Create your own classes

Introduction

Wanting to develop a theme with the students, but not finding the material ready is common in a spiritist teacher's life. No matter how much certain books attempt to fulfill all the needs of the educator there are always the students' interest, daily class situations or recent happenings in the news. The teacher can't miss these opportunities.

Other groups prefer to create their own classes and this is the best way. We are not against the efficient programs from other centers; however teachers who are more in tune with their students' needs are better able to create classes that are better to their purposes. These classes will bring the children closer to the theme in a more efficient and deep way.

What's the best way to elaborate an activity with a specific theme for a class?

1st step: Defining the theme

Start with the theme of the class. What will we talk about?

A tendency that we observed in our spiritist education workshops is that when we study a text and ask about its theme we get some answers, such as selfishness, vanity, slander etc.

Of course, we will not lecture about selfishness but usually teachers have difficulties defining what virtue is present in that text. It seems we are not used to seeing the good.

Let's talk about confidence, charity, humility and cooperation. When we decide on this exchange, it is incredible how we can broaden the possibilities of the theme! The ways of developing the theme can also be expanded. A short story about the evils of selfishness doesn't have much to say as a lesson of moral without flights of imagination or space for reflection. Talking about charity and how we can understand and practice it is much more interesting.

2nd step: Defining an objective

Every class has a purpose, which together with other classes lead the way to a clearer and deeper comprehension of spiritual life and God's Laws. This comprehension is not separated from self-knowledge which means that in each class we should discover something about ourselves.

There can be many objectives related to the same theme and it is possible that all of them are important. However, we recommend choosing only one objective and focusing on it. We can talk about the same theme with another objective when we have another opportunity.

Every objective may be a basic question for which a strategy is chosen to find the answer. The focus of the dialogs and reflections will be to answer these questions.

3rd step: Researching on texts and material

Teachers involved in their work are always connected with it. While they are preparing the next class, the idea can emerge from many sources. Some examples are listening to music on the radio, seeing a phrase on a billboard or a scene in a movie, leafing through a magazine in a doctor's office, surfing the Internet, discovering a type of paint or material in a handicraft class, from recyclable trash, from a scientific experiment, from fallen leaves etc. From anywhere any time.

In our experience, we learn that when we are receptive to the intuition from spirit guides this intuition will appear for sure.

However, we recommend that the spiritist center has a library. In addition, the teachers should try to have their own research material with newspapers, magazines, books, videos etc.

4th step: Creating a strategy to reach a defined objective

Defining the strategy depends on the children's age and their psychosocial development. In what ways does this theme affect our students? How can they comprehend it? What activity will interest them?

Motivation

Every activity needs motivation. To motivate is to create interest in the theme and the desire to know more about it. Traditionally this is called the first incentive. We prefer to talk about motivation because it needs to be present from the beginning to the end and many times when we notice that the motivation is diminishing during the activity it needs to be recovered.

The motivation can be related to the perception of the subject's usefulness, the possibility of being applied to everyday life, the recognition of the results, and the real interest and emotional involvement of the teacher. The positive reinforcement of behavior in class is also highly motivating.

Development

Let's begin a dialog about the questions related to the text. For this purpose, we can use group dynamics.

Final Activities

Propose a recreational or artistic activity; an interactive one would be best, such as making up sentences, texts, posters, drawings. The idea is trying to summarize the group's answers.

5th step: Evaluating the results

By the students' answers and attitudes, the evaluation holds true, not only in the present, but also in the future. Evaluate your own performance. Were you clear, creative, intuitive, or confusing, strict...? Did you realize when a discussion came to an interesting point to explore? Has the class ever become boring? Why? Have you ever felt that they missed the point? Was the goal reached?

Use this evaluation to plan your next classes.

Let's practice!

Sometimes it is not easy to be rational and intuitive. Besides, it is also difficult to follow the plan, and, at the same time, be able to chance when it is necessary. Nobody can teach us how to do this. Many people lack skills and creativity because they are afraid of making mistakes. In fact, one of the greatest causes of the educators' anxiety that we see in our seminars is that they feel insecure about the content. Would I be able to talk about a subject clearly and precisely? - They ask us.

I always say that people who talk to the children and teenagers about Spiritism should always attend the center's studies. However, we should consider two aspects:

1. we never know everything, so we will not have all the answers. It is true that we learn a lot when we plan the classes reading books etc, but our knowledge of the doctrine has a limit.
2. 2º) eventually we all can make mistakes. In fact, it is very rare to find someone that has never made one. It is possible that we say something wrong or even make a wrong impression about the theme. For this reason, when we are researching a certain subject, we recommend always looking everything up in Kardec's works.

When we don't know the answer to a question, it is always best to tell the truth and that we will try to find out the answer later. Be prepared to admit that you don't know an answer. You can be sure that if you make a mistake, life will give you the opportunity to talk about that subject again with the correct answer.

Sometimes our insecurity is not from our lack of knowledge of Spiritism, but it might be an emotional trait. It's part of our personality and can come up on other occasions. Could this be your case? Planning a well structured class, knowing your students well and trusting the spiritual friends are ways to decrease anxiety and insecurity. Demanding perfection and infallibility of yourself is one of the aspects of vanity and pride. Being natural and admitting that you can fail is being humble and accepting yourself as a human being and a spirit that is evolving. Respect, naturalness, sincerity and dedication will help us to advance in our knowledge and in the educational task.

A practical example

How about verifying a lesson plan based on the steps above?

Theme: Spiritualism and Spiritism

1st step: Defining the theme

Concept of Spiritism: What is Spiritism? What most characterizes Spiritism as a doctrine?

2nd step: Defining the objective

Our main objective is helping the class to realize the main differences between Spiritism and Spiritualism. This theme is for pre-teens from 12 to 14 years of age. The key question: What is the difference between Spiritism and Spiritualism?

3rd step: Researching on texts and material

In the Introduction of "The Spirits' Book", we can find out how Allan Kardec defines these two words.

We can look for images or songs that manifest spiritualistic believes in many religions, like Catholicism, Shamanism, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism etc. There is also a good source called "Espiritualismo e Espiritismo" [Spiritualism and Spiritism] written by us and included in the book "Um pouco por dia" [A little bit everyday] Ed. EME, Brazil. (Note: neither this text nor the book have been translated yet).

4th step: Creating a strategy to reach a defined objective

Motivation

Our purpose is to prepare the classroom with photos of spiritualistic manifestations. Sentences or small texts from many traditions can also be used. Mantras, Gregorian chants, ritual drums etc can be background sounds. You may also refer to The Spirits' Book. When the students come to the class, their curiosity will be stimulated because of the material exhibited in the room. It is an opportunity to show the differences in society and it is very interesting for this age.

Development

When all students are present in the class, ask them to sit, turn off the music, and ask if they know what all of this is about. What do these sounds, images and texts have in common? They all represent the belief in a reality beyond the material world. What about Spiritism? Where does it fit in? Start a dialog based on the text in the Spirit's Book. Highlight the fact that all beliefs are legitimate and should be respected. However, Spiritism has some characteristics that distinguish it from Spiritualism (see the comparative chart below).

Final Activities

Prepare paper strips with the characteristics shown in the chart above. Divide a poster board in two and write the words Spiritualism and Spiritism at the top of each side. Ask each student to take the strips and put them in the right places. They should justify their opinions. What about listening to the music again?

5th step: Evaluating the results

Propose to the students to prepare alone or in a group a presentation highlighting the main characteristics of the Spiritist Doctrine that they hava just studied, such as rational faith - its definition and importance, etc. This presentation could be used in the next class. If you notice that the class is mature enough for a more detailed study, recommend the reading of The Spirits' Book - Introduction VI. Ask each of them to read a paragraph and bring a commentary to the next class to explain what was understood.

This scheme allows for a visualization of what the position of spiritualists and spiritists is in human society. You can copy it on a poster to illustrate your class.

HOME | LIST OF ARTICLES | WHO WE ARE | WHAT'S NEW | SITE MAP | CONTACT US