What if we understood school as part of the heart of the church rather than a useful arm? Would this change the way we did school? What if we saw teachers as working in close collaboration with the ordained leaders of a church, as extensions of that ministry?

The New Testament points to the church established by Christ as the essential basis of the kingdom of God. In this episode, Gerald Miller says, “The church is where the kingdom of God finds its expression. And the local body of believers is the heart of the kingdom.” What does this mean for the school?

Gerald, a long-time teacher and school leader sees the school as a servant of the church. There’s at least two things to emphasize here, the work of education is essential, more like a heart than a hand. Secondly, the work of education is a corporate responsibility and never the exclusive domain of the school. Gerald describes the role of the individuals in a school as raising up young people that love God with everything and serve others and as transmitting the values of the church. In sum, this is a vision of educators working closely alongside of the church.

That’s the first half.

In the second half, Gerald offers basic practical outlines for roles that must work at pulling together if the church and school will be effective partners. He gives valuable advice for each one. Those roles are church leaders, board members, parents, teachers

A key idea you’ll hear in this talk is the critical importance of communication and of investment in people.

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Drop us a question for the special, upcoming Q & R episode with Gerald Miller.

What does it take to cultivate love in our students? As teachers, we don’t just want to transfer important information to our students. We want to change their lives. We want them to love God with their heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Steven’s words, “Stories are one of the most powerful tools available to us as teachers for shaping loves.”

If you want to shape your students’ loves, carefully choose your stories. Steven Brubaker is the administrator of Faith Builders Educational Programs. He began his work in education as a principal and teacher in a grade school. In this talk, Steven implies that, in fact, there’s no avoiding the reality that you will shape the loves of your students by the story of your life and the stories that leak out of you or that you reference or approve. As you evaluate the loves of your students ask yourself how you’ve contributed to those loves, good and bad, by the stories that you’ve given to them. You are in a position to bend the desires of your students. Stories wield powerful influence in shaping and nurturing the hearts of your students.

Steven addresses numerous practical questions related to infusing your teaching with stories.

Included in Steven’s advice are systems for recording, organizing, and retrieving stories and tips for collecting stories through book sales, your personal experience, your reading, and our history.

Book titles referenced in the talk:

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Drop us a question for the special, upcoming Q & R episode with Gerald Miller.

As principals and administrators, it’s your responsibility to guide your teachers in effectively disciplining students and to get involved in handling the toughest cases. Many of you also teach and are on the first line of discipline yourselves. In this episode with Glendon Strickler, you will hear an overview of how to discipline students that will enable you to better equip your teachers as well as grow in your own approach to discipline.

Glendon’s ideas have been formed through his experience of some very challenging teaching assignments and through his experience as a principal. He backs up his points with numerous stories from those experiences. Throughout the talk you’ll hear him unpack lessons he’s learned such as: effective discipline takes time, why students misbehave, approaching discipline through a student’s perspective, building a strong defense, and more.

There are three main sections in the talk.

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Drop us a question for the special, upcoming Q & R episode with Gerald Miller.

As principals and administrators, it’s your responsibility to guide your teachers in effectively disciplining students and to get involved in handling the toughest cases. Many of you also teach and are on the first line of discipline yourselves. In this episode with Glendon Strickler, you will hear an overview of how to discipline students that will enable you to better equip your teachers as well as grow in your own approach to discipline.

Glendon’s ideas have been formed through his experience of some very challenging teaching assignments and through his experience as a principal. He backs up his points with numerous stories from those experiences. Throughout the talk you’ll hear him unpack lessons he’s learned such as: effective discipline takes time, why students misbehave, approaching discipline through a student’s perspective, building a strong defense, and more.

There are three main sections in the talk.

Links

Drop us a question for the special, upcoming Q & R episode with Gerald Miller.

Sometimes problems come to us disguised as great opportunities. This episode with Stephen Gingerich addresses the challenge of working with high needs students. We’re not exploring specific learning disabilities here. That is sometimes part of the picture and deserves attention. This is more general and establishes a baseline for how we engage a high needs student.

Drawing on his years of experience in education, much of it gained through his work in Guatemala, Stephen develops his approach around the three great virtues: faith, hope, and love. He reminds us that our goal is to prepare children for life. And for that they need well-formed skills but they need well-formed character more. And this character they absorb from their role models. This means they will take a part of us with them through their life.

Stephen’s talk is generously sprinkled with stories of what relating to needy students looks like.

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Drop us a question for our special, upcoming Q & R

We have different strengths and emphases as educators but probably none of us would deny the critical importance of having strong relationships with our students. Glendon Strickler brings a wealth of experience to this topic and conveys the mindset, some of the methods, and a illuminating stories of how he approaches student relationships. Glendon has taught and administrated at several schools including Ephrata Mennonite School and Faith Builders Christian School.

A key word here is rapport. Building a positive rapport is one of the most important things a teacher can do. Glendon argues that it looks like putting excellence and competence over likableness, leveraging the fact that students unconsciously imitate people that they like, ensure safety for all students, and patiently angling for loving influence. How do you earn rapport? Breaking the ice, wielding the rubber sword of humor, opening the door to connecting with students—hear Glendon reflect on how these and more have enabled powerful relationships with students.

Glendon also works to develop our understanding our generation of students by considering the impact of individualism, the generation of “me,” the priority of feelings over truth. He reminds us that: “Rules without relationship leads to rebellion.” But Glendon argues that in this climate Jesus doesn’t need to be modernized. Instead, what modern people need is spiritual mentors that bring Jesus to life. Living, breathing examples that put flesh on cold concepts and life into ideas.

There’s no replacement for experience, making a bunch of mistakes, and humbly learning from them. Next time you bump into a teacher you admire, ask them how they connect with student or how they wield humor in their teaching. Bring this up with your staff. Talk about mistakes you’ve made. Think together about how to build rapport. Keep listening for a bit of bonus content on a few more tools in Glendon’s toolbox.

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You can say it in different ways, but a Christian school isn’t worth the time and effort it takes unless it’s helping form disciples of Jesus. That doesn’t mean you’re practicing child evangelism or replacing the essential work of the church. It does mean that we are partnering with our churches and families and that we as school leaders and teachers are fully devoted to following Jesus ourselves. Like Stephen says, we should think of ourselves as wearing signs that say, “Follow me.” This is a call to evaluate and refocus our personal vision and witness in our relationships around schools that most definitely shape our teaching and our students.

Stephan Gingerich has been on this show before and brings a range of experience in teaching and school leadership, some of which he gained while growing up and teaching in Central America. He brings refreshing perspective and challenges us in this talk to be concerned with what’s beyond our school fences.

Stephen invites us to ponder with him.

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“Genuinely Christian schools will not always fit what everyone else is doing in education. We need to give ourselves permission to go against the flow.” But it’s not sufficient to seek difficulty and resistance. We need a goal. A mission. A burning love. A beautiful vision. As Steven emphasizes in today’s episode, “Nonconformity is not enough. We need something to be conformed to. And for us, that something is a Someone.”

Educational orthodoxy. What is it and how does it impact us? You’ll hear about this in today’s episode, but basically, it’s the body of assumptions and principles that unify the majority of educational efforts around us. This orthodoxy shapes the way we describe a well-trained person and the educational experiences we dream of offering. Steven Brubaker, speaking from a long history in teaching and school leadership submits that the educational orthodoxy in north America is inadequate as a source of guidance for our schools and maybe even dangerously misguided.

But we will need a solid basis for doing something different, for swimming against the current. “Every nonconformity is a conformity to something,” Steven reminds us. Every resistance is a defense of something. What’s worth defending? Worth conforming to?

Drawing penetrating insights from the analogy of salmon, Steven lays out a challenge for Christian schools to identify and relentlessly pursue a worthy homing instinct.

What is a compelling and worthy final end for Christian education? The end beyond which we stop looking for some further fulfillment?

Schools conformed to Jesus. How could you and your staff make a practice of asking and seeking, “Jesus, how do I teach in my school?” And what would your school look like if you then boldly followed his leadership?

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It’s Christmas season and here on the Dock School Leader Podcast we’re running a special episode featuring a collection of stories chosen and read by two experienced educators that have appeared before on this show—Jonas Sauder and Ken Kauffman. Their selections range from fables to short stories to poems and all convey a timeless truth through the penetrating power of story. Take a break from the heavier content and enjoy these selections with us.

What we read often sticks with us at a subconscious level. Stories have the power to embed their message deep within us. They shape our worldview and affect our actions even after we’ve forgotten the details.

See below for the titles of the selections and the timestamps for each one.

Perhaps you’ll find something here for an upcoming devotional or a story time with family over the holidays.

[2:30] Wellspring of Wisdom – read by Jonas Sauder

[7:45] The King and the Seeds – read by Ken Kauffman

[16:30] George Washington Carver – read by Jonas Sauder

[25:00] Dear Mrs. O’Neil – read by Ken Kauffman

[34:20] The Blind Man and the Elephant – read by Jonas Sauder

[37:30] The Church Walking With the World – read by Ken Kauffman

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Why teach Math? John Swartz is ambitious here. Hear him connect the question of why he teaches math with the question of why he exists along with stories of Almanzo Wilder and his own experience. He brings teaching experience as well as specific training in mathematics. He’s worked in curriculum at Christian Light and also served as a minister for many years.

In this episode, John quotes Larry Zimmerman who states that, “Christian teachers motivate their students to learn mathematics in two ways: first mathematics exhibits the glory of God, second mathematics equips students to care for the creation.” This comes from Zimmerman’s book, Truth and the Transcendent. John recognizes the utilitarian value of mathematics but is most interested in exploring the proposal  that, “Math is the language of the universe,” and that it is not a neutral subject.

This talk provides a thought-provoking investigation of an underexamined subject that occupies quite a bit of space in all of our schools.

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Books