Teaching Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School - Coursework Example

Teaching Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School Name Institution Date Introduction The celebration of Eucharist and Sacraments has always been keenly associated with catholic faith since time immemorial and their importance in religious education programs is not in question. However, for many teachers it is still a great challenge (Diane L. Moore, 2010). This paper explores the ways in which religious dimension of education in catholic schools can be implemented. The paper will start by identifying the two dimension of religious education followed by conceptualization of the key terms. This will then be followed by detailed discussion on how the school can educates about the sacraments in relation to theory regarding pedagogy and also will illustrate how faith of children already involved in the parish program can be nurtured while relating it to the school's role in catechesis. The last section will be concluding after a careful analysis of the other sections. The two dimensions of religious instruction The two dimensions of religious education are religious instructions which entails teaching people religions in schools while catechesis encompass teaching and leading people to religious life mostly common in churches (Congregation for the Clergy, 1997). Conceptualization of key terms Curriculum In the teaching profession, curriculum can be said to involve three basic forms: transmission, where learning is one sided with no meaningful teacher-student interaction where it is assumed the student knows nothing and therefore the teacher provides everything, Secondly is transactional curriculum which is characterized some form of interaction and learning is a two way traffic, that is, it can be constructed or reconstructed. The teacher can also learn from the student. The last one is the transformational curriculum which I think best suits the methods which can be used in teaching sacrament (MacNaughton, 2003). In view of Congregation for Catholic Education, (1988), the key distinctions which guide the practice of teaching in the early years in classroom is collectively referred to as paradigmatic perspective, which encompasses the teachers’ philosophy or his or her ideas, approaches as well as framework or simply methods of instruction. According to the report, philosophical orientation of the teacher is very important since it determines the direction the teacher can take in relation to teaching as illustrated by Ratcliff, (1988) who is of the view t that an instructor inclined to developing creativity in a child or student will tend to pursue the constructive approach and therefore utilize methods which will bring creativity in the child by exposing the student to challenges intend to trigger his or her “contractiveness” How the school can educates about the sacraments in relation to theory regarding pedagogy Catholics are very keen on the celebration Sacrament and the theme of reconciliation is very prominent. In a way this is able to guide on the approach to take in educating students on sacrament. It is thus very important to consider basically two major things: first, the content which should be appropriate to the audience. Secondly, the approach should be involving as well as interesting so as to enhance students’ understanding (Moran, 1997). Approaches Many approaches revolve around transformational curriculum as it allows for social justice, reconciliation as entailed in the themes of sacrament. Some of the transformational methods include constructive approach and the social construction approach; play based learning, developmentally appropriate practice and the anti-bias approach (Marisa and Graham, 1994). Constructive and the social construction approach Schools can teach children about sacrament using for instance a Constructive and the social construction approach where the students or individual creativity is directed or guided by his or her ability to organizing structures and restructuring of daily experiences in relationship to their previous experience, or schema. This approach has its strength on the level of its ability to encourage active learning involving engaging in a mental and physical activity. When students are exposed or taught sacrament using this methods they are able to really have deep understanding of Jesus life experience. Another strength associated with this method is that students are able through mental activity and physical activity under-go a process of problem setting and solving and by this method he or she is bale to learn adequately. Still another aspect of the constructive model is that it is formulated from “inside out” as opposed to the normal “outside in” (Manternach, 1989). In relation to sacrament, it is relevant to teach or talk about making good choices and also stress its importance as well as explain how God help us in making these choices. It is assumed in this model that having exposed the students to some of the reasons for making good choices, his or her conscience will assist him or her in deciding what it good and bad. Socio-constructive model is where learning is conceptualized as a product of socially formulated roles of student’s social and cultural worlds and it is through this that the learner can construct a meaning (Congregation for Catholic Education. 1988). This model if formulated in the precepts that leaning is a social phenomenon and information can be transferred through cultural items for instance language. Again, in this principal learning is not considered uniform but specific to particular social or cultural settings (Moran, 2007). The application of the model when teaching a child principles of sacrament is the orientation of the teacher whereby he or she should have in mind that the child being taught is unique and therefore can be influenced by a wide range of settings or environment. One major strength of this method is that the child can be able to develop procedural knowledge which usually “sticks’ as opposed to factual knowledge. The only challenge with this method is that it is harder to teach. In relation to this when a child is taught about the life experience of Jesus for instance during the baptism, it would be more practical if some role play is done for instance in some river, this makes the child understand more clearly than when he is exposed to fact of theory. In teaching sacrament, it is imperative to highlight the importance of making good choices. The school or teacher could ask the children in illustration, how they made a wrong decision and how it may harm somebody. There is need to involve the children in skits or plays discussion as regards decisions and be able to elucidate how God assists us make excellent decisions (O’Toole, & Dunn, 2002). Again in teaching sacrament, there is need to really explain the symbolism of the bread and wine since children at this age might have a hard time with symbolism this would assist very significantly in the procedural learning aspect of this model as opposed to the factual one. For instance, a teacher should find relevant pictures in their books or anywhere, so that the children can see and be able to answer questions the children might ask (Mountain, 2007). Other challenges to this method are that sometimes most children are not religious and at the end of the day it would appear as if the teacher is imposing on the child. In this case, the teacher should find ways of motivating the child to make the topic more interesting. Play-based Learning Play based learning is also one of the good method of instruction that can help significantly through integration and assimilations of experiences with the increasing complexity. Play is important as it presents a good opportunity to the child, a chance to understand the world around him or her while also interacting with others in the social ways. It also enables the child to express as well as control his or her emotions and at the same time helping in symbolic capabilities. Plays is very important at because it allows children to practice newly acquired skills and also to function on the edge of their developing capacities to undertake on new social roles, or even challenging tasks, and solve complex problems that they would not ordinarily do (Donovan, 2007). One weakness of this model is that it may bring with it assumptions, conceptions and mixed meanings about its association with learning particularly in the formal years of schooling. Developmentally appropriate practice Using this method, which is formulated along the assumptions that development or learning is a process that follow series of orderly set of changes as an individual grow up? It is very relevant especially when dealing with young children. Teaching them sacrament is a very important aspect that will also influence their adult life. This model pays attention or emphasis to individual learning while ignoring the importance of the student’s social and cultural aspects. However, it strength arises from the arguments that because all domains of development: physical, social, emotional and cognitive, are interrelated, development in one dimension influences, and is influenced by, development in other realms, and if the focus remains on one area, such as cognitive, other areas are violated. That is to say that there will be no adequate learning. It therefore follows that the early year’s religion program must be designed to accommodate or include activities that go beyond the cognitive domain. For instance, it is not enough to have young children just passively sit and listen to stories from the bible or to be told how they should act like Jesus by telling the truth or not speaking during liturgical celebrations. Instead, there is need to involve the children. It is necessary to arrange a task that relates to actual life to assist them comprehend for example, comprehend what the Commandments signify to them. Explaining why God provided us these commandments (Congregation for Divine Worship, 1973). Another challenge of the model is by the virtue of the fact that leaning is a product of search for meaningful connections when presented in the face of new information. However, many children students entering the Catholic or Church school for the first time are faced with unfamiliar concepts in the religion Program due to the fact that they have no previous knowledge to connect it. They are often with limited previous experiences which can help them in making sense of these new concepts. This therefore calls for the need by the teacher to explicitly or clearly connect students' socio-cultural contexts to the unfamiliar context of the religion Program and allow young students much time and many experiences with this new religious knowledge and concepts (Cavalletti, 1992). Illustration on how faith of children already involved in the parish program can be nurtured while relating it to the school's role in catechesis. One need to support but also provide a challenging environment which will develop a child in what Vygostky (cited in Congregation for Catholic Education, 1988) calls “Zone of proximal Development”. This is the movement from a stage of no understanding to a stage of full understanding. In a relation to sacrament, it is relevant to lead a child from stage of just knowing the procedures involved to a state of fully having the true meaning of Jesus life experience (Berryman, 1991). A teacher should always be there at the opportune times to supply the child with the missing links or information that he or she may need to go beyond his or her current stage. One therefore must always respond to questions asked adequately to assist he learner. In addition, one would be very helpful to the learner when he or she lead by example to what he teaches. Warren(1999) assert that children learn best by example, therefore the teacher’s presence and support is more important than anything else. Conclusion Teaching the sacraments is very important particularly in the early years of leaning since students are not only exposed to the issues of sacraments in religion lessons at school, but also develop a sense of sacramentality. The study has confirmed the existence various approaches of teaching sacrament at catholic school and the need to making good decisions on approaches to adopt considering their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, the study also exposed the need of nurturing the children to develop them to knowledgeable adults. References Berryman, J. W. (1991). Godly play: An imaginative approach to religious education. Minneapolis: Augsburg. Cavalletti, S. (1992). The religious potential of the child: Experiencing scripture and liturgy with young children (P. M. Coulter & J. M. Coulter, Trans.). Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications. Congregation for Divine Worship. (1973). Directory for masses with children. In J. Grajczonek & M. Ryan. (2007). (Eds.), Religious education in early childhood: A reader (pp. 321- 333). Brisbane: Lumino Press. Congregation for the Clergy. (1997). General directory for catechesis. Stratified, NSW: St Paul Publications. Congregation for Catholic Education. (1988). The religious dimension of education in a Catholic school. Home bush: St Paul Publications Diane L. Moore (2010) Constitutionally Sound, Educationally Innovative Summer/Autumn 2010 Vol. 38, Nos. 3 & 4 Harvard divinity bulletin Donovan, D. (2007). At mass with young children. In J. Grajczonek & M. Ryan (Eds.), Religious education in early childhood: A reader (pp. 261-271). Brisbane: Lumino Press. MacNaughton, G. (2003). Shaping early childhood: Learners, curriculum and context. Berkshire: Open University Press. Manternach, J. (1989). Prayerful times. In and the children Pray (pp. 90-93). Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press. Marisa Crawford and Graham Rossiter (1994) Word In Life: Journal of Religious Education 42 (2) 9 -12) Moran, G. (2007). Understanding religion and being religious. In J. Grajczonek & M. Ryan (Eds.), Religious education in early childhood: A reader. (pp. 255-260). Brisbane: Lumino Press. Moran, G. (1997). Showing how: The act of teaching. Valley Forge: Trinity Press. Mountain, V. (2007). Prayer and young children. In J. Grajczonek & M. Ryan (Eds.), Religious education in early childhood: A reader (pp. 44-61). Brisbane: Lumino Press O’Toole, J., & Dunn, J. (2002). Pretending to learn: Helping children to learn through drama. French’s Forest: Longman/Pearson Education. Ratcliff, D. (Ed.). (1988). The handbook of preschool religious education. Birmingham: Religious Education Press. Ryan, M. & Grajczonek, J. (2007). Sacraments and sacramental education. In An inspired tradition: Religious education in Catholic primary schools today (pp. 123-138). Brisbane: Lumino Press. Ryan, M. (2006). The religious dimension of education in a Catholic school. In Religious education in Catholic Schools: An introduction for Australian students (pp. 197-216). Melbourne: David Lovell Publishing Warren, K. (1999). Hooked on drama: The theory and practice of drama in early childhood. Katoomba: Social Science Press. Read More