Chapter 12 Religion
America has always prided itself on
being a land of inclusion. We were
founded on freedom of religion but at that time there were not that many in our
country. I am surprised that they
really only discussed the Muslim religion in depth in this chapter. Yes, it is important with our new
immigrant population to know more about it than most American’s do gut what
about all the other religions in the world. There was not mention of our own native Indian population
and their worship practices. But I
guess that would take more than this chapter to explore.
I find religion just as fascinating
as culture, language, and all the other diverse elements that people from other
parts of the world bring to our country.
It is another aspect we need to pay attention to when getting to know
our students each year because it is another element in their personality. Sometimes it is the most important one
in shaping them. I had a student
this past year that came from a very religious background and it came up in
many conversations during the year.
I always tried to respect her views and thanked her for them while at
the same time pointing out that we each had to decide those things at home with
our parents and that each of us did not always think the same way. Children should be free to talk to each
other about their religion in the classroom but not to hold a captive audience.
In my classroom, we usually start
to talk about how people around the world celebrate in different ways. That is how we touch on religion
without really teach or preach that religion. I usually start with Thanksgiving since that is really an
American celebration. Following
that we look at different cultures celebrations and compare and contrast
them. The students usually really
enjoy this. We talk about how
children usually receive gifts and they eat special food. We go into all the aspects of the
celebrations. I usually do this up
until our Winter Break and then touch on it intermittently during the rest of
the year. This gives children a
sense of other cultures without looking at the religious factors.
Question: Do you think that my way of introducing first graders to
religion indirectly is a good way to do so? How do you insert it into your curriculum or do you bring it
in at all?
I do like the way you introduce the holidays and celebrations and you don't dive into the core of the religious beliefs, Sue! That is a really neat idea and I feel like it's very appropriate for 1st graders. I think that comparing and contrasting the fundamental beliefs of religions should come at a later age when the students are able to think more critically and independently. I think parents are more comfortable with holding off the objective theological investigations until more high-school age as well. I teach a high school classroom and we do have conversations about the differences in belief. We read a book written by a survivor of the holocaust this year, and naturally, the students wanted to know what the difference between the Jewish and Christian faith was. It was a very natural, laid-back, and student-led discussion so it was easy for me to discuss with them in a way that didn't threaten the separation of church and state line. Also, there are a lot of questions that they have about ISIS and Islam in the news, and we have good discussions about extremists and average Muslim followers. Honestly, I have never felt the need to intentionally work it into the curriculum because the conversations usually come up naturally through the class materials and what students see/hear in the news. However, it does make sense to be more intentional in including religions that students don't see as often in day-to-day life in Central Illinois.
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