TOOLBOX 3: WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE PLACE OF ‘GRACE’ IN WISE TEACHING AND HOW COULD MY RELIGION CLASS BECOME A PLACE WHERE GRACE IS RECOGNISED AND PRACTICED?

What is grace?

Grace is "the deep disposition to believe in human dignity and to treat everyone accordingly without

thought to status or merit. I think life calls us to live fully out and deeply out of thankfulness and wonder as

those who have been welcomed home."(Strom, Mark, 2014) This quote comes from a book written for

business managers, yet this definition of grace inspires me as a beginner teacher.

Take a look at this page which links wisdom and grace.  

 

Tracing my own story as one of God's grace outworking in my life and helping students recount

their own stories that way could be a very important part of a RE teacher's job. This could mean

first, writing out my story and other stories as a model of how to describe a faith journey in a way

that reflects God's grace. Then allowing students free reign to document their own journeys and

responding to their stories. Students who struggle to recount their life in this way, might need me to sit

with them and ask "grounded" questions teasing out narratives and helping them connect them until they

can recount their own stories of God's grace in their lives.

With this as a starting point, I would also like to try and teach students how to show grace to others. The teacher in the clip below illustrates how it could be done in practice. First he tells his story of how he is shown grace, then he gets his students colour in a worksheet of three characters that reflect their students’ ethnicity and then fill out speech bubbles with gracious responses. Next, he tells his students stories of everyday tensions that occur between friends. He gives them a range of responses to the situation. Students have to choose which response reflects grace and peace. I would like to try this out in my Religion class during teaching practise next year.

Another practice, I feel might be useful is how students are pulled aside and shown a better, more appropriate or more gracious alternative way to behave in class.  In Montessori schools, young children are taught a practical life skill component called "Grace and Courtesy." Such clear unambiguous instructions on social conventions help build a classroom environment where grace is practiced and all students are safe to be themselves. I would like that to be an aim for my religion classes in future.

What does grace mean to me as a teacher trying to gain self-efficacy?

God is the source of both grace and wisdom as I teach and respond to my students. My source of strength is beyond what I can muster. Traditionally there are three types of grace in the bible. Helping students recognise, accept and respond to God's grace in their lives is the work of the Holy Spirit; religion teachers can share verbally and through actions of this grace.

Universal/ Common Grace

Ps. 145:8,9 

“The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.  The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”

Justifying/ Saving Grace

Eph 2:4-9

“But because of his great love for us,God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” 

Sanctifying Grace

1 Peter 1:2

“…. who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.”

Recognising all three types of grace in my life makes me grateful and increases my dependence on God to help me become a teacher of high self-efficacy. With God who goes before me, behind me and with me, I can meet all classroom challenges now and in the years to come.

Reference

Strom, Mark. 2014. Lead with Wisdom. John Wiley & sons Australia Ltd.