The Cardus survey: Does Christian education make a difference?

Have you heard of the Cardus Survey?  As I travel for CSI, I’ve been met with some blank looks in response. Consequently, I’d like to make you aware of this important research survey that is going on through the work of Cardus, in Ontario, Canada.

The work of the study is described in a June 2009 Cardus email: “A representative sample of over 24,000 K-12 Christian education alumni from over 300 elementary, secondary and homeschooled settings across Canada and the United States will be surveyed. The objective of the study is to measure the alignment between motivations and outcomes for Christian education. The study will focus particularly on academic, spiritual, and cultural outcomes. An interview with the principal and teachers of each participating school will also be conducted.” And from a later email: “It is expected that the reports that come from this data will serve as a catalyst for a broader conversation both how Christian schools might improve as well as on the contribution of Christian education in the broader culture.” The results will be “the largest dataset of Christian school alumni ever compiled.”

On December 3-4, 2009, I was honored to be a part of a gathering of fifty leaders, representing the cross-section of Christian education organizations, who met in California to be updated on the Cardus Education Survey. Our task was also to provide input on the analytical framework underlying the project. (See the Cardus website for more information.)

This $1.1 million dollar, three-year study will also involve four major qualitative research projects through Trinity Western University, Southeastern University, Boston University, and Covenant College. You can read more about these projects on the Cardus Study website.

Your school may have been randomly selected to take the survey, but it is not too late to get involved.  If you are an alumnus of Christian schools, you can take an individual survey and encourage other alumni to take it. Taking this survey will assist the researchers in their data gathering activity. You can also sign up to get a free newsletter that will seek to inform you of the ongoing progress with the project.

Connecting what is most important

Helping students to see how all things in this world cohere through Christ is one of the most important tasks of a Christian teacher. In these three short and helpful videos, my friend Michael Essenburg from the Christian Academy in Japan suggests three practical strategies that all Christian teachers can use. Maybe you could use them to provoke some good discussion at your next faculty meeting that could lead to deeper “truth-revealing” teaching – which in turn could better enable your school to meet its mission!

Help your students connect God’s world, God’s Word, and their lives:

Ask questions to DRAW others out: Your fellow teachers want to help their students better connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. You can help your fellow teachers by asking questions to DRAW them out.

Asking open-ended questions works: Help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. Ask open-ended questions.

What is your school doing to improve? 10 questions for leader reflection

http://www.flickr.com/photos/global_ed/2611073507/

Through my work with schools via accreditation and school improvement visits, I often come away impressed by how much individuals can make a difference in the decision making process and how much one individual can impact the direction of an organization.

This is undoubtably one of the more difficult times of testing in the history of Christian education. So, how does a leader keep an organization from retreating into just thinking  about budgets, enrollments, and marketing?

May I suggest 10 questions for reflection and discussion:

1. Is your mission strong, understood by faculty and parents, and actionable? How do you know you are meeting it?
2. Do your teachers know how to articulate a Biblical perspective at the unit level?
3. Does your entire staff model and develop Christlike relationships with students and parents?
4. Do your staff development and teacher evaluation processes reflect a balance between grace and truth, between helping people grow and holding them accountable? Do you regularly encourage your teachers?
5. Do your budget choices keep teaching and learning in the forefront and are funds administered justly?
6. Are you reaching out to, and impacting, your local community where God has placed your school?
7. Are you asking students, teachers, parents, alumni, and broader community if you are meeting the mission of your school?
8. Are you encouraging teachers to collaborate, share ideas, and are you providing  opportunities (time) for them to discuss and improve their practice?
9. As a leader are you building capacity into, and developing the skills of, the next generation of those who can lead our schools?
10. Are you committing to a process of improvement such as accreditation?

Timeless truth, different delivery #5 – Why?

(This post is part of a series – let me encourage you to read the previous posts that precede this post for helpful context – scroll down to view #1 & #2, then #3 & 4 above.)

While most of us are somewhat keeping up with tech changes on a personal level, I sense a level of skepticism by some about the value of using more tech in our instructional delivery at the school level. This is brought home in the dichotomy of hearing a principal pooh-poohing the idea that his school needs to move ahead with integrating technology, and moments later he gets a message on his Blackberry! It is true- we tend to get the value of tech for our personal use, but why don’t we allow students the same level of use as they try to do their work? The fact is we find it difficult to break out of our “teaching box” and teach differently than we were taught. We want to make sure that we are not leaving out essential skills and that is a good thing. However, given how much things are changing, I believe we are remiss if we don’t make time for both the conversation about what is truly essential (and what we can leave behind – we are not teaching penmanship as much anymore are we?) and how we will deliver instruction in relevant and engaging ways. We are moving from a culture of teacher delivery to a culture of guided exploration/collaboration and we must engage students in the learning process.

Are we getting better at engaging students? Yes and no. A recent study released in March 2009 from the Speak Up National Research Project indicated that “students are generally asked to ‘power down’ at school and abandon the electronic resources they rely on for learning outside of class.” (Education Week, 4/1/09)  Furthermore they don’t believe they are being adequately prepared for the tech demands of the marketplace. We can pooh-pooh the importance of engagement, but must acknowledge that how learners learn continues to tip in the direction of visual-spatial intelligence, and to not deliver instruction in those ways is simply sticking our heads in the sand. Richard Selznick, author of The Shut-Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Disadvantaged Child, believes that 4 out of 10 elementary school students may give up on learning before graduation time and become “school casualties.” In his counseling work he has noticed that almost all of his clients are strong in “hands-on” and weak in language skills. The problem of course is that most classroom instruction is highly verbal and subsequently “deadening” to them. Their disinterest, distraction, and failure to follow through on work is sometimes viewed as laziness and low motivation.  These students are sometimes diagnosed with ADHD or dyslexia and prescribed medications. We can and should do better for kids who are square pegs and don’t fit our standard round holes, rather than knocking off all their God-given edges. We all know stories of people who barely survived school and once freed from formal education went on to make significant and meaningful contributions to life.

Recent research around the concept of “flow” in teenagers again points to the need for engagement and motivation. (“Flow” is the state in which we are so engrossed in doing something that we forget everything else. For more info, see the research of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi done in the 1990’s and reported in his books.) When do teenagers experience “flow” and when don’t they? Not surprisingly, classroom time rated among the worst experiences in terms of “flow”, while extracurricular activities were among the highest. For suggestions on how to change this phenomenon, click here: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/nurtureshock/archive/2009/10/07/flow-the-teenager-edition.aspx

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25373834@N08/ / CC BY 2.0

So what does this have to do with nurturing faith? I suggest that a deadening education is an education that tends to discourage faith. When we don’t acknowledge that students are uniquely created and learn in different ways, then we disrespect them as persons and cause them to feel somehow “less than.” Without opportunities to learn using their individual strengths, we are disregarding how they have been created. Given that many of our students are visual-spatial, by not allowing them to tap into these strengths as learners, we are providing a deadening education. If as a learner I feel no sense of acceptance or place, it will impact my faith in a just and loving God. If I can’t feel a sense of being valued from my teacher for how God has made me, it will affect my desire to embrace the teacher’s worldview. If I am discouraged in my learning, how can I possibly desire to learn more? I pray that we are not fulfilling Neil Postman’s analysis that many children begin formal education as question marks and leave as periods, with the feeling, “if this is learning, I want nothing more to do with it.” How can this be honoring to a God who has provided us with a fantastic creation that is full of learning possibilities? God has made us to be learners, and when we shut that down in students, we bear an awful responsibility for the impact on their learning and faith development.

Technology is a gift that we have been given to nurture faith and make learning more accessible, engaging, and collaborative.  What is holding us back? Some of you may not have the technology you need, but others of you have more technology than you are even using. As one administrator commented, “It’s like we have a Learjet that we only drive to church and back.” I encourage you to have this dialogue around technology, engagement, instructional delivery, and faith – for the sake of the kids – and determine how to best move forward. Perhaps this brief survey below can help get the discussion started. (For the information on the graphic to be readable the rest of the rating scale needed to be cut off – it continues with neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree.)

Year–end resources round-up

Resources related to “Timeless Truth, Different Delivery #5” post:

Online tools for the visual/spatial learner: http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2008/06/10/100-helpful-web-tools-for-every-kind-of-learner/

Tools/project ideas related to Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works:

http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/t4/content/view/189/38/

The wiki related to these ideas that is an ongoing resource:

http://technologythatworks.wikispaces.com/

I gave several presentations on Web 2.0 recently and share these potentially helpful sites for teachers:

Top Learning Tools for 2009
Master List of Web 2.0 Tools linked to Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works
Wiki of Cool Tools
100 Essential Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers
Web 2.0 tools listed by learning style
Web 2.0 for the Classroom Teacher: An Internet Hotlist on Web 2.0
Kathy Schrock’s list
Web Tools quiz and wiki
10 Interesting Ways to Use a Wiki in the Classroom
Using YouTube in your classroom
Video tutorial on using YouTube in the classroom

Books/resources that I have not had time to write about, but are worthy of your consideration:

Bringing Heaven Down to Earth: Connecting This Life to the Next by Nathan L.K. Bierma – a very helpful summary of Reformed worldview thinking particularly as related to views of heaven and our response. Great summation of many Reformed thinkers such as Mouw, Wolterstorff, Plantinga, others in engaging language.

Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion by Richard Foster and Gail Beebe – looking at personal faith formation through the eyes of Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, etc. Offers practical faith practice applications at the end of each chapter.

God Wins: A Look at the Mysteries of Revelation by Lew VanderMeer – leader guide CD, classroom DVD offering 20 minute video presentations and session guides make this a helpful resource for high school Bible classes or church adult education classes.

Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World by Don Tapscott– impressive summation of a $4 million research project and nearly 6,000 interviews, this is a positive book about the Net Generation, how the Net Generation is transforming institutions, and how the Net Generation is transforming society. Should be required reading for all who work with kids in educational settings.

The Secret Lives of Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of Male Teens by Malina Saval – reminds us not to pigeonhole boys or give up on them too easily. The bullying and suicide rate info in this book is very sobering.

The Triple Bind: The Hidden Crisis Threatening Today’s Teenage Girls by Stephen P. Hinshaw with Rachel Kranz – author examines how girls are in a triple bind – expected to be good at the girl stuff and be pretty, sweet, and nice; be good at boy’s stuff such as winning, being competitive and getting all A’s; and remain perpetually “pretty, thin, and hot.”

Does mist matter? A devotional for the end/beginning of a year

http://www.flickr.com/photos/helenpaint/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

“Lord willing” was a commonly heard phrase in my childhood years. Perhaps having parents who had seen war and depression made them more aware of who was really sovereign.  Or perhaps it was a phrase reserved for older people, who live more with the realization of shortening years or have experienced the unpredictability of life. James reminds us:

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15.

What power or influence does mist have? Can mist control very much or is it subject to other forces such as heat and light? If we are mist, it certainly puts the phrase “Lord willing” in a different light. This year ahead brings uncertainty at an earthly level – we have no guarantees for ourselves or the schools/churches/organizations we serve. We are here at God’s desire and for his purposes – what a delight to rest in that fact. We operate at his will and for his pleasure– let’s acknowledge our temporality and his sovereignty – even in our daily speech. We must trust he has “prepared in advance” the work that he wants us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

Blessings on the new year ahead!

Thank you, Lord!

In this week of Thanksgiving in the U.S., I encourage you to take some time to really slow down, reflect, look, taste, and see the goodness of God. (Canadian friends, you have already had opportunity to do this since your Thanksgiving Day is earlier – however, if you didn’t take the time to reflect well, then do it now!)

Below is a wonderful short video that captures well the joy we feel in being a part of God’s created order. I encourage you to read the next post as well which beautifully articulates the joy of the life given to us and our appropriate response.

The real SAT test

(Thanks to my friend Mark Eckel, Director of the Mahseh Center for allowing me to re-post this blog post which originally appeared as “Genesis: ‘The Real World’ (Part 7)” on his Warp and Woof blogspot.)

Bright, shiny copper pots: I have never seen anyone so excited about cooking utensils!  Jon was explaining his historical finds that coincide with his love of preparing gourmet foods.  One of the cooking pots had actually been “resurrected” from an underwater shipwreck.  Jon’s love of cooking is displayed as decoration in his home.

One expedition for book boxes prior to a move found me in a bar. While there, the manager showed me his latest technique for dispensing drinks: a gravity system that worked from the room above.  Exact specifications created the beverage ordered by patrons below.  I’ll never forget the excitement of the owner.  He was so pleased to offer exceptional service.  Loving his vocation meant enjoyment of his life within the world.

I received a text from a former student the other day while he was in a tree stand hunting deer.  Back and forth electrons flew as I expressed amazement that he could hunt and text at the same time!  Guy told me that when you spend 200 days a year in the wild you learn to do many things at the same time.  Visiting his website I saw the pure joy in Guy’s eyes as he taught people lessons about life through hunting.

When God created “the heavens and the earth” He had such human enthusiasms in mind.  God’s assessment of His work speaks for itself: “And He saw that it was good.” The word means “beautiful” setting the standard for human excitement in creativity and aesthetics.  The material world is good.  We are not Gnostics, legalistically binding ourselves to human-centered regulations. To enjoy God’s good gifts of life is a sign of gratitude; thankfulness to One outside of ourselves.  The Psalmist is blessed by astronomy, agriculture, biology, law codes, wildlife and human life.

Delight in this God-given life is one of the reasons why I disdain certain gospel songs.  Growing up, one of the little ditties we sang in church was “This World Is Not My Home, I’m Just A Passin’ Through.”  I have been teaching a seminar for some time with the title “This World IS My Home!  I’m NOT Just Passin’ Through!”  I love the smell of crisp fall air.  I love the smell of the air just before it rains.  I love the smell of wood fires in the night air.  I love the smell of a bakery, sautéed onion-pepper mixture on the stove, and Kentucky Fried Chicken®!  And that’s just a few smells!  The list is endless of what I enjoy in this life!

So it is with great admiration that I mention a hymn which perfectly explains my joy:

For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth, Over and around us lies.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour, Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower, Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye, For the heart and mind’s delight,

For the mystic harmony, Linking sense to sound and sight.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.

Satisfaction, Appreciation, and Thankfulness is the most important SAT test we will ever take. To be ungrateful for the gifts given to us is to reject The One Who has given those gifts to us. We ought to give thanks for the reality of this life since He has given everything for us to enjoy.

E. M. Forster would cringe when people would tell him to “face reality.”  Turning round in a circle he would ask, “Which way should I face since reality is all around me?” In a similar vein, Cornelius Plantinga rightly takes to task those who think paying bills, going to a 9-5 job, and balancing work with leisure is “the real world.”  He says, “Someone who lives in the ‘real world’ lives with an awareness of the whole world, because the whole world is part of the kingdom of God.”

“The whole” compels me to contend “the real world” includes the seen and the unseen.  The five senses do not make sense apart from the sixth sense.  There is another world to which I must give an account.  The supernatural creates the natural.  The invisible God made the visible creation.  To neglect our responsibility to live under Heaven’s authority creates a disjointed view of life.  We succumb to naturalism, materialism, and pragmatism.  We begin to think that success is based on production.  “The bottom line” becomes our “finish line.”

God draws “a line in the sand.”  Unless we are careful, Deuteronomy 4:15-19 declares we are prone to worship, honor, and subscribe to the standards of this world.  I would encourage us all to ask ourselves this question: Is our Christian distinctiveness informed by “the real world’s” accountability to Another World?  As much as I enjoy this God-given life, I am constantly reminded that the creation has a Creator.  I will continue to revel in sights, smells, tastes, and human ingenuity as I remember that earth depends on Heaven.

Learning from the stranger

(Thanks to two good friends – David Smith, for once again enriching the Christian education community via his newest book, and to Bruce Hekman, for providing this review of the book!)

In my city of Holland, Michigan, where the annual celebration of Tulip Time celebrates our Dutch beginnings, I was startled to learn recently that fifty-one percent of young people, aged eighteen and under, are Hispanic. What’s happening in Holland is being replicated across North America, in rural areas, cities and towns.

We’re been hearing it and reading about it for years: North America is becoming increasingly multicultural. Some schools, such as those in urban centers and along the coasts, have experienced a steady rise in the number of non-North American students for some time, and have added staff and programs to help them adjust and become full members of the school community (English as a Second Language programs, tutors, new admissions policies for International students, school to school partnerships, immersion language programs.

A number of schools have added out-of-country short-term mission trips to their programs, where students and staff spend a week on projects (often building) through programs such as the Hands program offered and facilitated by World Wide Christian Schools. Other schools, such as Fraser Valley Christian High School and Zeeland Christian School have developed partnerships with schools in other countries.

But many schools have found their attempts to work interculturally to be like building a bridge as they walk on it. They want to find ways to welcome the strangers and to equip their students and faculty to be sensitive to the needs of these new, often non-English speaking members, but it’s often discouraging work and the bridges don’t lead anywhere (as we discovered with the trendy workshops on “diversity training” that proliferated for a decade or more).

Now there’s a wonderful new resource for all schools and churches interested in a deeper, better way to imagine intercultural learning from a biblical, Reformed world view.

In his recent book Learning From the Stranger (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2009), David Smith makes a detailed biblical argument that “hospitality, humility, and hearing belong together.” “If they part ways, then the idea of hospitality easily becomes a new form of condescension in which I am always the host and the other is my needy guest.” At its best, intercultural encounters move us from learning about others to learning from them and finally to learning with them.

Smith, from Britain, teaching German at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has thought for a long time about “the need for a framework for thinking in Christian terms about learning other languages and cultures in a way that takes seriously learning from the stranger.” (p. 149) In the seven chapters of the book he lays out such a framework and attempts to ground it theologically in scripture, looking in great detail at the story of the nomad Abraham’s fears and failures, Jesus’ challenges to the teacher of law to learn to obey scripture from an outsider, a Samaritan, and finally at the birth of the early church at Pentecost.

Learning from the Stranger articulates what “culture” is, and discusses the ways in which our cultural differences affect our perceptions and our behavior. His analysis and his stories resonate because virtually none of us interacts exclusively with people who look, talk, behave, and think like we do in our culturally interconnected world.

To be Christian, Smith argues, means first, “that on theological grounds, …to profess Christian faith implies a willingness to grow together with fellow believers whose ethnicities, languages, and cultures are different from my own….to be Christian is to imitate Christ’s open-armed embrace of Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, barbarian, Scythian, African, European, Latino, Asian. To be Christian is, furthermore, not to reserve for oneself the role of host, the one who sets the table, but to learn to see Christ in others, to receive correction from them, to be joined to them, to learn from the stranger.” (p. 145, 146).

Smith’s insights into the biblical story are supported by his experiences as a teacher of German language and culture, his experiences as a stranger to North American culture, and his wide travels around the globe. He persuasively argues that learning other languages and cultures is a task for everyone, not just those who hope to serve as cross-cultural missionaries.

I highly recommend this book to any person or organization who is looking for a biblically grounded way to think about the growing multicultural nature of our lives and our work. It’s a challenging, and very helpful book that points us in the right direction as we struggle to understand what it means to “love our neighbor.”



If you work with kids, read this book!

If there is one book about kids that you should consider reading in the next few months, I would recommend that you dive into NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.  The authors take a chapter each to explore ten subjects related to kids, analyze the related research, and present conclusions that challenge conventional thinking. Chapter topics include praise, sleep, race, lying, kindergarten, siblings, teen rebellion, self-control, playing with others, and infant language skills.

The conclusions in this book should provoke healthy and productive discussion among K-12 teaching faculty at school or church, parenting groups, or husbands and wives.  The authors have done a great service in synthesizing a wide range of research, field interview material, and resources into an enjoyable and readable book that will appeal to a wide range of adults who work with and nurture children and youth.

Timeless truth, different delivery #3 – What?

(This post is part of a series – let me encourage you to read the previous posts that precede this post for helpful context – scroll down to view #1 & #2.)

What most influences the Christian school when constructing a curriculum? Is it state or provincial standards? The recommendations of national discipline area groups or cross-continental professional groups such as ASCD or NSDC? Is it what is readily available from Christian textbook publishers? Or do schools start from their mission, consider what they know about the learners of today, and reflect on how to instill the characteristics described in the Through Lines in the previous post and a wisdom about the purpose of life that is “foolish” by this world’s standards?

I would submit that most times Christian schools are pressed with many other needs and that due to lack of knowledge, will, expertise, or simply time, there is not sufficient energy given to the construction of Christian curriculum that leads students toward wisdom.  Schools who choose the secular curriculum/standards route run the risk of not defining the intent of the information for the learner and refining down the amount of material expected to be taught. I have worked with many schools to help them consider and determine what are the most significant student learning outcomes and then to incorporate Essential Questions that deal with those concepts and lead students toward Biblical wisdom.  Much work needs to be done as this approach requires deep understanding by teachers of the mission of the school, and time to work on curriculum refinement and assessment building.  Schools that choose the Christian textbook route run the risk of not developing a deep understanding by teachers of the outcomes and in some cases the Christian learning outcomes are tacked on and superficial.

One of the problems we face in Christian schools is that we have inherited or co-opted a public school approach to curriculum that separates knowledge into boxes. In a new and thought-provoking book entitled Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education, Stratford Caldecott points out that we have accepted a dualistic way of thinking and living: “The divisions between arts and sciences, between faith and reason, nature and grace, have a common root. In particular, our struggle to reconcile religious faith with modern science is symptomatic of a failure to understand the full scope of human reason and its true grandeur…the fragmentation of education into disciplines teaches us that the world is made of bits we can use and consume as we choose. This fragmentation is a denial of ultimate meaning.” (pages 12, 17) He suggests that the key to meaning is the re-enchantment of education through which we see the beauty, purpose and design of the cosmos, indeed a search for the Logos  – the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, in whom all things cohere. (Colossians 1:16,17). Knowledge for its own sake or to glorify man is misdirected and God-denying. True education toward wisdom starts with the Creator and is incomplete if it does not have a spiritual foundation that reveals who is to be praised and honored for this beauty. Thus we must continually bring the unity of Christ back to a discipline based structure in many of our schools. How are we training youth to approach all learning in ways that reveal the unity of all things through Christ?  How should we go about this task? Are there better ways than others?

Timeless truth, different delivery #4 – How?

(This post is part of a series – let me encourage you to read the previous posts that precede this post for helpful context – scroll down to view #1 & #2, then #3 above.)

One of the ways that we can help students experience the connectedness and meaning and beauty of the cosmos is through connecting learning, loving, and doing.  A full-fledged Christian education is an experience that connects head, heart, and hands, weaving together love, discernment, and virtue. What follows is an article by Jane Hilbrands describing service learning and a resources project that was described in the Nurturing Faith blog post of May 18, 2009 and what promises to be a great support for Christian teachers. Thanks, Jane, for your leadership and hard work to make this project a reality! Attention principals: Hopefully you always pass Nurturing Faith posts on to your teachers, but be sure to pass on this post and the link within it to your staff!

You may have heard some buzz in the education world about service-learning.  Perhaps you feel that your school has that angle covered; after all, there is the Thanksgiving food drive, the Angel Tree at Christmas and a few other projects.  Perhaps you feel that service projects really should be the domain of church youth groups and families, not sucking precious minutes away from the curricular crunch of the classroom.  Perhaps you think service-learning is the “Hands” part of CSI’s learning paradigm “Heads, Hearts, Hands.”  Perhaps, when finished with this article, you will have a whole new view of service-learning’s place in your school curriculum.

Unlike many service experiences, service-learning should always incorporate three distinct stages: preparation, action, and reflection.  Many students give money, accumulate service hours, earn project points or volunteer without preparation. Students zip in and out of a service experience without intellectually grappling with the underlying issues involved.  Without preparation students’ personal understanding and ownership of social justice issues may be minimized.  Students then may misinterpret their experiences and actually increase their prejudices or stereotypes.  Preparation is crucial in a service-learning experience, giving students a historical, cultural, and Biblical context for the situations they encounter.

This is the “Head” of CSI’s “Heads, Hearts, Hands” at its best, introducing students to the complex and interrelated issues within immigration, poverty, war, disease prevention, hunger, economic justice, racism and others both in the U.S. and globally.  These social justice issues can dove-tail with the traditional subjects of science, math, language arts, Bible, and social studies.  Although this may sound like a lot of research for teachers, wonderful resources are just a few clicks away online.  A conglomerate of resources has been compiled through a CRC Office of Social Justice/Kuyers Institute of Faith and Learning grant, organizing CRC-based background readings, statistics, videos, activities, resource pages, projects and more according to school level (elementary, middle, high) and by subject and issue. These resource summaries and curricular suggestions can be found at www.crcna.org/pages/osj_kuyers.cfm

Justice Resources page screen shot

The second stage, action, is the one usually envisioned when folks think of service-learning.  Students step beyond “Head” knowledge and move to “Hands” participation: helping younger students or the elderly, collecting food items, raising money, cleaning up areas, visiting hospitals, scooping soup, planting, etc.  Some educators resist hands-on actions because they feel there simply aren’t enough minutes in the semester to cover the curriculum they already face, let alone add-on more things.  Research supplies a different perspective however.

Students who participated in service-learning activities in high school were 22 percentage points more likely to graduate from college than those who did not participate, and students who participated in service-learning scored 6.7 percent higher in reading achievement and 5.9 percent higher in science achievement than those who did not participate in service-learning (National Educational Longitudinal Study, reviewed by Dávila & Mora, 2007).   Ritchie and Walters (2003) showed that both middle and high school students involved in service-learning had statistically significant increases in their motivation to learn.  Furco (2007) writes that a review of research indicates that high quality service-learning, because of its utilization of effective, experiential learning strategies, can enhance academic outcomes in such content areas as reading, writing, mathematics, and science.  Given our God-created multi-sensory bodies, hands-on actions are an effective and essential tool in deeply assimilating “head” knowledge. Simply, the more we involve ourselves, the more we comprehend and retain information.

The important concept to remember in the action stage is connectivity. Service actions should not be disconnected from curriculum learning, but instead should be a natural progression from classroom lessons to active responses.  For example, PE or science students studying nutrition should participate in a hunger service project; science students studying the properties of water could act to clean-up a local creek or improve a third world community’s access to safe drinking water; language art students can read literature of minority cultural or economic groups and participate in advocacy writing or campaigns for improving literacy. These are only a few ideas – many of the online links given in the CRC/Kuyers grant also head towards opportunities for taking action. The local and global possibilities are varied and many.  Once students’ eyes are opened during preparation, actions follow naturally and Christian responsibility and stewardship begin to grow.

The final stage, reflection, is where the wonder happens.  As details from preparation and action are individually and corporately revisited and reviewed, horizons are broadened, questions are posed, worldviews are adjusted, empathy becomes possible, and God’s Spirit has space to cultivate current and future fruitfulness in an informed and engaged Christian student. It’s a time for reflection, for internal reckoning of responsibility and calling.  This is the “Heart” where life-long growth and learning happen.  Although it is often listed in the middle, it is most prosperous as a final step, with both Heads and Hands before.

Each step in service-learning’s “preparation, action, reflection” or CSI’s “Heads, Hands, Hearts” is essential.  Without the head preparation of historical, cultural and Biblical context, the action of hands can lead to misguided conclusions. Without service actions, head knowledge becomes impotent, lacking participatory ownership of God’s restorative work.  Without heart reflection, personal positions and identity may not be solidly forged. Together these three stages form a solid educational paradigm, enabling students to be informed, engaged and deeply convicted of their role in God’s world.

Did You Know 4.0 – fall 2009 version

Some of you may have enjoyed the previous Did You Know videos . . . well enjoyed is probably not the correct word – let’s see – jolted by them might be more appropriate. They are a helpful visual compilation of the kinds of rapid change happening in our world that has relevance to educators and others.

Here is the latest in the Did You Know series, highlighting media convergence.

In case you missed the first video and remixed versions of that video, the most recent version of the original video is the 3.0 version below.

Timeless truth, different delivery #1

Photos by http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissambwilkins and www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/

I would like to share some thoughts in the next several blog posts under this title: Timeless Truth, Different Delivery. In my work of writing and staff development with schools, it has been my opportunity to encourage Christian schools to be distinctively Christian in order to better meet their missions and to focus on nurturing student faith. I have attempted to bring a common language and specific methods to this dialogue. I believe this is critical work in a time when Christian schools seem in danger of slipping away due to continuing enrollment problems, lack of clarity around philosophy and mission, or just plain lack of resources or will to do pro-active school improvement work.  How will our schools improve and be faithful to their missions – their reasons for existence?

What is encouraging is that the kind of skills that our students need are the very skills that I believe can be delivered best in the context of a Christian school. This is true because ultimately all truth is God’s truth and all things cohere in Christ. For example, when Howard Gardner from Harvard identifies the kinds of minds our students need in his book Five Minds For the Future and then is asked what kind of mind is ultimately most important, he identifies the “respectful” and “ethical” mind as most important. Isn’t that exactly the kind of mind we are seeking to develop in Christian schools? And, I would add, we are providing the foundation for this kind of mind – we are teaching kids that God’s Word is the basis of truth for having a “respectful” mind and that an “ethical” mind is not based on whatever you and I agree upon, but on the Ten Commandments given by God and interpreted by Jesus Christ in his summary of the law – to love God and love neighbor.

My point is that what our kids need is a firm understanding of timeless truth – that has not changed. We have made strides in our ability to articulate the what – what truths are most important for our students to grasp in order to help make sense of the world? How we move them to an understanding of that truth is what we need to consider given today’s world and today’s kids. We also know more than we used to about why we need to use different delivery methods. Let’s explore what, how and why further.

Timeless truth, different delivery #2 – What?

Photos by http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissambwilkins and www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/

How do we arrive at the concepts that we want to deeply embed in the habits of mind, heart, and hands of a Christian school student? Are there some common Biblical understandings that should be points of emphasis? How do we educate students for discipleship?

In recent years, some excellent wrestling and work around these questions has gone on at Edmonton Christian School and in the Prairie Association of Christian Schools. The PACS team has identified several discipleship characteristics that they are seeking to instill in their students. They call these concepts “Through Lines” which become an integral part of the daily classroom experience.

They have identified “Through Lines” (desired discipleship characteristics of students) as follows:

• God-worshippers- involved in regular and meaningful worship experiences.
• Idolatry-discerners – adept at identifying and understanding the idols of our time.
• Earth-keepers – respond to God’s call to be stewards of all of creation.
• Beauty-creators – praise God by creating beautiful things.
• Justice-seekers – act as agents of change by identifying and responding to injustices.
• Creation-enjoyers – celebrate God’s beautiful creation.
• Servant-workers – work actively to heal brokenness and bring joy.
• Community-builders – active pursuers and builders of communal shalom.
• Image reflectors – demonstrate their response to Christ’s call to be co-workers.

I believe that these “Through Lines” are helpful descriptors whether used in curriculum design work (we will discuss this more in the next post), classroom faith nurture, or community activities related to worship and service.

Top 10 best practices in Bible teaching

A friend recently posed the question to me of best practices in Bible teaching and we had a great discussion about what we believed were the most effective pedagogical strategies.  We were not aware of any empirical research in this area, and so I submit a partial list to you drawn mostly from experience, and invite you to suggest other practices or disagree with one I have listed! The only criteria is that your suggested practice must be applicable across the grades and must be something that could be done (for example, a trip to the Holy Land would be wonderful, but not possible for all!)

Category 1 – The Basics

1. Storytelling

2. Scripture memorization

Category 2 – Application

3. Questions

4. Dilemmas/case studies

Category 3 – Personal Response

5.  Journaling

6. Worship

7. Service

What else would you add?

Difficult decisions, critical choices

Principles or pragmatism? Is there a right answer? How do we decide? Is there a decision-making grid for Christians around dilemmas, one that we could teach to our students?

Let me give an example from a recent movie, Flash of Genius. An engineer, who is a part-time inventor at nights, comes up with the very first intermittent windshield wiper mechanism. This feat has not been accomplished before by any of the auto companies and when the inventor shows the lead engineer at Ford Motor Company, the engineer is naturally keenly interested. Over the course of several months while waiting to hear from Ford about them purchasing his invention, the inventor comes to believe that his creation has been stolen and reproduced. He spends the next many years of his life attempting to right this injustice and prove that he is the original creator of this invention. In the process of his preoccupation and concerted effort around his legal efforts, he is divorced by his wife and loses contact with his young and large family. In typical Hollywood fashion he regains some of his family relationships back as his children assist him in his legal efforts and in the end he wins his case. Justice has been served – but at what human cost? Did our character gain the world, but lose his life in the process? What was the opportunity cost to his family of his decision? Does family need/nurture trump justice? What was the right decision for the main character in this movie?

Here is a rubber hits the road example as applied to Christian schools. In western Michigan, some Christian schools have entered into shared time relationships with public schools. On the face it seems like a win-win – the Christian school gets teachers paid for by the public school and thereby gaining budget relief, while the public school gets to count the Christian school students as their own for state funding purposes. However, teachers in the Christian school, who are now public school employees, have to give up teaching in a distinctively Christian manner since they are now public school employees. Is this a retreat from mission and principles (distinctively Christian instruction in all subject areas – “every square inch”) or a pragmatic solution so that tuition does not need to be raised, thereby forcing more families to leave Christian education? Do we agree with the state definition of subjects such as art, music, P.E., technology, world languages as being “non-core”? (“Core” subjects are not eligible for shared time designation.) Of course if we went back to the days of teachers teaching their own art, P.E, and music we could save the same amount of money. But would we be sacrificing quality instruction in the process? Is not offering these subjects at all a better choice than having them taught by public school teachers?

What is your opinion and why?

Whether you come down on the side of principles or pragmatism, I would encourage schools in these circumstances to have school society dialogues about these kinds of decisions because they speak to the core of our missions and our reasons for existence. Our kids are watching not only what decisions we make, but how we make them.

An end of the year check-up – looking back, looking forward

Image by Vitualis from Flickr

For most of us it’s time to put things back in the cupboards and close the book on this school year. As a school leader, it is good to reflect back on the school year, and worthwhile to ask yourself some reflective questions:

1. Did I move my school closer to meeting our mission this year? What evidence do I have? How do I know?

2. How did I as a leader improve the school this year? Did my words and actions encourage faith and motivation to learn in my staff and students?

3. Did I settle for only visible improvements of bricks and bucks or did I also improve the less visible aspects such as the quality of instruction, the distinctiveness of the curriculum, the quality of instruction, and the bondedness of the staff and parent community?

4. Was my focus on how successful my school was or how much students and staff understood how to be bringers of shalom?

5. What must I commit to in the next school year?

Recently McKinsey & Company put out an interesting report “How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top.” In the report they make this summative statement: “The available evidence suggests that the main driver of the variation in student learning at school is the quality of the teachers.” They go on to say that high-performing schools consistently do three things well:

• Hire the right teachers – “The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.”

• Develop teachers into effective instructors.

• Put in place systems and targeted support to make sure that each child benefits from excellent instruction.

According to their synthesis of research, each principal’s time in effective schools is focused on instructional leadership. In our schools spiritual leadership is even more important. What implications does this have as you make plans to foster spiritual and instructional leadership growth in your school next year?

TTFN – As Tigger of Winnie the Pooh fame always said – Ta, Ta For Now! This set of four postings will be the last postings until next fall when I will resume posting on this site. This gives both of us, dear reader, a chance to catch up on our reading . . . . and reflection. Hope to see some of you at convention this summer. Have a terrific end of the year and summer!

Help wanted: Teacher feedback for social justice project

How can I find specific global projects that relate social justice issues to my elementary science curriculum? Are there resources to help me incorporate advocacy writing in my persuasion unit in high school English? Where can I find hunger or AIDS statistics to use in middle school algebra problems, and better yet even some first-hand stories to personalize the issues? In other words, how does my current school curriculum relate to global social justice issues?

A collaborative grant between the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning and the Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice is exploring social justice connections embedded in K-12 school curriculum and is organizing the CRC resources to assist teachers in opening these connections with students. Informational readings, statistics, activities, first-hand accounts, videos, and global projects are being evaluated for their classroom potential, covering topics such as fair trade, environmental stewardship, hunger, disease control, disaster relief, immigration, disability concerns and many others.

Currently the grant team is seeking feedback from K-12 teachers who are interested in reviewing the resource summaries applicable to their teaching levels and subjects. A small stipend will be awarded for teacher feedback; however, the number of feedback positions is limited. To receive more information and to reserve your teacher feedback position, please email Jane Hilbrands at jhilbran@grcs.org. Feedback forms may be completed until July 13. Principals, if this grant project sounds interesting, please promote the feedback opportunity among your teaching staff. Thank you!

What 3 student learning needs will you meet?

(Thanks to Michael Essenburg, Christian Academy in Japan, for sharing this post and to Wordle.net for the image.)

You know that when you meet your students’ learning needs, they do better. Since you want your students to do better on connecting what they study and Biblical principles, you decide to meet specific learning needs.

Question: What 3 learning needs will you meet?

Here are sample student learning needs:

1. Understanding the importance of connecting what they study and Biblical principles.
2. Knowing what it looks like to connect what they study and Biblical principles.
3. Understanding how you (or their other teachers) teach from a Biblical perspective.
4. Understanding the vocabulary.
5. Experiencing engaging instructional strategies.
6. Having time to think through the answers for themselves.
7. Having time to reflect.
8. Connecting their lives, Biblical principles, and what they study.
9. Practicing connecting Biblical principles and what they study.

Here’s what one high school teacher is doing:

I’m passionate about my students loving God with their minds. I really want them to develop a Christ-centered worldview. One way I help them do this is by helping them apply a Biblical perspective to what they study. This year I’ve been working to meet 3 of my students’ learning needs:

(#5) Experiencing engaging instructional strategies: When my students are engaged, they learn better. A key instructional strategy I’m using is asking questions. Just this past week, I asked my students “What’s the difference between infatuation and love?” They became quickly engaged, and their discussion resulted in them talking about the biblical concept of love.

(#6) Time to think through the answers for themselves: When kids have time to think, they are more likely to make connections. Since I want my students to connect learning and faith, I’ve been providing time for my students to think. For example, in my “Who Am I?” unit, I gave my students time to think about who they are spiritually, culturally, and personally.

(#8) Connecting their lives, Biblical principles, and what they study: My students do a better job of understanding and applying a biblical perspective when I incorporate their life experience. For example, my students all know that what the Nazis did to the Jews was horrible and that it violated the biblical teaching of respecting others as God’s image bearers. But then they leave class and gossip.

To help my students really get the implications of respecting others, I asked them to do a 2-part journal entry: (1) to list examples of respect and contempt for human dignity from a holocaust memoir and (2) to list examples of respect and contempt for human dignity that they see at school. Then I had them discuss their entries in small groups. It worked!

A helpful resource for parents: what’s normal in adolescence

Parents, dealing with the ups and downs of their adolescent child, may ask themselves: “What should I be expecting as normal with my child in adolescence?” In his latest book, The Space Between: A Parent’s Guide to Teenage Development, Walt Mueller approaches the topic with realistic and spiritually grounded optimism, the heart of an experienced parent, and the mind of someone who has dedicated himself to the topic over a 30 plus year career. He starts with some fundamental perspectives/truths and then moves through teenage changes physically, socially, intellectually, emotionally, and morally/spiritually. I especially appreciated his concise summaries of teens using Tim Keller’s categories related to identity formation – sexual partners, academic or athletic achievement, money and possessions, pleasure/gratification/comfort, relationships and approval, noble causes, and religion and morality. Packed with helpful quotes and up to date information on areas such as brain research, I found the book to be very accessible and at 120 pages a reasonable length for the intended parent audience. I bring it to your attention because I think it is a helpful tool for both parents and staff members at Christian middle and high schools.

Edging toward amortality

Aging Not So Gracefully by Cayusa on Flickr

Maybe it is the constant barrage of AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) letters in the mail, or the fact that my upcoming birthday pushes me closer to the name of a local bank (there really is a bank called 5/3 Bank!), but I can’t help but wonder if the concept of amortality is happening to me. Note that I said amortality, not amorality!  If you are not familiar with the concept of amortality, you should know that it is #5 on Time magazine’s list of 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now, and is described by its inventor, writer Catherine Mayer as:  “. . . the intersection of that trend (resisting the onset of age) with a massive increase in life expectancy and a deep decline in the influence of organized religion.” Yes, the Boomer generation seems to be both re-inventing age and walking away (or running or “spinning” away) from the concept of organized religion (see Barna’s book Revolutionaries and my 12.18.06 post.)

As I write this, my body is recovering from a spring break filled with painting, yard work, sod moving, and closet cleaning. I want to function at the same pace as I did in earlier years, and am disappointed if I can’t. As Mayer states: “The defining characteristic of amortality is to live in the same way, at the same pitch, doing and consuming much the same things, from late teens right up until death.” We somehow expect to live forever on this earth and expect/hope that medical science will have the answer by the time we need it, to allow us to live indefinitely. These attitudes fly in the face of “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12. We are in essence saying we are not interested in learning another pace, to develop character and understanding toward wisdom, but instead are saying “just give us our Botox and Viagra and let us go on our paths of consumption.”

My sister’s recent struggles with long-term cancer have again inspired me to number my days and do things that really matter, as I have seen her do. Her grace and ministry to all around bear witness to a heart that holds no illusions about the power of amortality. I only hope that I can live however many days that are numbered for me with half the grace and focus that she has demonstrated. Perhaps our personal mantra should be something like, “Modeling what matters so that the wisdom of Christ is seen through me.”

The Code Talkers Project

In the time of war, accurate and confidential information can be the difference between life and death for soldiers. During World War II, Navajos played a key role for the Allies, creating a secret military code for communication purposes. In a new DVD called The Code Talkers Project: Keeping the Code Alive, Rehoboth Christian School shares the stories of the Navajo Code Talkers and celebrates how the Navajo language helped to win the war. Rehoboth middle school students interviewed the Navajo war heroes and were involved in the production of the DVD under the guidance of director Theo Bremer-Bennett. The documentary is about 30 minutes in length and would be a wonderful addition to your social studies curriculum or for inspirational use, such as a chapel.

What I like so much about this project is that it involves students in understanding their roots and appreciating their culture, connecting cross-generationally with their elders, and working collaboratively to produce the final product. It is a great example of students in Christian schools getting involved in creating culture (see blog post of January 16, 2009 – Creating Culture.)

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the video for $15 please contact Sue Eddy at seddy@rcsnm.org. Proceeds from the sale of this DVD will go towards Rehoboth’s Navajo Code Talkers Communication Center & their Navajo Language program.

Encouraging faith through beauty

As I walked by the bookstore flower box, the beauty and color astounded me. The brilliance of the colorful pansies that were blooming in this warmer climate seemed to shout to my eyes to wake up, to jump for joy, to drink it in deeply. You see, my eyes had grown accustomed to only the white of snow and the gray cloud cover.  How could such simple flowers in such a pedestrian area, bring so much joy to my soul? I felt a bit self-conscious gazing on the flowers. After all, there didn’t seem to be similar appreciation from those around. Yet I decided to run the risk as they lifted my soul to consider the God who would put so much detail and brilliant color into something so common, which led me to say a prayer of thanks.

Our opportunity to connect creativity and beauty to its source is one we should not take lightly as Christian educators. We must teach the youth in our care to respond to beauty, and consider the ultimate Creator of all things. Creativity is now acknowledged to be the highest skill on the revised Bloom’s taxonomy – how appropriate that humans’ highest aspiration is to image God through creativity. Yet, in our modern society we grow alienated from creation and fail to even connect every day things back to their source.  This has an impact on our soul – we conveniently buy products, not considering what has gone into them and what choices were made along the way.

Helping us to step back and to see the beauty contained in the natural resources around us is the intention of the 100 Mile Art Project by Christopher Van Donkelaar. Christopher is an iconographer and also works in technology for the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools. He created a painting by collecting all materials from local sources, painstakingly making everything needed to paint the picture from a 100 mile radius around Cambridge, Ontario. Christopher explains what he was trying to accomplish through the project:

Six months of work in creating colours which could have been bought at an art store for less than $200!  But, this project was not about the finish; rather it was about a journey.  Ultimately, the answer to this question is found in the iconic prototype I chose to paint as the culmination of the exhibition: Adam naming the Animals.  Let me summarize:

Adam Naming the Animals by Christopher VanDonkelaar. This painting is the culmination of the 100 mile ART Project.

God creates everything.  Then, He calls Adam to come and appreciate the especially beautiful animals.  Adam’s appreciation is more than just a hands off, nod-of-the-head; his appreciation is participation.  God asks Adam to add something beautiful to His work by giving it a name (as anyone who has had children will attest to, naming is a very special work and I am never sure if such naming is a response to what I see, or newly shaping/changing of what I see by circumscribing it; I suspect both are true).  There seems to be an unconscious shift in our thinking today, in response to the abuses of the industrial model, which nature is at her best when left alone.  But with this scriptural example as proof, we know that our calling, even before the fall, is to interact with our environment and shape it through appreciation.

Beyond this original premise, I really learned a lot from doing this project: The place of convenience in our culture has reached a level that is very problematic and seems to be the root of many of our current issues.  I learned that working hard to achieve something makes it impossible to waste the achievement.  My family and I have many old-order Mennonites where we live, and I think their quilts point to the same truth.  When creating a shirt requires you to grow a crop of flax, process it into linen (a very arduous process), and dying it using herbs, the worth of such cloth is guaranteed.  And, when the shirt can no longer be worn, it will inevitably be reused and cut into smaller strips to create a beautiful quilt.  Likewise, each colour I created during this project became unthinkable to waste.  Lastly, it was a lot of fun giving worth to something considered worthless.  There are many other thoughts and reactions that have come from a broad range of people, from scientists, teachers, environmentalists, etc., and each has brought with them a little revelation of their own.

The project isn’t finished, either!  I am continuing to explore different regions and reporting what I find through my website.  These self-collected coloured pigments are also becoming increasingly the backbone of my commissioned art works.

You can view how Christopher made each color as well as his beautiful icon paintings at his website.  (Please pass this information on to your art teacher!) Christopher is prophetically teaching us and our students to understand creation more deeply and appreciate it more fully – helping us to praise our Creator in the process!

Is the picture in balance?

Do your teachers know Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erikson better than Cavaletti, Stonehouse, Fowler, and Dean? Are your teachers as equipped to nurture student faith as they are to help students reach academic success? Do your teachers possess a common foundation in distinctively Christian philosophy and classroom practices that nurture faith? Do you believe that a high quality faith-integrated, truth-revealing curriculum is the highest need in schools that bear the name Christian?

Do you have a plan to equip your teachers to nurture faith? Perhaps a start is take 5 minutes at your next faculty meeting, ask them how they have been equipped in the two ways shown below, and then discuss the results.

Equipping for Academic Instruction -List the top 5 ways your teachers have been equipped to help students reach academic success. 

Equipping for Faith Nurture  – List the top 5 ways your teachers have been equipped to encourage student faith development.

Rethinking “integration of faith and learning”

Language matters. For years I have used the language of “integrating faith and learning” to describe what happens in Christian schools and colleges within subject area discipline curriculum development.  I have come to the conclusion recently that it is inaccurate to continue to use this term and that it gives the hearer the wrong impression. By using such language, we may have fallen prey to Greek thinking – dividing ourselves and our world into soul and body, science and spirituality, and left-brain and right-brain, instead of seeing ourselves as unified and whole beings. If I think about day to day living I think about making decisions that reflect my Christian worldview based on my understanding of truth and obedience to God rather than thinking: “Well now how do I integrate my faith and my living?” It is not as if I need to constantly bring things together that are apart – I respond from my faith perspective – my view of how the world works.

If we believe that God rules over all things and that all creation coheres in Christ (Colossians 1:15-20) then all that is true in creation belongs already to God. “All truth is God’s truth” (Gabelein in The Pattern of God’s Truth, 1968) and Jesus is the truth of God (“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6). Therefore as we think about working with students, our task is to help them uncover God’s truth that already exists in creation. It is not a matter of marrying or bringing together our faith with what is true in the world – it is already united through Christ. What is true cannot exist apart from the sovereignty of God – it is his truth. As we uncover truth with students, we help them to see that God is the source of this truth and that all truth is brought together through Christ, who redeems and plans to restore all creation. We help students to understand the Master Story, the Big Story of God’s I Love You Plan, delivered through his son Jesus Christ, and how we are to understand truth in creation. We pray and work toward our student’s growth in faith through the learning process.

I have taken to using the words “truth revealing learning” instead of faith-integrated learning.  I think it is a much better descriptor. I encourage us to develop minds that ask: “Where is God’s truth revealed in this aspect of learning? What does this teach me about him? What has happened from a human standpoint to obscure the truth? How has man subverted the truth? What must be done to restore truth from a Biblical perspective to this situation?”

If I am going to be an effective “truth-revealing” teacher, it is critical that I am deeply acquainted with God’s revealed truth, his Word, the Bible. Unless I am able to understand and apply God’s revealed truth to the truth in creation, I will not be able to teach a Biblical perspective to students.  The teacher’s Biblical worldview is critical, as noted by Gabelein:

The fact is inescapable: the worldview of the teacher, insofar as he is effective, gradually conditions the worldview of the pupil.  No man teaches out of a philosophical vacuum.  In one way or another, every teacher expresses the convictions he lives by, whether they be spiritually positive or negative (The Pattern of God’s Truth, 1968).

It is also important that teachers work to understand deeply what biblical truth is revealed through particular disciplines, and what questions may be raised to provoke critical thinking by students around a biblical perspective on the topic at hand. This is intellectually challenging work, but very rewarding to help students develop toward wisdom.

Do you believe? A review of the movie: Henry Poole is Here

Here is an interesting movie for you to watch over your upcoming spring break! Our family watched it and enjoyed it – it has the potential to lead to some very good discussion around faith, hope, miracles, and belief. Below is the trailer:

(Review contributed by Mark Eckel, educational consultant and director of the Mahseh Center.  Thanks, Mark for sharing!)

Hope does not always come in forms we expect or can explain.  Sometimes the face of Jesus must appear in a stain on a stucco house.  Other times, the house literally has to fall on a person to wake them up.  It is no mistake that words for hope, trust, and faith are so closely aligned with each other in religious frameworks: each is dependent on a world beyond our own.  It is this outside world that we cannot see, that we cannot explain, that invades inside our world.

Hope can come in many forms, but always from outside ourselves.  Luke Wilson stars in a movie to ponder just such an idea: Henry Poole Is Here.  The inexplicable occurs to give hope to the hopeless.  Full of Christian imagery and truly caring believers, Henry is altered when he is forced to confront that which he cannot explain.  Coke-bottle glasses worn by the grocery store check out girl are unnecessary after touching the stained house wall.  Mute no more, a child next door speaks; a result of the same.  Church-goers line up around the house because they believe what they cannot describe may transform what they cannot change.  Henry himself has been diagnosed with an undivulged illness.  Believing his own death to be imminent, “It doesn’t matter” and “I won’t be here very long” are phrases Henry uses to deflect attention away from commitments, away from people, away from life.

Characters enliven the tale.  The won’t-take-no-for-an-answer next door neighbor (Adriana Barraza), the Catholic priest (George Lopez), Millie whose eyes mesmerize (Morgan Lilly), Dawn (Rahda Mitchell) the romantic seeing inside Henry’s shell, and the cashier (Rachel Seiferth) all add flavor to a sweet story.

Albert Torres wrote the original screenplay for Henry Poole.  After failed attempts at penning scripts in Hollywood, Torres quit trying.  He changed course.  Two years later he realized his “undefined sadness” was because he was not writing.  “Rather than write a movie I thought I could sell or one I thought others would like, I wrote a movie I wanted to see. I emerged from a desperate time, looking for a little hope and Henry Poole was born” (source).  After suffering the devastating death of his wife, Mark Pellington created a film to reflect upon the realities of life lived after loss (source).  Henry Poole Lives Here is an example of reflection leading to hope.

Both Pellington and Torres maintain that the movie is not “pushy” about faith.  References to Jesus’ face, miracles, and Catholicism are simply to move the story along.  Henry Poole indeed succeeds without preaching.  But there is no mistaking a movie which depends on its most prominent character, who is invisible, other-worldly, unexplained but always there.

Rated PG for a few uses of profane language and adult situations.

My top ten list for hiring new teachers

When it comes to hiring a new faculty member for next year, what qualities are you seeking? Allow me to encourage you to consider some recent research done by Dr. Laurie Matthias, assistant professor of education at Trinity International University. She wondered what themes and qualities would emerge from studying professors considered exemplary by their peers in the integration of faith and learning at Wheaton College. She discovered a common core virtue of integrity/wholeness in these individuals. This sense of integrity and wholeness resulted from these characteristics: genuine faith, an attitude of humility, passion for their academic discipline, and openness to change.

I certainly agree with her assessment and submit this attempt as a “Top Ten” list of qualities needed in a Christian teacher:

1. Passion for God, kids, subject – in that order
2. Desire for, and skill in, nurturing faith in kids
3. Integrity – wholeness as a person (see above!)
4. Strong emotional intelligence (what we sense about others and what we do with that awareness)
5. Curiosity/creativity
6. Team player – working well with others
7. Commitment to personal learning and flexibility with change
8. Strong understanding of biblical perspective and skill in revealing God’s truth in the curriculum
9. Desire to build community within classroom and school
10. Sense of humor

What would you add or subtract?

Student reflections on biblical perspective

Thanks to Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, for sharing student reflections related to seeing God’s truth in the material they studied.

Here are sample student answers to the final question on my English 10 short story test: What else did you learn in this unit that you did not have a chance to show on the test?

• I think understanding that everyone has a perspective and that it’s important to connect literature and the Bible.
• All of the authors, it seems, either were born or ended up in situations where they didn’t really belong, or they were missing something, or something went wrong. It’s interesting to note the different responses each author had in their situation. Tolstoy had a primarily Christian perspective, Kafka was nihilist, and Camus was existentialist—each one giving their own reasons for why things were the way they were.
• I learned from Leo Tolstoy’s “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” that if we are selfish and greedy, it might seem like you’re “living the life” at the moment, but in the end you’ll lose everything (the important things) you have.
• Both Christianity and existentialism believe that people have the desire to find meaning. In Christianity, we find the true meaning in God and find joy, but in existentialism, people find their own meaning and find joy in that process. I thought it was sad that not all the people have hope and that not all people can feel true joy.
• I learned a lot about decision-making and finding my place here. We all get left out and feel like an outsider, but I know that I still belong to God.
• Every piece of literature has a worldview. It may be difficult to find, but if the author has any voice at all, you should be able to find it.
• I learned that just like “The Guest” we all have to make decisions between two things. I learned that I have to pray to God before choosing the decision by myself because without God’s power, we are all weak and cannot make a decision we won’t regret.
• From reading “The Bucket Rider” I learned how people who feel like they don’t belong anywhere are suffering because of emotional needs that may be as extreme as the Bucket Rider…. I want to be able to choose to act with empathy towards these people, unlike the coal dealer’s wife who ignored the Bucket Rider.

Is it well with your soul?

If we do not possess an interior spiritual life with God that is rich and meaningful, can we effectively nurture the faith of others? Do we have a balance between “doing” and “being” in our lives – are we balancing activity and contemplation? If we are emotionally unhealthy and are in a state of partial attention, if we are on auto pilot spiritually, if we are constantly exhausted and frazzled, can we expect to be able to present an authentic and attractive faith?

This past weekend I had the opportunity to hear Peter Scazzero, pastor of New Life Fellowship in Queens, New York speak to a group of pastors at a retreat. Peter strongly believes that it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.  He suggests that we need to go back into our negative generational family patterns and deal with who we are, before we can go forward spiritually and become emotionally healthy Christians. Additionally, he suggests that in order to deal with our current culture of narcissism, speed, and fragmentation, we need a greater emphasis on contemplative spirituality. In his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality he lists the following characteristics of living contemplatively:

• awakening and surrendering to God’s love in any and every situation;
• positioning ourselves to hear God and remember his presence in all we do;
• communing with God, allowing him to fully indwell the depth of our being;
• practicing silence, solitude, and a life of unceasing prayer;
• understanding our earthly life as a journey of transformation toward ever increasing union with God;
• finding the true essence of who we are in God;
• loving others out of a life of love for God;
• developing a balanced, harmonious rhythm of life that enables us to be aware of the sacred in all of life;
• adapting historic practices of spirituality that are applicable today;
• allowing our Christian lives to be shaped by the rhythms of the Christian calendar rather than the culture; and
• living in committed community that passionately loves Jesus above all else.

Through uniting emotional health and contemplative spirituality, Scazzero suggests that we can be given three gifts that allow us to better participate in the redemptive and transformative power of Jesus Christ in today’s world. These gifts are:

1. Slowing down (paying attention to God, being with him, loving God and others well)
2. Anchoring in God’s love (moving our understanding of God’s unconditional love from head to heart and hands, increasing our awareness of his love who heals us, anchoring our self-esteem in Christ, rather than self)
3. Breaking free from illusions (such as acknowledging our brokenness, recognizing idols in our lives, acknowledging how we attach ourselves to accomplishments, things, or people’s approval, changing generational family patterns)

The story of Daniel is an instructive one for us as adults, and for the youth whom we nurture in faith. Daniel was encouraged by those around him to assimilate into the dominant, God-denying culture of Babylon and had no support system to help him resist. Scazzero points out that Daniel knew he needed a plan to orient his life around loving God and follow that plan each day so that he could worship and draw close to God. Are we doing the same for ourselves and helping kids to learn this way of life also? It is clear that we cannot give what we do not live. Is it well with your soul?