An Invitation From a Student: Will You Stay?

Students entering our building on any given morning is a moment that I greatly enjoy. Their return back to school creates a pulse of energy and clarity of purpose that draws me in.  Whether it is with smiles and laughter, tired faces, or even concerned looks, they leave their world at home and become part of a social situation of learning and growing for the next number of hours.

Last week I was greeting students in the hallway as they arrived and was drawn in to a classroom where students were sharing things they were busy creating. As the class settled toward their morning routine with their teacher, I was prepared to make my inconspicuous exit. Just before I did, a student approached me and asked “Mr. Janssen, will you stay and join us in our devotions?”  There was only one right answer. I quickly took my place on a chair that was moved in place for me. 

“What should we be busy doing until Christ returns?” was the main question the class centered on after reading the Matthew 24 text. I listened to their reflective answers about learning, serving, growing, and waiting. In a communal prayer, students offered prayers of thankfulness and requests for healing, wisdom, and anticipation of needs they saw as real and personal. There is something incredibly powerful about the prayers of children that admonishes adults to pray with greater openness and trust about anything and everything. I left to attend to the work waiting on my desk having been blessed and moved by the incredibly valuable habits of faith being developed in that classroom.

I’ve often been wondering out loud lately if the nature to Christian Education ought to be better described as being invitational more than it is confrontational. In the same way that Christ welcomed little children to come to him, God’s world and God’s community beckons our students to explore, create, celebrate, and share as they take on every day. Praise God that is what our students encounter everyday at LCES.

I’m glad that I stayed. SJ

Mission Statements and Luggage: The Value of Unpacking

A podcast that accompanied me while working this weekend taught me something. I listened to an interview that highlighted the fact that Coca-Cola has a mission statement. Their mission is “To refresh the world, to inspire moments of optimism and happiness, and to create value and make a difference.” All this from a beverage company? I was intrigued. No mention of profit, growth, or creating a thirst-quenching monopoly.

I’ve been thinking about our school’s vision statement lately. “To educate children, equipping them for a life of faithful, Christian discipleship.” The power of these statements is their simplicity and ability to focus efforts. Their challenge is that as simple statements they can remain disconnected from daily practice because they resemble well-packed luggage that is never (or rarely) opened.

Here’s is my attempt to “unpack” our valuable vision statement.

Connectedness We aim for our students to see God’s creation as an intricate, complex, and amazing example of how purposeful God is. God’s world is something to be studied as a whole, as well as in parts. 

Discernment We want our students to develop tools and have opportunities to practice, under the watchful idea of a passionate educator, figuring out what is God’s truth and what is means for them. God’s world is designed around God’s truth.

Servitude We strive to have our students live out the truth of biblically knowing as the study the Lord’s handiwork directs them to love their neighbor in every way, in everything they do and say. God’s world is one of community.

Wonder God’s world is a place of beauty and we wish for our students to meet God in new ways as they learn. God’s world speaks of his greatness.

Big things guide our learning! SJ

Process and Content: Reflections on Genius Hour

Many years ago my brother and I chose to drive 6 hours to witness the PhD defense of my brother-in-law. Our reason for the trip was primarily to show family support and encouragement, not because we expected to necessarily understand or gain anything from the content of the actual presentation.  During the intensive review of his multi-year work, one of the things that amazed me most was the focus on what hadn’t quite worked out, what was unexpected, and what he should do differently as he continued to expand his research. I learned that the process mattered as much as the content.

I was asked to come to grade seven last week to attend “Genius Hour” presentations. Mr. Hosmar had opened up class time for quite a number of weeks that allowed students to commit themselves to investigate something of their own choosing. There were few requirements, but a key objective that was supported was to encourage reflection about the process of doing the work they set out to do. Students planned a wedding, designed shoes, created stop-motion animation, made a butterfly house, and attempted to improve basketball shots with technique. What did it make them learn, perhaps even about themselves, by doing the work?  What do they now want to do? It was a pleasure to have conversations with them after their presentations and have a window in on their own learning. What they shared was less about the content of their learning, and more descriptions of how they had self-guided themselves through obstacles and challenges.

The nature and purpose of learning continues to change as we move through time.  We do not “serve” content in neat ready-made packages to students, we aspire to develop patterns of exploration, reflection, and self-actualization – doing the important work of risking something new to grow in wisdom and understanding about God’s amazing world.  May that learning never end.  SJ

Grit and Resilience: Success at what?

I heard part of an interview recently about these two words and their use as identifiers of future success adolescent students and the life challenges that await them when they reach early adulthood. I found myself both appreciating how clearly these two character qualities or mindsets were being portrayed and simultaneously unsatisfied with what they were to be used for.

Success is a dangerous word since success at what is very important preliminary point of clarification.  Before we take about developing grit and resilience toward whatever success represents, we need to be clear about the goal. Success at self-promotion? Grit in developing ways to get further ahead than everyone else? Resourcefulness in gathering wealth, opportunity, privilege, and prestige?

Our definition of success speaks volumes about what we value and trust in. The vision statement for our school declares success to be “…a life of faithful, Christian discipleship” as our vision statement phrases it. The simplest meter stick for gauging success may be the question “Am I working for God’s kingdom and his glory, or for myself?” Faithfulness in using what we have been given for God’s glory and God’s purposes, is the definition of success we ought to work with.

Take our upcoming field day for example. Our goal is to attempt to acknowledge every bit of effort that every student invests in the day. Rather than give a ribbon only to the top three or four finishers, our field day structure uses the results of all of events that students complete to achieve an overall score for the day. Students receive an overall total which is compared to standards that earn them a first, second, third, or fourth place achievement. Since every centimeter and second counts, we are excited to see students reaching for their best with a sustained overall effort. We also are excited that students look to better their previous year’s achievement as they practice for the event. The grit and resilience we wish to encourage is to use whatever gifts and talents you have to the very best of one’s ability, within a community of encouragement and fair play. Success here is doing your best, not simply finishing first.

Whether it is playing a musical solo on Wednesday night or playing at all, whether it is looking to set a new track record or to make a first successful attempt – we are excited at LCES to give students a platform to take risks and do great things in His kingdom. God has prepared them for just that! 

SJ

Travelling the road in the most excellent way: Perseverance and Dedication

There is more to a race than finishing first.

Just recently I watched a documentary of a group of intense cyclists who raced across the country in the Trans America Bike Race. This grueling and entirely solo venture has riders pushing their bodies to the limit of their physical and psychological limits. The winner in 2015 travelled 4400 miles in just under 19 days, averaging 230miles (370kms) per day riding from the Pacific coast of Oregon to the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia. They often bike alone, right through the night, stopping only for minimal sleep and nourishment. Just finishing that race is worthy of celebration regardless of how long it takes. It is a truly amazing story that makes you stop and consider what one can do when perseverance and dedication are applied to specific goals.

Our students are about to start up mileage club again in preparation for our upcoming Track & Field day. This running initiative at recess sees some students doing laps by choice around our back field at recess. They stop in to get a paper “foot” punched to verify they have completed a lap. Many have in mind to better their personal record of how many feet they gather in the running blitz.

Perseverance and dedication. These two admirable and valued character qualities are a requirement for running or biking, but even more so for life. When those two qualities are matched with an intentional, worthwhile purpose – like easing the burden of those around us, being a faithful presence, an encouraging force, an agent of blessing by choice - then we truly have travelled the road in the most excellent way. In doing so, we aim to “…use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace.” (1 Peter 4:10)

How good it is that we can teach our children in this most excellent way at LCES each day! May we seek the kingdom (Matthew 6:33) with perseverance, dedication, and purpose in all we do and say SJ

this week.