Rachel: As the parent of a child with some behavioural challenges and as a long-time teacher (and former Sunday school co-ordinator), may I weigh in witha few quick suggestions in addition to the excellent resources Jolanda and Mark have cited? A bonus: I find these 'work' well with so-called mainstream kids as well:
-- provide leadership opportunities for every child, including the ones who offer the biggest challenges. (For example: 'Jamal, you're great at drawing - how do you think you would show us what the commandment 'don't make idols' looks like?') Every person needs to know s/he has gifts, not just problems, to share.
-- co-opt the parent whenever possible in solutions, and make it a we/us thing instead of you/her problem. Something like, 'We're sensing that Alicia is restless/anxious/distracted/unhappy in class and we want her and you both to know this is a safe/welcoming/joyful place for her. Do you have any suggestions that work best at home when she's feeling this way?' If you team-teach the class, chat with those other teachers as well. (Do NOT make it an item for general discussion among an entire teaching team; that path is fraught with the danger of alienating that family, however inadvertently, by making them seem as if they're the target of an intervention, aka gossip)
- let other children learn from your cues in relating to this child of God. If you show patience, good humour and flexibility, your other students will be more likely to do so as well; that empathy will reduce a lot of tension in you, and help stretch God's encircling arms around the entire classroom.
--allow for silly sometimes, but put a framework around it. I'm teaching a class that, last year, learned how to make paper airplanes from another teacher. At first I thought, 'no way are they making paper airplanes in this class,' until I realized they really like creating paper planes and it could be a teaching tool almost as much as a Dwell story symbol is. So, now we make paper airplanes after some lessons while reflecting on how we plan to integrate what we've learned into the upcoming week. For your class, it might be tossing a beach ball or hopping on one foot while reciting an element of the Bible story. (This is my new 'theology of origami' theory!)
-- be open to good surprises even if it makes you feel like your class is upside-down.. This came home to me a few years ago when one child - whose multitude of challenges made a structured, linear lesson feel like an impossibility - would burst out with some amazing God-inspired questions and comments that generated food for discussion for the whole class. It sometimes meant abandoning the lesson I'd planned in order to recognize that , more often than we might think, God comes to us in the challenging voice of an 8-year-old.
I know this is a long message. Hope I've been helpful. Blessings,
During our Grade 6 Sunday school graduation each June, our congregation has a public celebration with the kids during the worship service. As part of that celebration, we ask all the teachers to stand (wherever they are in the pews), while each of the graduatesgoes up and down the aisles to present a rose to every single teacher of every class.
In this way, the teachers are thanked very publicly, and the students are able to convey their appreciation to a host of people who have helped guide their faith, often over a course of several years.
Your blog reminds me of our Walk With Me lesson about prayer in a class of 9-yr-olds I taught this spring. One boy commented how God didn't really listen to prayer because everyone prayed when his grandfather was ill and yet his Grandpa died anyhow several months earlier. He was angry and upset and sad. The lesson plan went out the window and we spent the rest of that class talking about why we should bother praying if God does what He wants anyhow.
You're right, Jolanda, this is where 'real ministry' happens. It was a very tough class for him, and for all of us -- we didni't come up with The Answer, but we had a lot of very important discussion and learned that God also listens to our hurts . It also reminded me to be attuned to a child's lingering sadness, and how supportive we need to be as a community of teachers/ mentors.
Posted in: Special Needs Children in Dwell?
Rachel: As the parent of a child with some behavioural challenges and as a long-time teacher (and former Sunday school co-ordinator), may I weigh in witha few quick suggestions in addition to the excellent resources Jolanda and Mark have cited? A bonus: I find these 'work' well with so-called mainstream kids as well:
-- provide leadership opportunities for every child, including the ones who offer the biggest challenges. (For example: 'Jamal, you're great at drawing - how do you think you would show us what the commandment 'don't make idols' looks like?') Every person needs to know s/he has gifts, not just problems, to share.
-- co-opt the parent whenever possible in solutions, and make it a we/us thing instead of you/her problem. Something like, 'We're sensing that Alicia is restless/anxious/distracted/unhappy in class and we want her and you both to know this is a safe/welcoming/joyful place for her. Do you have any suggestions that work best at home when she's feeling this way?' If you team-teach the class, chat with those other teachers as well. (Do NOT make it an item for general discussion among an entire teaching team; that path is fraught with the danger of alienating that family, however inadvertently, by making them seem as if they're the target of an intervention, aka gossip)
- let other children learn from your cues in relating to this child of God. If you show patience, good humour and flexibility, your other students will be more likely to do so as well; that empathy will reduce a lot of tension in you, and help stretch God's encircling arms around the entire classroom.
--allow for silly sometimes, but put a framework around it. I'm teaching a class that, last year, learned how to make paper airplanes from another teacher. At first I thought, 'no way are they making paper airplanes in this class,' until I realized they really like creating paper planes and it could be a teaching tool almost as much as a Dwell story symbol is. So, now we make paper airplanes after some lessons while reflecting on how we plan to integrate what we've learned into the upcoming week. For your class, it might be tossing a beach ball or hopping on one foot while reciting an element of the Bible story. (This is my new 'theology of origami' theory!)
-- be open to good surprises even if it makes you feel like your class is upside-down.. This came home to me a few years ago when one child - whose multitude of challenges made a structured, linear lesson feel like an impossibility - would burst out with some amazing God-inspired questions and comments that generated food for discussion for the whole class. It sometimes meant abandoning the lesson I'd planned in order to recognize that , more often than we might think, God comes to us in the challenging voice of an 8-year-old.
I know this is a long message. Hope I've been helpful. Blessings,
Deb
Posted in: Thanking Teachers
During our Grade 6 Sunday school graduation each June, our congregation has a public celebration with the kids during the worship service. As part of that celebration, we ask all the teachers to stand (wherever they are in the pews), while each of the graduatesgoes up and down the aisles to present a rose to every single teacher of every class.
In this way, the teachers are thanked very publicly, and the students are able to convey their appreciation to a host of people who have helped guide their faith, often over a course of several years.
Deb
Posted in: Dealing With Real Life Stuff
Your blog reminds me of our Walk With Me lesson about prayer in a class of 9-yr-olds I taught this spring. One boy commented how God didn't really listen to prayer because everyone prayed when his grandfather was ill and yet his Grandpa died anyhow several months earlier. He was angry and upset and sad. The lesson plan went out the window and we spent the rest of that class talking about why we should bother praying if God does what He wants anyhow.
You're right, Jolanda, this is where 'real ministry' happens. It was a very tough class for him, and for all of us -- we didni't come up with The Answer, but we had a lot of very important discussion and learned that God also listens to our hurts . It also reminded me to be attuned to a child's lingering sadness, and how supportive we need to be as a community of teachers/ mentors.
Deb