Are you wondering what is it like inside other small church schools?
How are they creatively working with resources...
How do they structure classes...
What curriculum/technology is being used...
What types of humanitarian projects are they doing...
The Antiochian Orthodox Department of Christian Education (AODCE) has an ongoing series of interviews with church school directors throughout the Antiochian North American Archdiocese. Interviews can be found at:
The most recent interview in the series is with Laila Ferris, director of the (small) church school at St. George Orthodox Church in El Paso, Texas. An abridged version is posted on the AODCE website, and the full version is available to you here:
Interview with Laila Ferris: Integrated Learning in the Digital Age
Laila Ferris has devoted 25 years and counting to serving as
church school director at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, El Paso,
Texas. Presently, there are 37 students enrolled and classes are organized by
groups of two grade levels, plus grades 8-12 together as one class.
Which curricula do
you use for Sunday classes?
We use a combination of curricula/materials from the OCEC and from the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese to support our students’ learning. We also use online lessons provided by our
Archdiocese Department of Christian Education.
The teachers develop lesson plans that use active and engaging learning
activities through which the lessons are taught and learned. We are presently working towards developing
more opportunities for learning activities via apps and web-based programs for
our students (as the digital generation) to expand their learning
experiences. Our plan is to be able to purchase
iPads for use in the classrooms to support digital projects. But in the
meantime, the church school staff will continue to use their personal devices
to grow our instructional lessons digitally.
Are there any
ethnic components to your church school/Christian education ministry?
We have a diverse ethnicity among our students,
whose connection to each other is their faith.
We incorporate ethnic diversity in our lessons with our students for
Feast day celebrations/family traditions and music. For example, in preparation for Pascha, our
children learn to sing "Christ Is Risen" in English, Arabic and
Greek, as well as learning the responses to "Christ Is Risen, Indeed He Is
Risen" in languages other than English.
Does your
church school participate in Humanitarian projects as a group?
Our church school
supports and participates in our parish's and Teen SOYO's Humanitarian projects
such as food drives, clothing drives, and toy drives. We also participate in
our parish's annual Senior Citizen Christmas Dinner and Dance. Every December,
approximately 400 community senior citizens living in Federal Housing Authority
retirement centers attend. Students pack goodie bags for the senior citizens,
serve them at the dinner, assist them in several ways, and even dance with
them. We feel that connections are
important to the well-being of many people, but the actual act of serving
others, in person, will give our students life experiences which will grow
their sense of empathy in the Christian way. This is an integral part of who we
are to be and following our faith in becoming servant leaders.
What are some
church school challenges/issues that you did not expect to encounter, and how
have you addressed them?
Challenges
provide us with learning experiences and allow us to become better at what we
do to support the teaching and learning of our faith with our students. Challenges we have experienced are
inconsistent attendance with some students over the years, and students not being
on time for opening prayer with our parish priest. The church school staff have
been diligent in letting students know that we miss them when they and their
parents are not present. We have
implemented an incentive program for students who are present before opening
prayer, known as our "Bible Buck" program. Students earn one
"Bible Buck" for every Sunday that they are present prior to opening
prayer. We open our "Bible
Buck" store for students to purchase religious items for themselves or
family members. The students now remind
their parents to make sure that they get them to church school on time.
How does your parish show appreciation for
church school staff?
Our parish
family is truly supportive and appreciative of the church school staff. Their appreciation is shown through their support of the church staff's work by assisting, attending, contributing towards the staff's activities and classroom materials, and so on. Their
appreciation is also shown through words of thanks as well as
"no" never being a part of their vocabulary for whatever may be
needed by the staff.
What type(s) of
training and resources specifically for church school directors can you
recommend?
I
believe that time is critical to ensure that church school staff can plan and
discuss the upcoming year, share successful lessons and information, and work
together as a team to support all the students in our church school. I also feel that it is important for the
church school staff to use their abilities and knowledge to engage the students
in learning about their faith through a variety of resources and instructional
methods. These include hands-on activities, digital activities, and creative
projects. The teacher/student
relationship is also important. Church school staff need to get to know their
students, their families, their interests, and their abilities. We can then better
serve them through the right variety of resources and activities, and ensure
their growing understanding of the Faith, not only in church school, but as
they participate in Liturgy and practice at home and in their everyday
life. The responsibility to teach the
children and teens of our parish is an awe-inspiring responsibility and the trust
given to us to teach them is truly honorable and humbling. We constantly remind ourselves of the quote
stating, "our children are our future". But I also believe that they
are our "present" which makes our work with them even more important,
for the what occurs in the present ultimately impacts the future. Hence, what we teach and what the students
learn today, alongside their families, the parish priest, and the parish
family, is how they will grow in their faith so that they may become followers
of Christ for all of their lives.
