Teacher Diaries: Spreading Christmas Cheer
As a teacher, I try my very hardest to not only make sure I am covering the Grade 3 curriculum to the best of my ability, but I also want to teach them valuable life lessons in social justice, hospitality, forgiveness, courage, peacemaking, love, compassion, faith, and at this time of the year, around Christmas, I wanted to teach them about charity.
DISCLAIMER: I do teach at a Catholic school, however, I stay very discrete about it on social media and in public, as I find speaking about religion akin to discussing politics at the dinner table. I am a firm believer in religion being one's own personal decision, and not for anyone else to comment on, nor do I think it is right to push one's religion on someone else.
At our school, we celebrate virtues of the month, and for December, we focused on the virtue of Charity. After hearing about the story of little Safyre Terry who tragically lost her father and siblings to arson two years ago and her sweet Christmas wish to have enough Christmas cards to fill her Christmas-card tree, I was so moved that I shared her story with my third grade students who are the same age as Safyre. My students all agreed that we would help make her wish come true by hand-making Christmas cards, and send them to her. They worked very hard to draw a Christmas picture and wrote touching messages to Safyre, wishing her a Merry Christmas. Some of the messages (that I proofread) brought tears to eyes, seeing how sweet these little souls are, and how big their hearts are. It was a teaching moment that I'll always remember.
For those that are interested in sending Safyre a card, or even a little present, the mailing address is:
Safyre Terry
P.O. Box 6126
Schenectady, NY
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