I spent Monday as a substitute teacher in second grade at the parish school. As my training is in secondary education, I’m used to students trying to derail any discussion in order to avoid doing work. Seven-year-olds don’t generally display that level of guile, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t stray off the subject during our school day.
Children that young just want to share. As soon as you mention anything, they make a connection and need to tell you–and the whole rest of the class–about it. Every once in a while, that can be a good thing, if you can manage to capture the moment.
We were in the middle of a language-arts lesson based on the story of an injured child riding to the hospital in an ambulance. Up goes a hand. “My mommy says that when you see an ambulance you should say a Hail Mary.”
Me: “Yes, a lot of families do that. It’s a really good thing to do. When you see an ambulance, you can pray for the person who is sick or hurt and for the people who are helping.”
Student: “And police cars too.”
Me: “Right. That’s another good time to say a prayer.”
Other student: “But just for the police. Not for the bad people.”
Me: “We should definitely say a prayer for the bad people. Do you remember that Jesus told us we should do that?”
Class: “Yes.”
Me: “Jesus said that we should pray for people who hurt us, not just for our friends and family. Maybe the people who hurt us need even more prayers.”
Moments like this are why I love Catholic school. Our faith isn’t confined to the schedule block reserved for religion. It can (and should) pop up at any point in the day. I love that the children in this class feel free enough and comfortable enough to bring up the subject of prayer when the thought enters their mind–even during a story about a fictional ambulance ride. I pray that these lessons will be put into practice during a real emergency.
Great post, Barb. Reminded me of my Catholic school days. The nuns always taught us to pray at the sound of a siren. And it is so true that kids that age just want to share. You’re just lucky it was on topic sharing, because sometimes they come up with the darndest – and funniest – connections.
You mean like the part where a kid was heard to say, “We watched that movie in the hot tub!” (I don’t want to know…)
Perfect! And I love it when my smaller kids come home and tell me about things like this. It doesn’t happen too much in 5th grade, but I have been pleasantly surprised at some of the conversations I’ve heard the high schooler recount.
This was great. I can just hear the kids chiming in as I read. Your reflection is the very reason I put my boys in Catholic school!
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