RenewCast

A Conversation with Craig Harris

Thankfulness (both as a virtue and as an individual instance) reveal something about a worldview. Gratitude suggests that we know what we do and don't deserve ... that there's an "ought," and even a "something" to which this thanksgiving is owed. Deep down we know we ought to be thankful, and this reveals that we're hard-wired for recognizing who we are, in relation to the One who deserves our gratitude. As a result, people of faith ought to be the most thankful among all people and should model it for the onlooking world.

Yes, the world is not as it ought be. We see myriad instances of suffering, pain, loneliness, and sorrow. And yet, God continues to sustain the world through His goodness. It's God's common grace that we see at work - his blessings upon the entirety of his creation - whether His people or not.

Continuing our series on Learning, it's important to build structures (lessons, experiences, and assessments) with understanding as the goal. That starts by having a clear goal in mind - what we want our students to know/understand. These goals ought be consistent with our school mission, theological foundation, and philosophy of learning. From there, we must be willing to design our classrooms and curricula around a framework that is most likely to help students meet these goals.

Host Noah Brink introduces the popular method Understanding by Design as a useful tool to help teachers and academic leaders build maps and frameworks to enable our students to meet these learning objectives. This model sets teachers along the right path to put student learning as a primary goal.

#understandingbydesign #curriculum #studentlearning #christianworldview#biblicalworldview #christianeducator #christianeducation #christianteacher #christianschool #christianschools #reneweducation #noahbrink #christianpodcast #podcast #educationpodcas

We're continuing our series on learning and the Christian school by considering how the image of God affects our approach to learning. One of the clearest statements the Bible gives about the nature of humanity is that people are created in the image of God. Consequently, the notion that all people are created in God's image must be a core belief of the Christian school, and this belief has to be foundational to the school's philosophy and practice.

#podcast #christianpodcast #christianpodcastcommunity #christianeducator #christianeduaction #christianschool #christianteacher #learning #imageofgod #imagodei

A Conversation with John Roberts

John Roberts, Head of School at Covenant Christian School in St. Louis joins the show to talk about the distinctiveness of the CCS curriculum. It's rare to find a Christian school (or any school for that matter) that can build its curriculum to fit its own mission and objectives. But, that's why John and his team at Covenant have been able to do. Rather than merely buying curriculum from various publishers, Covenant Christian School began a multi-year process of building a curriculum that fits its core distinctives.

Host Noah Brink and John discuss the uniquenesses of Covenant's philosophy, program, and the process Covenant undertook to build a curriculum that fits the identity of the school. It's hard work, but listening to John should inspire and encourage any Christian school to set upon this journey.

Learn more about Covenant Christian School

http://www.renew-education.org

#christianeducation #curriclumdesign #christianschool

When we begin to formulate a plan for building school wide frameworks for learning, there may be no better place to go than to the "Greatest Commandment." By calling people of faith to love God with all of our hearts, mind, and strength, Jesus is showing us what it looks like to love God with the totality of our natures, and it also gives us a foundation for what we should think about learning.

Host Noah Brink uses this foundation to introduce several "Threefold" frameworks to guide a more biblical dependent approach to learning:

Head, Hand, and Heart

Inward, Upward, and Outward

Prophet, Priest, and King

Any of these three frameworks could be used as starting points for aligning our approach to learning with a more biblical model.

It's certainly a necessary step to create a school philosophy of learning that aligns with the school mission. But, having that in place, we have other make sure that this philosophy is actually supported by the school's practice (with its policies, procedures, and programs).

http://www.renew-education.org

Though not books about Christian education (or even education, specifically), both *The Anxious Generation* by   Jonathan Haidt  and *Hidden Potential* by  Adam Grant  are fabulous resources to help teachers and Christian educators in their roles.

Hidden Potential: https://a.co/d/5afdZT5

Whether we realize it not, Christian schools are affected by a secular approach to education more deeply than we'd like to admit. This most shows up in our approach to learning which speaks volumes to what we believe about the purpose of education (and thus our schools) and what we fundamentally believe about our students.

As the first in a multi-part series on learning, Host Noah Brink begins the conversation on learning by addressing the differences (and implications) between a secular approach to learning (instituted on the heals of the Industrial Revolution) and a spiritual approach, which focuses not on what a student knows, but on who a student becomes. That's the goal

#christianeducation #christianschool #christianteacher #christianworldview #biblicalworldview #integrationoffaithandlearning #biblicalintegration #noahbrink #reneweducation