The language we use has a real power to influence how we understand our world—and act in it. –Kristin Lin, Editor, The On Being Project My wife Joanna and I just finished facilitating two wonder-full institutes on Deeper Learning in Christian Schools and are planning a third in the Dominican Republic. David Smith has been with us (in spirit–see his … Read More
What Story Is at the Heart of Our Schools?
What if (Christian) education was primarily concerned with shaping our hopes and passions—our visions of the “good life”? What if the primary work of (Christian) education was the transforming of our imagination rather than the saturation of our intellect? What if we began by appreciating how education not only gets into our head but also (and more fundamentally) grabs us … Read More
Friends Who Wrote Books You Might Enjoy
Writing a book is a labor of love. Publishing one in the education sector, and to go a step further, publishing in the Christian education sector, is an even greater labor of love with little hope of any financial return. Recently a number of my friends have done some really good work authoring books, and it is my joy to … 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
Do Sweat the Small Stuff
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men… (Colossians 3:23) Thank God for singing cosmic rhythms into the steady beat of time! He fills our waiting hearts with hope-inspired imagination of how things might be different each new day, week, year. In schools we are invited into this hope as … Read More
Teacher Flexibility and the New Normal
It’s been two full school years. Has normal come back? Maybe the old ‘normal’ shouldn’t be the new normal? When something as traumatic as a pandemic happens, it is easy to throw out everything associated with it, but instead of scrapping all of it, let’s reflect on some of the positive changes that contribute to the new normal.
Celebrate and Imagine #6: Seeking a New Paradigm of Educating, 1990-2010 (Part 2)
In the mid 2000s it became clear that the long feared death of the “three-legged stool” (the educational partnership between home, Christian school, and the church) was very much becoming a reality.
Celebrate and Imagine #5: Seeking a New Paradigm of Educating, 1990 to 2010 (Part 1)
The time period from the mid-1980s through approximately 2010 saw Calvinist/Reformed Christian educators further define and apply their approach to educating Christianly in response to a changing world. During these years, movement leaders sought to define both what being Reformed means and the essence of Calvinist/Reformed day school education.
Celebrate and Imagine #1: Introduction and Beginnings
In fall of 2021, CACE invited a group of 70+ educators to Washington, D.C. We met at the Museum of the Bible for a two-day conference on the history and ongoing impact of Reformed Calvinist K-12 day school education. It was a time of remembering, appreciating, and evaluating the history of this movement and considering how it may continue to impact Christian education in North America. Hence the title for this ten-part blog series comes from the conference title: “Celebrating the Past, Imagining the Future.”
See the Story, Live the Story
Much of my work with CACE involves Christian Deeper Learning in one form or another. I have had the opportunity to facilitate workshops with EL Education , Project Based Learning, Redemptive Education, and most recently, Teaching for Transformation (TfT). TfT teachers at Mt. Zion Christian School in Manchester, New Hampshire and New Covenant School in Arlington, Massachusetts wanted to complete … Read More