Proud To Be An American Teaching Theme

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How to Help Students Be Patriotic

In modern times, July 4th is a holiday that’s associated with merriment, drinks, and fireworks. People dress up in blue, red, and white and spend time with their family or friends. However, that's not all that day is about.

National holidays aren't only an excuse to celebrate offs with loved ones. These holidays are a chance to instill a sense of identity and patriotism in the country's citizens. Teachers and parents sometimes struggle with conveying patriotism to young minds. Keep reading to find out how.

What Is Patriotism?

A deep sense of love, pride, and attachment towards one's nation is patriotism. That's the textbook definition. What does patriotism mean in its true sense?

An individual loves one's country and contributes to its welfare and progress. Taking genuine pride in declaring their nation as their identity is patriotism.

The Objectives

Patriotism isn't just a concept or notion. It is an emotion and a feeling of affection towards one's nation. Inculcating the sense of patriotism from an early age is therefore crucial for a nation's prosperity.

Here are a couple of objectives of patriotism:

- Patriotism instills a deep sense of pride, due to which an individual constantly thrives to make their nation proud. Therefore, such an individual always stays away from crimes that would harm the peace and safety of the country. Apart from that, such an individual also checks on society's unlawful acts, which could bring shame to the nation's pride.

- Patriotism also enhances the spirit of self-reliance in an individual. A patriotic citizen won't be seen on the streets asking for more. That'd be disrespectful and ungrateful towards their beloved nation. You'd always find patriotic individuals self-reliant and happy with what they have, knowing that attaining luxury will ultimately cost the country.

- Patriotism brings people of diverse backgrounds together in harmony for the development and progress of the nation. Patriotic individuals celebrate diversity by learning from each other and ultimately putting their learning into practice to bring innovative solutions to their nation's problems.

Teaching Students How to Show Patriotism

Teaching students how to express patriotism is important so they can acknowledge and identify with their nation's honor. It is a heavy responsibility for teachers to instill pride in the country among young students.

Here are a few examples:

Celebrate National Holidays In Class: Have Veteran's Day coming? Organize a parade across the school. Explain to students the importance of honoring the veterans who have served the country and made countless sacrifices. Make banners and prepare acts for the parade. The more detailed the activities are, the more students will learn.

Organize Election Day At School: Let students become candidates for the election of the school's discipline committee. Ask them to prepare speeches and policies that they'd use as the basis to get votes. All the while, remind them of the responsibility they have as an election candidate.

Organize a Trip to Historic Sites: A country's true foundation lies in its history. Take your students to a historical site to elaborate on how people in your country's history worked tirelessly and sacrificed their all so that the nation could prosper.

Organize a Meet Up with a Government Official: Why not inquire about the nation's problems by the people solving them firsthand? Invite a policymaker or any other government official to your class and let students question the current government policies relevant to your students or the ones your students are interested in knowing about.

Discuss the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance:

1. Discuss the meaning behind the national anthem and the pledge of allegiance with your students.

2. Play a game or show a small video to your student's forehand and then ask them what they understood.

3. Conclude the class by singing the national anthem together to create a sense of pride.

Enhance Their Understanding of Freedom: Allow your students to list all their fundamental rights as students in the school. Then, ask them to imagine what would happen if these rights were taken away. Once your students start getting the gist of the activity and realize how it feels to be deprived, discuss the 10 Amendments with them. This would get them thinking of their privileges as citizens of this country and appreciate their freedom.

The Importance in Schools

A student spends most of their time socializing at school. Whether it's the soft skills or some fantastic talent, school is the best place for young individuals to hone their skills. Teaching students patriotism in school will result in them feeling pride and love for their nation.

Here are some other reasons to back the importance of patriotism in school:

Peer Pressure: Students are constantly under peer pressure when socializing at school. Peer pressure can be adequate in teaching positive values to an individual. When one defers from the norm, their friends and fellows are there to keep a check on them. Therefore, instilling patriotism in a classroom setting can be effective.

Sense of Belongingness: Students identify themselves with their school from a young age. As the sense of identity and belongingness is already a familiar concept for students, instilling patriotism becomes easy.

Diverse Avenues: In schools, patriotism could be reiterated in several ways. Teaching relevant chapters in English and Social studies classes and celebrating different holidays together in school can allow students to identify with their nation. And a collective sense of patriotism can bloom.

Conclusion

Instilling patriotism in kids from a young age will help them create a sense of identity for themselves. It reminds them of their responsibility as patriotic citizens of their nation.

As teachers, you are responsible for shaping a young individual into the future of your nation. Understand the importance of patriotism in school, and use any examples of showing patriotism discussed above to make your students the bright future of your nation.

As Emerson said, a nation's true strength lies in its brave men that work tirelessly to make the nation progress. These men are a pillar of the country's prosperity, but teachers are the ones who have to create such passion in their students. Stay patriotic and happy teaching!