Sticky Situations

For classroom devotions, each morning, I read a short story from a book called "Sticky Situations"(vol. 2). Each story is about a child who is in a situation where he or she needs to make a decision. The story always ends, "What should (the child) do?" I let 3-4 of the students give their answer for what they think the child should do. I then read the 3 choices that they have in the book, and have the students vote on the best answer. There are Bible verses that go along with each story, so I read them and we see what the Bible has to say about the situation. We have a short discussion about it and I try to apply it to their lives as best as possible.

When "sticky situations" occur in the classroom, i.e. a child is faced with a decision to do (as I say)"what she wants to do vs. what she is supposed to do", I stop and excitedly announce that we have a sticky situation! I put what is going on in real life into the story format, dramatized a bit. For example, I say, "Mary, a first grader at Beacon Christian Academy, had a crayon taken from her desk. She is angry because the girl who took it, never asked to borrow it.....What should she do?
A. Lay down on the floor, kick her legs and cry loudly.
B. Go to the girl's desk and steal all her crayons.
C. Kindly ask the girl if she can have her crayon back and forgive her for taking it.

Having slightly exaggerated answers adds humor to the story, diffusing anger, or sadness. The black and white answers make it clear what the correct choice is and generally speaking, the child makes the WISE DECISION.

I see the students recognizing "Sticky Situations" on their own. As this happens, they are being trained to stop and think about their actions before they act unwisely. This increases the likelihood of a wise choice being made.

I have seen this make a difference over the years in kids lives and have heard from a few parents, the same.

 
 

Kris McKenna, grade 1 Beacon Christian Academy

Follow up Discussion from October 30, 2009

1. Initial reflections on Wisdom
   
   1. Need to spend more time in the scriptures, particularly Proverbs.
      
   2. The "fear" of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is not fear as we think, but better interpreted as "reverence".
      
   3. We may be "the church" to some of our students
      
   4. Is it necessary to use the word wisdom with our students? Are they so biased that they miss the point?
      
   5. We must be teaching our students how to think critically
      
   6. What about the sticky issues that come up through this process? How do we handle them?
   
   
2. Intimate relation between culture and organized education. "We must be counter-cultural."
   
   1. Our task to help equip our student to rise above certain cultural expectations
      
   2. We must understand and then create "our way of doing things" that may or will be different than the worlds from which our students come.
      
   3. This is hard and requires us to answer the question are we willing to there.
      
   4. We must help students to consistently stop and think about their actions.
   
   
3. A biblical perspective on wisdom has to function as an alternative to the dominant ideology of Reason? "We are biased by Reason"

1. The mode of relating (or relationship) to students constitutes curriculum? "Wisdom is found in relationship"
   
   1. It is an act of the will to love our students
      
   2. Respect is key. Both in teacher to student and student to student context. Must be able to value others
      
   3. Relationship is not friendship. It's not a matter of liking.
   
   
2. There is a direct relationship between discernment and wisdom. Blomberg puts it as "critique is a concomitant of wisdom. "Problem-posing is a pathway"
   
   1. Always be ready with the question "Why"
      
   2. As in Warren's book, I ask students what is their purpose.
   
   
3. Education should disclose ambiguity rather than conceal it. "Pat answers to complex questions are not acceptable"
   
   1. Our job as teachers is to embrace complexity
      
   2. Some issues of ambiguity you deal with individually and not as a class
      
   3. Opens door to controversial topics: evolution, politics, dogma
   
   
4. Christian curriculum should be Integral rather than Integrated . "We begin with the whole. Faith and learning were never apart."
   
   1. We are attempting to create in students a God way of thinking