Resources – Page 4 – TeachBeyond Argentina

An exercise in FAITH

April 25, 2018/in Featured, Resources/by admin

In our exploration of TeachBeyond’s core values, we have now come to faith. Hebrews 11 is the great Bible chapter on faith and there we find a definition of this value: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see[1].” The chapter goes on to illustrate what this virtue looks like using the lives of many of the great heroes of the Old Testament.[2]

There are some common themes that run through the various illustrations. One is that often the goals pursued by these heroes seemed completely unattainable. Think of the stories of Sarah, Joshua, Gideon and others. The thing they hoped for seemed impossible. Another common theme is the lack of resources that these characters faced. How could Gideon possibly win a battle against the vast Midianite army with only 300 men? How could Moses lead the Israelite slaves out of powerful Egypt? And even should they succeed, what was there in the desert to sustain them? A third theme is obedience: these heroes of the faith reached their goal because they did what God challenged them to do. This is true even when they could not see the outcome they were working towards, a final theme of this chapter.

It would be easy to think that somehow these people were special and not like us, but when you read through their stories you see that this is not true. Moses tried all sorts of excuses to avoid facing Pharaoh. Gideon demanded miraculous signs to convince him of God’s clear direction. Even Sarah laughed when she first heard the Lord’s promise. Just as it took these men and women time to grow in their faith, we should take heart in realising that faith is journey and not something that happens to us overnight.

So how does this relate to our work in the classroom? Let’s consider the four themes highlighted earlier.

Do you ever feel the targets you have been set are far too high and unrealistic? Do you wonder if the head of your department or the school principal realises what the children in your class are like? Or perhaps you wonder if your small attempts at Biblical integration or modelling love and discipleship are capable of making an eternal difference in the lives of your students? If so, you are in the same situation as our faith heroes and the good news is that God specialises in helping us reach goals that seem impossible.

What about resources? Maybe you know that your children are very capable, but lack reliable internet or your textbooks are old and out of date. Maybe there are just not enough resources to go around. You are in good company. Thankfully God specialises in using people who feel weak and inadequate to accomplish great things.

Then there is obedience obedience. Jo Schuringa[3] often says, “God has not called you to fail.” What a great reminder: God has called you and placed you where you are now serving, and he challenges you not to dwell on the problems but to look to him in faith and see how He will achieve great things through your ministry.

Finally, the heroes of faith were still living by faith when they died; they did not always see the outcome of their work. There will be children who will challenge you and when they leave they will appear to have taken no notice of many things you have tried to teach them. Don’t lose heart, because the fruit may not come for many years. It is not your job to save your students; that job, thankfully, belongs to the Lord!

Just like the heroes of faith, you may find moving forward in faith a challenge, but remember to keep your eyes on Jesus not on your circumstances. You are not in this position by accident, and the one who has called you will certainly equip you with everything good for doing his will[4]. As your faith grows your life will have an impact on the children you work with, even if it is just because they see you exercising your faith day by day.

[1] Hebrews 11:1

[2] Please make time to read the chapter because the examples we are given are inspiring.

[3] Joe is a member of TeachBeyond’s global committee

[4] Hebrews 13:21

David Midwinter
UK National Director
TeachBeyond

God’s Rubric for Excellence

March 28, 2018/in Resources/by admin

Excellence: Whatever we do, we do it wholeheartedly to the best of our ability and for the glory of God alone. (from TeachBeyond Identity Statements)

Excellence – the last in the list of TeachBeyond core values – is a concept that conjures up a myriad of thoughts and emotions. Perhaps you have memories of basking in the glow of a job well-done…or feeling completely frustrated because you could never please a taskmaster teacher.

As an educator and a musician, I’ve struggled with this concept in many arenas of my life, as well as in my classroom. What does excellence look like? Does it look the same for all teachers, all students and all schools in every situation? How do we recognize excellence in ourselves, students, and institutions? As transformational educators, how does the concept of excellence impact what and how we teach?

The root word, excel, carries with it the sense of going beyond or surpassing. But what is it that we are going beyond? Where is the standard that we are attempting to surpass? The world, our teacher training, the Bible – they all give us standards and aspirations. The TeachBeyond statement (reprinted at the top of this article) says “to the best of our ability,” not to meet a particular standard. How can we know what excellence is? The statement says that our actions are “for the glory of God alone,” not our fame and reputation or that of others. As people who long for transformation in ourselves and others, we look to God for His standard while being motivated by the desire to bring Him glory in all that we are.

Rubics are often used as a tool by educators to communicate expectations of excellence. Since OnPractice is for educators, included here is a “Rubric for Excellence”. While this is a tongue-in-cheek effort and not intended for use with students or teachers, it captures some of the major issues we all need to wrestle with as we consider what the core value of excellence means in our classrooms and lives.

RUBRIC FOR EXCELLENCE
Topic Meets Expectations Does not meet Expectations
Orientation + Views excellence as action, a striving toward the next level, or a continual improvement (I Thess. 4:1). + Views excellence as a goal, resulting in stagnation, complacency, and/or pride.
Model + Uses Jesus Christ as a model (1 John 2:6). + Focuses on human models, resulting in a skewed perspective.
Perspective + Vertical – Views excellence as between self and God without comparing self to others (Gal 6:4) + Horizontal – Constantly compares self to others resulting in pride, discouragement, and/or burnout.
Motivation + Seeks only God’s glory + Craves attention, awards, advancement, and complements.
Intensity + Offers best effort “as unto the Lord” (Col 3:23) + Does whatever is necessary to receive the recognition, regardless of the consequences to self or others.
Or
+ Makes just enough effort to get the desired recognition.
Or
+ Says, “Why should I even try?”
Boundaries + Recognizes human limitations of time and space, doing what is possible and leaving the rest to God
(Prov. 3:5,6). + Obsesses over tasks, expending time and energy and ignoring God’s leading.
+ Gives minimal time to task so there’s more time for entertainment.
Focus + Pursues both outward demonstrations and internal character development. + Cares more about looking smart or talented than learning or growth.
Or
+ Completely focused on inner life with no desire to meet expectations.
Mindset + Demonstrates a growth mindset, believing that hard work develops intelligence or talent (See Carol Dweck’s work on mindset.) + Believes and protects labels of “smart” or “not talented” rather than working to learn and grow by developing what God has bestowed.
Equipping + Relies on God’s power through the Holy Spirit when encountering difficult situations. + Does not trust God.
+ Relies completely on own strength.
+ Looks for short-cuts or the easy way out of difficult situations.
+ Expects others to rescue them.

So how do you rate on this rubric? How would you evaluate your students? As the first attribute highlights, excellence is a process. What looks like excellence at one time in one place is different than excellence in another situation. An excellent second grade science report is not the same as one completed by a PhD candidate.

Our role as educators is to model for our students while we disciple and inspire them to seek excellence as a way to bring praise and glory to God our Father. Everything we and our students do should be an act of worship that brings joy to our Heavenly Father. A friend of mine wrote a worship song that sums it up, “I was made to worship You, to bring You joy in all I do. ”

[1] Carol Dweck, Mindset https://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/

[1] I Was Made to Worship You by Jody Abboud

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=new+song+kids+I+was+made+to+worship&view=detail&mid=EA868F566FFC61F57199EA868F566FFC61F57199&FORM=VIRE

Partnering with Others

March 1, 2018/in Resources/by admin

Cooperative learning is widely recognised as valuable for students, but cooperative teaching isn’t so widely valued. It seems to be easier to visualise how working with others and sharing gifts and resources can benefit other people, but sometimes our personal habits of autonomy and independence can keep us, as teachers, from seeing the value of partnerships.

Educational partnerships are an excellent way to model a humble spirit that acknowledges that God has designed people to work in dependence on Him and in cooperation with others. The New Testament uses the metaphor of a body to describe our relationship to Christ and everyone who is a child of God. Everyone is needed, although different parts of the body have different roles. Partnerships are concrete expressions of this kind of inter-relationship.

There is a temptation to function as if we didn’t need the gifts of others, but the Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit doesn’t give all His gifts to any one person. No one can contribute more than a fraction of what is needed in any situation and there is always a temptation to think too highly of ourselves. The more an individual has, the harder it is to recognise that without Christ—and the rest of His Body—we can do nothing. Partnerships recognise our dependence in specific situations, demonstrating to a watching world that our interdependence is more than a theoretic construct.

Educational partnerships can take many different forms including small group accountability, classroom observation, team teaching, multi-class assignments or projects, professional development workshops, and many more. Each form has different levels of risk and different kinds of relationship, but all require an individual to work with others to be successful. Some partnerships will be easier than others, but it is likely that all will require committed effort to move beyond an initial period of discomfort or awkwardness. Partnerships are great ideas, but they are no magic solution to minimise the amount of work that is necessary. Working with others requires us to learn about them—and ourselves—as we navigate a project together. As anyone who has run a three-legged race can tell you, working in sync with others doesn’t come automatically. And when we add crossing cultures to the mix, the learning curve steepens.

The key to success is recognising the benefits of partnership and then committing to the process through all its stages from the “honeymoon” through difficulties to maturity and fruitfulness. But for any sort of a partnership to occur, we have to risk taking that first step. Here are some ideas to get started:

Develop a small group of colleagues and/or friends with whom you share struggles and successes. You can get used to talking about what happens in your classroom and will likely gain important insights as you verbalise your experiences and hear the experiences and insights of others in the group.
Have someone observe your teaching. This requires more vulnerability, but there is also more objectivity since you aren’t filtering the reports and the observer can see in your blind spots.
Team teaching can bring the strengths of multiple teachers together, but it is easier to do this for short, focused units rather than planning to use this for a whole year.
Collaborate on a topic or even a specific assignment like a history of science essay that involves history, language arts, and science teachers in the evaluation. This can help students gain a more integrated picture of what they are learning without changing a lot of instructional strategies, so it might be considered a good “starter” partnership.
Share your experience and insights with others in a workshop. You’ll learn in the preparation and interaction and they will benefit from the journey God has taken you on.

Every gift given by the Holy Spirit is not for our personal well-being, but for the service of others. This is as true of our teaching as every other area of our lives. It is a lot harder to draw attention to God’s goodness and greatness when we are working successfully “on our own.” Even if we aren’t consciously drawing attention to our personal goodness and greatness, it is harder for others to see our dependence if we’re working without visible support. Taking the time to consciously develop collaborative partnerships is a concrete way we can demonstrate this dependence for a watching world. And as we know, our students are always watching.

Harold Klassen
Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond

Photo Credits: Holding Hands. Pexels. Pixaby. cc. Teacher Collaboration.Sullivan, Laurie.10 Dec. 2014. Flicker. cc.

Harold and his wife, Betty, have served with TeachBeyond since 1977. From 1998 to the present Harold has been an educational consultant working with teachers worldwide. He has written a book, The Visual Valet: Personal Assistant for Christian Thinkers and Teachers, and his website, www.transformingteachers.org, has resources to help equip teachers for Christ-centered, transformational education.

Thinking in an “On Demand” world

January 24, 2018/in Resources, Uncategorized/by admin

Our world is increasingly fast-paced. Everything around us, from drive-in restaurants to on-line media-streaming services, caters to our desire to have what we want right now. Even our phones, with their magic genies—Alexa, Siri, Cortana—answer our questions within moments. We live in an “on-demand” world.

It is no wonder that in this context, our students are uncomfortable with silence. Not only do they not appreciate it, they don’t really know what to do with it. When a question is asked, they may expect that they have to know the answer right away—and if they don’t, then they can rationalise that they just aren’t smart enough or that the material is too hard. But we know that this isn’t the case. Our brains don’t function as “on-demand” devices. They need time to think, and thinking is a process. It takes time for students to take in information, decode it, process what is being communicated, formulate a response, and then come up with a way to communicate that response to others. This process takes even longer if you are dealing with students who are naturally introverted[1] or who are functioning in a second or third language.

So what does this mean for us in the classroom? One thing is that we as teachers can do is to provide the time and space to encourage thinking. We can help our students understand that thinking is a process, and that it is okay to take time to formulate an answer to a question. But we must remember that our actions often send a louder message than our words. So in addition to telling students about how the brain works, we need to incorporate thinking time into our classes.

One of the simplest—and most effective—ways to do this is to make it a practice to include wait time after asking a question. Wait time refers to the 5-6 seconds post question where you allow your students to think about their responses. But while simple, providing wait time is not always easy. These five seconds can seem like an eternity, especially when you are confronted by that student in the second row—you know the one, the student who is frantically waving his arm in the air and practically jumping out of his seat because he wants to share his answer. It can be hard to let the students sit in silence, especially when hands start to shoot up. It takes discipline on the part of the teacher to make this practice a consistent classroom routine. It can even, at times, feel like a waste of valuable instructional time.

However, when you intentionally make students wait before allowing anyone to answer, you are signaling to your class that you do expect everyone to take time to think about and be prepared to respond to what you’ve asked. You give your language learners time to translate or decode the question. You provide students who take a little more time to come up with a response the opportunity to raise their hands. You even provide those over-eager students the chance to really evaluate the answer they are dying to give, instead of just letting them blurt out the first thing that popped into their heads. The practice of wait time actually increases student engagement[2]. It also increases the likelihood that students will provide a correct or well-reasoned answer[3]. Wait time gives students permission to slow down in the midst of the frantic pace of modern life. And in freeing them from the pressures of life “on-demand,” we empower students to be in control of their learning, and help to boost their confidence. That’s a pretty great return on the investment of pausing just a few extra seconds in class.

Becky Hunsberger, M.Ed.
Coordinator of Teacher Education
TeachBeyond Global

[1] The physiology of how introverts process information is actually quite a bit different from the way their extroverted peers do. For more about this, check out some of the work by Marti Olsen Laney and others on what makes introverts different.

[2] Honea, 1982; Swift & Gooding, 1983.

[3] Rowe, 1987.

Photo Credits: On-Demand, WanderingtheWorld (www.ChrisFord.com), Flickr via Compfight cc. Leicester Square McDonalds, vinylmeister, flickr. cc. Stopwatch, stevepaustin Flickr via Compfight cc.

Making Sure Your Students Understand What You are Saying

January 10, 2018/in Resources/by admin

One experience in my senior year of college shaped my teaching forever. I chose French 102 as an elective, because I’d always been fascinated by languages. A little self-study and my basic knowledge of Spanish got me through the placement test into the second semester, even though I’d never officially studied French. Although I still can’t do much more than order a croissant in the language, what I learned about teaching language learners through that class was invaluable.

The assignment was a simple one: watch a French film and present about it to the class. I watched my film and understood it, but I realised that the far more challenging task would be helping my classmates—who like me, had a very elementary grasp of the language—understand the film from my French presentation, but without the benefit of seeing the action play out visually. I knew my explanation in French would not be enough, so I had to carefully choose my visuals for my PowerPoint. I broke the action down into the most basic plot points. I decided key words would not be enough language scaffolding, so I used simple sentences, paired with a shot of the film that showed as much action as possible. Because the film was about men escaping from prison by digging a tunnel, I couldn’t avoid using the word pelle. I knew my classmates wouldn’t know that word, so I underlined it and added a small picture of a shovel to the slide. I could tell my presentation was effective because every time our teacher asked someone to retell the story of one of the films, someone always told mine.

I don’t tell this story to highlight how great a student of French I was or how great an English teacher I am, but to show how the principles of good teaching in general apply specifically to teaching language learners. This was many years before I learned the term comprehensible input in my Master’s programme; but as a senior education major, I knew that we use scaffolding, support to help our learners get from where they are to where we want them to be. Research shows that all students benefit from techniques teachers implement to support English language learners (ELL), and vice versa, many of the techniques good teachers use naturally can particularly help ELLs.

ELLs do require special modifications, however. Making content understandable and accessible to language learners by taking their linguistic needs into account is called comprehensible input. The SIOP Model, developed by Echevarria, Vogt and Short in the 1990s, is the most thorough and widely-accepted methodology for supporting ELLs. They identify three specific techniques teachers implement to make content accessible to English language learners.

Appropriate speech. New learners of English, including those who may have studied English previously but with little interaction with native speakers, understand best when speech is relatively slow and clearly enunciated. Teachers also should modify the complexity of their speech, using predictable sentence patterns (subject-verb-object) and avoiding embedded clauses. As learners progress, however, they need to be exposed to and adjust to more natural native-speaker speech patterns.
Clear instructions, particularly of academic tasks. You may have carefully chosen a task suited to the language level of the student, but can you explain it at that same language level? Providing written instructions helps the student by reinforcing your oral instructions, and it also helps the teacher to think through exactly how to explain the task in a way the learner can follow.
Concepts presented and assessed in a variety of ways. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but teachers need to get creative in providing hands-on, interactive learning experiences to grasp content presented verbally. Teachers also should be open to receiving feedback from students in a variety of ways. Science classes are a natural place where students learn not only by hearing and reading but by watching and doing. Perhaps an ELL student might be better able to demonstrate her learning in chemistry class by performing an experiment and having a conversation with the teacher about it instead of submitting a written lab report.

While it can be challenging to meet the needs of English language learners at different levels in a mainstream class of mixed backgrounds and abilities, a few conscientious adaptations can go a long way in improving their performance and experience. One simple key is ensuring that the content you are providing is comprehensible input to the learner—using appropriate speech, clear instructions, and a variety of presentation and assessment techniques.

Hope Rozenboom, M.A.

Central Europe Coordinator for the Teach ESL program

TeachBeyond

http://www.cal.org/siop/about/Making Content Comprehensible to English Learners by Jana Echevarria, MaryEllen Vogt and Deborah J. Short (I used the 4^th edition but there is also a 5^th edition)

Photo Credits: Presentation. Manolo Frias Flickr via Compfight cc, Science Experiment. All4Ed Flickr via Compfight cc.

Culturally Relevant Transformational Education

January 3, 2018/in Featured, Resources/by admin

This year we have been examining TeachBeyond’s core values as they relate to our mission of Transformational Education. This month we’ve come to the value of cultural relevance and I [Becky] have asked a team working in a culture that is “pretty much as far as you can get from the TeachBeyond offices and from the culture in which TeachBeyond grew up” for their perspective on this. Here’s what they had to say:

What is Transformational Education? How do you do it

These are questions we wrestle to make relevant to what we do every day. But, let’s make
it harder. Let’s consider if our answers work everywhere. Is Transformational Education the same in South America and South Asia? Do the same things work in TeachBeyond run schools that tell everyone about Jesus openly and in closed countries, where creative access opens quieter doors?

Our team is in a country, pretty much as far as you can get from the TeachBeyond offices and from the culture in which TeachBeyond grew up. When we considered these questions, we had to challenge ourselves to think about what transformational education means for us here, in our (non-TeachBeyond run) school. How do we bring transformational education into classrooms filled with real children and limited by our own busy schedules?

Here are some of our team’s thoughts on the matter.

First, “What is Transformational Education?”

Transformational education is bringing Jesus to students in an academic setting where we use education to build relational bridges strong enough to bear the weight of Truth, which is Christ-Centered and sees the students as unique individuals created in the image of God. This means that everything looks different. Discipline and teaching look different. Classroom culture looks different. It is not easy. This type of education is done through the love of God-called teachers, and it challenges motives of both teachers and students.

Transformational education has many parts but at its essence is a relationship that moves students closer to fulfilling how God designed them. It is equipping the student through information, building skills, encouragement, challenges, reflection, and other experiences where a teacher/friend comes alongside to grow the student and feed each one’s spirit while educating the mind. This serves not only to improve that student’s life, but also to impact the greater culture.

It is education that helps each student grow to be the best he or she can be, developing the gifts and abilities that God has given them. This is a calling of transformation that takes place in natural ways until Jesus is invited into the person’s life and transformation with a capital “T” takes place. This ultimate transformation finds its fulfillment in a transformed life in Christ that changes lives from the inside out.

And, the second question: “What do we do to create Transformational Education?”

We approached the second question with the idea that we needed to move beyond the theoretical realm into the realm of the practical. So we tried to think of what we could do in our classrooms the next day to help bring about transformational education.

To bring about Transformation with a capital T, we do a lot less than we think. The Holy Spirit is the one doing the transformation so we should follow His lead, working prayerfully and humbly under His guidance. We have to start by ourselves being transformed which allows us to love students well as we guide them to truth in all areas and point them to Jesus as Creator, sustainer, redeemer, and life giver. This begins with prayer. Then it overflows in tangible ways that we can implement that can then open a door for the Holy Spirit to do His work.

We need to show that we care more about who students are than what they can do. We do this by speaking openly and honestly with students, loving them like Christ does, even when they are not particularly likeable. We treat students with dignity, even when they are slower or disobedient. We embody love, joy and humility when we enter our classrooms, and find ways to serve our students—not just as learners but as people—living out and expressing the hidden lessons of who God is through our actions of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. We live above reproach in a culturally relevant manner.

As we plan our lessons we have a higher purpose in mind, one that transcends our daily objectives and reminds students of the bigger picture. We work hard to create a great—and safe—environment for students to learn. We teach from a biblical worldview and encourage our students in new ways of thinking. We prepare ourselves by studying God’s word and His world, seeking to see and understand His presence in all aspects of creation (and by extension in all we teach). We let conversations with students become a priority and not an interruption.

Above all, we invite the Holy Spirit to show us where He is at work already in the lives of our students, our colleagues, and our subject matter. We listen to and respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our classes and interactions and direct students, teachers, and parents to God in a way that wouldn’t happen if we weren’t here. We do our best to include opportunities to introduce Him when appropriate (music or Scripture on agenda, keychain, etc.). And we have faith that He can do the impossible.

What do you think? Would these principles and practices of transformational education work in your cultural context?

A Team in Southeast Asia
Edited by: Becky Hunsberger
Teacher Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

Photo Credits: All the photos in this week’s OnPractice are taken from different TeachBeyond owned or partner schools around the world

Expectations Matter

December 13, 2017/in Featured, Resources/by admin

“What is the matter with you? I’ve explained this three different ways. Why are you still having trouble getting it? Maybe maths just isn’t for you,” my teacher exhaled exasperatedly as I sat, head in hands, attempting to understand a basic trig lesson. It has been about seventeen years, and I still remember the sting of his words, and how, after being an A student until that point, I gave up on maths because I was just too stupid to comprehend what everybody else seemed to understand.

Then there was my seventh grade science teacher who absolutely loved science and made all of us love it too. He made complicated topics seem simple and made us feel like mistakes were just part of the fun. Tests were never stressful as we’d come to believe we were capable of learning and comprehending every aspect of his class. He never raised his voice in anger; he never sighed in annoyance at having to reteach a lesson; he never rolled his eyes at a wrong answer. What he did, instead, was expect that every kid that walked into his classroom was capable of being successful, and he did everything in his power to make that a reality. It has been over twenty years, but I will never forget how he made me feel powerful and capable of just about anything.

Proverbs 18:21a says, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” What we say (and do) as teachers matters. If we believe that a child can be successful and express that in our words and actions, a child is likely to believe us. The opposite is true as well. When we roll our eyes at a child’s mistakes, sigh impatiently, or refuse to reteach the material a new or different way “because I’ve already taught it more times than I wanted to,” the child in front of us might just hear, “You’re not worth my time. You’re never going to understand this material anyway. Just give up.”

Expectations matter. Our attitudes matter. Teaching is exhausting. There is always more to do than you have time for. But we have to remember that what we say and do can change a child’s life for better…or worse.

I work at a school for students with autism, most of whom are with us because they have been unsuccessful in other programmes within their home district. They come to us because they have violent outbursts, modesty issues, or a variety of other concerns that cause them great difficult within a traditional learning environment. They have been shuttled from one teacher to another, from one school to another. They’ve been told that they’re bad, too hard to manage, and just not worth the effort. They carry themselves in a way that says, “You’re not going to like me either.”

On my first day in this job, a little boy bit me on the back of my arm, kicked my shins, pinched my breasts, and threw a table in my general direction. I sobbed to my husband that there was no way that I could make an impact in this child’s life, especially after what I’d heard about him. He’d been at this school for several years and “No one could manage or control him. It was just too hard.”

My husband reminded me of two principles that I’d always clung to as a teacher: your expectations for the student matter, and it’s important that he knows you’ll like him no matter how bad he is. My teaching assistant and I decided that we would choose grace and mercy for this child every single day, no matter what his behaviour. We would praise him for his positive choices, correct him when he chose poorly, and continue to like him through it all. We spent months managing this student’s aggression, teaching him to communicate through signs or visual aids, and showing him that no matter how “bad” he was, neither of us was going anywhere. After about fourteen months, this boy began sitting in a chair, doing work independently, communicating in his limited fashion, refraining from aggression, laughing, and showing his true potential to learn. Our behaviour specialist asked him why he was suddenly successful in our classroom and his response was pretty simple: “They like me.”

Expectations matter. They matter for students like me, an A student struggling in trigonometry; they matter for students with extreme learning challenges, students that people have seemingly discarded because “they’re just too difficult.”

When we behave like Jesus in our classrooms—picking our students up when they fall, choosing grace over exasperated eye-rolling, loving them when they just aren’t likeable, and believing that they are more capable than they think they are (especially with our help)—our children thrive, no matter what other challenges they face. When we choose love, grace, and high expectations, we are choosing life for our students. That’s what transformational education is really about.

Andrea Davis
Special Education Teacher
TeachBeyond Associate

Photo Credits: Discouraged Student. and.e. Flickr via Compfight cc. Tantrum. larkin.family Flickr via Compfight cc

Holy Pots and Pans!

November 22, 2017/in Resources/by admin

Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them… Zechariah 14:21

Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Acts 7:33

Holiness is one of TeachBeyond’s Core Values. We are called to be set apart, and to disciple our students to the same. But what does that mean for us practically in the classroom? How does this value impact us as teachers?

The Bible speaks of holiness in a myriad of ways. There are holy pots and pans, holy terrain, and a host of other holy items which are material, mundane, and objective…a book, a day, a person. But how can an object be holy? Can a piece of real estate have moral perfection or a day, November 4^th, be pure? What does it mean to be holy?

The Greek word gadowshis is translated “holy” and it means set apart, cut off from, totally different from all that is profane or unclean. Thus to be holy is to be set apart for God, cut off from and different from the ways of the world. We are set apart or cut off as an offering to God–our full selves are totally consecrated to Him. I no longer live for myself but live wholly for God.The pot is no longer a utilitarian dish, but one set aside to use for God. A holy day is a day cut off from the rest of the week and set aside exclusively for God. A holy person is one who knows he/she is not his/her own, he/she has been bought with a price [1].

Holiness is not the outcome of perfect living, sin management, rule following or right doctrine. It emanates from a stark realisation of our broken human condition and our embrace of the completed work of Christ on the cross. This is what should drive our interactions with students. This should be the basis of our classroom management plans and discipline policies. When your students look at you, do they see a “perfect godly example” or do they see a teacher who knows they are in need of a Saviour and that His name is Jesus Christ?

Tim Keller offers the following suggestion, “To the degree that you see Him [Christ] giving himself away for you, to that degree you give yourself away to live for Him. Look at it until it makes you holy.” With this in mind, may I suggest you meditate on holiness as a core value by a prayerful and reflective reading of Colossians 2?

Transformational education elicits a response to learning. It asks the learner to do something with the information and content of what they have been studying. As you meditate on the Word, what response are your students seeing? We’d really like for you to share this with us so we can learn along with you.

May we become holy as He is holy!
Helen Vaughan, PhD
Director of School Services
TeachBeyond Global

[1] 1 Cor. 6:19

Photo Credits: Pots. Prayitno / Thank you for (12 millions +) view Flickr via Compfight cc.

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Hands on Maths

November 8, 2017/in Featured, Resources/by admin

“Struggling in mathematics is not the enemy, any more than sweating is the enemy in basketball; it is part of the process, and a clear sign of being in the game.”—Suzanne Sutton
This quote has hung in my classroom for six years, defining how I approach teaching mathematics. Maths—and every other subject—should be accessible to every learner, and facilitated by a master learner. I’m a teacher, but above all I’m a learner who embraces struggle and creates opportunities for students to positively wrestle with problem solving by providing learners a context and reason for learning. In my classroom we focus on defining, modelling, and applying mathematics. These are skills necessary in maths, but they can be translated across disciplines.

Defining: Students at any level need to have a way to connect learning to background knowledge. Defining mathematical terms in light of a familiar context is one way to do this. In a classroom setting, I use bell work to elicit memory from yesterday’s material or their long-lost basic algebra days. In addition, I connect material to situations within the parameters of my students’ world (i.e., Intro to Algebra and basic financial literacy with addition and subtraction; Geometry with house design; Algebra 2 with modelling business projections using systems of equations). It is also effective to define terms by what they are not, and to discuss the biconditional nature [1] of definitions within mathematics. The more specific we can be in defining terms and notation, the more articulate the maths conversation can be. In the last year, I have connected maths concepts to grocery shopping, Minecraft, video game programming, theme parks, art, sports, cooking, engineering, and physics. Get creative and collaborate with your students and colleagues to find connections that work for your students.

Modelling: Design it. Draw it. Build it. These are the mantras I live by in the classroom. No matter how old your students, these ideals facilitate learning for all modalities and encourage student problem solving. My classes design mathematics in groups as we collaborate and research possibilities. We draw maths situations with crayons, coloured pencils, graph paper, compasses, protractors, and graphing calculators. Remember the phrase, “If you build it, they will come”?

We build maths with Lego, manipulatives, Wikki Stix, string, toothpicks, and recyclables. There is absolutely a place for technology, but it should never be a replacement for student-teacher interaction and conversations about mathematics [2].

Applying: Modelling is the first step in applying. The visual shows the application; however, I never exit a unit without connecting it to past units and previewing what is next. Part of application is explaining how the puzzle pieces of our learning fit together. We call it the “story of maths.” In this story, we must understand positive and negative numbers before we can understand balancing equations. We must understand linear functions before we can understand parabolic functions. Project-based learning is ideal for this type of application, but it can be challenging given school parameters. I advocate for mini-projects and consistently require written components that allow students to articulate maths in words. After all, the ultimate goal is for students to be maths literate and able to construct arguments and critique the reasoning of others. As an added bonus, this type of application addresses the standards for mathematical practice dictated by the NCTM.[3]

Just try it! Don’t be afraid to challenge your own classroom norms. As I change schools this year, I am feeling like a new teacher all over again, and developing a fresh perspective on my methods right along with you! I am embarking on the adventure of flipping my classroom with video lectures/notes at home to allow for more guided application in my classroom. In order to make sense of mathematics it is my goal to provide learners with different entry points to the curriculum by clearly defining, actively modeling, and articulately applying concepts into the larger “story of maths.”

Alaina Shelton
Associate Consultant—Mathematics
TeachBeyond

[1] Biconditional definition is where both the conditional and the converse are true: Example-Definition of parallel. Conditional: If two lines are parallel, then the lines have the same slope. Converse: If two lines have the same slope, then the lines are parallel. Biconditional: Two lines are parallel if and only if both lines have the same slope.

[2]Resources: http://illuminations.nctm.org; https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower—best team building exercise I’ve ever done!; https://www.teachengineering.org

[3] National Council of Teachers of Mathematics whose standards correlate with both the Common Core State Standards (US) and Canadian Mathematics Curricula (Ontario Curriculum, Quebec Curriculum, and WNCP-based curricula). See here for a chart outlining the correlation of these standards.

Photo Credits: Algebra. World Bank Photo Collection Flickr via Compfight cc, Angles. Alaina Shelton.
Alaina Shelton is a Kansas maths teacher and TeachBeyond associate member who has 6 years’ experience specialising in Algebra 2 and below. She’s most passionate about Geometry and designing hands-on curriculum. This school year, she is reinventing her craft by digging deep into blended learning and the flipped classroom model. If you have questions for Alaina, you can find her on the TeachBeyond Consultant Board.

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You’ll have your choice of two tracks—practical school leadership (January through April) or intercultural school leadership (August through December)—or you can enroll in both. Registration is open now.

To find out more about the program or to register visit the K-12 Leadership web page.

Learning Simulations

October 11, 2017/in Resources/by admin

Take a second to recall the most memorable moments of your education. There’s a good chance that the things you remember tended towards the days that broke the mold: field-trips, special projects, or experiments. One particularly effective way to help students deeply internalise learning is to teach through a learning simulation. In a simulation the teacher finds a way of teaching material by allowing students to participate in it. By allowing students to play a role in the lesson, students can make personal meaning and will be more likely to remember the lesson.

Every subject area can use simulations to solidify and expand learning. In the science 29756233622_812803d8d5_m classroom I’ve designed games where every student is a member of an ecosystem trying to survive, or a part of the human body working together to stay alive. Reading classes can have students take on the role of a specific author or character from a book for a discussion—particularly useful for helping students understand different viewpoints. In maths teachers can design activities focused on real-world applications that go far beyond story problems, or (particularly for younger grades) propose spatial reasoning problems that students have to solve using geometric cubes and relevant math skills. For social studies almost any historical period or important concept can be simulated through a special discussion or game: imagine having students pretend to be immigrants arriving at a border to a new country. In the Bible classroom a teacher can demonstrate the necessity of the detailed instructions on how to build the Tabernacle by asking students to construct a model without giving them instructions.

Before you use a learning simulation, you should have very clear objectives in mind. Only choose or design simulations with specific targets in mind to make sure you’re using class time effectively.[1] Make sure that the fundamental lesson of a simulation transfers to students by
removing extraneous parts. A poorly designed simulation can cause conflict rather than helping students reach the learning goals.

When introducing learning simulations, start with clear rules, but also leave room for student creativity to take simulations further. Make it clear how your specific simulation works and also make it clear what your role in the simulation is. Are you the storyteller? Are you the scorekeeper? Are you the referee? Also give examples of specific things a student can do. Differentiation fits naturally here because depending on the nature of the simulation, you can give everyone the same options or give specific roles to specific students based on individualised learning targets. Learning simulations fit with constructivist theories of education because they allow every student to construct his or her own understanding from the activity, enhancing personal application.[2]

15608733030_6873d0bb62_m Summary discussion follows effective simulations; do not neglect this step. Deliberately plan for time at the end of a simulation for review. After the activity, teachers should first ask students to identify key moments from the activity, suggesting other moments as needed. Also allow time for students to compliment each other by name on successful performance. This builds self-esteem and unity in your class as well.
Last year while teaching fifth grade I ran a social studies simulation where groups of students represented different island nations. Once the basic rules had been established, I described a refugee crisis to the students and gave them space to try to solve it on their own. At age ten these students were already processing this difficult topic in meaningful ways. They asked each other “should every country contribute equally, or based on how much we have to offer” and “are there risks or is helping people more important.” It was one of my proudest moments as a teacher because I saw students combining their subject area skills with moral principles. Successful simulations allow teachers to see not only what students have learned, but how they can apply these ideas in the rest of their lives.

David Christians
Teacher, St. Petersburg, Russia
TeachBeyond

[1] TeachersPayTeachers has a lot of pre-made learning simulations available.

[2] Driscoll, Marcy. Psychology of Learning for Instruction. 2nd ed., Pearson, 2000.

Photo Credits: learning simulation. USEmbassyPhnomPenh Flickr via Compfight cc. discussion circle. Poughkeepsie Day School Flickr via Compfight cc.

David Christians has been teaching with TeachBeyond for five years at International Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Having taught everything from AP Calculus to freshman literature to fourth grade, he enjoys teaching art history the most. He’s currently working on a Masters of Education at Covenant College. If you have questions about how to design a learning simulation of your own, you can contact David using his TeachBeyond e-mail address.