Saturday, March 13, 2010

Sacred Sunday - Religious Education

It's a very busy weekend at the hospital. My sweet Bethany has agreed to post this week's Sacred Sunday blog post while I attempt to recover the craziness that is the nature of Respiratory Therapy. I present to you Bethany's blog post on her experiences teaching Religious Education.

Since my mom is very busy, and Daylights Savings doesn’t help anything, she has asked me to do Sacred Sunday for this week. 

When I found out that I needed 40 Service Hours to graduate 9
th grade, I was frantically searching for hours (even though it was August). A friend of mine mentioned teaching Religious Education, and I thought that I could possibly be good for a teaching position. So, I talked to the Director of Religious Education after Mass one day, and got a teaching position for 5th grade. 

During the first class, half of the students were out with Swine Flu, so we combined classes. It ended up working well, and we still have the classes combined today. There were originally four teachers, but later on in the year, one had to drop out due to family issues. The adult I was paired up with originally creates the best lesson plans, and interacts with these kids better than many people could. I mainly just add my thoughts on what she’s teaching. And the other adult from makes sure everyone is behaving, although they are some of the best-behaved 5
th graders I have ever met. They ask very good, relative questions, and actually want to learn. For the first test, they were the class with the highest score.

You may be wondering how this ties in at all with Sacred Sunday. Well, teaching these kids has changed me. I’m ashamed to say that, at first, I was doing this only for Service Hours, but now I find myself going there because I
want to. I want to see these kids understanding this beautiful faith that they were blessed with. I want to see them each week.

You know how they say you learn more through teaching? Well, it’s completely true. Before I was just loaded with these facts about The Faith, and didn’t put them to any use. The other teachers call me the Catholic Encyclopedia, because I’m always throwing out facts, they swear I’m not disrupting the class, though. But as I throw out these facts, I begin connecting all these things I know to real life, and I begin realizing how these can be applied to real life. 

Looking back, I realize how much of a blessing God gave me by letting me work with these amazing kids. I can see how much I’ve changed in just this year, and how much of that change has come through teaching. I can only hope that I’ve helped them, even just a bit, like they’ve helped me.

13 comments:

gayle said...

Wonderful post!! I am sure you have help them in more ways than you know!!

Brian Miller said...

nice. great post bethany...it is amazig what God does when you open yourself up to serve...

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful post...God has used you not only to help those kids, but to remind some of us what it is really all about...thank you;)

Raoulysgirl said...

Bethany, that was amazing AND inspiring!!!

Polly, you should be bursting with pride right at this moment! What an incredible child you have raised!!!

Unknown said...

So well done, Bethany.
You have such a lovely mother,
you take care of yourself
and your mother now.

How serious is Swine Flu there?
You guys better get your flu shots.

Polly, you should be so proud.
Good for you!

I would like to invite you to join a meme that I have just started called SUNDAY FUNNIES that runs from Friday to Sunday every week.

Have a blessed Sunday!

hugs
shakira

LETS TWITTER

SUNDAY STEALING

SIX WORD SATURDAY

WHY MEN ARE NEVER DEPRESSED

~✽Mumsy✽~ said...

Fantastic post to read on this early Sunday morning.

I volunteer for summer bible school, and I strengthen my faith through that time..I can totally relate to how you feel.

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

I'm so glad you had a good teaching experience. That's good work experience, too. Great post!

Jephy's Mom said...

Very good Bethany.

Unknown said...

This is so true! I never learned more than when I was teaching.

This is a good reason to volunteer to lead and teach... it makes you think more critically about what you are teaching... which changes you.

:) Good post!

Bibi @ Bibi's Culinary Journey said...

What a wonderful post, Bethany. Way to fill your mom's shoes. I really enjoyed your post.

Hopefully you'll come back and share more with us.

Betty Manousos said...

So great what you did /are doing for those kids.
Great post!:)
B xx

Tattoos and Teething Rings said...

What a great post- Polly you must be proud!

Nessa said...

You are lucky to experience this so young. A lovely and articulate post.

Wordless Wednesday - Sláinte!

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