Religion in the Classroom (Criticle project 2)

Religion in the Classroom



New York City classrooms are exceptionally diverse. They are made up of different cultures, races and religions. The students come in all sorts of sizes, shapes and colors. Students’ hair colors may vary as well as their eye colors. Some students may even have disabilities of some sort. There disabilities may vary from severe to moderate, physical to emotional. How ever our students come to us it is our job as educators to except them and teach them to the best of our abilities’.
Curriculum in New York City public schools consists of art, social studies, mathematics, science, English language arts, fitness and health studies (http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/default.htm). Besides these there are a few more, although religious studies is not one of them. My question is should it be? In the United Kingdom religious education is mandatory (http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/). Why is it mandatory there but not here? I feel that religious education should be mandatory across the globe.
If we as educators were to make religious education mandatory across the globe, would our future citizens become more accepting of others religions? I feel that this would definitely be the case. It would stop many prejudices with in society and around the globe as people will no longer be ignorant. As I have been reading in the Gollnick and Chin book, I need to know my students and their cultures in order to better serve them. I feel this works vice versa, students need to know their peers cultures in order to be able to get along all types of people in life.
In order to be able to teach such a delicate subject teachers must be sensitive when it comes to this matter. Teachers must take in to consideration each individual child’s feelings before they say something about the child’s culture or religion. “Thoughtful planning and skillful observations of classroom social interactions can affect students’ social and cognitive development (Sheets, 2005, p.71). Teachers need to be aware of both their interactions as well as the other student’s interactions with in the classroom as this can make or break a child’s learning. As an educator I am sometimes scared to teach the subject of religion in case I do not know the correct information, regarding a certain religion, but one of my peers told me something that stuck with me, she said that I can always come back and correct myself, and that is very true (discussion board session 6). “
Throughout both my master degrees I have been told time and time again that classroom setup is vital. So when preparing my classroom to teach something such as religion or incorporating multiculturalism, I would make sure I have all the correct materials. I would have pictures and maps of different cultures and places, multi ethnic dolls, multicultural art materials, and last but not least variety of books. When choosing books we as educators must be careful to make sure that the books we are choosing are authentic. It is very hard to teach a subject if the information we are reading is incorrect (Norton, 2005, p.9).
There are many ways in which teachers can incorporate religion into the classroom. Religion can be taught through art, music, reading, writing and many more. When using art students may create cards in regards to a certain holiday. Music can be used by teaching songs of certain religions. Another great way to incorporate religion into the classroom can be by discussing similarities between certain holidays (Jones, 2002, p.9). For example a teacher may ask the students the similarities between Yom Kippur and Ramadan.
Although religion may be a difficult subject to teach it can be done. I feel that it is a vital part of a student’s education. If students are taught from a young age to be more accepting of others, then the world may turn out to be a more peaceful place in the future.



















Reference

Gollnick, D.M., & Chinn, P.C. (2008). Multicultural
education in a pluralistic society (8th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Merril/Pearson.

Jones, T.S. (2002). Intervention in school and clinic.
Incorporate diversity into the classroom. Pro-Ed, Inc. Austin, Texas.

New York City Department of Education.
New York City Curriculum. Retrieved October 15th, 2008 From New York City Department of Education website: http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/default.htm

Norton, E.D. (2005). Multicultural children’s literature
(2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merril/Pearson.

Sheets, R.H. (2005). Diversity pedagogy examining the role
of culture in the teaching-learning process. Pearson
Education, Inc. Boston, MA.