Teaching up to Easter

So this week we are doing standardized testing at school. In the past I have cringed at the word. As a Special Ed teacher I had many stressful experiences in the states because of those words. I cared so much for the kids, but when it came to some standardized tests they were supposed to fit into a 'box' that wasn't meant for them.

This year has been so different. The school doesn't stress about the tests, and we don't have to teach to the test, as was my reality in the past. I have enjoyed the creativity I have had this year with teaching. I love to be creative, and in the fall the elementary floor at our school had projectors installed. That just gave me more reason to enhance the lessons I teach. The largest area I struggle with in balancing the time is with Social Studies. There is no 'store bought' curriculum for this subject, and it is one of my favorite subjects to teach! Half of the 3rd grade curriculum is Hungary Geography and History, which a teacher from 4 or 5 years ago put together a binder of 'curriculum' with set objectives which has been helpful. It has been fun to learn with my kids about this. Today as I was planning it I was struggling with balancing reality with my desire to be creative. I want to make awesome PowerPoint presentations to go along with the notes and to display pictures to give students a visual, but it takes time, and as a new teacher time that I don't always have! :) I guess there are things in life that we all go through this in one way or another, but I guess I am just rambling on...

So back to my main point that I wanted to talk about. With the testing week came flexibility in what I taught for bible and so I wanted to plan meaningful lessons about Jesus Dying on the Cross and Rising from the Dead. I started by trying to find videos, but the search led me to too graphic videos for kids. So then how can I make it meaningful? Well Today I think I got a spark. I found a monologue of the prisoner Barabbas, and read it to my kids. Most of them were shocked when they heard it from that point of view. Interesting that it is a point of view not shared much. It was good discussion to what we have been studying about Jesus's life in Bible all year. Nothing that Jesus did made common sense to the people, like when he asked the disciples to feed the 5,000+ people. We also talked about how painful the death on the cross was and how there were 3 nails, of course the cringed. Tomorrow we are going to talk about how Jesus served his disciples and washed their feet at the last supper. In teaching them, it has been such a good reminder to me too of what Easter is really about. I am thankful that Jesus did conquer death, so that I may live with hope in this dark world that some day I will live forever in Heaven! I would not be here in Hungary writing this blog if there were no reason to support these kids of missionaries and to reach local Hungarian students with the gospel as their parents enroll them in a school for the reason of it being in English. I pray that this Easter season the truths that are taught to my kids from non-believing families will stir up discussion, would you pray that also?