Integrating Faith in Learning
By: LouAnn Howard
The integration of faith in learning is a key principle of our faith-based school system. It is an expectation that every subject and lesson includes that Spiritual connection.
When it came time to adapt a new reading series, our school's steering committee faced the challenge of how to provide a quality, high-interest, balanced reading program that provided opportunities for our students to meet Christ as a natural part of the program. Another challenge was how to make this affordable to our schools.
The steering committee, which oversaw the project, consisted of administrators and classroom teachers. We began by spending time learning about the latest research on a balanced reading program. We then created a conceptual framework that outlined our philosophy, principles, and practices of reading.
Upon the completion of a curriculum guide that integrated all of the language arts (reading, English, handwriting, and spelling), we began the task of reviewing the various reading programs on the market.
It was a discouraging process. We wanted a program that used authentic literature, that upheld the 10 Commandments, that did not have fairy tales or personification – what we called "squeaky clean" literature.
We also wanted a program that covered grades K-8, as most of our schools were small. Because of our small schools, we also wanted a program that was adaptable to a multi-grade setting.
We had presentations from every major publisher that we knew of and were very discouraged because no program was "squeaky clean." Most programs used lots of fairy tales in the lower-grade literature and also included mild swear words in other literature. None went beyond the 6th grade.
A new member joined the steering committee who suggested that we look at a program that was organized on broad themes and used award-winning, authentic literature. We had several presentations and were favorably impressed. The program was focused around nine different themes. Even though it was a K-6 program, the company was very willing to let us add a 7th and 8th grade component.
As we reviewed the program, we discovered that it was easily adaptable to an integrated language arts program that included reading, English, handwriting, spelling, and phonics with the authentic literature at the heart of the curriculum.
At first we thought we could just change out the literature that was unacceptable and make minor adaptations to the teacher's guide and include Spiritual connections throughout.
For instance, The Three Bears was one title that most of the learning activities were related to "real" bears and were acceptable. So, we thought we could find another authentic story about bears and move forward. Well, we soon discovered that narrowing our focus to just one area was quite limiting. In fact, we ended up rewriting a read-aloud book on a bear to a first grade reading level.
So, after the first year, we stopped trying to just change a book to have a similar topic and opened it up to considering any book that would fit the overall theme. Selecting high-quality, authentic, appropriate literature that met the objectives of our faith-based organization was the most challenging process. For the 18 selections made for grades 7 and 8, over 194 other titles were rejected as inappropriate.
The company was also very willing to allow us to make changes in the presentation of each theme. We were able to have the same theme taught at the same time at each grade level, which would be beneficial to the small-school teacher.
We also created a general template that each teacher followed so that similar information was presented in a similar way in each unit guide. Each writer was asked to include at least one Spiritual connection in each of the approximately eight sessions in the unit.
We were also able to integrate all of the language arts—reading, English, handwriting, and spelling—into this program.
The reading program we chose had the features we were seeking:
* Extensive reading in a variety of literary genres and themes
* Focus on interdisciplinary themes
* Spiritual connections that lead students to recognize God's path for their lives and the lives of others
* A comprehensive word study focus
* Sequential development of phonics strategies
* A spelling program that is coordinated with phonics and writing
* A handwriting program tied to the themes and phonics
* Explicit instruction in comprehension, writing, learning strategies, and studying
* A systematic study of grammar and sentence conventions
* Strategies for assisting students with reading problems and multilevel approaches
* A clear plan for management and assessment
It has been exciting to watch the program adoption in the classroom. There have been many exciting, positive comments made by teachers. One teacher wrote that her fourth-grade class claims "they are writing less (when I'm actually having them write more)."
Another teacher wrote, "This program is well-planned, based on the current brain research and learning styles. We are blessed to have the opportunity to revise the material to make it our own. As I see it, that is a very prudent way for our leadership to use the money God has entrusted to us. It would take many years, a number of qualified people, and many more millions of dollars to come even close to the quality of this program."
Research shows we have not seen any diminishing in our reading achievement test. We remain well above the national average in our reading scores.
We feel blessed that we were able to find a company who was willing to work closely with our faith-based organization in adapting a high-quality, spiritually infused, integrated language arts program for our schools.
LouAnn Howard is associate director of education for Mid-America Union Conference. This article was written in conjunction with Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, www.kendallhunt.com.
