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How do you imbed the fruit of the Spirit into your classroom? Or, if you haven’t previously considered this, how might you go about it now?
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The fruit of the Spirit is a concept that we have all dealt with our whole lives, the idea of the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would want to be treated. This helps others to see what is an appropriate way to react and how to treat others. This includes the idea that more is caught than taught. We need to set examples and let students know the expectations up front so that they know where they are aiming. Discipline and accountability can really give you freedom and access to lots of other ideas you couldn’t access if you are spending all your time trying to rebel or to disrupt.
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We use the fruits of the spirit as a guideline for our behavior side of the report card.
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At the beginning of the school year, the students and I write our classroom norms and rules. I think it would be meaningful and educational to begin this process with a study of the Fruit of the Spirit. We could read the passage, do so group work on the list and then discuss the atmosphere we want to create in our classroom. Together we will compile a list and then we will all sign it. One of my fellow teachers summarized her classroom norms into this saying, “Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?” It might be a good exercise to get the students to look at your norm statement and compare it to the Fruit of the Spirit.
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One way I imbed them into my classroom is by modeling them myself. Obviously I cannot do it perfectly, but if I show them love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control they will imitate those traits. We talk about these traits often, especially self-control. Each time someone is not showing the trait it is an opportunity to talk about what God desires from us. I praise students when I see them showing these traits. We have memorized the scripture , sung songs about them, and done activities and coloring pages that help us remember them. Every month at our school we also have a celebration chapel called Barnabas where we honor the character or fruit we have noticed of a couple students in our classroom. We call them up on stage and invite parents to join as we acknowledge how we see the Spirit working in their life.
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I have not previously considered this, but now I think it should be a foundation for my classroom guidelines.
