As educators, we interact on a daily basis with students who are influenced by what goes on around them in the world. While students vary in the extent to which they are aware of community, national, or global news stories, they bring to their classroom a variety of perspectives, beliefs, understandings, and questions related to these events. In the past year alone, many high-profile, controversial issues have dominated the national and world news. In many places, local events have also affected school communities. Current events can serve as tremendous learning opportunities for our students; schools have the opportunity to help students understand difficult issues and how to go about reasonable debate. With this in mind, John began our discussion by posing the following questions to the panelists.
John Walcott:
As Christian educators, we seek to equip our students to understand both God’s world and God’s call on our lives. In an effort to do this, we often have the opportunity to talk about current events with our students. While this is usually quite interesting to students and can lead to fruitful learning experiences, it can also be challenging for teachers to decide which events are appropriate to deal with in class and how to respond to the many questions that are raised. So here is my question: Which current events (feel free to give examples) do you think should be discussed with students in your classroom and/or school? Furthermore, what tips do you have for helping make these learning experiences beneficial?
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Gayle Monsma was the first to begin our online dialogue:
What a timely question! Our junior high social studies teacher and I were just talking about this last week. This fall’s abundance of “big” new stories, with accompanying graphic violence, has initiated interesting discussions. We talked about how (almost) any news story can be discussed with students, provided the level of detail is managed for the maturity of the students. That being said, the important task for the teacher is to put these events in a context that allows for meaning and understanding. Looking at them within the “creation, fall, redemption, restoration” rhythm is helpful, illustrating the brokenness of living in these “in-between” times. Also, using one of our school’s “through-lines” (i.e., community-building, justice-seeking, idolatry-discerning, image-reflecting), and contrasting what we see with God’s intent are also ways we give the students a path to making sense of the world in which they live.
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Christian Altena continued the conversation:
Discussions about current events are a frequent feature of the history classroom. It’s natural and important to find analogues of today’s thoughts and actions in the past. Gayle, I think your interpretive structure is very important. We need to help our students connect the stories they hear about in the news to The Story of the ages. I would like to think that no current events story is necessarily inappropriate to bring into the classroom. Scripture has graphically recorded all the “greatest hits” of human depravity, and it’s rather routine to teach Sunday school children many of these stories. Some stories, of course, are more uncomfortable to tell than others; so when it comes to PG-13 discussions, we might find violence easier to discuss than sex. The problems that I’ve experienced when discussing the news with students at the high school level ironically comes from our goal to present them through a Christian lens. The challenge becomes which “Christian” response does one present to topics like global warming, the health care debate, responding to terrorism, the use of medicinal marijuana, and so on? Even a discussion of gay rights is not without nuance. Clearly for a great many topics, there is no single Christian response. How can we best create an environment for respectful debate among believers?
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Rebecca De Smith responded:
You ask a good question, Christian. Creating a respectful environment can be tricky in Christian school classrooms where several churches, faiths, and political views are represented.
My teaching career has been in elementary school. Young children see the world in black and white, but so many current events’ topics are found in that gray area where, as you say, there is no single Christian response. Most children, in dialoguing about news stories, simply reflect what their parents say and believe, which certainly can fall within a wide range of Christian interpretation.
I also appreciate Gayle’s structure for talking about current events with students, which can be modified for their level of understanding when talking with young children. Here are a few guidelines that I have used with younger children when talking about important news stories:
- Ask children what they know or what they have heard about an event before you begin talking about it.
- Keep your explanation simple; use words they understand.
- Remind them that it’s okay to talk about the event, ask questions, and even feel a little uncomfortable when thinking about it.
- Be calm and give hope, no matter what the critical event is.
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John responded:
The discussion thus far has been insightful and helpful. Thank you for providing both a perspective and structure through which to respond to our task and also practical suggestions. In addition to continuing the current line of discussion, I’d like to ask any or all of you to also contribute examples in response to Gayle’s comment and Christian’s final question. That is, can you provide a specific example of a current event and how it might be discussed through the lens of a biblical “through-line”? And, are there specific suggestions as to how to create an environment for respectful debate among believers?
I’m looking forward to your thoughts and ideas.
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Justin Cook joined the conversation:
As John says, I really appreciate both the “perspective and structure” that have been named in the discussion thus far. In terms of what we choose to address, I think there needs to be a balance between both local and global events, and positive news stories as opposed to the horrific events. Analyzing current events to see whether the mantra “if it bleeds, it leads” is true might be helpful. That being said, some events have to be addressed because they become so woven into the conversations of the community.
An illustration: In the spring of 2013, our greater community was ripped apart by the kidnapping and brutal killing of a local Christian father and husband. While he was missing, there was an incredible outpouring of energy and commitment to finding him. Posters were everywhere in the area. Soon, the search turned to grief as the truth was discovered. The funeral was broadcast on local television. Kids knew that something unspeakable had happened. The local Christian school committed to caring for them in the midst of all of this pain, and centered the discussion on allowing the students to speak what they knew and on creating a space for them to ask questions and to share their emotions. This echoes Rebecca’s suggestion, that the student voice in trying to understand the tension between human depravity and God’s will is paramount. Their faith and insights in these moments can be as powerful as any explanation we might offer.
Let me illustrate this, too: Just this week, I attended the funeral of a father of one of my grade 4 daughter’s classmates. He had passed away quite suddenly from cancer. He was in his early fifties. As it happened, the daughter sat with the two of us during the funeral ceremony. Before the service, as we were discussing her past few days, my daughter’s friend shared some observations that were profoundly moving and honest about the events she was experiencing. I attempted to offer her care and comfort, but her voice also had a profound impact on my daughter and me. In the midst of mystery—that tension between our capacity to experience unspeakable joy and such paralyzing pain—all voices in our community, especially our children, will be the surprising presence of Christ to minister to each other’s needs. Students like my daughter’s friend are embodying how necessary “community-building,” “image-reflecting,” and “beauty-creating” are for us in the here and now, especially in the face of such confusing events locally, like the sudden death of a father, or globally, like the atrocities of ISIS. “Through-lines” are not just content to teach our students; they are the presence of Christ himself, our only comfort in life and in death.
Can I conclude by offering a few reading suggestions? The first is for the high school student perhaps, an essay written by Frederick Buechner called “Adolescence and the Stewardship of Pain.” So often my students and I would return to this reading together as a way of framing and helping us understand how we might make some kind of meaning out of suffering. The second is the book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin by Cornelius Plantinga. It was so instrumental in helping me discern the deep gap between human (my!) sin and God’s desire for shalom in our lives.
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Gayle Monsma added another example:
The junior high social studies teacher I talked about in my last post (Colin Ward) recently did this assignment with our grade 9 students. It gives a practical example of the things we’ve been discussing.
Grade 9 Social Studies: Echoes of the Kingdom Overview
The grade 9 students have been challenged to reflect and articulate their understanding of God’s design and purpose for all of creation in a world of brokenness and need. Specifically, they have been asked to consider: “How are the issues that face the citizens of the world today opportunities for students to be a part of God’s redemptive and restorative story?”
Students will identify and create a poster montage of current and ongoing issues in our world that not only examine today’s current events, but dive behind the headlines to see the response of those who care and seek to redeem and restore the situation.
Students will also need to identify as many biblical themes, inspirational quotes, and influential figures that help them begin to create a personal response to issues in our world that creates new avenues for thinking and living out their faith.
Project Checklist
The poster will have four levels:
First Level: Base layer: students will examine and uncover news stories that not only inform about current events, but examine how people and agencies are responding to the needs of others. Students will cover the poster with these stories to act as a mat for the other material.
Second Level: Students will choose a symbol that captures the essence of hope and restoration (i.e., a peace sign). Students will create it and paste it onto the poster over the base layer, letting most of the stories remain uncovered.
Third Level: Students will use selected quotes or actions found in the newspaper that help us hear the “echoes of the story” in the action or inspiration of those involved. Student may also select scripture passages or images that aid in communicating their message. These should be matted on different color cardstock and used to fill in some of the empty or unused space on the poster.
Fourth Level: Students will create a brief, but articulate reflection of the assignment. Students will identify how people in God’s kingdom should respond to those in need. The written reflection should be organized and well edited for presentation. (150 words maximum).
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Tim Leugs concluded:
Thanks, everyone, for such a thoughtful string of responses. It has been great to read these again!
So many good points have been made already, helping us as teachers to consider how we can teach our students that we are indeed a part of a broken world in need of redemption. Showing students that they live in a world with both joys and failures gives them access to the truth that life in the light of Christ is not always about immediate happiness and success; it is often about learning to cope and to trust in him faithfully.
There is one point that Christian brought up, though, where I would suggest we as teachers show caution. As educators called to assist parents in the instruction of their children, I believe that we need to be careful and show discernment regarding which issues we address with our students. Although I believe it is of paramount importance to be honest with students, the developmental issues of children and the wishes or viewpoints of their parents also need to be considered. We are blessed to recognize that the Spirit not only opens up opportunities for discussions in classrooms; the Spirit also provides us with the wisdom and guidance to know how to proceed in these times.
The panel consists of:
- Christian Altena, who teaches at Chicago Christian High School in Palos Heights, Illinois.
- Justin Cook, who serves as the director of learning at the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools in Ancaster, Ontario.
- Rebecca De Smith, who is the Discovery Room coordinator and the curriculum coordinator at Sioux Center Christian School in Sioux Center, Iowa.
- Tim Leugs, who teaches at Legacy Christian School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
- Gayle Monsma, who serves as principal at Covenant Christian School in Leduc, Alberta.
- John Walcott, who is assistant professor in the education department at Calvin College.