Necessary Evils?

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Why did you go into teaching? I can guess that it was not because you like to grade papers, clean your classroom or make phone calls home to parents. In fact, you might say those tasks are necessary evils of our work as teachers.

Have you ever stopped to consider how our Christian worldview informs how we work, particularly the tasks we don’t like. Most of us have wrestled with how a Christian worldview informs how and what we teach, but how does it affect the way we work?

When we consider Genesis 1-2, we can see that work was actually created before the fall. Adam was tasked with caring for the Earth and naming the animals. He was invited to not only enjoy God’s work of creation but to join Him in it by creating further order and beauty. Therefore, work is sacred; it is good. But as we know, just one chapter later, sin entered the world and one of the results of the breaking of Shalom, is that from that point on work is cursed. The earth now pushes back and makes it difficult for us to work it. Thorns and briars get in our way and now work is toil.

Likewise, in our classrooms we have moments when the educational process is so good. Our teaching is full of creativity and passion. Our students are having those “light bulb” learning moments that invigorate us. But we all know that our tasks each day also include grading papers, not to mention sorting out late assignments, collecting field trip forms that are mangled in the bottom of a book bag, and tidying up our classroom. I’m sure you can come up with your own list of necessary evils. Is there Redemption for those pieces of our work? Or do we merely have to put our hand to the plow and toil?

I would like to assert the things we consider as necessary evils could be means of grace. First, they remind us that the world is broken and that even in our classrooms we do not reign supreme. We need God’s help to create order and beauty. These mundane tasks can be worship unto him. Secondly, they also allow us to model for our students how to do those things we would rather not do. Lastly, if we seek the Lord for his help with chores we dislike, maybe it would also remind us to seek him in the tasks we do like and with which feel more confident, so that we may see his glory in greater ways.  After all, Paul tells us in Colossians that we aren’t working for earthly masters, but “it is the Lord Christ you are serving[1].”

Here are a few practical ideas of how to be faithful in the unlikable duties,

  • Ask colleagues how they accomplish those everyday jobs, and don’t be afraid to steal what works!
  • Incorporate a new routine that makes these necessary evils much less annoying
  • Set a timer, work hard until the timer is up and take a break and come back to it
  • Put those tasks first, while you have enough energy to do them efficiently and well
  • Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, ask God to help you in all parts of your work. And then go a step further and give thanks in whatever you do[2].

By October, we are solidly entrenched in the school year with all the work that it entails. May we find the grace to move past calling these mundane tasks “necessary evils” and embrace the opportunity to bring a little touch of God’s goodness, order and beauty into all parts of our work.

Christy Biscocho, M.Ed.
Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond

Photo Credits: Gradebook. David Mulder, via Flicker. CC2.0. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Johann Wenzel Peter, public domain. Prayer. via Shutterstock.

[1] Colossians 3:23-24 NIV

[2] Colossians 3:17 NIV

Teaching Beyond

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Beth[1] taught a world history class. When she came to the section on Korean history, she realised she was out of her depth. She connected with several of her Korean students and their Korean School teachers. They worked out a joint project where the Korean students taught this material to the rest of the class. This initiative served to build bridges between the international school and the larger Korean community.

Dan coached high school girls’ basketball. Because of the school’s size and location, the team ended up playing the same few schools multiple times a season. During one game, Dan and his girls discovered that a starter on the other team was pregnant and would be out the rest of the season. The next time the two teams met, the girls on Dan’s team presented the mother-to-be with a number of baby-shower gifts. The relationship between rival schools was radically changed that day.

Jenni taught middle school Bible class. As the students were studying the prophetic books of the Old Testament, Jenni emphasised God’s heart for the poor and the oppressed. In the country where Jenni served, Asian women were frequently duped into taking service jobs that promised to pay more than those in their home country. Unfortunately, once they arrived, they often found themselves in abusive and unsafe situations. As a part of their study of the prophets, Jenni and her students raised over $500 which they donated to an organisation that rescues these women and helps them to return to their passport countries.

Lara and her second-grade students were studying volcanoes as a part of their science curriculum. They lived in a country with several active volcanoes. One of the parents at the school worked as a pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship. Lara reached out to him, and as result her students were able to fly over one of the volcanoes and get a birds’ eye view of what a volcano actually looked like. Then they learned from the pilot how his job was impacted by volcanic activity in the region.

What do all these scenarios have in common? In each instance, the teacher or coach leveraged their connections within the local community. They invited their students to look beyond the school walls and invited those outside the school to come in.

One of the distinctive values of TeachBeyond is “our commitment to the idea of “teaching beyond.[2]” We want our students—and our schools—to be “always thinking beyond to the world and its needs,[3]” and one of the ways we can do this is by proactively reaching out into our local community.

As you begin this new school year, I challenge you to think about ways that you can invite others in the school and local community into your classroom. What resources or expertise can parents, church members, or local neighbors bring into your students’ learning experience?

I also urge you to think about ways that your students can look outward and have an impact in the local community. Are there opportunities for you to serve or encourage or simply to love those outside the school walls? What would it take for this to happen?

Jesus instructed his disciples that “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another[4].” When we create opportunities for our students to connect with others in the local community both inside and outside our classrooms, we provide the chance for them to look beyond themselves and love others. We enhance the curriculum beyond what we alone can teach. And we build bridges to the local community, signaling we care about our neighbors, rather than walls which can create suspicion and hostility. It’s a win no matter how you look at it!

So, how will you teach beyond this coming school year? Please drop us a line at onpractice@teachbeyond.org and let us know.

Becky Hunsberger
Coordinator of Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

Photo Credits: Basketball. Franchise Opportunities, via Flickr, CC-02. Volcano. ZackClark. wiki-media. Public Domain. Field trip. Arbor Christian Academy, 2019. 

[1] Names of all teachers have been changed for the sake of this article.

[2] TeachBeyond Distinctive #2.

[3] Ibid.

[4] John 13:35

Transformational Principle 1

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Last week I travelled for a few days. While I was gone, Dana transformed an old thrift-store desk into a beautifully restored antique. She worked hard to take it apart, scrub, sand, and paint it. Knowing that I love to put things together, she waited to finish it. When I got home, I spread out the doors, handles, nuts, and nails. I didn’t know how the pieces went back together: I had a basic idea, but there were brackets and strips of wood that I didn’t understand. What was the desk supposed to look like when it was together?

I needed help, I needed to know the design.

When your children sit down in your classroom, what are you after? When they come to you, what is your purpose? We know that we teach best when we have the end in mind.

The first of four TeachBeyond principles for Transformational Education helps us know where to go and how to get there: “We pursue transformation which aligns with God’s creative design while trusting the Spirit for complete transformation into the image of Christ.”

What does this mean for you today?

  1. We have a powerful purpose. We don’t just go through the curriculum. Our overarching purpose for each child is uncovering “God’s creative design.” We call out in each student a design rooted in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and by God’s grace we encourage every student to become like Christ and develop the gifts and abilities God has given to accomplish His purposes (Ephesians 2:10).
  2. We pray for wisdom. As I needed Dana to show me how the pieces fit for the desk, we need God’s wisdom to help us understand how each child is designed, what each one can be as a unique and special person (Jeremiah 1:5). We ask the Lord to show us what each child might be, not just how they are.
  3. We pray for God to work. God, not the teacher, grows children (1 Corinthians 3:6). Just as Paul planted and Apollos watered, we contribute in some way to our students’ growth, but we cannot transform a child. This is God’s job. We can use best practices and pray for His grace, but the Holy Spirit transforms hearts and lives. We don’t. A wise transformational teacher once said, “We do much less than we think we do.”
  4. We respect each person. Since we are pursuing God’s creative design, we watch each child for hidden gifts and strengths. Then we give them opportunities to use and grow according to their gifts. We provide options for learning when we can so that each child grows toward the design God has for them. We celebrate each one’s giftedness and place in our class.
  5. We recognise two levels of transformation. The first is growing each child toward the best he or she can be through normal teaching practice. We give them education that changes their knowledge and abilities, helping each child to become the special person each is. But we are always mindful of pointing them to complete transformation in Jesus by knowing Him through faith and becoming a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
  6. There is no end. Every child can continue to grow and learn, even if he or she has met the curriculum standards. Every child who knows Jesus by faith should continue to learn and grow toward the image of Christ. Faith in Christ is not our end goal, complete transformation to His image is—and this is a life-long process.
  7. We are not adequate to do this. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” We are servants of a new covenant, of the Spirit who gives life. The beginning of our work as a transformational educator is to be transformed ourselves by knowing we are also in need of the work of the Spirit in our lives. Perhaps the most important thing we can do for our students is to make sure we are letting God transform us.

As I studied the pieces of the desk and Dana told me how they fit, we were able to put together a beautiful, new desk out of an old one. In so much higher and deeper and wider ways, God will use you to pursue His design for each child, by His grace through the Holy Spirit. Each child can become more what God intends and we get to be a part of that.

Joe Neff, Th.M.
Coordinating Director of Education Services
TeachBeyond Global
Photo Credits: Desk. J. Neff, 2019. Girl. T. Peters, 2017.  ble 2 Ac

Principles of Curriculum Planning

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If you’ve never done it before, the very mention of planning your yearly curriculum can be enough to throw you into a panic. However, curriculum planning–whether for a full year or simply a unit–doesn’t need to be scary. Here are a few key principles to keep in mind as you approach planning the curriculum for your course.

  1. The longer the amount of time covered by a plan, the broader (more general) it will be.  Thus a yearly curriculum plan will have far less detailed than a unit plan, which will be less detailed than a daily lesson plan.
  2. Curriculum plans of all levels are living documents. It is not a bad thing to make changes and adjustments as you go along. It is a good idea to keep track of these changes so you have them to use in the future. (No matter what you think, you won’t remember everything!)
  3. Curriculum plans are helpful for tracking time but also for tracking resources available. Keeping resource lists as up-to-date as possible is helpful.
  4. When you are first starting out, your curriculum guides will be less detailed than those of people who have been teaching for years. That’s okay. You can flesh yours out with time.

As an example of how to get started in curriculum planning, let’s look at a medium-sized curriculum guide–the Unit Plan.

Unit Planning
At the start of each unit, you want to use your yearly curricular plan to help you determine how many instructional days that you have to cover the material in the unit.
Step 1: Determine the content and skills that you need to cover during the unit and what resources you have available to help you do this.
What do your students already know? Need to learn?
Which standards will be addressed in this unit?
Are there any mandatory field trips or activities you need to be sure to include?
Step 2: Write broad instructional objectives for your unit. By the end of this unit, what do your students need to know and be able to do?
Write your objectives.
Consider how you will assess these objectives. If possible, design your final assessment for the unit at this stage. If time is an issue, at least be sure you have outlined a workable plan for the final assessment.
Step 3: Using the number of instructional days you have allotted to the unit, determine how many days will likely be needed for students to reach these objectives. At this stage, you might consider the following:
Have you left 1-2 days at the end of each unit “open” so that you have some wiggle room if you need to go back and reteach a concept?
How much time is necessary for students to complete the unit assessment? This is especially important if you are assessing through:
presentations (How many students can present in a class period? Have you left enough days for this?),
projects (How much time do students need to complete the project after having been taught the material?) or
performances (How much class time do you need to set aside for students to rehearse?).
Are there any interruptions in your instructional time, and how will this affect the students ability to succeed? (Is it fair for half the class to present their projects on Friday and the rest on Monday? Is there a holiday or other non-instructional day right before the unit assessment?)
Step 4: Lay out your unit plan, collect resources, and schedule the time for the final assessment.
Lay out a tentative schedule of your lesson objectives on the calendar.
Consider the final assessment. What content, tools, skills, practice do your students need to master before they will be able to succeed?
Have you built in time for supplemental activities such as field trips, lab work, etc.?
Consider outside factors that could affect the scheduling of these things. You may have to shift the order of your unit around slightly to accommodate factors outside of your control.

Use this plan to help pace your individual lessons. Keep it handy, and make notes on it as you actually teach the lessons. Which lessons (objectives) took longer to teach (master)? Which went faster than you expected? What should you consider adding/dropping from the unit? What new ideas do you have for the next time you teach it?

Keeping track of these unit plans and updating them at the end of the school year can be a very helpful exercise. Not only is this a quick way to assess whether all the mandatory material for the course has been covered, it also is helpful for preparing yourself and/or subsequent teachers to teach the course in future years. A little time spent now can save a lot of time (and worry) in the future.

Becky Hunsberger
Coordinator of Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

Photo Credits: Planner. By Evgeny Karandaev, via Shutterstock. Teacher’s Desk. by User:Mattes – Own work, Public Domain, Link.

Tags: Professional Practice, Resources

Teachers as Beauty Creators

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Teachers are beauty creators. Creating beauty can mean decorating a room or painting a picture, but it can also mean resolving conflicts so there may be beautiful and harmonious fellowship again. Creating beauty can also mean leading others to become beauty creators by exemplifying what it means to create beauty. God is the original beauty creator. When He created the earth, He was full of love, peace, and joy about what He was doing. As Christian teachers we are united with God and are able to teach with His characteristics. Being beauty creators means bringing love, joy and peace into our classrooms.

If you totally love the subject you teach and your most fulfilling moment is seeing students joyfully adapt what you showed them, then you have created something very beautiful. You created not only a beautiful moment for yourself and the student, but also another beauty creator who will likely share what he has just learned. We share beauty, not because we are forced to, but because it is a pure pleasure. Therefore, the goal of teaching should be to create beauty; this is a role that goes beyond a set of rules or a list of words or calculations. What, then, are some ways to become a beauty creator in the midst of everyday pressures and tight schedules at school?

Creating beauty does not need to be a complicated process. In fact, sometimes bringing beauty comes from simplifying your teaching life. First, choosing to focus on simpler preparations for class allows you time to care for God, for friends and fellowship, for caring for yourself by eating well, exercising and sleeping enough. Pursuing beauty means setting proper priorities. Second, a simpler method can also help you focus more on the kids and on what is happening in the classroom than to be caught up in organising your methods. This strengthens the relationships that God has given us.

Today I taught my first grade students about animal teeth. I found a nice slide show online with animals having speech bubbles telling something about their teeth. My first idea was to colour-copy the animals, cut out the speech bubbles, and laminate all of it. It would have been best to make copies for each group of students. I thought about the effort it would take to prepare all of this and about the many other things that still had to be done on that day. Then I came up with an idea, which turned out to be just great: instead of making copies, I showed the slide show to the students reading to them the speech bubbles. I made a quiz with four groups asking questions about what I had been reading to them. They just loved it and were engaged. I was able to stand in the front, free to focus on the kids, not being distracted by methodological details. The question I had to ask myself was: “Does the method lead to the goals of my lesson or am I getting caught up in unnecessary preparation?”

In the end, being a beauty creator in the classroom is all about love and relationship. Spending time with God is especially important because He is the source of relationship: the source of all peace, joy, love, and patience. These characteristics are so essential in a classroom setting as are living a balanced life, in harmony with yourself, with Him, and others. Recognising your limits and setting boundaries for yourself will allow you to be freer to love your students and create something beautiful in them which they will want to copy. If then, what you love about what you teach connects with the students themselves, you have been successful and you truly created some more beauty in this world.

Let me finish with a quote: The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The greatest teacher inspires (William Arthur Ward). If you want to be a teacher who inspires, my suggestion is to find ways that can simplify your teaching and find ways to be inspired so you don’t run out of energy but keep on being an inspiring teacher creating beauty wherever you go.

Sonja Seidel
Primary Teacher
Freie Evangelische Schule Lörrach, Germany

Photo Credits: The Whole World. B.Hunsberger 2017.

________________________________________
Sonja Seidel is a religion and English teacher at Freie Evangelische Schule Lörrach, a Christian private school in South Germany. She has taught at the gymnasium level (where students get their A-levels) before moving down to the primary school level where she is really enjoying working with younger students. Prior to teaching, Sonja studied theology and English.

Recognising the Different Ways Boys Learn

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Boys and girls are different. They play differently, relate differently, even develop differently. While little girls are practicing their newly found language skills, chattering away to whomever will listen, little boys are busy climbing on things and racing cars—delighting when there is a big crash with a lot of noise. Anyone who has ever worked with young children will attest to these obvious differences. And yet, despite these clear differences, our classrooms are often set up to treat both male and female learners the same. Why is this, and what can we do to address it?

After years of parenting boys and working in schools, Canadian educator Dr. Edmond J. Dixon decided to research these questions. He’s complied his findings in the book Helping Boys Learn and on the website of the same name.[1] He outlines six “secrets” to helping boys succeed in the classroom. According to Dr. Dixon, teachers and parents who recognise and employ these secrets can help boys find significant successes in the classroom and can counter some of the disengagement that has become typical for some male students.

So what are these secrets? Check them out below:
1. Movement: A boy’s brain is hardwired to detect and engage in movement. He is made to move. When movement is limited (as in the typical classroom), a boy may find creative—or destructive—ways around this. Finding ways to move is one way boys try to engage and stimulate their brains—particularly if they find themselves feeling bored. This may explain why movement-based offenses are the leading cause of behavioural issues in young boys.
2. Games: Boys love games. When a boy is engaged in a game, he is being given a constructive opportunity to move, to test his own abilities against those of another, and to forge a sense of shared purpose with those against whom he is competing. Because of their competitive nature, boys pay attention to games, and their outcomes. A win or loss in a game may affect a boy’s ability to concentrate on other tasks at hand until he has had a chance to process the emotions attached to the game’s outcome.
3. Humour: Like with games, a boy may use humour to engage and connect with other people and with his own emotions. Crude and slapstick humor connects to a boy’s fascination with movement. Humour also delights boys when it introduces an element of surprise. Whether or not it is appreciated, boys will include puerile humou r in their interactions and writings because they know that their peers will understand and laugh with them.
4. Challenge: Like George Mallory, boys seem to crave a challenge simply “because it is there.”[2] How a boy responds to the challenge will often relate to three factors: his belief in having adequate personal resources, the way the challenge has been framed, and how closely the challenge relates to his own goals and interests. When this secret is harnessed for learning, it can become a powerful force for engagement. When it isn’t, it can lead to power struggles or checking out.
5. Mastery: Many of the activities that boys are drawn to require mastery of complex skills—often requiring movement. Boys seem to draw a strong sense of self-worth from their ability to master these skill sets, and they want to accomplish this on their own, without the outside help of a teacher or other adult. However, if a boy believes that he is unable to master a skill—something that often occurs in school—he will often quit trying or simply turn the situation into a power struggle where he can at least “master” the situation, if not the skill itself.
6. Meaning: For boys, meaning is often connected to utility and service. Boys want to contribute to the well-being of their community. The question why is this important often masks the deeper question, how will this make me useful to others? The less a boy understands the utility of a topic, the more likely he is to become disengaged.
By acknowledging the difference between the way boys and girls learn and restructuring our classes to meet the needs of both populations, we will create an educational environment where everyone wins.

Becky Hunsberger, M.Ed.
Coordinator of Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond, Global
________________________________________
[1] Dixon, Edmond J. Helping Boys Learn: Six Secrets for Success in School. Barrie, ON: Wintertickle Press, 2013. Website: www.helpingboyslearn.com
[2] When asked why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, Mallory is reported to have told the reporter, “Because it is there.”

This article was first published in OnPractice on 5 March 2014.

Photo Credits: Boys with Planes. woodleywonderworks. http://www.flickr.com/photos/73645804@N00/2502804228/; Boy Laughing. stevendepolo. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10506540@N07/3275214127/

The Gifts of Language Learners

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“I missed the bus.”
“I spilled my coffee.”
“My dog died.”
“The weather is bad.”
“I fought with my mum.” 

“More. What else could be wrong?” My Hungarian teacher urged the class to list more and more things we could complain about when asked “How are you?” by a Hungarian.

I trust you not to form an opinion of Hungarian culture based solely on this story. But I want to reflect on how I felt as a language learner in that classroom.

Mainly I felt discouraged. God called me overseas to be a light in a dark place, to share the hope of Jesus with people who are hopeless. How could I be a blessing, when all I was learning in language class was how to complain?

We bring the habits and blind spots of our culture into our classrooms. The more we become aware of our cultural tendencies and biases, the better we will be able to teach students who come from different cultures. As Christian teachers, we’ve thought carefully about how biblical worldview shapes our interactions with our students and colleagues. But we may not have thought about how our Christian faith speaks specifically to language teaching and learning.

The Gift of the Stranger

I want to offer some thoughts from a book called The Gift of the Stranger: Faith, Hospitality and Language Learning[1], a work I recommend to all language teachers–foreign or mother-tongue, all who find themselves as learners in a foreign culture, or all who welcome others into their own culture—in short, nearly all of us in TeachBeyond!

The book addresses the questions I faced in that Hungarian language classroom: How do we decide what to teach? “Further, what does such a choice imply about the kinds of persons we want our students to be when they are abroad [or interacting with a foreigner in their home culture]?[2]”

Grounded in the Biblical themes of reconciliation, justice and peace among nations, the authors “propose that foreign language education prepare students for two related callings: to be a blessing to strangers in a foreign land, and to be hospitable to strangers in their own homeland”[3]. Here, I will share some thoughts for language learners in a foreign land. In another article, I will explore how we offer hospitality to strangers in our homeland—and to students in our classrooms.

The Blessing of the Stranger

Smith and Carvill suggest that as strangers in a foreign land, we can offer three gifts to our hosts. Each of these have specific implications for how we teach the learners in our classrooms.

The gift of seeing what they do not see

We need to train students not to (only) look at the culture as a tourist looking through a camera lens, but to truly see. Not everything the learner sees is positive, but we can humbly call attention to the blind spots and help our hosts see themselves more clearly. Hungarians may not see anything problematic in a long list of complaints as a response to “How are you?” On the other hand, Americans may never have questioned why our typical response to the question is “fine,” when we even respond at all!

The gift of asking good questions

Learners often see cultural differences which can be difficult, or even impossible, to interpret without asking questions. We must teach students not only the grammatical skills to formulate questions, but the cultural competence to pose them respectfully. Students must also be equipped with enough of the history and context of their hosts to ask appropriate questions to uncover the “underlying meanings, values, and commitments of the target culture.[4]”

The gift of listening

Listening is a complex skill that needs to be developed carefully. We also need to teach students to be careful of thinking they understand too quickly. Sometimes we “understand” before we listen, interpreting differences through our own lenses, without truly listening for the answer to our question. It’s better to not understand than to misunderstand and reduce the person to a preconceived image; if we want to reach true understanding, we must “encounter and cherish the person from a different culture as a responsible, responsive person made in God’s image.[5]” This is uncomfortable to do, so students need help learning to be okay with the tension.

Conclusion 

The famous love chapter of the Bible starts with the truth that “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but  have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.[6]” On the other side, we can meet the stranger with all the love in the world, but if we cannot communicate that love in a way that he or she can receive it—with words or not, with correct grammar or without—it will still sound like a noisy gong. We can certainly communicate love without words, but learning language is a gift to the people with whom we wish to connect; it is one of the ways we communicate love. Let’s not forget that truth in the language classroom.

Hope Péter, M.A. in TESOL
LinGo English Enriched Schools Central European Coordinator
TeachBeyond
________________________________________
[1] Smith, David I. & Barbara Carvill. The Gift of the Stranger: Faith, Hospitality and Language Learning. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2000. All quotes in this article come from this book.
[2] pg. 57.
[3] pg 58. Italics in the original.
[4] pg. 70.
[5] pg 73.
[6] 1 Cor. 13:1

Photo Credits: Conference. René Zieger, via Wikimedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0. Gift of the Stranger, via amazon.com. Gong, Letsol, via Wikimedia.org. CC BY-SA 3.0.

Supporting Students with Special Needs

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The number of students with special needs seems to be growing. There are more students with higher learning needs, deeper emotional struggles, and ongoing medical issues, all of which impact learning. How do we respond to this increase in need: with excitement? stress? concern? hope?

Colossians 3:12-13a says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another.”

There are times that I feel qualified to help these students, but there are other times when I feel at a loss as to how to handle a particular problem, emotion, or situation. So what are we to do in our classrooms? How do we effectively address this growing need?

Build a Team: Humility

Remember you are not alone.

Whether you are a classroom teacher, administrator, counsellor, or support staff, you should be working as a team to support students with special needs. Having a team of people, whether it is two or ten, is important for several reasons. First, we all see things differently, have insight from different experiences, and hold different areas of expertise. Team members can learn from one another. Together they can develop better plans for addressing individual situations. A team has more resources from which to draw. Second, having a team helps with the emotional burden that can come from supporting struggling students. A team not only provides support for the specific student, but it also provides the support needed for the staff working with the student. A team can help us appropriately process emotions and frustrations. Do not let pride cause you to try to solve the problems on your own; build a team to support and pray for the student and for one another.

Build Rapport: Compassion and Patience

I can usually tell when I have rapport with a student and when I don’t. But what exactly is rapport? Webster defines it as a relationship characterised by mutual understanding and empathy. If a teacher is able to instruct, correct, critique, and encourage a student towards growth, then they have rapport with that student. This means trust.

Rapport takes time to build—sometimes a very long time! It took me about four months to build rapport with one of my former students in San Diego. I knew it was there when after storming out of the classroom, he came back in on his own accord and apologised to me. It took six months with one of my current students at Black Forest Academy. Students with special needs need to know you won’t give up on them, even if they may have already given up on themselves.

5 Actions that Build Rapport

1. Acknowledge frustrations and struggles; let the student be heard and validated
2. Model asking for and offering forgiveness
3. Start each day with a fresh slate
4. Use humour in appropriate ways to build a culture of fun that does not belittle anyone
5. Look for other adults who have built good rapport with the student and ask for their input

5 Actions that Break Rapport

1. Give up, or believe this student will never change
2. Publicly humiliate a student (from their perception)
3. Demand quicker progress when the student is already trying his/her hardest
4. Don’t acknowledge student growth
5. Be inflexible

Build Structure: Bear with One Another

Students with special needs want to be like everyone else. They don’t want to feel stupid, slow, forgetful, or outcast, but often they do. They lack confidence in trying new things because they may fail again. These students feel they are always scrambling to keep up with their peers. What many students learn intuitively, students with special needs need to be taught directly.

Having a structured classroom can help these students tremendously. When the classroom is organised, expectations consistent, communication clear and the materials accessible, a student with special needs is more likely to thrive in the classroom. These things don’t just apply to the elementary classroom, but are also necessary in the upper grades as well. Develop routines for your class, procedures for regular activities, and make sure all your handouts have clear directions, with print and pictures clearly organised. Demonstrate aloud to your class how you organise your activities, your assignments, your thoughts, since students with special needs need things explicitly modeled.

By working together, building rapport, and structuring our classrooms we can go a long way towards helping our students with special needs.

Rebecca Swanson, M.A. Special Education
Resource Room Supervisor, Black Forest Academy

Sacred Wounds or Meaningless Suffering

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The Epicurean paradox states
           If God is omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good, whence evil?

           If God wills to prevent evil but cannot, then He is not omnipotent.

           If He can prevent evil but does not, then he is not good. In either case he is not God.

Update Epicurus’ language a little and we have the commonly stated reason why Christians are deserting their faith.  They say, “I prayed to God to alleviate the suffering and He was nowhere around,” “I cannot believe in a God who allows this kind of disaster to take innocent lives,” or “Why would God create, only to destroy?” Christianity is being rejected because its adherents can not reconcile suffering and God’s nature. This is especially problematic as our culture’s meaning and purpose in life is increasingly linked to happiness.

 

Is there a role that we can take as transformational educators to prepare our students with a theology of suffering that would not only prevent their apostacy, but to help them grow and experience God’s presence because of suffering? Knowing that this is one of the main reasons people reject Christianity could we be more intentional in how we prepare our learners for suffering? A comprehensive response would certainly take volumes more space than we have here. However, here are some exercises to get the conversation started:

Exercise 1:
Please read the scripture below (1)  with the purpose of drawing conclusions about prayer.
Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
1 Kings 3:5 “In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, ‘Ask what you wish me to give you.’”
Psalm 91:15 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.”
John 14:14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
Matthew 21:22 “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

When looked at together like this, these verses seem to suggest that if we ask God for something, He will give it to us. I call this the Cosmic Sugar Daddy view of God. Often—even if unintentionally—we present this view to our students. Even our textbooks sometimes seem to shore up this view, possibly by citing some of these scriptures.

So, if we pray for someone to be cured from cancer, then God will do it? Do your students believe this? What happens to the Christian who has not considered the whole counsel of scripture and finds that the loved one they prayed for died? Do our students know that other scripture gives a much different view of asking God? Paul asked three times for his “thorn in the flesh” (3) to be taken away, and it didn’t happen. Jesus asked for “this cup to be removed” (4) when he was in the garden, and yet He was still crucified. Thank God He did not respond to all prayer as requested!

There is much our students need to understand about suffering and God’s character. Are we preparing them for their dark moments as well as those moments when they are “offering comfort to those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God ” (4)?

Exercise 2:
Accept the challenge to join colleagues in thinking hard, discussing often, and praying fervently about this all too common stumbling block around suffering. How can we prepare our students with a theology of suffering that equips them to stand firm in the faith even when faced by “trials and tribulations of many kinds ” (5)? How can we facilitate discussions surrounding prayer that avoid the “Cosmic Sugar Daddy” trap? What messages are our lives sending to our students—both explicitly and tacitly—about suffering and disappointed expectations?
We cannot say enough about the importance of creating Christian communities of practice and speaking into one another’s work as transformational educators. How about tackling it at your next staff meeting?

Helen Vaughan, Ph.D.
TeachBeyond
Senior Consultant for Transformational Education

 

Photo Credits: emergency vehicles. juanemergencias Flickr via Compfight cc. Pieta. Lawrence OP Flickr via Compfight cc.

(1) all scripture quoted from the New International Version

(2) 2 Cor. 12:8
(3) Luke 22:42
(4) 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
(5) James 1:2

The Image of God: Image Reflectors

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While this article may seem primarily reflective, it is, in fact, highly practical; our understanding of ourselves and others shapes everything we do and the way we do it. At the heart of all self-understanding is that most practical (and important) of all things: “what comes into our minds when we think about God…”[1]. As such, the teacher’s task is prophetic – seeing things and people from God’s perspective; and priestly – leading our people to the Lord and restoration. The teacher’s high calling helps students see and become what God sees them becoming: a unique beautiful expression of His own image, restored in Christ.

At creation new life burst forth from the Father by Son in the Spirit of love. Earth and all in it mysteriously imaged and revealed something of Heaven’s Glory, as the invisible was made visible.

The climax: “let Us make mankind in Our image, to be like Us!”[2] In His most beautiful, exhilarating, joyous and solemn creative act, God shaped us. He made us fruitful, to re-create and co-create from His inexhaustible creative storehouse, to extend God’s eternal creativity in expanding manifestations of His image, loving rule and generative activity, for His greater glory and His creation’s greater good.When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is mankind, that You take thought of him? And the son of man, that You care for him? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.[3]
God directly shaped Adam from the dust breathing Spirit-energy into him; then He crafted Eve from sleeping Adam’s side, breathing His Spirit into her.

Eden—the beautiful, restful, fruitful Garden of God—was a stunning backdrop for the work-play of God’s children. The grandeur of God’s image—mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, creative—was perfectly expressed in Adam and Eve! God’s royal representatives ruled wisely, maintaining the harmony of the Garden of God. Knowing God, they knew the secrets of His creation.

Their prayer life was quiet, brilliant, energising, beautiful, true, kind, restful, comfortable, strong, gentle; deep words interspersed with golden, restful, informative, expectant, receptive, expressive silence.

Our longing for a better world is our shared memory of Eden and a yearning for a future better world – past and future glory in this moment’s disappointment, the awakening of our soul to our true longing.

At the heart of being God’s image is choice, without which love cannot exist. Right choosing means choosing to love, obey, trust, and serve God. Our fullest capacity to create flows from full alignment with our Creator; here we are most creative, joyful, effective and loving, most fully alive as God’s image.

Choosing for self-advancement, self-glory, self-reliance (i.e. against God and His glory in seeking the best for the other and for God’s creation) is sin, a posture and activity whereby we miss the mark, falling far short of the glory of God.

The secret of strength—doing the will of the Father in humble reliance and obedient response to having received all from him—becomes twisted into what Satan calls a weakness. All we are and have is gift and grace.

Because of God’s grace and mercy freely offered by Christ, the way back is always available. Our pilgrimage is all about God restoring us – and through us others and His creation – as His image in Christ, who is the perfect image of God.

Augustine states: “the Godhead of the Holy Trinity and the image to which man is made are one”[4]. God’s will is that we who were created like Him, yet distinct from Him, should be united with Him in fruitful, intimate union. Our destiny is to become reflectors of God’s restored image:
And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world[5].

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart….”[6]

Howard Dueck, M.A.
Latin America/Beyond Borders Regional Director
TeachBeyond Global
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[1] Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of the Holy. 4.
http://www.fremontalliance.net/hp_wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/KotH-Tozer.pdf
[2] Genesis 1:26
[3] Psalm 8:3-6
[4] Augustine. Confessions. Book XII, article 5. Translated by R S Pine-Coffin. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1979.
[5] John 17:22-24
[6] Ecclesiastes 3:11

Photo Credits: Sunlight. Le dahu Flickr via Compfight cc. Sunset. JerzyGorecki via Pixabay.
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Howard Dueck (MA, Biblical Counselling), together with his wife Eileen, began their service with TeachBeyond in 1988 in Brazil, where Howard taught, counselled and was involved in leadership at the Gramado Bible College. He continued counselling and teaching when they moved to Germany. He is currently based near Winnipeg, Canada, and serves as the TeachBeyond regional director for Latin America and director for Beyond Borders (TeachBeyond’s education outreach to displaced persons).