October 9, 2009

Educators must nurture ‘humanitarian spark’ in their students

Bob Tully, campus minister at Roncall High School, says educators must teach their students to put their faith into action. (Photo by Brandon A. Evans)

Bob Tully, campus minister at Roncall High School, says educators must teach their students to put their faith into action. (Photo by Brandon A. Evans)

By Brandon A. Evans

Bob Tully knows an essential truth about the hearts of Catholic school students.

It’s an insight he gained from his lengthy career of teaching religion at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis.

“Every one of us has that humanitarian spark in our heart,” said Tully, now a campus minister at the school.

A teacher’s job, he added, is to blow on that spark and start a blaze.

Tully shared those insights during an Oct. 1 workshop at a kickoff conference for a yearlong social ministry renewal in the archdiocese that is known as SHINE—“Spreading Hope In Neighborhoods Everywhere.”

During his workshop—“Integrating Social Ministry into Catholic Education”—Tully talked about how Catholic schools often do a good job of teaching students to put their Catholic faith into action.

Still, he encouraged them to aim for a vision of service learning that is not just part of religion courses in Catholic schools, but is part of every topic—from math and science to government and English.

Called community service learning, Tully showed a slide that defined the approach: a “teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities.”

Every teacher should aim to help their students take the skills they learn and put them to use, he said. As an example, he cited a government teacher getting students to write to their elected officials.

Tully listed several key components of service learning, among them: find a worthy service project for your class, encourage your students to write a journal (and read their journals), and celebrate after a project is successfully completed.

Young people—all people—are eager to serve if we give them the opportunity to help, he said. †

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