We long to see our students have hearts that are tuned to, and turned toward, God. In our world of loud, conflicting, insistent, constantly streaming voices it takes purposeful intent and a good measure of self-discipline, on a personal level, to attend to what is needful and that which results in a flourishing life that bears good fruits. Author David … Read More
A Christian Deeper Learning Introduction
Out of its best motives, the Christian day school movement was born from the deep conviction by parents that God’s truth be recognized in every subject and every aspect of learning. Knowing that a teacher’s worldview has a powerful and undeniable impact on students’ worldviews, public schooling was not acceptable to these parents because of concerns over what core values/worldview … Read More
By Any Measure – Unattractive
Emptying self? Forsaking family? Losing our life to gain it? Why do you ask such hard things, Lord? How do we figure out needs and wants in a one-click Amazon world? What sort of foolishness is loving enemies and forgiving 70 times 7? How do we market teaching this in our schools? How can we see what you want … Read More
What Do We Mean by Christian Deeper Learning? A Draft Document for Your Consideration – Part 2
In July I shared with you the first part of a working definition of Christian Deeper Learning. To refresh your memory I mentioned this background information by way of introduction: As a core group (authors are noted at the end of the full document – you can reference that here) we each took our turn crafting a document expressing our … Read More
The Redemption and Promise of Service-Learning
You may think that Christian schools—whose missions can often be boiled down to “Serve God, Serve Others”—may be leading the way in implementing service-learning. However, in their new book, Bring It to Life: Christian Education and the Transformative Power of Service-Learning, authors Lynn Swaner and Roger Erdvig say that often the power of service-learning is unrealized in Christian schools. Instead, … Read More
What Do We Mean by Christian Deeper Learning? A Draft Document for Your Consideration
Tucked into my blog post report this past January on the first ever Christian Deeper Learning conference, I alluded to a small core group working on a definition and explication of what deeper learning looks like in the Christian school context. Out of honor to the small group that composed it and because I believe it deserves more than just … Read More
Going Deeper into Rooftop Perspectives
In my preceding blog post I wrote a review of Eric Reender’s compelling book, Rooftop Perspectives. In this post, Eric responds to several questions related to the book. What prompted you to write the book? Moving to China and teaching in a Christian school there was a big change. I was an experienced teacher but my experience was all in public … Read More
Rooftop Perspectives – A Big Picture View for Christian Educators
Part of the way through Eric Reender’s wonderful book, Rooftop Perspectives, a character states: “A story is not about answers, but making you think.” Reenders succeeds in doing this in his book by taking us into not one but two stories – using the technique of a story within a story, and of all things, set in China upon two … Read More
Our First Christian Deeper Learning Conference!
It was the best of times! When you bring together 150+ creative, energetic, and passionate Christian educators from across North America and they discover their shared interests, powerful learning and excitement results! Such was the case January 11 and 12, 2018 as educators who were implementing or interested in deeper learning in their schools gathered at The Rock School in … Read More
Becoming an “Unexpected” School
Most of us don’t have the opportunity that Karin Chenoweth has had over her career and particularly the past decade – to visit many schools and synthesize what works. Starting with the question “What does it take for a school to succeed beyond expectations?” and then focusing on neighborhood schools, where low income students and students of color are learning … Read More