Prayer Beads at ASSG

Following from the account of making Holding Crosses with the students in year 12 we found that making Anglican Rosary or Prayer Beads with the students in year year 11 was also a success. Again I was wanting to do something meaningful with the students which gave them something concrete to take away with them. Initially I was unsure how they would receive the idea of making a set of Rosary Beads. But again, to my surprise, the students were quite receptive. The students seemed to enjoy making their set of Prayer Beads. It was certainly a challenge to fit making 30+ Prayer Beads into a 50 minute session (twice). But fun nonetheless.

After making the Prayer Beads we had a session on the history and symbolism of prayer beads, as well as giving them some simple short prayers to use with their Prayer Beads. A few of the students came up to me later to tell me that they had tried using the simple prayers with their Beads. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that a number of students were wearing their Beads on their arms and wrists around school.

It is the first time I’ve tried doing a session on Prayer Beads in this context. In the past I’ve usually done them with groups that have requested to do the Prayer Bead workshop. Feedback from students, and some staff and parents were very positive and there were also requests from junior students to make sure they got to make them in year 11 too. I’m pleased that we had the opportunity to have some fun, make something practical students could keep, and give them a brief insight into one way of learning how to pray.