I recently found about the National School Chaplaincy Programme. It has received a lot of criticism for having the government spend about $30M in chaplaincy programmes.
I probably agree with the critics. At least in my school the issues about teaching Buddhism are not about money. Anyway the document is the first official description of what a school chaplain is expected to do. I feel strange with that title ('chaplain').
Saturday 24 March 2007
5th class - video
I tried using technology this week! just showing part of a DVD.
As I expected the kids got very excited about it. The DVD "3 Refuges and 5 Precepts" is a very nice production by "Dharma Dream Production" and the Kong Men San Phor Karkb See Monastery. The first 15 minutes are appropriate for this age group. Later it becomes a bit too technical for under 16. Regrettably the sound of the DVD was not great, and a little bit hard to understand, specially with the noise you get in a classroom.
Again the discipline was a problem.
The curly hair girl at some point told me "those kids are very distracting, you should send them out". She is probably right and wiser than me. She was so good at sitting, and when I asked them to leave walking mindfully, she actually walked out slowly and watching each step. Very impressive, I told her "please tell your parents I'm very proud of your work"
The DVD starts by alternating scenes from noisy street environments with the faces of people meditating. The peaceful faces and the sound / silence make such an impressive effect that we all watched interested. Then there images of churches and temples from different religions and then images of Buddhist temples of different traditions, with monks and people meditating.
With the younger group we talked about the different religions shown in the video. They were curious about Ganesh, the Indian elephant God, and one of the kids knew the story and told it to everyone in the group. Very good. We briefly mentioned Christian, Muslims and Jews. I only repeated what the movie said, that believing in Buddhism was based on what we learn through the practice. 'Which practice?', I asked and one of the boys said 'meditation!'.
I used the images of Boddhi Gaya to remind them of the tree that they had seen in the images they had coloured. I then used the images of people meditating, showing the right way of sitting, particularly of crossing the hands over the lap, instead of 'flying around' in fancy mudras (that they have probably seen in movies).
With the older group, we stopped in the images of people bowing and discussed the significance, and the 3 refuges:
They had fun bowing, and repeating the verses.
I found out that the boy that does not speak English just came from Sri Lanka. The video I had planned for a future class might be a nice thing for him. "Budda and the rice planters" is a video I found in the library and shows temples and images of Sri Lanka.
Next week is the last class of the term.
As I expected the kids got very excited about it. The DVD "3 Refuges and 5 Precepts" is a very nice production by "Dharma Dream Production" and the Kong Men San Phor Karkb See Monastery. The first 15 minutes are appropriate for this age group. Later it becomes a bit too technical for under 16. Regrettably the sound of the DVD was not great, and a little bit hard to understand, specially with the noise you get in a classroom.
Again the discipline was a problem.
The curly hair girl at some point told me "those kids are very distracting, you should send them out". She is probably right and wiser than me. She was so good at sitting, and when I asked them to leave walking mindfully, she actually walked out slowly and watching each step. Very impressive, I told her "please tell your parents I'm very proud of your work"
The DVD starts by alternating scenes from noisy street environments with the faces of people meditating. The peaceful faces and the sound / silence make such an impressive effect that we all watched interested. Then there images of churches and temples from different religions and then images of Buddhist temples of different traditions, with monks and people meditating.
With the younger group we talked about the different religions shown in the video. They were curious about Ganesh, the Indian elephant God, and one of the kids knew the story and told it to everyone in the group. Very good. We briefly mentioned Christian, Muslims and Jews. I only repeated what the movie said, that believing in Buddhism was based on what we learn through the practice. 'Which practice?', I asked and one of the boys said 'meditation!'.
I used the images of Boddhi Gaya to remind them of the tree that they had seen in the images they had coloured. I then used the images of people meditating, showing the right way of sitting, particularly of crossing the hands over the lap, instead of 'flying around' in fancy mudras (that they have probably seen in movies).
With the older group, we stopped in the images of people bowing and discussed the significance, and the 3 refuges:
Buddham Saranam Gachami
Dhammam Saranam Gachami
Sangham Saranam Gachami
Dhammam Saranam Gachami
Sangham Saranam Gachami
They had fun bowing, and repeating the verses.
I found out that the boy that does not speak English just came from Sri Lanka. The video I had planned for a future class might be a nice thing for him. "Budda and the rice planters" is a video I found in the library and shows temples and images of Sri Lanka.
Next week is the last class of the term.
Friday 16 March 2007
4th class - coloring the story
This 4th week was more 'average' than the previous one, or at least more of what I am begining to expect.
The younger group was not as bad as last week, but the discipline was still an issue. I wish I had fewer students, it would be much easier. I talked with the teacher in charge of scriptures, and who takes care of discipline. She gave me some tips that I tried this week. Lets hope it works. I think she left two of the kids I sent to speak with her without the lunch break with friends. I hope it works. We spent most of the time coloring the book. I asked thm to focus on doing it well, making sure that they only color between the lines, and more importantly that they think about the image they are coloring. I walked around and asked a few of them what the image meant. Mixed responses. Some were not paying atention, but some did very well. We probably did about 5min seating. The truth is that I felt somewhat sad for not doing a bit better.
Note: there is a boy that seems to have serious problems with the English (tall and asian). I need to check on him next week.
The older group did not do as well as last time, probably because all teh class was there. But it was fine. Most of them wrote the story next to each image, and at least half had good recollection of what it meant. I still have to go through the notebooks to get a better feeling, than the approximation of walking around during class.
We discussed again the hindrances that we face when seating: discomfort, boredoom, sloth. And I gave examples with the different kids behaviours.
The girl with the curly hair did great again, she said she had been practising meditation while doing other things besides seating. I should congratulate the parents (if I knew how).
I will ned to photocopy, cut and glue the next lesson. We should be discussing the 2nd step: Right thoughts.
The younger group was not as bad as last week, but the discipline was still an issue. I wish I had fewer students, it would be much easier. I talked with the teacher in charge of scriptures, and who takes care of discipline. She gave me some tips that I tried this week. Lets hope it works. I think she left two of the kids I sent to speak with her without the lunch break with friends. I hope it works. We spent most of the time coloring the book. I asked thm to focus on doing it well, making sure that they only color between the lines, and more importantly that they think about the image they are coloring. I walked around and asked a few of them what the image meant. Mixed responses. Some were not paying atention, but some did very well. We probably did about 5min seating. The truth is that I felt somewhat sad for not doing a bit better.
Note: there is a boy that seems to have serious problems with the English (tall and asian). I need to check on him next week.
The older group did not do as well as last time, probably because all teh class was there. But it was fine. Most of them wrote the story next to each image, and at least half had good recollection of what it meant. I still have to go through the notebooks to get a better feeling, than the approximation of walking around during class.
We discussed again the hindrances that we face when seating: discomfort, boredoom, sloth. And I gave examples with the different kids behaviours.
The girl with the curly hair did great again, she said she had been practising meditation while doing other things besides seating. I should congratulate the parents (if I knew how).
I will ned to photocopy, cut and glue the next lesson. We should be discussing the 2nd step: Right thoughts.
Thursday 8 March 2007
BBC video about the life of Buddha
The British Broadcasting corporation has done a great move to make their great content more available.
By chance today I found this documentary about Buddhas life.
I hope I can get the DVD for the library, it might be a good resource for the class.
By chance today I found this documentary about Buddhas life.
I hope I can get the DVD for the library, it might be a good resource for the class.
NSW Buddhist curricula
The need for a standard curricula has become more obvious in the last couple of weeks. The NSW Buddhist council, and the councils from other states in Australia, have written guidelines describing mandatory and elective modules.
The compulsory modules are:
The Elective modules
Interestingly the modules describe content, not necesarily learning outcomes.
I will try to cover all these topics during the 4 terms in the year.
But I will try to focus on the eightfold path. The way I am doing it is following the Buddhas life and highlighting those things that show the four noble truths:
1. There is suffering
2. There is a reason for suffering
3. There is a solution to suffering
4. The solution is the eightfold path.
And the eightfold path:
1. Right views/understanding
2. Right thoughts
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration
The compulsory modules are:
- Module 1 Introduction to Buddhist classes.
- Module 2 Life of the Buddha. Part 1: Birth, childhood & marriage.
- Module 3 Life of the Buddha Part 2: Leaving the palace – the four sights.
- Module 4 Life of the Buddha Part 3: Under the Boddhi tree – Enlightenment.
- Module 5 Life of the Buddha Part 4: What the Buddha taught- the Four Noble Truths.
- Module 6 Life of the Buddha Part 5: The Buddha’s Disciples – the Sangha.
- Module 7 Life of the Buddha Part 6: Showing Loving Kindness.
- Module 8 Life of the Buddha Part 7: The Buddha’s last days.
- Module 9 Who is a Buddhist? The Triple Gem. The Five Precepts.
The Elective modules
- Module 1 Sangha visit.
- Module 2 Visit to (preferably) local Buddhist temple.
- Module 3 Buddhist festivals.
- Module 4 Buddhism in different cultures. Choose from: eg. Vietnamese, Tibetan, Japanese,
- Sri Lankan, Chinese, Cambodian, Thai etc.
- Module 5 Visit from/or to Gyuto Monks for Sand Mandala making & chanting.
- Module 6 Buddhist Art & History.
Interestingly the modules describe content, not necesarily learning outcomes.
I will try to cover all these topics during the 4 terms in the year.
But I will try to focus on the eightfold path. The way I am doing it is following the Buddhas life and highlighting those things that show the four noble truths:
1. There is suffering
2. There is a reason for suffering
3. There is a solution to suffering
4. The solution is the eightfold path.
And the eightfold path:
1. Right views/understanding
2. Right thoughts
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration
3rd class
Today was an interesting day. The school had a swimming pool day, so many of the kids did not came to class, particularly in the older group.
The meditation was metta (loving kindness). We focused on the breath during the whole session. Sending love when we breath in, and then feeling the air coming out through the nostrils when we breath out. When breathing in, we think about someone we love, trying to visualize the person. When we breath out we just focus on the breath coming out through the nostrils.
The younger k-2 kids were terrible. It was partially my fault. I did not hand out their notebooks at the beginning of the class, when I was passing role, and then it was too late. We did about 10 minutes of sitting, but too many were too distracted. Then I tried to spend some time reviewing Buddhas life, but by then it was hard to get the attention of half of the class....
What I've learned: The little ones need to be more busy. Being busy keeps the discipline under control. The 30 minutes is actually all they can handle for this type of activity (or inactivity I should say).
Despite the problems some kids must have done better than I thought. One of the girls seemed sad when we finished the class, and one of her friends was hugging her. I asked her what was wrong and she said she had not been able to see her grandfather. The grandfather had died recently, and I now think she meant during the visualization exercise... This means he tried hard, and it teaches me I should mention that this might happen and its alright.
All the bad luck of the work in the first group, was compensated with the great results in the older kids group. There were about 10 kids. Two of them kept making noise in the first 5 min of the sitting, moving around, etc. So I send them to the office. It was very obvious that the other ones were very ready to sit and do it properly, so it would have been unfair to leave them there. Everything was perfect afterwards.
One of the girls actually sat for most of the 30 min. Poor things, I could tell she was in pain. First her legs (she was in full lotus!), then everything.. her teeth grinding, but she kept going.
I asked those that felt in pain to change positions if they needed to, but she wanted to keep still!
The meditation was metta (loving kindness). We focused on the breath during the whole session. Sending love when we breath in, and then feeling the air coming out through the nostrils when we breath out. When breathing in, we think about someone we love, trying to visualize the person. When we breath out we just focus on the breath coming out through the nostrils.
The younger k-2 kids were terrible. It was partially my fault. I did not hand out their notebooks at the beginning of the class, when I was passing role, and then it was too late. We did about 10 minutes of sitting, but too many were too distracted. Then I tried to spend some time reviewing Buddhas life, but by then it was hard to get the attention of half of the class....
What I've learned: The little ones need to be more busy. Being busy keeps the discipline under control. The 30 minutes is actually all they can handle for this type of activity (or inactivity I should say).
Despite the problems some kids must have done better than I thought. One of the girls seemed sad when we finished the class, and one of her friends was hugging her. I asked her what was wrong and she said she had not been able to see her grandfather. The grandfather had died recently, and I now think she meant during the visualization exercise... This means he tried hard, and it teaches me I should mention that this might happen and its alright.
All the bad luck of the work in the first group, was compensated with the great results in the older kids group. There were about 10 kids. Two of them kept making noise in the first 5 min of the sitting, moving around, etc. So I send them to the office. It was very obvious that the other ones were very ready to sit and do it properly, so it would have been unfair to leave them there. Everything was perfect afterwards.
One of the girls actually sat for most of the 30 min. Poor things, I could tell she was in pain. First her legs (she was in full lotus!), then everything.. her teeth grinding, but she kept going.
I asked those that felt in pain to change positions if they needed to, but she wanted to keep still!
Wednesday 7 March 2007
feedback
Tomorrow is my next class and I have decided to not include any new activity. We will only be working on sitting and filling/coloring the stories that we did in the last couple of weeks. I am keen in seeing how far we can go with the sitting. Hopefully the discipline will be fine...
I was thinking that with fewer requirements I might actually be able to achieve more. For what is it that we want them to learn. To calm their minds and to live better lives following the eightfold path.
Interestingly when I asked the older ones, what did they want to learn, the said things like 'about Buddha', 'who is the Buddha', etc. It sounded like pre-maid answers that were aimed at the facts. Obviously they do not yet see the value in practising. Maybe I could compare it to a sport, where learning the rules of the sport or its history is important, but not as much as the actual practise.
Today I went with my son to the library and borrowed 'Stepping into freedom' by Thich Nhat Hanh. It is unbelievable how much he writes. And so far I always liked his books.
I was thinking that with fewer requirements I might actually be able to achieve more. For what is it that we want them to learn. To calm their minds and to live better lives following the eightfold path.
Interestingly when I asked the older ones, what did they want to learn, the said things like 'about Buddha', 'who is the Buddha', etc. It sounded like pre-maid answers that were aimed at the facts. Obviously they do not yet see the value in practising. Maybe I could compare it to a sport, where learning the rules of the sport or its history is important, but not as much as the actual practise.
Today I went with my son to the library and borrowed 'Stepping into freedom' by Thich Nhat Hanh. It is unbelievable how much he writes. And so far I always liked his books.
Sunday 4 March 2007
the purpose of this blog
Why would I keep a blog? and why would I make it public?
I have asked this to myself several times, so I might as well blog the answer.
The first one is easy. It is well known in the scholarly research in education that reflective practice in teaching is a good practice. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher by Stephen D. Brookfield. Wiley 1995. ISBN: 978-0-7879-0131-8 is a popular book in these matters, at least here, between Australian academics. This blog addresses just that, practising reflection on my primary school teaching, and my own practise as a buddhist.
Why would I make this public?
This one is harder. Buddhism is all about eliminating the ego, but Blogs are normally tools for feeding it up. By keeping a blog, and making it public, would I be just feeding my ego?
On the positive side, it is said that teaching and spreading the dhamma is one of the most positive things we can do. Although I'm not a 'Teacher" (I leave that to the monks and nuns), maybe my experiences teaching (with lower case) kids are useful to other people.
I have not made up my mind yet. Maybe later on I make this public and ask for feedabck from Bhante Sister Sumitra, and other Teachers I respect. If they say its OK, then I will keep making it available.
I have asked this to myself several times, so I might as well blog the answer.
The first one is easy. It is well known in the scholarly research in education that reflective practice in teaching is a good practice. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher by Stephen D. Brookfield. Wiley 1995. ISBN: 978-0-7879-0131-8 is a popular book in these matters, at least here, between Australian academics. This blog addresses just that, practising reflection on my primary school teaching, and my own practise as a buddhist.
Why would I make this public?
This one is harder. Buddhism is all about eliminating the ego, but Blogs are normally tools for feeding it up. By keeping a blog, and making it public, would I be just feeding my ego?
On the positive side, it is said that teaching and spreading the dhamma is one of the most positive things we can do. Although I'm not a 'Teacher" (I leave that to the monks and nuns), maybe my experiences teaching (with lower case) kids are useful to other people.
I have not made up my mind yet. Maybe later on I make this public and ask for feedabck from Bhante Sister Sumitra, and other Teachers I respect. If they say its OK, then I will keep making it available.
Thursday 1 March 2007
2nd class
Yesterday was my second class already, and I'm still surviving!
I have 30 students in the first group. They go from Kindergarten to year 2.
The second group has 20 kids, years 3-6.
The second group was much easier. The 10 fewer students make a lot of difference.
On week one, the first class logistics utterly failed me.
I wanted the kids in the first group to colour a set of drawing from the life of Buddha.
I started handing them out when I realized that it would take too long, so I had the great idea of asking 3 students to help distributed the 3 pages that everybody should have worked on. I asked each of them to distribute 1 page, of course what happened was that all students ended with just one, at random.... When the time came to color, everybody was saying 'but I do not have this one...' or 'I do not have that other'.
At the end of the 30 minutes I had not achieved any of the things in my list for the day.
For the second -older- group, on week one, I already did a bit better. The were not so many logistic problems and we read the story and many even wrote the things I aked them to...
On week two, I strated by 'refreshing' the story of Prince Siddharta, up t the point were we have finished last week. This was a drawing where he is sitting under a tree, just before enlightement.
I then went over the life of Buddha as a teacher. Starting when he gets enlightened, going over the growing Sangha and responsabilities and ending in his death (I did not explain Nirvana).
The message was the first step: 'Right Understanding". Right understanding as seeing that things change. We can not be happy forever and we can not be sad forever. Things appear and dissapear. The same with our lives. Even the Buddha dies, just like anyone else. And with death comes sadness. I did not mention Nirvana, but we talked a bit about deaht and some of the kids mentioned how they felt sad when a family member died, or they pet died.
We then sat, probably fpr like 10 minutes, with several interruptions.
But this week we started seating, and that is what matters.
Out of the 30, 10 did really well, 15 where OK but around 5 were terrible. and I mean terrible.
When we got to the seating in the second group I had about the same proportions.
Of course 20 is much easier to manage.
Interestingly, many did really well. They sat for the 10 min and could have easily done it longer.
We discussed briefly about how they practice at home. About a third actually sit periodically with their parents. Normally in the evenings. One of the girls in the second group was really cute about it and asked if were going to sit next week. When I asked 'would you like me to?' she said 'oh yes, please' in such a sincere way that made me very happy. In fact when someone asked how often did I practice, I was a bit embarassed saying that I tried to do it everyday, but it was not always possible and sometimes I just did walking meditation. I should be able to teach with my example.
I have 30 students in the first group. They go from Kindergarten to year 2.
The second group has 20 kids, years 3-6.
The second group was much easier. The 10 fewer students make a lot of difference.
On week one, the first class logistics utterly failed me.
I wanted the kids in the first group to colour a set of drawing from the life of Buddha.
I started handing them out when I realized that it would take too long, so I had the great idea of asking 3 students to help distributed the 3 pages that everybody should have worked on. I asked each of them to distribute 1 page, of course what happened was that all students ended with just one, at random.... When the time came to color, everybody was saying 'but I do not have this one...' or 'I do not have that other'.
At the end of the 30 minutes I had not achieved any of the things in my list for the day.
For the second -older- group, on week one, I already did a bit better. The were not so many logistic problems and we read the story and many even wrote the things I aked them to...
On week two, I strated by 'refreshing' the story of Prince Siddharta, up t the point were we have finished last week. This was a drawing where he is sitting under a tree, just before enlightement.
I then went over the life of Buddha as a teacher. Starting when he gets enlightened, going over the growing Sangha and responsabilities and ending in his death (I did not explain Nirvana).
The message was the first step: 'Right Understanding". Right understanding as seeing that things change. We can not be happy forever and we can not be sad forever. Things appear and dissapear. The same with our lives. Even the Buddha dies, just like anyone else. And with death comes sadness. I did not mention Nirvana, but we talked a bit about deaht and some of the kids mentioned how they felt sad when a family member died, or they pet died.
We then sat, probably fpr like 10 minutes, with several interruptions.
But this week we started seating, and that is what matters.
Out of the 30, 10 did really well, 15 where OK but around 5 were terrible. and I mean terrible.
When we got to the seating in the second group I had about the same proportions.
Of course 20 is much easier to manage.
Interestingly, many did really well. They sat for the 10 min and could have easily done it longer.
We discussed briefly about how they practice at home. About a third actually sit periodically with their parents. Normally in the evenings. One of the girls in the second group was really cute about it and asked if were going to sit next week. When I asked 'would you like me to?' she said 'oh yes, please' in such a sincere way that made me very happy. In fact when someone asked how often did I practice, I was a bit embarassed saying that I tried to do it everyday, but it was not always possible and sometimes I just did walking meditation. I should be able to teach with my example.
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