Tag Archive for: Transformative Teachers

Transformational Education from a Distance

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Lesson plans shape how your students learn, and while sliced up differently, the approaches to planning are often similar. For years, a favourite approach of mine was this:

  1. Students: Know your learners. Consider previous learning, abilities, disabilities, culture, attitudes, etc.
  2. Outcomes: What are you trying to have the learner know (cognitive), feel (affective), and do (psychomotor)?
  3. Methods: How will you take these learners from where they are to where they need to be (learning outcomes)? Methods are not the end; they are the creative tools to get there.
  4. Assess: Did your learners achieve the outcomes? Use summative assessment, yes, but more important for learning is formative assessment: minute by minute, are they getting it? And how do you adjust?

I encouraged my teachers to use this approach. We built planning around it and had success.

A Missing Part
But something was missing. The essential part for powerful, wholistic transformational education.

The part that makes what you do different than most classes in the world, online

or in person.

You could say that biblical integration is missing. However, if you are weaving biblical truth into these steps it might not be missing. But biblical integration does not equal transformational education. TeachBeyond transformational education goes beyond.

You might say that God is missing. However, you can teach about God in this approach. He does not have to be missing. But just teaching about God is not transformational education.

I have heard teachers say that the piece missing is “heart.” This is a good answer. After all, when we do transformational education, we aim at the inside first, before outside behaviours.

But what brings “heart” into it? What makes transformational education work?
The missing part in this plan: you.

You see, transformational education is about life. It is about changed, transformed lives. It is about bringing together you, the learner, the Holy Spirit, and God’s Word—all alive—and watching God “cause the growth.”

Transformational education is life on life, placing a transformed teacher in touch with a learner. You are the “living curriculum” that God uses. Excellent educational environments, one of our pillars of transformational education, brings this life together. It makes education about life in the subjects and in hearts. You are essential.
 
The Challenge of Online Learning
A teacher who walks into a physical classroom cannot help touching lives, for good or for bad. Students watch hour after hour. The teacher’s life becomes a book read by learners.

Good transformational educators bring themselves into class. Their love for God, lived out, impresses learners. Their unconditional love for students, shown in action, reaches hearts. Their love for their subject, the gift they give, shows in a passion that draws students into learning.

But, in an online class a teacher can hide behind the screen and present a relatively sterile lesson. It is possible to go through the steps, achieve curricular goals, and barely bring yourself into the class.

The challenge of online learning is to bring yourself, your whole self, transformed by the Holy Spirit, into your class. Here are some ideas that I have heard from great online, transformational teachers:

  • See your class as your space, your home. Make it unique and personal as you invite students into “your online home.”
  • Love, above all love. Ask yourself, how will I show love today? For God, for the learners, and for the gift you give them (your subject).
  • Know individuals. Get to know each learner. Have side notes or meetings. Treat each one as a whole, living person with interests and needs. Pray for individuals.
  • Show heart. Show your changed heart. Talk openly with learners about heart. Be real. Show your “inside.”
  • Plan engagement. Make space for active learner engagement. In the online world, everyone is starved for interaction. Use online groups, discussions, art, side chats. Help learners speak and connect.
  • Take care of yourself. “Zoom fatigue” is real. You need to care for your needs and not just keep plowing ahead. Take time to know that God is God and enjoy God’s goodness, even in lockdown.
  • Give yourself permission. Know that you not only have permission to bring “you” into class, but if you want to transform lives, you must.
  • Focus on the big things. Never forget that while students need to know nouns and verbs or equations, the more basic need is to know God and how life is lived with Him. Keep those in front of you.

You are probably thinking of other ways now. Talk with colleagues about what they do and keep the idea of bringing yourself into your class alive.

After I realised that I was missing the key to transformational education, I put this step between “students” and “outcomes” above: Teacher: What flows from your life and heart?

Transformational education needs you to be there. As God changes you, may your learners see Him and be transformed by His grace.
  Joe Neff, Th.M.
Coordinating Director of Education Services
TeachBeyond Global

Photo Credits: Missing Piece via PowerPoint. Teacher Connection via Shutterstock.

Practical Ideas for Navigating a Global Pandemic without Losing Faith

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Thirty-one of Nashville’s Studio Singers pulled together a mobile phone choir to record the hymn ‘It Is Well With My Soul’. Their powerful performance proclaiming the peace of Christ during these unparalleled times of Covid-19 has become an internet sensation. The story behind the lyrics may be the reason for this hymn’s current popularity: Horatio Spafford wrote the words at the very spot in the Atlantic Ocean where his four daughters were drowned. It’s a hymn expressing a deep and comforting faith, an anthem for grieving people reminding them of the hope of Christ as the abiding, true peace which attends their way.

As comforting and true as this hymn is, it is not the one I would choose as the banner hymn for the Covid-19 crisis. The lyrics omit some important biblical messages about pain and suffering for the here and now, such as the solace of knowing that Jesus completely identifies with our suffering because he too suffered and grieved as a man. As we weep in prayer, the one hearing our prayer empathises as a fellow sufferer. Jesus comforted the grieving and told the body of Christ to go and do likewise.

Jesus also alleviated suffering and oppression. As His followers we are not to passively submit to fate or death. We are God’s image bearers tasked with taking care of the creation in order to do His will on earth as it is in heaven. We are to be researching cures for disease, developing immunisations, serving the sick, turning righteous indignation into justice seeking, and striving to improve the lives of others and ourselves as biblical responses to confronting suffering and oppression. Underlying all of this is the bedrock of God’s peace attending our souls.

Three Actions for Teachers to Consider

What does this mean for us in the classroom? Here are three practical ideas.

  1. Offer students opportunities to express their emotions—even the negative ones of sadness, grief, fear, disappointment, doubts, and anger.
  2. Give attention to the unsaid good-byes to classmates or staff members who had to leave suddenly with no guarantees that they will ever be back.
  3. Process the missed experiences and disappointments—especially for high school seniors. Not all losses are tangible and may be difficult for students to identify or describe, but this doesn’t negate the impact they have on students’ lives.
  4. Assign writing prompts to explore the topics above or encourage students to journal.
  5. Assign relevant blogs or podcasts as a part of your curriculum; ask for student responses.
  6. Hold age-appropriate group discussions on these topics.
  7. Share with students your own prayers, insights, praises, emotions, and vulnerabilities.
  8. Communicate your availability to listen as students process difficult questions and thoughts. Be a safe person.
  • Find safe ways for students to serve the school or local community during the pandemic.
  • This could be tutoring a younger student on-line or donating to local food banks. Remind students that intercessory prayer is itself a service to the community.
  • Have students plan alternative dates or reinvent the cancelled events they were anticipating: Easter celebrations, music recitals, dance or drama performances, banquets and proms, award nights, sporting competitions, special Senior recognitions, promotion and graduation ceremonies, etc.
  • Have students join or create a community esprit de corps event such as clapping for the health care workers, creating rainbow displays for hope, placing bears in windows for children on walking bear hunts, etc. Provide opportunities to share their experiences.
  • Embrace the spiritual disciplines.
  • Challenge yourself and your students (at their appropriate developmental level) to use this unusual time to practice more of the spiritual disciplines. You may want to study the disciplines or lead your students in such a study first.
  • Select scriptural passages to pray through corporately. Choose passages that address a wide range of responses, from acknowledging emotional needs, calling for repentance, or acknowledging God’s presence and sovereignty.

Lastly, as we journey through this pandemic, keep in mind that any continuation of stress has a cumulative effect. The dam may break for students well after we thought things had settled. As you care for your students, I pray you will also rest in the care of our God and faith which, among everything else, is 100% therapeutic both now and in the time to come.

Helen Vaughan, Ph.D.
Senior Consultant for Transformational Education
TeachBeyond/ CATE Centre (Christians Advancing Transformational Education)

Photo Credits: It is Well. by James Lee from Pixabay. Pixabay License. 

Knowing your destination

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I travel a lot. As a result I have become pretty good at navigating through airports. I know all the tricks—how to pack so that I can whip out my electronics and liquids at security, how to dress so that I don’t freeze in the waiting areas or on the plane, where to wait to maximise my time and minimise the distance I need to travel to get to the gate. I’ve learned how to excel as traveller. But here’s the thing. None of this knowledge does me much good if I don’t know where I’m going.

A few months ago, I was headed out on a trip where I had a layover in Spain. No big deal. I checked in for my flight, headed to the nearest Costa to grab breakfast, and sat down to wait. When I saw the gate flash for the 10:15 flight to Madrid, I gathered my belongings and made my way to the boarding area. All was going swimmingly until the gate agent swiped my ticket. Turns out my ticket was for Barcelona, not Madrid. All my travel knowledge and preparation did me no good as I rushed back through the terminal looking for a monitor to find out where I was supposed to be. I did make the flight, but only just.

Destination matters.

That’s true when flying, and it’s equally true when learning. How many of your students have mastered the art of school? They know all the tricks for being a good student—where to sit, when to take notes, how to navigate multiple choice tests, exactly how many sentences you require for short answer questions, etc. They come to class and appear to have it all together. This is great, but if they don’t know what they are supposed to be learning it may not actually do them much good. They need to know their destination.

This is where communicating strong learning objectives comes into play. In my experience, most teachers are aware of the learning goals they have for their students. They know what knowledge and skills they want their students to master at the end of each unit of study. They’ve considered the different thinking skills they hope their students will use in the course of the unit, and the outcomes that students should achieve.

Unfortunately, while most teachers are aware of where they are going, the same is not always the case with students. Many students come to class with a working knowledge of how to do school, but without any sense of their destination. They can go through all the motions of learning, appearing confident and capable, only to get to the test and discover they’ve ended up at the wrong gate. How demoralising!

When the ticket agent told me I was in the wrong place that day, my stress levels went through the roof. All my confidence in my travel expertise flew out the window. I felt frustrated, stupid, and incompetent. Even though I ultimately made my flight, I certainly did not count the experience a success.

This is not the experience we want for our students. So what can we do?

  • We can be intentional about communicating—clearly and often, orally and in writing—the learning objectives for a particular unit.
  • We can engage in a variety of formative assessments—formal and informal—and ensure that our students understand how these assessments connect to the unit objectives.
  • We can provide rubrics and scales to help our students know what steps they still need to take to master the learning objective.
  • We can draw explicit connections between past knowledge and skills and the current learning objectives—and ask our students to do the same.

The more that we can remind our students of where they are going, the more likely they are to find themselves successfully arriving at the right destination. This is a simple thing to add to our classes, especially as we already know where we are headed.

Knowing your destination is important! Let’s do what we can to be sure that our students end up at the right gate so they can reach their destination successfully.

Becky Hunsberger, M.Ed.

Coordinator of Teacher Education Services

TeachBeyond Global

Photo Credits: Traveler. w4nd3rl0st (InspiredinDesMoines) Flickr via Compfight cc. Objectives. pic. B. Hunsberger, board design, L. Estes. 

Metaphors for Teaching

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Christian educators often talk about Biblical integration. Sometimes the discussion focuses on what we teach: ensuring that content points students towards a love of God and service of others. Sometimes it focuses on who we teach: recognising the image of God in our students and how we can serve them. Other times it focuses on how we teach: encouraging practices of education that honour God and student. It can also be viewed as a question of who we are as teachers: what does it mean to be a Christian teacher?

Metaphors can help us explore different answers to this question. In his book Walking with God in the Classroom, Harro Van Brummelen examines different metaphors for who the teacher is. Christ was, of course, the great teacher and He exemplifies all of these models.

Teachers are facilitators. We do not produce education in a vat and hand it to students, but we help guide students to reach knowledge[1]. Educators that use the Socratic method of asking questions to get students to find answers for themselves will likely connect to this model. Christ often used questions to help people better understand God’s kingdom. If you want to be a better facilitator, try a lesson of guided questioning to help your students discover truth themselves.

Teachers are story-tellers. Learning theory suggests that we can comprehend and use information much better when we can situate it in a story[2]. Van Brummelen says this model is especially useful for young students, who can comprehend even difficult material when it’s presented in a story[3]. Christ showed us this model when He spoke to us in parables, presenting God’s truth in a way simple mankind can understand. If you want to be a better story-teller, try opening a lesson with a story that incorporates the knowledge you’re going to teach in the lesson.

Teachers are stewards. We have been given a remarkable gift by God—our students—and we work to develop the potential within them[4]. Educators passionate about best practices and creative teaching methods will likely appreciate this metaphor. Jesus compared teachers of the Law to stewards who use both old and new material (Matthew 13:52). If you want to be a better steward, ask fellow teachers for different instructional strategies they use and maybe share some of your favourites.

Teachers are priests. We have authority over our students and a responsibility to lead them to righteousness[5]. As humans we have all sinned and education needs to be a place where broken people—ourselves and our students—move towards healing. As priests, teachers play a role in helping students that are causing pain and tension in the classroom towards repentance, bringing healing in our community. Christ is the Great High Priest and worked with man to bring God’s forgiveness to all who repent (Hebrews 4:14-16). If you want to be a better priest, start by modelling your own behavior as a person who seeks repentance after sinning and works towards restoration after forgiveness.

Teachers are shepherds. Like the facilitator, this model emphasises teachers as guides, leading students towards the desired outcome. However a shepherd is able to use a rod and staff to help bring students to where they need to be, occasionally using discipline to help students grow not only as holders of knowledge but also as better models of Christ. The Lord is our shepherd and leads us through both the highs and lows of life (Psalm 23). If you want to be a better shepherd, chat with some students about what is going on in their life outside the classroom and see if you can help them make Christ relevant to that situation.

­David Christians
Teacher 
TeachBeyond, Europe/Eurasia

There are many other great metaphors for teachers. Why not start a conversation with some colleagues about what metaphors best describe their teaching practice? That way as a community we can encourage each other to better integrate Christ not only into our lessons, but into our identity as teachers.

Photo Credits: Facilitator. via Shutterstock. Shepherd. AdamCohn Flickr via Compfightcc. 

[1] Van Brummelen, Harro. Walking with God in the Classroom. 3rd ed. Colorado Springs: Purposeful Design Publications, 2009. pg. 36

[2] Driscoll, Marcy. Psychology of Learning for Instruction. 2nd ed., Pearson, 2000. pg. 129

[3] Van Brummelen, pg. 37.

[4] Ibid. pg. 40.

[5] Ibid. pg 41.

Rethinking School Discipline

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“Jesus Christ did not come to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive.” –Ravi Zacharias

The above quote by Ravi Zacharias is one of my favourites. Christian schools all over the world must be  radically different from any other kind of school environment for this very reason: we exist to bring life! However, Christian schools and their members are not immune from conflict or the need for disciplinary actions. We all still have our struggles; it is the way in which these are handled that makes the difference in our schools.

It is important to note that being gospel-centred and transformation-focused does not equate with being passive and excusing behavioural infractions in the name of “grace.” Just as it is essential to understand the bad news of the gospel (we are guilty before God because of our sin, and the law condemns us) before we understand the good news (that through the death and resurrection of Christ we have been forgiven and given new life), it is imperative for a Christian school to consider how the whole gospel can be incorporated into its discipline policy.

Since every school is unique, there is not a one-size-fits-all plan that will effectively work for everyone. I have learned this to be especially true in international environments. Therefore, I propose three questions to guide the process of pursuing a gospel-centred school discipline plan:

  1. What is the goal?If the goal is to minimise bad behaviours and demand compliance, then we have successfully made moralised pagans. If the goal is for gospel-transformation, then students are made aware of how their behaviour or choices go beyond the situation itself and reveal something much deeper about themselves.
  2. What is the emphasis?Is the emphasis on dealing with the root of the problem and dealing with the mind and heart of the problem? Is the student or the behaviour the problem? Can humility and honesty be exercised as we help students see the greater problem in each of our hearts, including our own hearts?
  3. What is the outcome?Does the student understand the seriousness of sin as well as the gift of God’s grace? How do we encourage students to move forward? Have we considered how the student might see themselves in light of the discipline? Staff should equip the students to address problems for themselves for the future, helping students consider what Scripture says.

Classroom Management:

Let’s consider an example. I teach high school, and I have a student who disrespects another student by making a distasteful comment in front of the class. The first point to consider is that There should be clear and fair consequences to inappropriate student behavior. Teachers should be consistent with all students, although allowing opportunities to show grace when appropriate. Why is this important? Remember that God is a fair judge who will deal with everyone. Even when He gives grace, He does not look apathetically towards the sin committed. Realistically, we cannot catch every situation, but it is very obvious to students when a teacher is inconsistent.

A teacher should make it clear that the comment made in front of the class was unacceptable and it will be addressed. I usually ask the student to speak with me after class. After class, I schedule a mandatory time to meet with them, whether it be lunch or after school, where we will have the time to adequately address the issue.

Before the meeting, I consider question number 1:

  1. What is the goal?How am I going to connect the gospel to this specific situation so that my student will understand the bigger picture?

In midst of the conversation with the student, I am going to be regularly monitoring question 2:

  1. What is the emphasis? What is the problem? Why is it a problem? How am I communicating the problem and the solution to the student? Is Scripture being used as a bonk on the head or as a light in the dark tunnel?

Once our time is finished, I will observe question number 3:

  1. What is the outcome? How did the student respond during the meeting? Was there conviction (ideal) or condemnation (not ideal)? How did the student respond following the meeting? Was the action repeated?

Finally, the decision to deliver a consequence or to extend grace to the student rests upon the individual teacher or administrator. This is where being Spirit-led is important because there is not one sure way to handle every scenario. However, I cannot stress enough that always giving grace without consequences is not biblical. Actions have consequences, and that is a truth we need to be teaching our students. The Bible clearly talks about how both God and parents discipline to their children for their own good. While the method of discipline differs between God’s, parents, and educators, the goal is still the same. We want transformation, not moralism.

Christina Z.
High school religion teacher & community school liaison officer
International Education Services, Eurasia

Photo Credits: Holy Cross at Sunrise, Sean MacEntee,via Flickr. CC2.0. School Opening, T. Peters at FATEB Kinshasa Academy. 2017.