Faith Matters

    As my students write about different aspects of slavery or people who were influenced by it, my intern teacher and I are encouraging them to ask big questions. We define big questions as those that must or can be answered with a lot of information, not just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. For many of the students, their questions deal with the “why”: Why slavery? Why did these people risk their lives to help others? Others deal with the “what”: What did these people believe in so strongly that they could risk their lives? As their research has begun, many are uncovering the unwavering faith of many influential people in the Underground Railroad and the Abolition movement. This amazes them, and my goal is that that amazement turns into students who become inspired.

     In Psalm 9:10, it says “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you” (New International Version). Through the study of Conductors on the Underground Railroad and people like Sojourner Truth, I want my students to see this verse being lived out by those in the past as they write about those who shaped it. I want them to see how an unwavering trust in who God is can have immense ramifications for your life. I want them to be challenged to ask themselves where they are at in trusting who God is and what He wants for their lives.

    As students work on their writing, it is important that they connect not only the content matter with their Faith, but also realize the importance of their academic work to their Faith as well. According to the prestigious Liberty University, a Christian institution of Higher Education, “Faith Learning Integration identifies how God's brilliant design is found across all disciplines and how its identification helps reveal the very nature of God, man, creation, purpose, redemption, salvation, and order” (2019). In essence, not only can God’s goodness be revealed in the content my students are studying in Social Studies, but they can see Him revealed in the writing process as well. The primary ways in which I hope to demonstrate God’s goodness to my students is through encouraging them to become more aware of God through the ways they interact with each other. In order to do this, I am going to incorporate segments of collaboration and sharing into lessons 1, 3, 4, and 5. In these segments, students will be sharing what they are working on, what they are struggling with, learning, or becoming stronger at. I feel that even for students who do not identify as Christian, these times to share will build camaraderie and an atmosphere of support for one another and help to reveal the ways that each student has been uniquely created. Sometimes these share times will revolve around allowing students to share their progress, other times students will be asked to help each other and aid in the writing/revising process. I firmly believe these moments of pause in the midst of our writing will highlight the ways God has created each student to flourish in their work and bring importance to the writing students are doing each day.

    I hope to do these things through multiple strategies. First, I realize that not all of my students may have encountered this question, so I will start by using it as an example for the entire class. In using questions about faith and trust in God repeatedly as examples, I know that each student will have the opportunity to engage in thinking about the subject. Additionally, there are many opportunities to discuss the faithfulness of the God and Spiritual growth at The Potter’s House. Opportunities for prayer, devotions, and small group discipleship offer wonderful ways to connect what my students are learning about in Social Studies and Writing to their own growth as Christ followers. It it my hope that through my teaching and through the experiences my students engage in during class that they will consistently consider the theme of Trust in God, and more importantly, what trusting in God can do for their lives.

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​Liberty University. 2019. Faith Learning Integration at Liberty University. Retrieved from https://www.liberty.edu/academics/cad/index.cfm?PID=25719