One of the coolest projects I have been able to do thus far with my 7th graders is what I like to call the Saint Dream Team Project. The goal of the project is to help students get to know a handful of saints better in a way that gets them to feel inspired to become one of their number. It reminds me a lot of the song's lyrics that say "Oh how I long to be in that number" from the song When the Saints Go Marching In.
How it goes:
1. Listen to this All Saints Day Homily and discuss how it helps to look at Saints as a part of something we want to be a part of, like the senior class. We want to be like the cool seniors, sit with them, share in their victory.
2. Each student comes up with what context they would like to be a part of for their Saint Dream Team. Examples: Zombie Apocalypse Team, Contestants on the Voice, Army Unit, Basketball Team, etc.
3. Next, they write down a rationale for why they chose the context they chose. For example, if I chose the TV show The Office. My rationale would be that I would like to work with the saints day in and day out. I'd like to be on their team, in their branch, selling the good news of God.
4. Then, they make their own dream team to match the roles or characters of their context. For example, in the office I would say:
- Michael Scott is like St. Peter because he is in charge, leads the office, but makes a lot of mistakes and says dumb things like St. Peter sometimes did.
- Pam is like St. Therese because she is sweet and kind and takes care of the little things in the office like St. Therese and her little way.
5. I like to show this example of an Old Testament Yearbook to help them to get their ideas flowing. They are allowed to use whatever means they want to present their dream team project but they must have at least a context, a rationale, and 10 saints with explanations. I give them ideas of using powerpoint, postermywall.com, etc.
View some of my classes examples!
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