Theology teacher Dr. McCue recently led her junior class through an immersive colonial religious character project. Students represented figures from the past including Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams, John Winthrop and William Bradford. Dressed up in colonial garb, each student acted as a historical figure, explained their importance to the period and interacted with the other figures based on their relationships to each other. Dr. McCue interviewed each one, and students hashed it out with British accents.
Upperclasswomen continued to take part in innovative lessons in Mrs. Puma’s senior theology class. In class students have been focusing on what their personal relationship with God looks like. After discussing what their perceptions of God were as children, they were given play-doh to create a symbol to represent their child-like image of God. Then, the students created a second symbol of what their perception of God looks like today. This activity gave the students a moment of self-reflection and helped them visualize how their image of God has changed throughout their lives.
Sophomores in Mr. Santos’ classes recently took part in a collaborative research assignment. Each group was assigned an overarching theme in Buddhism and was tasked with researching a specific topic within their theme. The researchers worked together to design and deliver a lesson to teach their classmates about their findings. Mr. Santos expressed, “The students were challenged to become the eminent authorities on their topic, and they all rose to the occasion.”
Theology I students have been preparing for the Christmas season. In Mrs. Strada’s classes, the freshmen learned about the Jesse tree, a depiction of Jesus’ family tree that is used around the Advent season. The class has turned a classic Christmas tree into their Jesse tree to fill with ornaments representing different biblical symbols. While examining Old Testament prophets and Bible stories, each student chose a Biblical passage to research, present on and create an ornament based on her selected story. Each day until Christmas, a student’s ornament is secretly placed in a box, and the creator of the ornament plays a game with her peers to guess the biblical symbol depicted on the ornament.
As we finish the Thanksgiving season and enter the Advent season, we are called to reflect and prepare for the birth of Jesus Christ, often looking at symbols and ways that God is present in our lives. The theology classes at Trinity Hall will continue to celebrate this season through prayer, activities and assignments until Christmas.