By Mary Kizior
In the pro-life movement today, we sometimes underestimate the power of education in building a culture of life. Students need a strong foundation to have the courage to stand up in public for their pro-life beliefs—whether among their peers, in a college classroom, or at the workplace.
Among educational programs, the Culture of Life Studies Program stands alone in providing quality resources to teach the culture of life to students in every grade level.
In addition to our full-length supplements, we also offer many resources on our website to show parents and teachers that teaching the culture of life doesn’t have to be difficult or take time away from a student’s already rigorous school schedule.
Pro-life book and movie discussion guides
Weighty concepts like the culture of life can confuse teens and young children. They have a hard time visualizing what the culture of life looks like lived out in a teenage life. What does it mean to stand up for human beings? How do you show respect for human dignity in everyday life?
Teens and children need stories and examples to make the culture of life real and attainable. That’s why we created our Life Themes in Entertainment database—a collection of films and books which actively supports the culture of life. We make pro-life concepts tangible to teens by showing them an example from real life or exposing them to stories that support a culture of life.
When a storyline, character, or theme in a film or work of literature supports the culture of life in some way, we call this a Life Theme. Films which positively portray adoption or feature characters who stand up for others in danger, despite the obvious risk to their own personal safety, show that the culture of life is a tangible ideal.
Our discussion guides take a book or popular film and break it down to showcase how it supports, or doesn’t support, the culture of life. Each guide comes with a story summary, culture-of-life analysis, discussion questions, and content cautions for parents.
Visit the Life Themes in Entertainment Database at culture-of-life-studies.myshopify.com/collections.
Digital lessons
Would you like to see firsthand how our materials work? Our digital lessons from our online store make it easy to highlight a small aspect of the culture of life in a short activity or discussion—all of which can be easily inserted into any existing class. And best of all, these lessons are easy to download and use.
For example, teach your students about pro-life saints and role models such as St. Damien of Molokai, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and Our Lady using our one-class lessons. Or if you are teaching a literature class, take some time for your students to read Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal and connect it with what’s been going on with the Planned Parenthood scandal. Or, as you study early Medieval literature, explain the pro-life theme of Dream of the Rood using our 3-class guide.
Our digital lesson let you find themes in literature, historical events, and important people and link them with pro-life issues and current events to open students’ eyes to the culture of life in the subjects they are already studying.
Social media
Not everyone has the time to invent new crafts that support the culture of life for their kids. Teachers can spend hours using popular social media tools to search for appropriate crafts and activities without finding enough ideas that support the culture of life. That’s why, the Culture of Life Studies Program uses our Pinterest page to share pro-life crafts, activities and other inspirational pictures so that you can make the most out of our unit studies. Through social media, we hope to create a community of parents and educators who understand the importance of building respect for life at an early age. Our Pinterest page is yet another resource to help you build a culture of life in your classroom and in your family.
Share photos of your completed crafts from any of our lessons and we’ll feature them on our Pinterest page! E-mail us your photos at clsp@all.org or send us pins on Pinterest.
Not on Pinterest? There are other ways to stay connected with CLSP. Like us on Facebook or read our blog and share the articles with your friends. Together, we can build a culture of life.
Whether you are a teacher with a full classroom of students or a homeschool parent with a small classroom, the resources on these sections of our website will help you teach the culture of life and instill respect for the dignity of the human person in each of your students.
Mary Kizior is a content developer for American Life League’s Culture of Life Studies Program, which stresses the culture of life as an integral part of every academic discipline. CLSP is dedicated to helping students become effective communicators of the pro-life message. Sign up for our e-mail newsletter to see how we can help you foster a culture of life at home and in school.