Tag Archive for: TeachBeyond Values

Frustration, Transformation, and Holiness

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Which glass of water would you like to drink?

Both demonstrate the work of a BioSand water filter, invented by David Manz in the early 1990’s. Since then, these simple, durable filters have been used all around the world for water purification. The glass on the left is what the water at the top of the filter looks like; the glass on the right was drawn out from the bottom of the filter. The difference? Time. Filtration is a slow, gravity-fed process through sand and gravel. The filter removes up to 100% of helminths (worms), up to 100% of protozoa, up to 98.5% of bacteria, and 70-99% of viruses.[1] The water is present all along, but time produces a clear result in the glass.
 
Time and process can be frustrating, can’t they? We know clarity and purity, or muck and potential toxicity, when we see them. We know what the end result should be. Yet arriving at that result involves getting rid of impurities, removing what’s life-threatening, and even just plain old waiting. You don’t just turn on the tap and “poof,” there’s your pure water!
 
“For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-19)[2]
 
Do you resonate with Paul’s self-disclosure here? It’s the process of removing all the impurities, all that will kill me. This is slow, arduous and possibly even frustrating. “I do not do… what I want to do.”
 
“I’ll never, ever, do that again.”
“This was the last time. For sure. I want to be different now.”
“What’s going on in my head? Why am I thinking this? I don’t even want to. It’s so frustrating!”
 
As members of TeachBeyond, we’re committed to transformation – to seeing everyone become all that God intends. And one of the things God intends is for us to be like him. “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Lev 19:2) Holiness is one of our core values: “Valuing the moral perfection of God, we pursue a life of purity as He instructs us to in His Word and enables us to live through His indwelling Spirit.”[3]
 
But how is this possible? We know we can’t behaviourally manage someone into life-change. Not in a classroom, and I certainly can’t in my own heart, soul, mind and body. Charles Spurgeon said it well, “Holiness is not the way to Christ; Christ is the way to holiness.”[4] On my own, I can’t produce holiness any more than I could produce clean water.
 
This is the beautiful news of the gospel; holiness is given to us by the One who is eternally holy. The writer of Hebrews lifts our heads and hearts to see that “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). Look closely at the action of God, through Christ: “we have been made holy.” That’s it! That’s our position in Christ. A position we are given as daughters and sons, not because we’re able to squeeze the impurity out of our lives after enough effort, rather, because his indwelling Spirit is our life.
 
But we know all too well the feeling of being filtered and in-process, don’t we? God knows this too, and has planned this process specifically for you and me to learn to live in him. “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 10:14). Look closely at this verse, “those who are being made holy.” We “have been made” and we “are being made.” This is the powerful dynamic of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
 
Here’s one final gospel encouragement for you. Just as the pure water in the glass on the right was latent in the water in the glass on the left, so you are becoming what God has always desired for you to be in the power of his Spirit. Here’s a passage framed pedagogically: “You were taught… to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph 4:22-24) You are created to be just what God hopes you will be – righteous and holy.

May you be encouraged to allow the Holy Spirit to continue the process he has begun in you. May you be confident in the removal of toxic things from your heart and habits, your being and doing. And may you be inspired to live a holy life where God’s purity shines through you and those you impact for transformation.
 
For further reflection:

  • In what area of your life are you longing for more holiness? How is God prompting you to continue to be made holy?
  • How would you share the concept of holiness with a student so that they could become a holy 4th grader? (or whatever grade you impact)
  • How is God’s holiness the needed good news for your neighbourhood?

Brian Delamont

Director of Global Spiritual Development
TeachBeyond
 

[1] “What is a Biosand Filter?” CAWST, www.cawst.org/services/expertise/biosand-filter/more-information.

[2] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible. New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[3] “Mission & Vision.” TeachBeyond, teachbeyond.org/learn/mission-vision/

[4] This saying is attributed to C.H. Spurgeon in a variety of sermons and articles.
 Photo Credits:
Clean Water. Neverthirst via Instagram/neverthirst_water.
Open Book on wood background by Anelina/Shutterstock.com
Woman Praying by MIA Studio/Shutterstock.com

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

An exercise in FAITH

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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

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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

Holy Pots and Pans!

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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?

11445768115_7e33d89043_m
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 4th, 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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Integrity: Teaching Via Example

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As teachers, our influence extends far beyond our handling of the taught curriculum. In fact, often the most enduring impact that we make comes from the hidden curriculum that we model on a daily basis. This hidden curriculum is made up of our values and the way we act on them. It is here that transformational education often begins to take root.

Integrity is one of TeachBeyond’s core values. You can find many definitions of integrity, but I particularly like this one from yourdictionary.com: ‘Integrity means following your moral or ethical convictions and doing the right thing in all circumstances, even if no one is watching you’.

Our challenge is to demonstrate integrity in every circumstance. In the classroom, there are many opportunities to do this and perhaps the most powerful is the way relationships are managed. Teachers who are always fair and consistent are respected by children. Most people remember a teacher who treated them unfairly but many also remember their favourite teachers who were always kind, always fair and always firm in sticking to their principles.

Integrity can be demonstrated in the classroom by modelling the behaviour you expect from your children. If you expect children to be on time and ready to learn a19947785424_75b28506f0_mt the start of a lesson, then you need to expect the same of yourself. If you expect children to listen carefully to you and to each other, then it is important that you listen properly to them. It is a great temptation to carry on with whatever you are doing when a child comes to tell y
ou something, but consider how you would react if they did the same when you were talking to them. When you make a mistake, do you apologise? When you do this as a teacher you are showing children the right and biblical way to behave and you will inspire children’s confidence.

Living with integrity is not limited to within our classrooms. We can demonstrate integrity by the way we relate to our colleagues, to school visitors and to parents. As you prepare for a new school year it is a good time to reflect on how you contribute to staff meetings, how you respond when there is staff conflict, or how you act when a colleague has a problem. In all these circumstances, we know the right thing to do. Integrity demands that we act on this knowledge.

Colleagues, parents or school visitors often have an uncanny knack of wanting to speak with you at a bad moment. How do you respond? Very often, it is time or the lack of it that poses the biggest challenge to our integrity. Do we make time for people who genuinely need our attention by stopping what we are doing or arranging a more suitable time to meet? Or do we make a quick excuse to protect ourselves? As soon as we start to use excuses and look for shortcuts we are in danger of losing our integrity. Honesty is always the best policy.

Consider these scenarios:

  1. Your colleague is struggling with a family illness and you see she is upset at break time. She asks if she can talk to you after school though you already have personal plans? Do you make up an excuse?
  2. You promise to bring a resource to show a child and you forget it. You know they were looking forward to this. Do you admit you forgot or make up an excuse?

As believers, Jesus is our role model. He always did the right thing. Even when he was tired he had time to treat everyone with compassion and care and to give them his full attention. He exemplified a life filled with integrity. I pray that we too will aspire to Jesus’ example. May we be teachers who always act with integrity.

David Midwinter
UK National Director
TeachBeyond, UK
Photo Credits:  True North. Wiertz Sébastien Flickr via Compfight cc.