The Ten Commandments

In the fifth and sixth grade curriculum, there is an emphasis on The Old Testament. That said, I think that Moses and The Ten Commandments should be discussed in some capacity in every grade level. It is a rich story that links to many Catholic traditions, comes equipped with a terrific movie, and is an easy way to get kids talking about right and wrong.

When I taught The Ten Commandments this past year, I decided to put a more positive spin on it. I can't take credit for the idea, but I love the perspective of making The Ten Commandments about what we should do, rather than what we shouldn't. 

That is, I get my students to turn "Thou-Shalt-Nots" into "Thou-Shalts!"

In this lesson, I write The Ten Commandments in their most familiar forms on the board. (I might edit them slightly, for example, turn "goods" into "stuff" and "wife" into "spouse" because these can be annoying distractions if the kids constantly have to mentally translate. I would rather them focus on the content at hand.)

After writing them down, I have the students take a few Cookie Commandments out of a bowl that I have prepared beforehand. These are Milano cookies that I have broken in half and shaved down with a Microplaner until smooth so that they resemble Moses' tablets. I have written the numbers 1-10 on the cookies with relatively even distribution and throw in a few "wild card" cookies. I try to have the kids choose at least three cookies apiece, which is a good number for my group of 10 students. Obviously, this varies with your time constraints, class size, etc.

Each student then takes a turn, chooses one of their cookies and then reads the corresponding commandment on the board. I then ask them to flip the commandment to ask them how they would obey God by doing something positive, instead of just not doing something. Action vs. inaction.

Examples:

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's stuff."

"Thou shall be grateful for what you have."

"Thou shalt not have other gods before Me."

"Thou shall make God the most important person/entity in your life, giving Him time before anything else like sporting events or video games."

"Thou shalt not bear false witness ("gossip or lie") about thy neighbor."

"Thou shall speak only the truth or kind words about other people."

I feel that this is a really important lesson for the children because of an oft-cited criticism of Catholic culture. Lapsed Catholics often complain of "rules" and a feeling you're constantly guilted about what not to do. We know that this is not the beauty and essence of the faith. However, if that is a common perception, that in itself is a problem. It means that we as teachers need to do a better job emphasizing the "works" aspect of being Catholic--the example of following Jesus in healing and the fact that we are sent into the world to serve, not to merely refrain from bad behavior and call it a day. 

Now, you will note that not all of the commandments are "Thou shalt not...etc." The third ("Keep holy the Sabbath") and fourth ("Honor your mother and father") already come conveniently positive. For these commandments, I just ask the kids to give examples. Interestingly, Honor your mother and father tends to be the go-to choice for students when they receive a wild card cookie and get to select a commandment. This should thrill parents everywhere that their children are so ready and willing to come up with ideas to please them. 

One of the most challenging commandments tend to be "Thou shalt not kill". For the first, relating killing to anger and guiding the kids to challenging anger is a good way to go ("Take anger out in a healthy way" is a good one because it acknowledges that anger is a valid emotion and is often unavoidable to feel until a positive outlet is found.) The heroic option of "Help save a life" is another good one and you can help the students come up with even more specific examples, like going into a medical profession, consoling a depressed friend, or encouraging people to choose life when it comes to abortion. 

The most challenging commandment is arguably "Thou shalt not commit adultery." For this age group, "remaining faithful" or "appreciating your spouse/friends" or "do kind things to show your spouse/friends that you love them" are good choices in terms of fostering understanding and modeling positive behavior. I say "spouse/friends" so that the kids can see what positive behavior is expected of them as adults, but also that their relationships with their friends should carry the same dynamics. 

This lesson is actually the second in my two-part series on Moses. Prior to this, I do a lesson on Moses' biography with emphasis on The Plagues, which I'll be outlining in the next post.