Busy intersections

Last fall a young newcomer to our school knocked on my door and came in to share a drawing made specifically for me. Honored by the gift, I offered a very quick tour of my office. At the end of the 30 second tour showing where I work, the student asked me a revealing question: “This is all really nice, but where do you sleep?”

As a child, I remember meeting one of my teachers in a store on an evening or weekend. My world was turned upside down by considering the fact that they weren’t dressed in the same “teacher clothes”, which meant that they had a purpose (and a life) outside of being a teacher.

“Teachers teach at the intersection of their story and their student’s stories”.

I remember hearing this at a Christian School educator convention in the past. It’s true; our teachers have stories of their own. Several of our teacher’s stories are about to change in the coming months. Here are a few of them:

We want to thank Ms. Gronfors for an excellent year of teaching in grade four. We have been so blessed by her energy, creativity, and ways to challenge students to grow in all of who God made them to be. We congratulate her on receiving a teaching position at a Christian school in the Toronto area starting this fall. May the Lord bless the next chapter in your story, Ms. Gronfors.

This September will see the return of Ms. Appendino to grade four following a one year leave while she and her husband welcomed the arrival of their first child. Ms. Appendino has frequently dropped in to visit this year to referee for us, take in special events, and stay connected to the LCES staff and what we are doing.

We look forward to having her return back as a regular part of living and learning by faith at LCES.
The end of June will see Ms. Graham leaving JK for a time as she and her husband prepare to become new parents. How exciting to wait in expectation for the gift of new life! Join us in praying for God’s leading hand and protection over that young life expected to arrive this summer.

We’re excited to announce that we will be adding a new teacher this September! Alexandria Hessel will be joining the LCES staff and taking good care of our newest learners in JK. Although she knows London well and attended university here, she and her husband are far away from here as they are currently finishing a year of teaching in Sweden. She is excited that her story includes a return back to London.

Please join the LCES Board who prays frequently at the end of their meetings for our teachers who teach truth and love into the stories of our children’s lives. SJ

www.londonchristian.ca

Lack of Inner Compass...

Radio makes me think. Talk shows on CBC radio or NPR often keep me company while working around the house or driving alone. I find it fascinating to be challenged to consider different viewpoints or issues that I wouldn’t consider following my own interests. While doing the proverbial list of May long-weekend tasks, I was introduced to someone I’d never heard of through an interview that proved fascinating.

Leo Koretz was a financial wizard who “made” 400 million (in today’s money) around 1910 by convincing people to invest in worthless Arkansas rice farms, Panama timber operations, and then later Panama oil extraction. He was so persuasive that people begged him to take their money to invest in his financial empire. One person apparently even threw a bundle of money over an office wall, with written instructions pleading for him to invest the funds. Every bit of the operation was fake, however, as investors who traveled to Panama found out when they showed up expecting a bustling oil empire and found nothing there. The entire operation was a fraud. He “hid” in Nova Scotia for a time before being sent back to face charges in Chicago.

The interview with the researcher got very interesting after the story was told. How could someone so talented and effective go so far astray? The response was “the lack of an inner compass” that didn't guide him correctly. Abruptly, the interview ended to my dissatisfaction. So, why am I recounting this to you on our Christian school newsletter?

First, it is essential to realize that we aim to do much more than deliver learning content at LCES. We seek
to impart knowledge that is always accompanied with wisdom. Wisdom orients action. Our present students
will eventually be charged with key leadership pieces in their life that offer, much like Mr. Koretz, the opportunity to use it for God’s kingdom or for something else. We are the training grounds for making future decisions well.

Second, the need for our children to be equipped with discernment and critical thinking to choose well in a
sometime confusing world of choice and “opportunity” is essential for their future well-being. Unlike the many who were duped and hitched their dreams to Mr. Koretz’s imaginary wagon of success, we want our stu-
dents to be critical thinkers with good questions that pursue truth and God’s kingdom.

It takes much more than a compass to get it right. SJ

Flutes and Field Day: Risk and Reward

“Every accomplishment began with a decision to try.”

So said an educational leader at an event I recently attended. I continue to hear often about both the obstacles for students in facing risk as they learn, as well as the immense learning potential of what those risk moments can give when taken. A greater sense of self, ability to work toward long term goals, and resilience are just a few of the first benefits.

A multi-year initiative has been underway at LCES to change the structure of our field day. Three years in, we are still revising but are pleased with the results so far. The 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.

New this year, we have a means to recognize risk taken and effort invested independent of the  outcome of that attempt. Students in the younger grades will be running a longer distance event of 200m. Our schedule has been revised to more easily allow school-wide participation. We are pleased to see small changes that refine the day and make it better as we learn and grow along with our students at this community event. Please feel free to come join us this Friday (weather permitting) – or better yet, volunteer for any of the remaining spots! The musical May Soirée on Wednesday will also be a means for our students to shine and present their learning to an audience.

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. God has prepared them for just that! SJ

The Flat Tires of Life...

“A bad attitude is like a flat tire: You can’t go anywhere until you change it.”

While visiting another school several weeks ago this message, shown below a frustrated student on a poster, grabbed my full attention. I thought for several moments how attitude shapes our student’s learning experience – often much more than their immediate success or failure - while they navigate through new information, skills, and opportunities presented to them.

We are quick to label a grumpy, edgy tone in someone’s interactions as being evidence of a bad attitude. While it is no fun to be around someone like that, I think this is perhaps a limited definition. A bad attitude (or mindset) might better be described as a moment when the person has given up on the chance for something that isn't going well to actually turn out positively in terms of their learning and personal welfare. Their perspective has become narrow and shortsighted and they don’t see a way out of it that can be a win-win for themselves and those they are interacting with.

Sometimes there isn't a way out of the situation that is a win-win all the way around. In those moments, coaching our students to accept the results in a way that respects themselves, others, and their possible future success is the most valuable prize.

Some thoughts on developing a healthy attitude in our students:

•  Ensure that a student has opportunities to be publicly recognized for the things they do well or have shown growth in. Success creates an appetite and determination for future success. 
•  Encourage re-attempting things that didn't work, perhaps in a more success-possible manner. A delay is fine too. Resilience is a key part of developing healthy attitude. 
• Work to have a child’s feeling of self-worth not be entirely dependent on immediate success or failure in challenging situations. Learning to cope with first-attempt failure is a key life skill. 
• While every student is talented in different ways, we don’t help our students by labeling them as “not a math student” or “not musical” or “not creative” in their crucial years of development. We are shutting doors for them far too early in doing so.
• Model responses for them that show a healthy attitude. I’m convinced our children are watching and listening much more closely than we first realize when we ourselves encounter struggles. We are the lesson they are closely studying in those moments. 

I’ve changed my fair share of flat tires on cars, wheelbarrows, bikes, - once I even had to arrange for it on a transport truck. None of them were great moments that conjure up happy memories. All of them helped me to grow in my response to unexpected problems or failures.

Be ready for your next flat. It's coming soon. SJ

A torrent of talents

“No one can do everything; everyone has a talent to contribute.”

The above words of wisdom came from the student chapel grade four led this morning. It led me to think about several things going on in the life of students and in the life of our organization in the next number of months. Here they are:

“Caribbean Breeze” Spring Auction: Last Saturday’s event was very clearly the sum result of many people with organizational, relational, financial, and especially creative talents. None of those talents on their own would have made the night what it was and we are so grateful for their contribution. (See details later in this newsletter).

Spring Membership Meeting: Just like students are talented in different ways, we have parents
contributing with their talents across the organization. Our school would not be able to do what it
does without them and we give them our sincere thanks. Come out and hear all about what these
talented volunteers have been doing tomorrow at 7:30pm.

LC’s Got Talent: Believing that all students are diversely and uniquely equipped by the Lord, we
want to take opportunity to showcase, celebrate, and enjoy those talents as a group. I can hardly
wait to see music, drama, and the spoken word on display this Friday. Come join us at 1:30pm!

May Soirée: Part of playing in a musical group, be it a group of two or twenty, is the ability to
organize differently talented people to work together to produce something of excellence and
beauty as a response to God. Musical talent will be on full display May 13.

LCES Field Day: I’m excited to hear our students practicing to give their personal best and top
their previous year’s achievement against our standards based field day as they showcase their
talents. We pray for great weather on May 15!

Shakespeare Play: You will be amazed at the talent of our students (and their teacher!) to make
“Romeo and Juliet” come alive on May 29. It is not something you want to miss.

Graduation: Work begins at this time of year to design an experience for our community to
celebrate the gifts and talents of our graduates who have reached a milestone in their educational
journey. I encourage you to come June 24 to gain a wide perspective on the journey from JK (or
SK) to grade eight!

God’s gift of talents to our community is a rich blessing to us and I’m thankful for places those
talents can be identified, used, and oriented back to God in faithful service. SJ

Information Overload

“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.” E.O.Wilson

This quote grabbed my full attention when I saw it last week. The author of these words is an 85 year old biologist from Alabama who watches with interest as research has revealed more and more about how the natural world works. He theorizes that the intense period of growth of discovery 
and knowledge that began in the 1960’s will continue for many more decades. In short, information continues to flood our understanding of things as we dig further, deeper, and wider into the natural world in our understanding. But we aren't necessarily wiser for it. 

In the information-rich culture our students are immersed in, I found myself thinking about the role of wisdom. Perhaps more than their parents or grandparents, student learning needs are less centered on opportunities to be provided with more information, but rather they have a pressing need to have a means by which to connect information meaningfully, sort what is of value, and ultimately what is true and faithful. I’m thankful that this is the kind of wisdom that we endeavor to help our students develop and practice at LCES. 

The original 1962 LCES keystone boldly proclaims that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10) The faithful who placed it there could probably not really comprehend the age we live in today, but their choice of that text is as contemporary as ever. Knowledge alone will not fully help the future inventors, scientists, parents, business people, politicians, entrepreneurs, and much more that exist in our student body. 

The potential of knowledge in the hands and mind of someone armed with biblical wisdom – now that’s something that can change the world back to how God intended it. May God bless us in pursuit of that worthwhile goal. SJ

Of hidden things and eyes to see them

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Waking up to a spring morning as we did today, it is hard not to notice the welcome advances of spring with the greening of lawns, the return of the birds and their morning symphonies, and even the first plants emerging from the soil. After a harsh winter has temporarily caused us to forget the joy in these things, it seems that they can’t help but captivate us and draw us in when they reappear. There is nothing new about spring, after all, it happens every year. However, our delight in it is the result of our eyes and ears being focused on it, captured by its newness and freshness. The promise of new life in Christ is mirrored by new life in nature.

But what about the other 45 weeks of the year? God is present there too, even if we don’t have the same overwhelming spring-like feeling of God with us. This morning in chapel we were reminded at
school that travelers alongside Jesus on the road to Emmaus lost perspective in that they couldn't
recognize Jesus and although seeing the things around them, they had lost true vision of God with
them. Their eyes were open, but their hearts were closed. Jesus’ response was to teach them, eat
with them, and pray with them. Proper perspective takes practice, discipline, and a community to sustain both.

Christian education follows that pattern of teaching, working, and praying to train young eyes and
ears to see God at work in our world. We want our children to have at the ready questions like “What
will I see new about God’s world today?” and “How does God’s world praise him?” and “How is God at work in my community?” as their first responses to the new things and even the mundane things they encounter. We seek to train their hearts to notice God with the same eagerness and delight with which we look for something green after a harsh long winter. SJ