This past week was a particularly trying week with the loss of life of 17 students at Stoneman Douglas High School. With this tragedy now comes renewed discussions on guns, shootings, the Second Amendment, and school safety. For just a moment, I want to examine the latter while skipping over the others, so we can discuss the truth about whether … Read More
Powerful Instructional Practices
This blog was adapted from opening remarks at the Powerful Practices: Implementing Deeper Learning in Christian Schools conference, Gainesville, FL, January 11-12, 2018. “It is nothing but a pious wish and a grossly unwarranted hope that students trained to be passive and non-creative in school will suddenly, upon graduation, actively contribute to the formation of Christian culture.” Nicholas Wolterstorff And … Read More
Curriculum Introduction
What if (Christian) education is not primarily about the absorption of ideas and information, but about the formation of hearts and desires? 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 … Read More
What Does It Mean To Be Successful?
February has never been my favorite month. Not because winter seems like it will never end; not because the dreary overcast skies match my mood; no, February is the month where I fall back into my “imposter” thinking. February is most often the month where the busyness and challenge of my work butts up against my own insecurities and my … Read More
Delivering on Your Promises
In our work at Charter Oak Research, my business partner and I have the opportunity to travel to many different places and help Christian schools better understand their markets. Schedules are often very tight so we try to fit in as much as possible in a short amount of time. Thus, delays and cancellations often times add stress and frustration. … Read More
Thomas Arnett: Amplify the Teacher Effect with Technology
Introduction: As someone who espouses innovation in Education I’ve always been skeptical of the technocrats who push the cure-all that technology should be for Education. My qualms have always been twofold, first technology as the replacement for the relationship between teacher and student and second the lack of relationship between learners in a communal drive for some sort of corporate … Read More
Using Research to Prove Our Point
We all like to talk about distinctives – what makes our school distinct from the local public school, an area independent school or even another Christian school. In fact, we often find different types of Christian schools trying to point out their distinctives from one another; either a lower priced alternative, a classical model or maybe a school with a … Read More
Chuck Evans: Re-calibration, Growth, and School Success
Introduction: In his recent Better Schools newsletter Chuck Evans shared data on the slight growth of the private school sector where he suggests that the economic downturn of 2008 may have been a good thing as it forced school leaders through a re-calibration of expectations and re-assessing of educational experiences. Therefore, I chose to reach out to him to hear … 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
Josh Riebock: Storytelling, Creativity, and Failure
Introduction: T.S. Eliot once wrote, The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality. […] The more perfect the artist, the more completely separate in him will be the man who suffers and the mind which creates. This quote and some recent interactions regarding creativity in schools led me to a conversation with my friend, … Read More