to a discussion point we’re having here in class.”
I even know of a teacher who has done this with Open House or Back-to-School Night
with parents. She tells the parents “I just want you to know that my classroom is a safe
place for your child to express your family’s religious faith. Your child’s faith will be
affirmed and respected.”
You can also do this during patriotic observances, because it’s talking about liberty, and
the issue of liberty. You can do it as part of a civics lesson. Or, as part of character
education, where you’re encouraging students to live out the moral guidance that their
faith provides. That includes what they say and how they conduct themselves.
38
So now it’s just a matter of planning a time for when you will actually introduce your
students to their religious freedoms in your classroom and at your school. So I’d like
you to take three minutes (I’ll start the timer), and I’d like you begin thinking about and
jotting down some notes of when you are going to introduce your students to their
religious liberties and how you are going to do that.
39
Now, another good opportunity to talk about students religious freedoms is on
Religious Freedom Day. That’s a day that the President sets aside where America is to
recognize and celebrate our religious freedom every year.
That’s been done since 1993.
40
Since 1993, every President has requested that the country recognize Religious
Freedom Day — January 16th — as a time to celebrate the freedoms that we have.
If you want to find out more about it, I encourage you to visit
www.ReligiousFreedomDay.com. It gives you Presidential Proclamations, it gives you
the history of it, and what you can do in your classroom and in your community to
celebrate it.
41
http://www.religiousfreedomday.com/
Why January 16th?
Well, that was the day that the Virginia statute for religious freedom was passed in
1786. This was championed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and it was
influential in the formation of the First Amendment just three years later.
42
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom basically dealt with the issue of taxation. At
the time, states would tax people to support the state church. There wasn’t a federal
church, but there were state churches, and the taxes would go toward that.
Jefferson and Madison were basically saying that’s not appropriate. You shouldn’t be
forced to support any particular religious faith. Even if it’s your own faith, you shouldn’t
be forced by the state to support it. What I think is interesting, too, is that Jefferson
started the legislation out with a theological assertion. It starts out with:
[Read the first line on the slide]
Can you imagine legislation today starting out with this theological assertion? But that’s
how it started.
It goes on to say:
[Read the second paragraph on the slide]
Again, can you imagine legislation today referring to something as sinful? But that’s in
the legislation.
43
It goes on to protect a person from being discriminated against because of their
religious beliefs. It says:
[Read the slide]
44
So, I encourage you to recognize Religious Freedom Day in your class on January 16th or
thereabouts. Tell your students about Religious Freedom Day. Explain their own
religious liberties at school — that’s a great opportunity to do that.
Tell their parents about Religious Freedom Day, and have them talk about it at home.
Pass a school board resolution, joining the President in recognizing Religious Freedom
Day.
You can even tie it in with Martin Luther King Day, because it’s around the same time.
And of course the logical connection is that it was because of his freedom of religious
expression that he could be so motivated and animated and use his religious faith in his
argument for civil rights.
45
I want you to get out your calendar, and look at January 16th, and see the next time it
will be coming up. Look at the day of the week that it will be happening on, and then I
want you to begin thinking about how you will be including recognition of Religious
Freedom Day.
Even if it’s falling on a weekend, decide if you will you deal with it the Monday
following, or the Friday before? How will you explain it to your students, how will you
recognize it in your classroom? Take three minutes. I’ll start the timer, and plan that
now.
46
I hope you came up with some good ideas for how to recognize Religious Freedom Day.
Now move on to Session 7.
47
Session 7: Acknowledging Holidays
1
When it comes to acknowledging holidays, of course, the three “problem” holidays
are Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Can the religious aspects of the holidays be
recognized? That’s the big question.
2
Can you teach that Thanksgiving is a time when we are to thank God for the blessings
that we’ve received? Or, do we have to simply make it about a nostalgic
remembrance of the pilgrims, eating turkey, and gathering with family?
3
Can you teach about the birth of Jesus at Christmas?
[Read the rest of the slide]
4
When it comes to Easter…
[Read the slide]
5
Must you give equal time to all holidays of all the different religions in order to be
fair?
6
If you remember, we looked at this issue of the false assumption about fairness. The
false assumption is that fairness means all religions must be given equal time in the
classroom. Now no court case has ever said that, and it’s typically born out of our
view of “fair” meaning “equal.”
7
But as we’ve seen, there’s another way of looking at fairness, and that is fairness
sometimes means proportional, not equal. And, we have some examples of that.
8
So, to review: fairness sometimes means proportional, not equal. One example would
be…
Our system of representation. In Congress, in the Senate, fair means equal. Every
state, no matter how large, how small, gets two Senators. Then, in the House of
Representatives, there fair means proportional. Representation is based on the
population of the state.
Another example would be teachers’ pay. A first year teacher is not going to earn as
much as a veteran teacher. But they are going to teach the same students, the same
amount of things, and use the same textbooks. Frankly, the “rookie” will work
harder, probably because they are not as used to teaching. And yet, they are not
going to get paid equal to the work. They are going to get paid proportional to the
years of service.
And finally, just a funny example, would be a buffet line. Everybody pays the same
amount of money. Some people eat a lot more than others. We eat proportional to
our capacity.
9
Another concern that teachers often have is what about the problem of some
students feeling left out if they’re not a part of that particular holiday celebration
because of being part of another religion or no religion at all.
So some teachers take the view: ”Well, let’s just pull the drapes and draw the blinds”,
and pretend the holiday isn’t happening. We just ignore it.
I don’t think that is the appropriate way to handle this issue of the problem of some
students feeling left out. Nobody’s faith or non-faith should be denigrated in the
classroom. But it really goes back to the issue of “are we teaching accurately about
the culture around us?” I mean if this is happening in our communities, then we
should be teaching about it so students of all faiths or no faiths understand what
these cultural symbols and traditions and ceremonies are all about.
10
Too often, unfortunately, when we teach about Thanksgiving, we teach it as though
it’s some nostalgic remembrance of what happened 300 years ago or more, and how
the Pilgrims invited the Indians to share a dinner as a way of thanking them for
helping them make it through the first winter. That, frankly, has nothing to do with
why we have Thanksgiving today. Yes, it was the first Thanksgiving.
And I’ll ask students when I am lecturing at universities in their schools of education,
how many of you learned when you were in school that Thanksgiving is a time when
we learned about how the Pilgrims invited the Indians to a dinner to thank them.
And, of course, all the hands go up.
Sadly, that is not why we celebrate Thanksgiving today.
11
Now, imagine if you were to ask your students: “What’s the world series?” And the
way that your students were taught was something like this.
The World Series is a nostalgic remembrance of the first World Series in 1903,
between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates. And we like to talk about
those first teams, and we go over what happened in that first World Series in 1903.
And sometimes our teacher even dresses up like an old baseball player. That’s what
the World Series is all about; it’s remembering that first competition.
12
Actually, if we look at the history of Thanksgiving as a nation, the first Thanksgiving
was proclaimed by George Washington. Here’s what he said:
[Read the slide]
No mention of the Pilgrims there. What he was doing was saying we need to thank
God for what He’s done recently with our country.
13
In his famous 1863 proclamation calling on the nation to unify in thanksgiving to God,
Abraham Lincoln said:
[Read the slide]
14
[Read the slide]
No mention of the Pilgrims there.
15
So, I would encourage you to break from the more modern tradition in our public
schools of simply referring to Thanksgiving as a nostalgic remembrance of the
Pilgrims. And instead, teach students that it’s about being thankful to God.
Every year the President calls upon the nation to be thankful to God for the blessings
we’ve received the previous 12 months. You can even quote Presidential
Proclamations as he calls upon the nation to do that. Go to the White House website,
type in “Thanksgiving,” print out the Proclamation; read it to students.
You can teach students about gratitude, how to be grateful. How to express gratitude
by having them make a list of the people to whom they should go and express that
gratitude to.
You can invite a parent to share about their family Thanksgiving traditions; what it
means to them; and what they will be doing.
But let’s be accurate in teaching what the holiday is really all about.
16
I’d like you to think about how you are going to be acknowledging Thanksgiving in
your class the next time it comes up. So I want you to take three minutes, and
actually jot some notes to yourself about what you can do in your classroom to teach
the true meaning of Thanksgiving as proclaimed by the President.
17
When we look at the topic of Christmas, often the question comes up: “Can students
sing Christmas carols in the classroom or at school?” In a previous session, we looked
at the music educator’s national conference and their statement in which they said
yes it certainly is appropriate to teach what they called “sacred music.”
I thought it would be good to take a look at the National P.T.A. statement and what
they say about this. They say:
[Read the slide]
So, if you’re only teaching students purely religious music, then it would be one-
sided. But if you mix it up, then certainly as part of our tradition, as part of our
culture, you can have students singing religious Christmas carols as well.
18
I think it is also interesting to note what the Supreme Court has said about singing
Christmas carols in public schools. They referred to it indirectly in a case called Lynch
v. Donnelly. Now we looked at this before regarding the public display of a nativity
scene which they ruled was fine. And in it they said:
[Read the slide]
I think it is ironic that the Supreme Court assumes religious Christmas carols are being
sung in public schools, while school administrators assume, erroneously, that the
Supreme Court would be against singing Christmas carols.
19
Another thing you can do for Christmas is read the Biblical account. You are not
reading it for devotional purposes, it’s for cultural understanding and is non-
devotional.
So much of our culture, especially during the Christmas season, has to do with the
birth of Christ. I mean here you have in neighborhoods, you’ve got these little
figurines of a man and a woman bending over a little baby and their people’s front
yards all over the place. “Students, what’s that all about?” Well, let’s go back and look
at that story, because this is a story that has had a huge impact on Western
civilization, on our country, and on our community. And whether you’re of this faith
or not, you should understand what it’s all about.
20
Another thing you can do is ask a parent to come in and share what they do for their
family traditions related to Christmas.
21
You can also show and explain a crèche. This is a very traditional part of Christmas
celebrations, and it tells the story. It is not a permanent fixture in your classroom. It
is a teaching aide. You can bring it in and use it in a way to familiarize students with
the story.
22
I thought I’d show you what one mom has done, and she has been so successful at
this. Her kids are long out of elementary school, but she keeps getting invited back by
the teachers. She now has 17 different crafts that she has done to create nativity
scenes using various objects. And the kids just love it, and then she uses that as not
only an arts and crafts demonstration, but also a way to tell the story.
23
For example, this is a nativity scene made out of soda cans and she has bent the cans
so that the openings are the mouths of the various characters standing around the
baby Jesus.
24
This nativity scene is made out of pinecones that she has spray painted white.
25
This is a nativity scene made out of bottles that she has then put Styrofoam heads on
and wrapped with colorful paper.
26
And these characters are made out of aspirin bottles that she has wrapped with a
burlap twine and covered with denim.
27
You can download a Christmas and Hanukkah Lesson Plan to use with your students.
28
And when teaching about Christmas, it’s appropriate to teach about the impact of
Jesus. After all, why do Christians celebrate his birth? How did his teaching impact
the world? What if Jesus had never been born? So these are questions to ask and
answer.
And to do so through attribution.
29
You can also teach about the sayings that come from Jesus. For instance,
We refer to somebody as a Good Samaritan, or we have Good Samaritan laws. Where
do they come from? What is the story of the Good Samaritan?
Or His phrase “turn the other cheek, and
“Go the extra mile” or we talk about somebody
“Giving him the shirt off your back.” Or we say
“That guy doesn’t walk on water.” Well, where we get the notion that anybody walks
on water?
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” That’s a famous phrase of Jesus’ that
was quoted by Abraham Lincoln.
Or “Do unto others”–The Golden Rule.
These all come from Jesus and certainly can be explained in the context of
understanding who this person is and what kind of impact did he have on the world.
30
So in review, when you teach about Christmas, you can:
[Read the slide]
31
Jot a few notes as to what you might want to do next Christmas.
32
Also around the Christmas season is the celebration of Hanukkah or the Feast of
Dedication. I encourage you to teach this to students and help them to understand an
aspect of the culture that is around them.
For the Christian students, you can relate it to them through reading John 10:22-
39
where it specifically refers to Jesus partaking in the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah
as we now know it.
I encourage you to teach the real story. So often, we teach about foods, we teach
about music, and we teach about the dradle, but do we actually tell the story? It is a
wonderful story about God’s people being faithful to worshipping Him rather than the
idol that was set up by the King of Syria, who was at that time ruling over Israel in 167
B.C.
The people revolted, kicked the Syrians out, and rededicated the temple. There was
an eight-day ceremony and festival following that. So teach that as the real story
about God’s faithfulness to his people, their faithfulness to Him, and the fact that
even Christians can have some connection to it through the gospel of John.
Ask a Jewish parent to share what the holiday means to their family and how they
celebrate it.
33
You can, of course, show and explain the symbolism involved with the holiday. But
never let the symbolism overshadow the impact of the story.
33
Easter is another holiday that many people in America celebrate. But how should you
approach it? Well, as we’ve seen about holidays, you can teach all about the religious
nature of the holiday as long as it’s done academically and objectively—not
devotionally.
To help you do this with Easter, one of the things that we’ve done, is we’ve actually
created a textbook-style lesson plan. We take the Bible’s account of the death and
resurrection of Christ, Chapters 22-24 of Luke; we’ve paraphrased it, and we’ve
written it in a textbook style.
34
We highlight commonly used vocabulary words and terminology in our language, our
vernacular. We talk about somebody being a Judas—that’s a traitor—or “your cross
to bear”, to be “crucified”, “the kiss of death”, “washing my hands of this”, or “a
doubting Thomas”—and so these are terms that they will learn from the story and
then we actually do insets that explain where those terms are mentioned in the story.
35
Then we also help students make cultural connections, whether it’s art or history or
literature, social movements—wherever there is a cultural connection that can be
made to the story. We help students understand its impact in our history, not just a
story that religious people look back to with reverence.
36
Now Passover is another significant holiday. It happens around the time of Easter and
should be explained to students.
I would encourage you to read the biblical account in Exodus 11 and 12.
37
All students should understand the story behind Passover. How the Angel of Death
passed over the homes of the Hebrew people.
38
How that led them eventually through the exodus through the parting of the Red
Sea..
39
How God saved his people from the Egyptians who were chasing after them.
40
And how that eventually led to Mount Sinai and the giving of the Ten
Commandments. And this is significant not only for the Jewish people, but for
everyone in western civilization. The Ten Commandments formed the basis of our
moral and civic law.
41
And we honor that at the Supreme Court with engravings like this:
like this:
and like this:
and like this.
So it’s had a significant impact on western civilization and on America. And students
should understand the story behind the giving of the Ten Commandments and its
impact today.
42
Continuing on in how you recognize Passover, you can ask a parent to come in and
share what the holiday means to them and their family.
You can show and explain the various symbols and implements used in Passover, and
connect it with the Christian students by helping them understand how Jesus
celebrated Passover.
43
Spend a few minutes thinking about how you would teach your students about the
importance and significance of Passover.
44
In summary, remember, holidays are opportunities to teach about our Judeo-
Christian history, thought, and values.
45
That completes Session 7. Now move on to our final session, Session 8.
46
Our final session is Session
8
, Cultivating Character.
1
The problems with poor character are obvious: bullying, cheating, lying, in general an
untrustworthy person. We could go on and on with the problems of poor character.
2
Let’s spend a few minutes examining how to encourage good character in our
students.
3
In fact, let’s start with the word “encourage” because we want to encourage
character. And actually, the secret to encouraging character is right in the word
encourage. What’s the root word or a word within the word “encourage”?
4
Well, courage. Now, what’s the root work of courage?
5
Cour or heart. We talk about in Paris there is a famous church called the Sac Le Cour,
the Sacred Heart.
6
Now how do you then encourage character by reaching into the heart? You recognize
good behavior, and you praise the character it reveals. It goes beyond simply praising
performance but looking at what the person has inside them in their heart. You are
encouraging something.
7
When we say that somebody has “lost heart”, they’ve been discouraged. So
discouraged is losing heart. Encouraging is bolstering someone’s heart, finding out
what’s inside them and polishing it off and saying “Hey, look at this; look at this. This
is great”. Praise just focuses on performance– “atta boy; good job”. What exactly
does that mean? Whereas encouragement focuses on the character. Let’s take a
look at how that might work out in a classroom situation.
8
In their actions, your students may show things like being caring, or compassionate,
dependable, enthusiastic, a hard worker, honest, goal-oriented, generous, loyal,
persistent, resilient or responsible. You might need to even make a list of various
character qualities that someone can demonstrate. Because I think sometimes we
just don’t think about it. We like certain behaviors but we don’t take the next step
and help them see what that says about their character.
9
Now, encouraging good character can be very easy to do. The first thing you want to
do is identify a behavior that you appreciate. So, for instance, in a classroom
environment, maybe a student gives a good second effort after doing poorly on a
test. Alright, you can just say “Hey, good job; that was great”. That doesn’t really
help them understand why was it a good job. What does it reveal about them? And
so that is where you would then think about the character it revealed.
For instance, maybe they were resilient coming back. A hard worker, second effort.
Or they were responsible in going that extra mile. And so these are character
qualities that you can identify for the students and say “I really appreciated seeing
that in you. You really showed resilience. You know you are a really hard worker. I
think that was so good, and you demonstrated what a hard worker you are.” It’s
saying something about who they are–not just what they did.
10
Now the great thing about this approach to encouraging character is you can do it at
any time. You don’t have to do it at the moment it occurs. You could go back to a
student and say: “You know last week when I saw you do x, y, or z, that really
showed me what a generous person, thoughtful person, resilient person, caring
person you are. And I think that is great.”
11
Now I want you to spend a few minutes thinking about someone you know. It could
be a friend; it could be a relative. It could be a student. And I want you to think
about a behavior that they did that you were pleased with, that you appreciated, and
then the character quality that that behavior exhibited. And then, here is the hard
part—make a point of commenting on it to them.
12
I’d like to take a few minutes and also address something that I think we may be
doing that, inadvertently, is undermining the development of good character in
students. What do I mean by that? Well, I think we need a better understanding of
tolerance.
13
In too many cases we have a poor definition of tolerance. Too often we define
tolerance simply as acceptance. The more things I accept, the more tolerant I am.
And we view tolerance as a virtue in and of itself. Yes, we all need to be more
tolerant. That’s how we convey it.
Except for, what if I see my classmate drinking and then getting in a car to drive and I
tolerate that? Is that tolerance good? It is more accepting, but of course it is not
good. Tolerance really derives its value from what it is we tolerate. So merely
teaching tolerance as acceptance is a poor way of teaching students to develop
character.
14
Too often students think of themselves as tolerant when actually they are just being
indifferent. As in “whatever”. Or maybe they think they are being tolerant when
really they are just being apathetic. “Who cares?”. Or maybe they think they are
being tolerant when really, they are being reckless as in “why not?”
And so it is a lazy way of looking at tolerance. “Hey, just accept everything” when
really it’s just being indifferent, apathetic, or even reckless.
15
A better definition, one that we actually live day-to-day by, is something like this:
Tolerance is the allowable deviation from a standard. Let’s take a look at that.
16
We’ve already seen how this works in mathematics with standard deviations. We
have a standard, and then we have a deviation to the right or to the left.
17
Let’s look at how this might work out in society. We have a standard.
18
And we have an allowable variation from that standard.
It might be over here. And we call this the acceptable variation from the standard.
Beyond that we can be justifiably intolerant. And you say “Wait a second—is there
ever a time when we can be intolerant?” Well, yes there is.
19
Let’s look at some practical examples.
For instance, at school I am sure your school has a dress code. It has a standard, and
it allows a certain amount of variation from that standard. However, at some point
what some students would wear would be justifiably intolerable.
Another example—conversations between boys and girls. The standard would be
“We hope that you have uplifting, good, wholesome conversation.” The acceptable
variation is you could have silly conversation. You can say dumb things to each other.
But what is justifiably intolerable is sexual harassment.
Another example might be classroom discussions. Your standard in the classroom
might be that you would like everyone to participate wholeheartedly in classroom
discussions. However, the acceptable variation is you don’t have to say anything.
However, what is justifiably intolerable is you won’t allow someone to fall asleep in
class. And this is the way we really live our lives. This is the way our definition of
tolerance really works out. The definition of “just accept everything” sounds good in
school board declarations or speeches, but it’s not how we really live.
20
If we teach students, or even imply to students, that tolerance itself, in and of itself, is
a virtue and that tolerance really means acceptance, then what we’ve really said is
even though you have a moral judgment about something—you know right and
wrong—the higher standard is to set that sense of right and wrong aside and simply
just accept whatever you see in front of you. And so it’s really saying an absence of
moral judgment is better than having moral judgment.
And I think that undermines character in the long run. However, just because you can
justifiably be intolerant of something, doesn’t let you off the hook from being a
person of character. Instead, in your intolerance of something, you still need to show
kindness, thoughtfulness, self-control, courtesy, patience, and humility. These are all
wonderful character qualities.
So you can disagree with someone, but you still need to extend all of these character
qualities toward them.
21
So when it comes to moral decision-making, helping students think more clearly
about their standards and the acceptable variation from that standard can be
incredibly powerful. And, of course, encourage them to filter their standards through
their family’s religious beliefs. At the same time thinking about, “If I won’t tolerate
something, am I reflecting good character even in my justifiable intolerance?”
22
Download and read this student handout called “Promoting Tolerance”. It explains
for students the ideas that have been expressed in this unit. You can use this when
you are teaching in class.
23
Another thing you’ll find helpful is a resource we’ve put together in collaboration with
the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.
Doing the Right Thing (for Public Schools) is a free collection of online videos and
lesson plans designed to help students and teachers think deeply about the practical
application of ethics.
The 17 lesson plans break the videos into bite-sized segments with 20 worksheets
and handouts you can use as much or as little as you would like depending on the
amount of time you have. Each session includes a set of vocabulary words related to
ethics. A lot of students don’t even understand the vocabulary of ethics. The
handouts and worksheets will challenge students to contemplate the topic of ethics
and apply it to their own lives.
The topics include: (1) The basis for your ethics, (2) Can you always follow your
conscience? (3) The vocabulary of ethics, (4) Understanding MLK, Jr. ethics in his
religious faith and how it played into his actions, (5) Rationalizing wrong choices, and
how easy it is to do that and how we need to avoid it, (6) Taming our passions, and
(7) Being an employee in your community and the importance of ethics in the
workplace.
The topic of ethics can apply across the curriculum. It relates to Civics/Government,
Language Arts (as in the motives and actions of characters in novels), History,
24
Economics, Current Affairs, Science (as in ethical research and bioethics), Sociology,
and Health.
The lessons are designed for high school students. However, teachers of all grades
will find them helpful for their own thinking about ethics and can adapt many of the
concepts and questions for their students.
So, if you’d like to download that and access the videos, simply visit
www.GoGateways.org/DTRT
24
In summary, remember:
Many of your students come from families of faith. And you can:
Encourage the students to live by the moral dictates of their religious upbringing.
It’s not just about the head; it’s also about the heart.
25
So what do you do next? How do you implement the things that you have learned in
this program?
Well one is, begin thinking about collaborative planning. Get with other educators
who feel the same way you do—maybe who have gone through this e-learning
course. And begin thinking about how you can incorporate some of the ideas you
have learned.
Review your existing curriculum, and see whether there are points of intersection
between what you have learned in this program and your current curriculum.
Be intentional with the outcomes. Think about what do you want students to walk
away with and how you address the issue of religion in your curriculum and in your
culture.
And then, create supportive policies. Review your policies. Do you have a good
policy regarding holidays? Do you have a good policy regarding students’ religious
liberties?
So these are four areas I would recommend that you focus on.
26
If we look at those areas of collaborative planning, reviewing curriculum, having an
intentional outcome, and supportive policies, you can apply those to five general
areas:
One. Include them in your lessons. Remember, you are the keeper of civilization.
Students aren’t born civilized. They need family; they need institutions around them
to know what it is to be a civilized person.
Secondly, recognize the holidays in your community. These are teachable moments
about the culture.
Create a climate of character intentionally encouraging character in your students.
And for those who do come from religious backgrounds, letting them know that it is
appropriate and encouraged that they live their faith in your class and in your school.
Connect with faith-based organizations. That is allowing a place for the whole child.
So you may want to open your classroom up, or in some way, help students connect
appropriately with faith-based organizations—after-school programs and religious-
release time programs, student clubs, and so forth.
And then enact policies that promote freedom. We’ve looked at Religious Freedom
Day, holidays, student expression, release-time programs, and after-school clubs.
27
Make sure that your policies are welcoming to religious liberty.
27
Now I encourage you to stay connected to us—to receive creative ideas on an
ongoing basis.
As part of your enrollment in Faith, Freedom & Public Schools you will receive
Gateways to Better Education’s e-Newsletter. It provides you with education-related
news, teaching strategies, commentary, and timely lesson ideas. (If you don’t want to
receive it, you can unsubscribe at anytime.)
Another way to stay connected with us is to “like” our Facebook page. Just go to
Facebook and type in Gateways To Better Education (you’ll find us) or go to our full
address: www.facebook.com/GatewaysToBetterEducation. And there you will get all
kinds of news items and updates linked to good stories and good ideas as well. And
join in the conversation.
And you can find more resources at our website: www.GoGateways.org (or use our
initials: gtbe.org)
28
Well, that concludes all eight sessions. Thank you for taking this instructional module
on Faith, Freedom & Public Schools.
29
I look forward to continuing to provide you with ideas you can use in your classroom
through our e-newsletter and our Facebook page.
30
· Faith, Freedom, & Public Schools (100 points)
· Create your FFPS account
· Watch Modules 5 – 8.
· While working through Modules 5 – 8 you will take notes using the required document: “Notes on FFPS EDU 503”.
· Requirements: Upload completed notes as 1 document by the due date.
· See Appendix E
Rubric
2020_Writing Rubric_AS/VS/Online (1)
| 2020_Writing Rubric_AS/VS/Online (1) | ||
|
Criteria |
Ratings |
Pts |
|
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeContent Rubric Weight – 45% |
45 to >39.0 pts Level 4 39 to >33.0 pts Level 3 33 to >24.0 pts Level 2 24 to >0 pts Level 1 |
45 pts |
|
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeOrganization Rubric Weight – 30% |
30 to >25.0 pts Level 4 25 to >20.0 pts Level 3 20 to >15.0 pts Level 2 15 to >0 pts Level 1 |
30 pts |
|
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeMechanics Rubric Weight – 15% |
15 to >13.5 pts Level 4 13.5 to >12.0 pts Level 3 12 to >11.25 pts Level 2 11.25 to >0 pts Level 1 |
15 pts |
|
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeAPA Formatting Rubric Weight – 10% |
10 to >9.0 pts Level 4 9 to >8.0 pts Level 3 8 to >7.5 pts Level 2 7.5 to >0 pts Level 1 |
10 pts |
|
Total Points: 100 |
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