The Dock School Leader Podcast

Meetings draw on the strengths of each person to accomplish a shared agenda. But a poorly planned meeting can easily waste more time and energy than it redeems. In this video, Philip Horst outlines some practices for making the school board meeting a genuinely collaboratively effort–one in which all members come prepared and ready to work.

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Many teachers lean heavily on post-reading questions to enable students to evaluate literature. Too often, suggests Sharon, we skip over pre-reading exercises. She shares pre-reading activities that prepare students to understand and appreciate the message of the chosen text.

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In school and at home, children encounter so many influences. Which ones are important? Jonathan urges us to take seriously the influences we place on our children. Each teacher in our school is curriculum, a system of living values by which our student learns. Our community culture is curriculum present in our schools. And of course, the course books present are curriculum too. This is intended to be a reminder about influence, heroes, and how our lives and our school shapes children’s worldviews. It is also intended to encourage a serious look at why we do the things we do, and if the things in which we invest our time are leaving a pattern tomorrow’s leaders can safely imitate. Can we identify the real from the distractions?

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Jonathan refers to two talks by Patrick Heatwole:

Teaching and Training for Service: The Practice

Equipping Servants in High School (Patrick Heatwole)

The teacher’s job is to impart knowledge and to train skills. But students are more than knowledge acquisition machines. Anthony calls us to follow Christ’s example in caring for children’s needs for belonging, closeness, and blessing. As we care for children as whole persons, we prepare them to grow academically as well.

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The call of the school: Connecting the heart of the subject, the student, and the teacher.

How can teachers as artists stimulate growth in their pupils as they engage God’s world together through any given subject?

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How can you move into an uncertain school year with confidence? Stephan reminds us that the challenges we face are our opportunities to notice the good work of God.

Watch the Wednesday Session

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Watch the Thursday Session

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COVID will change your classroom, your students, and your teaching experience this year–and not just with more masks, social distancing, and handwashing. Students have been hearing opinions about the pandemic and the government’s response. They will bring those ideas into your classroom. How will you guide them through controversial conversations? Patrick suggests a framework that points us away from arguing about who is right and draws us back to life-giving faith: living in love and the assurance of God’s care.

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What are meetings for? We don’t just gather to drink coffee and work our way through a dry agenda. Meetings are meant for discussion, new ideas, and even conflict, says Philip. But how can we engage without tearing each other down? Philip discusses principles that can help you go from sitting through meetings to thriving in them.

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One of the advantages of individualized curricula is that children can work at their own pace. But that flexibility can also become a student’s enemy, suggests Marla. She firmly believes that elementary students need the support of an established routine. In this video, she shares her approach to setting expectations, guiding students through their books, and rewarding their success with an in-room recreation area.

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Years before he stepped down from leading Tidings of Peace Christian School, Clayton worked with the school board to initiated a transition plan. In this conversation, Clayton and Austin discuss the search for a new administrator, the process of planning for the new administration, and the benefits of a phased process for passing on the baton. Whether your school is considering new administration for the future or in transition now, consider the principles that Clayton and Austin offer.

Note: This interview was recorded in February 2019, before Clayton’s cancer was discovered.