The Aspirations of Children in Religious Education

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As childish and cliche as this picture might seem, it fits the model for the Church of the Resurrection religious education program perfectly. "Aim for the stars", that is what we strive for our kids who come through to learn. We want them to get that God is always with them and that they can always turn to him when they are in need. But, we also try to instil the message of always striving for their greatest. All of the students that come though the program have tons of potential although, they may not recognize it. As a person who the children look up to, I am responsible for planting the seed in their head that if they set their mind to do something they will accomplish it.


This illustration reveals a lot more than just a childish picture. Reading into it, you get the idea of a person who younger ones look up to. In my case, children who do not know all that they can do and it is up to their teachers to unlock all of it. Guiding them is extremely important when they are young because they will follow, if you reveal to them what you are saying will help them in the rest of their lives. At the religious ed program we try to do just that. We teach them about the Church and history of this God person who they hear about but, do not know who he is. By showing them that anything is possible with God's help they can achieve what ever they aspire to do.

The Importance of Service in Life

Service is very important as a life experience for a magnitude of reasons. One reason being that getting out there and serving your community is not something that everyone does. For example, some people go their whole life without doing any type of community service. The experience of serving others is one that is very rewarding and can be very fun. Most people just say that it is not for them and do not do it. But if they gave it a try I believe that they would see the enjoyment in serving those around them. It is definitely something that someone might not necessarily want to do, but when they finish serving it makes them an overall better person. I know for me on my first day I was a little nervous about my service but after the first 10 minutes I found I really liked it. Another reason why service is an important life experience is it is a good thing to see how other people interact. For example, while helping in a religious education class I got to see the teacher of the class use her own way to convey the days messages. Seeing that is a positive for me because I am usually the one being taught and just focused on listening to the teacher. But, being an assistant in the classroom I get to see the other side of things and how it is not easy to be a teacher.


Service is good for my human dignity because it makes me an all around better person and will also help me get others to do some type of volunteer work like myself. By completing all the service I get a better understanding of my life and how positive any kind if service is on someone. Dignity is important to the people I served because helping with teaching the kids their faith is something very good for them. If no one were there to teach them about what they believe in than they would go their whole life questioning what they believe.

Importance of Common Good in my Service

Common good is extremely important in my service and in society today. It's definition, social conditions that permit people to reach their full potential and to promote universal human development, clearly shows how important common good is in service. It is especially important in my service because I deal with educating younger kids on their faith and part of our job is to promote their spiritual development. All in all my service is very important for the common good because without it their would be hundreds of kids who would grow up not learning about their faith and God. If that happened society would be much worse off. In the program there are many standards and rules set in place to make sure dignity and learning take place. We make sure that all kids show up and participate in class to be sure that they grasp the lesson for the day. Also, we make sure they have the proper materials to learn. Their text books are provided because most visuals are in there to help learn the topic. The teachers are mandated to go over lesson plans ahead of time to make sure it is taut correctly. It is essential that all those things are done because if they were not then the children would not learn anything and that would be a detriment to their education and later society.

From my service learning experience I could take a couple of the lessons I have learned and apply them in different aspects of my life. One lesson would be to always do your best no matter the situation. Whether you are teaching a religious education class or taking a test, you should try. In my service I was faced with some tougher situations if I did not handle them properly and try to correct them the right way, a negative view would have been casted over me and the program. Another lesson I took away was doing good for you community feels good and is good. By completing thirty plus hours of service I feel like I helped everyone who I had come in contact with. If someone were to do service it gives off a rewarding feeling for you and has helped society for the better.

Human Dignity

Human dignity is not something that you have to earn but is freely given to you when you enter the world. When you receive it you automatically have been given the right to be respected. In my service at the Church of the Resurrection religious eduction program I had first hand experience with people who emulate that quality and who are very worthy of respect. Dignity focuses on all life being sacred from the time you are born to the time you die. There were many examples of human dignity in the area that I had worked. One was the entire agency expects all who work and attend to treat others with respect. When I was doing my hours I witnessed people all around me showing the up-most respect for their fellow volunteers and the children attending the program. I also tried my hardest to do the same by caring about what I was doing and for those that I had helped to teach. Another example was a child in my classroom that was mentally retarded. I as an instructor had to show respect and do all that I could for this girl just like I would for any other kid in the class. If I needed to help her a little more than the other kids than that was my obligation. Just because she was different than the other kids in the way she learned, she still deserved the same amount of respect and patience I gave to everyone else in the class. 

A final example of when I witnessed the concept of human dignity was when a group of kids in class would continue to talk to one another even though they were asked to stop. I as an aide was responsible for keeping the peace in the classroom and when kids talked out, I was in charge of keeping them quiet. These kids were difficult to deal with but I could not lose my focus on trying to quiet them. I had to do it politely and courteously even though they would talk often. Overall just because some of the kids in the class took extra time to learn or not able to keep quiet, I treated them with the same amount of respect as I would the 'perfect' student of the class.