My Spiritual Philosophies as an Educator

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CONTENT WARNING: The religious/spiritual opinions in this blog post are mine and do not reflect those of all educators. Commentaries published on my First Former Buddy Club President influencer page represent diverse viewpoints. If you would like to submit a commentary, please contact me for more information. All perspectives and experiences are welcome here.


TRIGGER WARNING: If you are affected by religious trauma, this blog post may be triggering. If you need support right now, please seek help from a therapist or other mental health professional. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text "HOME" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 if you live in the USA or text "CONNECT" to the Crisis Text Line at 686868 if you live in Canada. You can also visit my hotline resources page by clicking on this hyperlink: Hotline Resources.










    My sense of spirituality influences the choices that I make and affects the students in my classroom and the school community in numerous ways. The quote from a child is on the first page of chapter six in the Teen Years Explained: A Guide to Adolescent Development written by Clea McNeely and Jayne Blanchard: "The best thing about my religion is that everyone in the community is nice and accepts your flaws" (pg. 71, Hopkins 2009). I have experienced this for the most part when it comes to encountering people from the New Church religion before and during my time as a student at Bryn Athyn College and Field Experience intern at the Bryn Athyn Church School. I have observed that most individuals from the New Church religion appear to take kindness very seriously as part of their religious beliefs. This is because they care about showing true Christian behaviors. This makes me think of the following Bible: "Love your neighbor as yourself." This means that it is important for everyone to treat everyone in the same way that they would want to be treated.

    Throughout my childhood and adulthood, I have experienced prolonged bullying, which has left me on a lifelong healing journey. I attended Catholic school from first to third grade. After third grade, my parents enrolled me in public school. I am not against the Catholic religion; however, based on my individual experiences, sometimes Christian behaviors can be confusing and contradictory to me. The Catholic religion has been the only religion that I have been exposed to and along with many authentic people, there have been inauthentic people. The way that some people acted at church and at school was different than how they acted on the outside. The church that I grew up in was very cliquey and did not display acceptance at all. Also, from the academic and social standpoint, most people with differences did not have positive experiences. In regards to the clique, families were treated differently based on who they were and who they knew. There were few people who exhibited true Christian behavior during my experience. For example, after moving schools, my parents enrolled my brother and I in our church's Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD), which was our church's Catholic education program for public school students. When my mother registered us, the nun who was in charge of the program never asked my parents why they removed us from Catholic school. Instead, she praised them for continuing our religious education and stated that she was looking forward to having us. There was also a teacher at this Catholic school who was very kind to me. She was accepting of me as I was going through some personal stuff and very accommodating of all students' learning preferences. She also showed kindness, empathy, and patience towards students and families of all differences.


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    I am not being biased towards the Catholic religion just based off of the experiences that I have had with it because I was not exposed to all parishes. I had experience at only one parish and one Catholic college; so, these were my individual experiences, and they were not good. Being exposed to the people from the New Church religion who take kindness seriously has indirectly contributed to my healing journey. These positive and negative experiences have also contributed to the development of my teacher philosophies about teaching kindness and bullying prevention in classrooms. To elaborate more, some of my teacher dispositions include respect for people of all differences, advocacy, honesty, and fairness. I also take Trauma-Informed Care and Education very seriously as part of teacher philosophy and partially as a result of my own experiences. Spirituality can lift up the souls of people who have experienced trauma in order to help them heal. Teachers should reassure students that there is hope in life after negative experiences and despite their potential shyness, they are capable of being strong, self-sufficient, and resilient. In addition, while teachers cannot force religious practices upon any students, true Christian behaviors are universal, and everyone should be doing these positive behaviors for the purpose of respect. As for students who do practice any types of religion, attending religious services may also affect performance at school in positive and negative ways. While it may take away time from schoolwork in the interest of time, there are also many benefits. To elaborate more, "strong religious communities emphasize and reward socially acceptable behavior and encourage young people to keep up their studies" (pg. 73, McNeely 2009). A quote from one child in The Teen Years Explained: A Guide to Healthy Adolescent Development states the following: "My faith pushes me to be the best I can be" (pg. 73, McNeely 2009). Spirituality in education can also build students' critical thinking skills in all life scenarios. For example, it can build strong connections about the things that truly matter in their individual life works, relationships, and overall lives. While there are negative parts of everyone, spirituality can also decrease people's All or Nothing Thinking by getting them to see the good in others and themselves.


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If you are affected by religious trauma, remember that you are not alone and there is hope. If you or someone you know needs support right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text "HOME" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

You can also visit my hotline resources page by clicking on this hyperlink: Hotline Resources




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                                                                      Citations

1. McNeely, C. & Blanchard, J. (2009). Chapter 6: Spirituality. The Teen Years Explained: A Guide to Healthy Adolescent Development. (pp. 71-77). Center for Adolescent Health at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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