When I think of celebrating holidays the first one that comes to my mind is Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. A big part of it has to do with how "magical" my family made it during this time of year. It still is a big celebration within my family, but it has always centered around religion, traditions and family. In the classroom, so often I wanted to create the same excitement and magic for my students around this time of year; however, I had to be mindful that I was an educator in a public school, not a Christian school, so my thinking had to shift. Maybe you are like me and you have gone through feelings that range from: we should celebrate holidays, to we should not celebrate ANY holidays, to we NEED to celebrate holidays but need to look at the approach we are taking to do so. This article which discusses three common pitfalls to avoid with holidays is a great way to start the conversation . It shares how some teachers may really hit holidays hard in December and try to teach about Christmas around the world and the different traditions or "versions" of Christmas. With a quick Google search you’ll find that Hanukkah is not an equivalent holiday to Christmas. Instead Rosh Hashanah and Passover are holidays that would be the more important holidays within the Jewish community. And we must, of course, consider students at our school who are Jehovah’s Witnesses and talk with them about how they feel in regards to their beliefs/practices too. “…teachers believe they are doing a good job of treating holidays equally, but there are still problems, usually arising from lack of awareness or information.” I know a common theme that occurs before and after break is asking students what they want for Christmas or what they received for Christmas. I would be lying if I said I had never done this or asked students to tell me about all of the exciting things they’d be doing/had done over their break. I did this my first years teaching, and quickly learned that I would not do it again. I had some students who had long extravagant lists and received every item on the list. I had other students who had high hopes & received very minimal items. Break from school for some students is an exciting time of traveling, celebrating, and doing fun activities with the family. Other students' breaks may look a little differently and their break may cause them anxiety for reasons known or unknown to us. To help support you with holidays: I have shared a few ideas below to help you through the month of December and all year long:
"Help students understand that although not everyone celebrates the same events, all holidays are equally valuable. There are no right or wrong holidays.” -CommonSense Podcast Finally, remember to always center students around the 4 anti-bias goals.
These goals are: 1. Nurture each students' self-identity within a context of a group identity. 2. Promote each students' comfortable interaction with people who are different from them. 3. Foster each students' ability to think critically about bias. 4. Cultivate each students' ability to be an activist and to stand up for himself or herself and for others in the face of bias.
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