At a recent education conference, I was struck by a distinction made by John Couch, the head of Apple’s educational arm. He referred to the millennials as digital natives and those of us who are generations above the age of 30 as digital immigrants. To his point, he talked about how we needed to reimagine schoolings with the fast-changing technological … 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
3 Questions on Leadership and Mindshift: Rex Miller
Introduction: In the first blog I wrote for CACE, The Power of Connectivity: I Gotta Guy, I shared my thoughts about the Christian school network: In my experience in Christian education there is a specialist, expert, or innovator in every part of the country, and over the past four years as Vice President of the Christian Coalition for Educational Innovation (CCEI) I … Read More
Deeper Learning in Christian Schools
The phrase “Deeper Learning” was coined by the Hewlett Packard Foundation in 2010 to define what they saw as skills necessary for the “jobs of tomorrow.” They defined a set of competencies students would need to compete globally and to become engaged citizens at home in the 21st century. The impulse to create these competencies came from the realization that … Read More
Introducing the Speaker Line-up for Powerful Practices: Implementing Deeper Learning in Christian Schools Conference!
Our Planning Team for the upcoming Deeper Learning conference is very excited to have had a great response to our request for proposals! We have exceptional leaders coming from many places across North America to share their learning and lead attendees into new understandings. We have organized our conference around five strands shown below. Our confirmed workshop leaders and their … Read More
What If We Called It Practice?
“If the kids haven’t learned the concepts by the time they leave the classroom, the homework is pointless.” H.O.M.E.W.O.R.K = Half Of My Energy Wasted On Random Knowledge. “Homework – the teachers’ way to find out how smart parents are!” The recent articles, blogs, rants, and defenses of homework have definitely caused me to think deeply about what I assign … Read More
In Light of Eternity (Part 2) – Leading with Conviction
Growing up in an evangelical home in the 1970s and 1980s, I was prepared in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School to face persecution. We learned of missionary martyrs, closed communistic and totalitarian regimes, possible apocalyptic future scenarios—all with the possible outcome that we may be called to die for our faith. In the end, that is in fact what … Read More
In Light of Eternity—Leading Others with a Right Perspective
Like every era, ours is one where events that happen before our eyes have the potential to mask the truth of what is really happening and require discernment. As Christian educators and leaders, the challenges are given added importance as you seek to offer that discernment to your colleagues, families and students. Leading requires a sense of the big picture … Read More
Choosing PD Conferences: 3 Criteria
Introduction: Recently, two blogs were written in regards to choosing conferences that I found helpful for Christian school leaders. CACE Fellow, Paul Neal, wrote a blog entitled Thinking about Conferences? as he reflected on conferences he attended this past year while our friends at Sevenstar recently published a blog entitled A Guide to the Premier Events for Christian Schools this … Read More
12 Opportunities and a Prayer
In my career I have had the opportunity to work in both public and Christian education. We need Christian educators in both places and I have had opportunities to further God’s kingdom in both places. However, here are a dozen unique opportunities that Christian school educators enjoy: Teaching students the joy and pleasure to be found in glorifying God by … Read More