The other day, I was down at one of our local Christian schools collecting two of my grandchildren, to look after them at the end of the school day, whilst Sue, their mother, was busy running an after-school activity for parents. Actually, my grandson Brendon saw me in the school some time before the final bell when he was visiting … Read More
Round Two – An Invitation to Become a CACE Score Group
A critical aspect of the CACE mission is to bring school leaders from across North America together to exchange best practices, experiences, ideas, and strategies. One way we pursue this mission is through the Score Group, a peer collaboration process. Score Group schools meet together four times over the course of two academic years to focus on the critical areas … Read More
Looking Under the Label: A Journey in Deeper Thinking
Exploring deeper learning through the study of ‘labels’ in a first grade classroom. Deeper Learning is not an exotic new curricular approach that requires big projects – it is a frame of mind about how to approach all aspects of learning – even seemingly trivial details – in a deeper way. We open the door for deeper thinking when we … Read More
Building an Engaged School: Get a Leader
In a blog from April I laid out that “Engagement Matters” throughout an organization for long-term success as well as short-term fulfillment. Gallup continues to do research on employee engagement as they seek to understand the combination of personal enjoyment in work as well as business success overall, and they stated earlier this year: “Though companies and leaders worldwide recognize … Read More
Beginning Well: Part 3 of a Conversation with Dan Beerens and Steven Levy
In Part 3 of the CACE summer webinar series Dan Beerens and Steven Levy explore how teachers can create a culture in their classrooms where students are dedicated to excellence. In particular, how to give the message to students at the beginning of the year, that everything they do matters. Participants share ideas how they deliver that message, and Levy presents … Read More
Graciously Unapologetic – A New Way to Be
Contemporary Christian day schools are filled with fear because Christ and something else have taken strong root. The results include dominating human-centered busy-work around ‘what to do’ to solve problems and concerns, and artificial constructs of control (i.e. exclusivity, legal rigidity, group norm, traditionalism, denominationalism, etc.) intended to soothe fears. Graciously Unapologetic was written to ‘out’ the fears that dominate … Read More
Do My Students Ask Essential Questions?
So, what makes a question essential? We identify essential questions with characteristics such as open-endedness, the question’s ability to call for higher order thinking, whether it raises additional questions, and how it requires support and justification. Essential questions are ones not answerable with finality in a single lesson or a brief sentence – and that is the point. This focus … Read More
Fill in the Blank
The schools that parents want to entrust their children to_________ (fill-in-the-blank). The schools that students want to be invited into __________ (fill-in-the-blank). Fill-in-the-blank questions are some of my favorites. While they remain on the lower end of Bloom’s Taxonomy (comprehension and understanding), they are relatively easy to write (as a teacher) and relatively easy to answer (as a student). It … Read More
Part III: To Be Deeply Rooted
Just so we are clear…CACE is not in the political business of endorsing candidates or platforms. However, we certainly realize the impact that government, state and federal, can have on how Christian schools operate which requires informed readers. Therefore, we want to continue to provide information worth consuming for those with a common calling in Christian education. Missionally, we want … Read More
I Wonder as I Wander
I can’t seem to get my head around it! No matter how many times I talk to someone around the world and it sounds like they are sitting in the same room with me, I am filled with wonder. When I look at anything in micro and see how color and design pop forward that I previously hadn’t observed, I … Read More