This school year was hard. Although hardships and adjustments in the past couple years differ greatly depending on one’s community, educational needs continue to arise within both our public and Christian school settings, exacerbated recently by the global pandemic. As this article specifically addresses the common needs of teachers and how principals can support those in education, notice how these needs might extend to our many roles as parents, professionals, caretakers, …
Designing a classroom environment that values a growth mindset has been vital in helping students believe that they can learn mathematics.
A growing movement toward open educational resources (OERs) provides some financial relief for students and supports a vision of education that would have all students flourish.
Online education is a relatively recent result of the rapid increase in the availability of communication and the way that we learn. It has been a powerful and challenging phenomenon.
In the book of Revelation, a heavenly vision is presented. It is a vision for which we as educators are partly responsible. We have unique opportunities to give “our best for Christ’s glory” by creating culturally sensitive classrooms.
I’ve done school a lot of different ways and in a lot of different places. Some things have changed a lot. Some haven’t. One of the constants has been a question that I’ve encountered again and again across these different settings. Each time, the essence is the same: “Why do you want to be involved in Christian schools?”
Parents tend to have strong feelings about education. We all want to do the best we can for our children, and we can tend to resent any implication that the choices we make might be inferior to someone else’s.
Just as it would not serve our children well to stay stuck in the first grade curriculum with first grade questions and first grade answers, neither does it serve us well as maturing adults to discontinue the challenging work of growing in faith.
The opportunity to help train the next generation of mathematics teachers is what pulled me away from K-12 teaching in order to equip future teachers. I want to be a part of training the next generation of mathematics teachers to address the injustices that far too many students have of not seeing play, beauty, truth, justice, and love in mathematics.
If we won’t be getting rid of schools anytime soon, what will education look like in 10 years? That’s always a fun and important question to think about and reflect on.
Since I first started teaching 36 years ago, in some ways, teaching has changed significantly. In other ways, we’re still trying to accomplish the same thing.
When deciding which technology should be used in our classrooms or what guidelines we should set in place, we need to back up and first ask ourselves whether the purpose of the task glorifies and enjoys God.
This has me wondering how class must be for students when they don’t have a voice, when education is seen as something done to students, rather than something done with students. Maybe it’s no wonder that students would think school feels like prison?
I’m very concerned about faith formation in Christian schools. I’m concerned about students knowing all the right answers, but not really believing it. I’m concerned that they’re going to get so Bibled-out that they’ll go through the motions, but not really own their faith.
Christian schools are tasked to educate children regarding the vast work of kingdom agents. Here we teach them to rejoice in the good things that God created, lament the brokenness of the world and restore the creation though diligent care.
“I’m a middle school math teacher.” When I share this fact it is usually followed by looks of “you’re crazy!” followed by a “bless your heart” comment. I love how God uniquely gifts us with different passions to serve Him in His kingdom. I love that I get to spend my day with awkward adolescents and watch them grow up.
I enjoy trying to help teachers live out their faith as my own career has been in both public and Christian education. My career choices were at times pragmatic, but I often wrestled with whether my calling as an educator was to serve in public or Christian education.
I was struck by this quote, because I have heard it said before that “Christian” is great as a noun, but pretty lousy as an adjective.
It seems to me that this distinction between knowing about and knowing relationally applies to more than just the nonhuman creation (or nature, if you will). It also applies to our relationships with others, with ourselves and with God.
What if we re-imagined education so that failing was not a disaster, but part of the process? What if we started to think that way in our own lives as well?
To a mathematician, mathematics is about solving problems. Mathematics is not just a collection of “facts” about the numerical and spatial aspects of the world, it is a process by which we use and develop them. The interesting part is in the reasoning, the justification, and the way different concepts are brought together to answer a question.
Developing an understanding of the Civil War is an essential part of the curriculum in American schools today. And little wonder: unlike other conflicts in American history, the whole story happens here, at home. The story of the Civil War is the story of us fighting with us, and the conflict shaped not only the immediate situation, but also successive generations of Americans right up to the present day. How can parents and teachers help children and young adolescents understand this pivotal time period in American history?
A word picture of what inclusion looks like at the Nicaragua Christian Academy – Nejapa.
Why do teachers give homework? Thoughts on whether or not homework is an effective learning tool for students.
What comes to your mind when someone mentions the Common Core (or otherwise known as the Common Core State Standards)? Do you appreciate them? Are you scared of them?