Beaver Teeth and Wonder at Our Christian School

 “Mr. Janssen, did you know that a beaver’s teeth never stop growing?”

Frequently, I have reason to speak with our students. On the vast majority of situations, I have the pleasure of celebrating things with them; a birthday, a recent creation or project, a story from their life outside school, stitches or a broken arm, or something they think is “amazing” about God’s creation.  Recounting a recent class trip, inspecting a loose or missing tooth, hearing of family adventures, or describing a new game they made – all of these are joyful conversations. Sometimes I forget how new all these experiences are for them – they are encountering “firsts” nearly evey day.

Life is amazing. Though our attention tends to wander toward areas of frustration, concern, worry or lament faster than wonder – our world is an astounding place. Your child’s days are filled with seeing, appreciating, and attempting to understand many brand new things for the very first time. “Wonder creates awe, and awe creates worship” a friend of mine used to say. While eyes and ears are focused to see these things, what a perfect opportunity to be telling the mighty acts of God and answering the big questions of life like “Who am I?, “Where am I?”, “What’s my purpose?”, and “Where are going?”.

“There is wonder all around us, and it is God’s will to fill us with that wonder that makes life enchanting and sacred.”  Ravi Zacharias

I’m thankful for Christian education which not only draws our children’s attention to an amazing creation, but also to worship its creator. All of life (including learning at London Christian Elementary School) is sacred. Praise God for that eyes that see and hearts and minds consumed with awe and wonder!

SJ

Valuable Questions At Our Christian School

“Does it weigh more than a soccer ball?

To pass the time on a long family road trip last week, I introduced my children to the game of twenty questions. They quickly learned the value of a good question when they used up ten questions and were not much closer to correctly guessing the object I was thinking about.

Contrast that with the stories of Jesus’ ministry we’ve been reading at our supper table. It stands out to us how many times Jesus gives a stunning question that reveals truth as a reply to a question intended for undermining authority, attacking character, or achieving malicious objectives.

I’m convinced excellent questions lead to excellent learning. In a culture of information flow that leans much further toward passive consumption than active creation, it is exceptionally important for us to grow students’ capacity to formulate questions that do the following:

Connect. When students ask questions that attempt to see how one part of God’s world is connected to another, they understand more of how majestically it was created and appreciate it at a deeper level. A recent example of a question heard in a primary question recently was “What happens to all the leaves in the forest? Where do they go if no one rakes them up?”

Renew.  A deeper level question that asks students to see what God’s original plan was for a part of creation, how very good it was, and how they might be part of renewing it is transformational for their future communities. An example I heard of this recently as “Why are bee populations in decline and what can farmers do about it?”

Discern. Learning to ask as much about what isn’t being said as what is, what justice looks like in an area of life, and digging deep with questions to identify bias and perspective is powerful. An example I heard this week is “What is the author presuming everyone agrees about?”

I’m thankful for Christian Education at LCES that challenges our children to delight in God’s world and ask quality questions that leads them further in to it.

SJ

Duplo Blocks and Planning at Our Christian School

“What are you making?” I asked a young learner with a sea of brightly coloured Duplo books in front of him. “I’m not sure yet” came the quick reply.  “I will know when the blocks are finished being put together.”

I’ve heard the same kind of conversation in kindergarten about interesting or unusual items brought in to be part of the classroom or outdoor centres. What will the students make or do with them? They will show us!

This is perhaps an accurate picture of what the board and leadership of the school are busy with these next weeks. We’re putting the pieces of the 2019-2020 school year together without knowing, at least not entirely, what the end result will be. The Duplo blocks for the board are strategic plans, a budget, staffing, board plans, new family enrolment, existing family re-enrolment, and more.

I would suggest that starting with assertion we don’t know what the end product will look like is a good thing. But let us also start with what do know without question. This is God’s school. These are His children we love and educate. This is His world. He has plans for us that are intended for His glory and our good. They may or may not be what we initially think is best, however time in God’s story has a way of making things stand out with clarity.

At auspicious moments like weddings, anniversaries, retirements, or even funerals we are quick to speak of God’s faithfulness and provision. We are also wise to do the same when we start a new endeavor, moving forward boldly in full knowledge that God has “more than we can ask for or imagine” in store for us. (Ephesians 3:20)

Please uphold the work of school leadership in prayer. Wait expectantly for God’s blessings as they have been promised us. We pray that our upcoming Spring Break pause at the end of the week be restful and safe whether travelling far away or remaining close to home.

SJ

Tech and Teaching: Where do we stand on technology in our Christian school?

“We only get one life to live. Wouldn’t it be better spent enjoying and serving the world God made rather than a glowing screen?” Andy Crouch

“Technology is only very good if it can help us become the persons we were mean to be.” Andy Crouch

The quick association of technology in learning as being the presence of computers, tablets, Chromebooks, projectors, and more is understandable, but we are wiser to realize that everything from scissors to pencil crayons and whiteboards to ball point pens is technology. We know that all of God’s world belongs to him, and all of it can be used in faithfulness or disobedience. Technology doesn’t live outside that truth. Our task is sorting out the difference and being intentional about choosing wisely. It also seems true that technology is challenging us and our children and we don’t have a long history to count on for a tried and true response. It’s all relatively new and some trends are alarming.

Technology of any kind will never replace the value of excellent teaching and leading by parent or teacher. The presence or absence of technology alone in a classroom or school doesn’t indicate students will learn any better or be any smarter. The value of a skilled and committed teacher who is able to match learning methods well with student’s abilities, interests, and development is as essential as always. I’ve often thought that when technology enables us to do something we couldn’t otherwise do, then we’re accessing more of its God-created potential for our benefit.

These two matters understood, we do know that technology will be a part of children’s future and we want to prepare them well for its opportunities and challenges. Some of the goals I would hope for our students are to be efficient and highly effective in the tools they use, for them to push them for their high level capability for pursing wisdom and restoration of God’s world, and develop a life skill of being able to put it in its proper place.

SJ

Two items for further reading:

• Our staff has constructed a document called “LCES E-Device Guidelines” Please read it.
• I highly recommend reading “The Tech Wise Family” by Andy Crouch. This book is a short, highly relatable read authored from the viewpoint of a father of adolescent children. I’ve met and heard him a speaker several times. He’s excellent and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.