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
Playful Minds
Games can recover play in learning, but we still have to know what it means to “learn.” My fourth grade students certainly wouldn’t need convincing that schools could use more video games. But parents and teachers trying to limit a child’s “screen time” might think otherwise. From their perspective, “digital play” is the last thing our kids need. These games, … Read More
Posture of Prayer – Part 4
Finally, Worshipful, not Manipulative As the final installment, just a few closing comments on worship. It’s a great final element to consider because as a school leader, you likely play a role in setting the tone for worship, leading your teams in worship, and modeling right thinking to the rest of the school community. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give … Read More
A Look Back and a Look Ahead 2018
At the beginning of 2017, I took a look through the most popular CACE blogs from 2016 and developed four themes to keep an eye on in the year ahead in what appears to now be an annual attempt to take A Look Back and a Look Ahead. In 2017, the four most read blogs included: 1. What Lessons can … Read More
Posture of Prayer – Part 3
Next, Submissive but Not Resigned We are to submit our desires to his good pleasure—that is hard sometimes, isn’t it? This can be a challenge when enrollment or donors aren’t where we want them to be and we are tempted to question why we are serving in a particular place or market. However, that is where God put us and … Read More
Posture of Prayer – Part 2
So, this background on prayer reminds me of an idea – posture of prayer. Posture of prayer can be a great way to think about leading others as it is something that can be shown. Our own weaknesses, even though real, don’t necessarily keep us from leading others in a right thinking about the posture of prayer. We can see … Read More
Posture of Prayer – Part 1
Have you ever wondered how to pray? Have you ever not known how to pray? Not that you didn’t know the mechanics (that’s easy enough), but you didn’t know what to ask for. Faced with a certain problem or situation, you were at a loss and didn’t know what to say or do. As a leader, this can be especially … Read More
Taxes, Christmas and Christian Education
The recently passed tax reform seems to be crowding out Christmas. Instead of stories of acts of kindness that seem to be on the uptick this time of year (I just experienced a rather small but maybe significant one on an airplane where a person gave up his first class seat to one of our armed services personnel who was … 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
Norm and Norms
If your television viewing history includes the eleven-year period from 1982 – 1993, you probably recall a sitcom titled Cheers. The show is set in a bar named Cheers in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals met to have a drink, relax and socialize. The refrain from the show’s theme song quickly became the tagline, Where Everybody Knows Your … Read More