Service Learning and Biblical Stories

Biblical Text:
            In class, we have been focusing on the book of Exodus. We discussed that "Exodus" means "to exit" or "to leave." This explains this book of the Pentateuch very well because it is about Moses freeing the Israelite from the Egyptian Pharaoh rule, and he eventually wants to get them to the promise land, or "the land flowing with milk and honey."
          Moses and his brother Aaron act as God's prophets to help get the Israelites out of Egypt. God requests that Moses tells Aaron to perform certain actions so that God can set specific plagues on Pharaoh and the Egyptians, until he agrees to let the Israelites leave. The plagues are sent down on the Egyptians starting with little consequences, but then become more dramatic and extended as the days progress. God also tells Moses and Aaron that He will harden God's heart, making him deny the rights for the Israelite people or at first agreeing to freeing them, and then changing his mind once the plague has been taken away. An example of this would be when God sent hail with lightning and fire down on the people of Egypt, but not Goshen, the land of the Israelites. Everything in Egypt was destroyed, and the Pharaoh was at first so upset about the damage that he requested Moses and Aaron to take the Israelites out of the land. However, once Moses and Aaron stopped the hail, the Pharaoh's heart was quickly hardened and he changed his mind, saying that the Israelites were no longer allowed to leave. This happened a few times throughout the story, until the Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites leave. Moses had opened the Red Sea with the water rising on both sides, opening a path for the Israelites to walk. Moses then closed up the Red Sea, with the Egyptians getting consumed by the sea's wrath.
          Moses and the Israelites spend 40 years wandering in the desert because it is a time of completeness. One event that takes place in the text that stands out to me would be the basis of the Ten Commandments. As a Christian, and after attending Catholic school grades K-12, it was required that we memorized these laws. Although these books of the Bible were not as familiar to me, the Commandments definitely were. The Israelites begin to feel abandonment from God, and say several times throughout the text that they should have just been enslaved back in Egypt. God hears the people's cries, and constructs for them two tablets called the Ten Commandments. He also presents these to Moses on the top of Mount Siani. Moses is instructed to deliver these commandments to the people of Israel. They make a golden calf to worship and Moses, breaking one of the commandments of false idols and worshiping them.

Service Learning (Cedar Riverside Community School) Update:

My service learning experience at Cedar Riverside Community School keeps getting better and better! I have been attending the school for about 10 hrs now. My usual routines have not changed since I last went to the school; still arriving in the morning, assisting during their reading and writing stations, taking the students to physical education, helping at recess duty, and assisting Ms. Matask and the other teachers at lunch time. It has been very fun, and I am really enjoying getting to know the students and faculty better at the school! Although I am still participating in the same routines, I feel as though I am learning so much more about my students and who they are outside of the classroom. It has been helpful for me as a future teacher because I am slowly learning how to approach students who have different views about school and learning. It is something that has been practiced more as I am exposed to the inner-city urban schools. My students have given me many realizations about real life, and myself as well. I will not explicitly state which students I am referring to, but one of my students does not receive the standard meals at home, and it definitely impacts their focusing in the classroom. One of my students also told me that he feels like he does not have friends, which leads to him acting out towards the teacher and his peers, especially when his classmates make fun of his height. He has told me that he does not like school and he does not like to learn sitting in a desk, but rather through games or hands-on activities. I think that says a lot about students these days when they are able to pick up on their learning style.
Yesterday I was e-mailed by the service learning coordinator and she was requesting for service learners to help out during the after school program. I immediately took interest in this need, and e-mailed her back saying that I would be happy to be a tutor in the program. Currently, I am still waiting to hear a reply from her, but hopefully it works out well!
Cedar Riverside Community School has given me many blessings and eye-opening experiences. I purposely chose this school because I knew it would be a place where I would learn the most, and it definitely has been true! I feel that in order to be a Christian and servant of God, that it is important to be accepting and opening to new learning experiences. It seems as though God speaks to us more during our times of need and learning. By putting ourselves out there in the community, we allow ourselves to be more open and aware to these learning experiences. God has truly shown me what it means to be a good teacher and role model to my students, and I cannot wait to see what He has in store for me the rest of the semester!

Readings and Service Learning Project Reflection

Freedom of A Christian:

          We have completed Luther's work called Freedom of a Christian. One of my favorite sentences in the entire book is found on page 79, "For we do not live in this mortal body and focus only on it. Rather, we live with all other people on earth. Indeed, we live for others and for ourselves. The reason we discipline our bodies is to serve our neighbors genuinely and freely." I really like these few sentences because, to me, they seem to make up the definition of a Christian. It also sums up Freedom of a Christian to a T. Our purpose in this world is to find a passion that makes you happy so that you can reach out to others and impact their lives through your interests. It reminds me of the reason for our service learning projects as well. I understand that people chose to read a novel because of their already hectic schedules, but the people who decided to volunteer are making this a priority out of personal choice. Luther also talks about how, as Christians, it is important to take care of our own bodies for personal growth in God, and so that we are strong enough to take care of the well-being of the vulnerable. This is the foundational message that Luther sends out to the Christians.


Genesis:
          In class, we have studied and discuss the book of Genesis, and have looked closely at the family genealogy. Since Genesis is defined as "In the beginning," it makes sense that we have focused on the family lines that have started it all. The main stories that stick out to me are of Noah and Abraham. Also, in both of these writings, God makes a covenant between them and Him. Noah was asked to build an ark, and to keep two (male and female) of every type of animal that walks, flies, and swims on the ark, as God was sending rain upon the Earth for 40 days and 40 nights. God did this once He realized that the animals and creatures he created were causing harm onto the Earth. So Noah built the ark and brought his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives with him. Once the rain and flooding was done, Noah sent out a dove to see if the world was still wet. The dove came back twice, but did not the third time. This meant that the land was dry. God made a covenant, or a promise, with Noah that He would not destroy the creatures that He had created or bring harm onto the Earth. After Noah's death, his sons had sons, and they became the ancestors of the new nations created after the flood.
          Abraham had a wife named Sarah, and she could not have children from Abraham. She then asked the servant, Hagar, to bear their children for them. Hagar bore a son named Ishmael. God then came to Abraham and made a covenant. He told Abraham that he would have a son who would be known by all of the nations, and that He would make an everlasting with Isaac and all of his descendants. God also told Abraham that he would make Ishmael a great nation, and his twelve sons would be princes. Abraham thought it seemed impossible, since the age of him and Sarah could not typically conceive children. God told Abraham that Sarah would have a son, and that they would name him Isaac. After the birth of Isaac, Sarah became distraught that Ishmael would mock Isaac, and asked Hagar and Ishmael to leave. One of the biggest tests that was brought upon Abraham was to go out and kill his son, Isaac, as a sacrificial offering. This is the same sacrifice that God did with his son, Jesus. Abraham did not hold back and disobey God's command, for as he was about to strike his son with the knife, God called out and told him to stop. This showed God Abraham's true commitment and love for God. It is a test that none of us would want to be put in; who would actually want to kill their own son or daughter? It is a message to us that if we have faith and put trust in God, that He will show us His love and put His trust in us as well.


Service Learning Project Reflection:

          Since the previous blog post, I have been back to Cedar Riverside three times. I have loved every moment of it, and working with the students has been nothing but a blessing. I work in the second grade classroom on Tuesdays 9:00 - 10:30 am and Fridays 9:00 am - 12:00 pm. When I arrive, the students have just begun their Reading Workshop Exercise. It is very fun helping them read and write! After an hour of reading, they go to physical education, which is good for them because they can run off all their pent up energy. When I am there on Fridays, I go with the students to lunch and recess. I eat my lunch with the students, and it's the time of the day when they just love asking me random questions about my personal life. It's very entertaining and adorable! I also monitor and play with them at recess.
          The class has 20 students, all who are Somalian. They are all so adorable and fun to be with. Not only do I love the students because of the diversity, but my class, in particular, has the most Special Education students integrated into the classroom. I am a strong believer that students who are in need of assistance be integrated into a classroom setting, and not isolated into a separate classroom. I feel as though the students are teaching me way more than I am teaching them. They all come from different backgrounds socially and economically, but it is my favorite part about inner-city/urban schools. Periodically, they also inform me about their culture. Today, one of the girls, let's call her Sally, came up to me, grabbed my hand, and started looking at my nail polish. Sally then asked, "Are you allowed to wear nail polish when you pray? Because I'm not." She then went on to tell me that women in the Somalian culture do not wear make up as well. It was very interesting to me, and I asked her to tell me more about what they do as part of the Somalian culture. Some of the students also do not speak English, or have had very minimal exposure the language. With this being said, it has been a slight challenge assisting them with the reading lessons, but it is very rewarding when they understand how to write a word or simple sentence. The look on their faces is priceless! I am an Education major, so I could go on and on about how happy I am at Cedar Riverside. It is such a wonderful school and the faculty and teachers are very proud of their work. It gives me much motivation and excitement to graduate and be a teacher as well! I think it is going to be a very fun semester!

Readings and Critical Reflection Project Update

Critical reflection project update:

Before I start a summary of the readings, I would like to briefly explain the status of my critical reflection project. I have e-mailed Jen Weber at Cedar Riverside Community School and she replied with attachments of forms that I still need to e-mail her. I will be going to Cedar Riverside on Wednesday, September 21 for an orientation hour. I'm really looking forward to working with the students and faculty at the school!

Summary:
The Freedom of a Christian is a novel that is written about Martin Luther's understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Written in 1520, it introduces a letter from Pope Leo X that has familiar content to me, being raised in a Roman Catholic family. Luther is confused and unable to understand why it's important to have indulgences and a pope as a link to Jesus Christ. He goes on to tell Pope Leo that he has no power because he is also a servant of God, and thinks that there should be no authority of the church attached to his title.Therefore explaining Luther's idea of being a "freed Christian"is to not be ruled under a specific church dogma. He views that people should have self-driven motivation when it comes to belonging to a religion, and I completely agree. The commandments were even seen as something that had very little self control, which were viewed very highly in the Roman Catholic church at the time. Luther went deeper in explaining that self-driven motivation came from having a personal relationship with Jesus. Along with Luther's view of a self-driven and non-authoritative Christian faith, Luther also goes on to explain that one cannot experience faith unless he or she have been through a time of difficulty. As an example, he states on page 49, "But one who has had even a small taste of faith can never write, speak, reflect, or hear enough concerning it."

 My personal reflection on Luther's work can be summed up as understanding and agreeing to most his statements. I feel that Luther was an accepting person because of his strong belief that a relationship with God is a personal relationship, and not just a relationship that comes to a person because they are believed to be a direct link to God. He uses valid points to back up his reasoning, such as the word "self-driven." Even as someone who was raised in a Roman Catholic family, I never understood the point of indulgences as well. In one of my Education courses, we actually discussed the frustration that indulgences caused on the members of the church at the time. Due to the language barrier between oral and written tradition, some of the members understood their purpose when explained through word of mouth, but there were many people who were unable to read what was written about them, resulting in blind understanding. I understand where Luther is coming from when he talks about experiencing faith at a difficult time. I understand it because usually someone is looking for an answer, and not just a religious answer, but a spiritual one. Faith can occur through many different links and emotions, such as sad, lost, confused, friends, a family member, mentor, or a church parish. Although I understand that, I also do believe it's possible for faith to come to a person during a happy time. I have encountered many people throughout my life who are just naturally happy, faith-filled, and joyful people. They may be those "rare exceptions," but they have led me to believe that faith comes in all forms, at various moments of a person's life, and not just during the difficult times.