Transformed & Transformational

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Miyuki Hwang shares how we can prioritize our mental health and walk alongside our friends well.

• “Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being.” (CDC)
• “Mental health is the state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stress of life, can work productively, and is able to make contributions to his or her community.” (WHO)
• “Mental health relates to our personal capacity, as well as a social capacity.”
• “We all have stuff. When we hide our stuff and avoid talking about issues that we struggle with, they grow in darkness.”
• “We don’t believe in Christ to gain satisfaction, but there is a correlation between faith and well-being.”
• “In terms of seeking professional help, definitely sooner the better. It helps just to talk about what we are going through and have someone else’s perspective.”
• “I’m noticing that you’re sharing about this for quite a while. Have you thought about seeing a counselor?”

If you’re struggling or looking to get connected with a counselor, we would encourage you to reach out to someone in your local area.

Take a quick survey about Season 1!

What's changing our lives: 

• Keane: Watercolor pens
• Heather: Doing things virtually the second time around
• Miyuki: Getting married

Weekly Spotlight: Evangelical Christian Academy

We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!

As the school year draws to a close, Amanda Ferris offers suggestions for ending well as a classroom community, from fun activities to meaningful reflection.

• “It’s a great opportunity to reflect and to think about where we have come in the year.  Sometimes it’s easy to forget that at the beginning of the year, we didn’t know these things or we hadn’t grown in these ways.  It’s a great time to reflect for both the students and the teachers to see how God has changed theme during the year and how they’ve grown together as a classroom community.”
• RAFT = Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewell, Think Future
• “Get them thinking about the next thing that God has for them or for their friends that are leaving, and being reminded that God is there in those moments and not just in today.”
• Listen here to last week’s episode on transitions: Episode 31
• “Thank people for the ways that they have helped you [...] transform as a teacher.”
• “What does He want them to know that He has worked in them this year?”

Take a quick survey about Season 1!

What's changing our lives: 

• Keane: Streams in the Desert
• Heather: Categorized to do list
• Amanda: Not having to move

Weekly Spotlight:  ALLY Academy

We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!

Amy Young of Global Trellis shares about transitioning well, including processing grief, finishing well, supporting others, and starting something new.

• Continuum of pre-grieving to post-grieving: “I think what can make transitions tricky is that we don’t all fall at the same place.”
• “No matter how well you do them, no matter how ‘good’ you are at transitions, they’re just hard.”
• “There is value in intentionally knowing I’m going to miss this place.”
• “Transitions are not just about you.”
• “Part of it starts with leaving well.  The better you can finish, it does create the space - emotionally, physically, mentally, financially, relationally - for something new to start.”
• “Give space for making friends, finding new favorites, they will come, it just sometimes takes time.”
• “It comes back to a lot of awareness of yourself and taking responsibility for yourself, which can sometimes be hard because so much is up in the air.”
• “The sooner I can name [the emotions I’m feeling], the sooner I can help myself make the better choice in that moment with the Holy Spirit’s prompting.”
• Learn more about Global Trellis: https://globaltrellis.com/
• Books by Amy Young

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Picking up trash
• Heather: Instagram Reels
• Amy: Yoga

Weekly Spotlight:  International School of the Caucasus

Be a part of our Teacher Appreciation Week campaign here!

We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!

Brian Delamont returns to the podcast to share about coaching - partnering with the Holy Spirit to help others discover and become who God wants them to be. 

• “Coaching is summed up with the term ‘thinking partner.’”
• “Coaching fits into spiritual development as a tool where we can see God at work in our minds and where we get to partner with someone to watch the lights come on as the Holy Spirit prompts something in their thinking to move them forward.”
• “We can see in coaching a framework that reflects God’s design.”
• “The Spirit guides these conversations to help them to be seen, heard, and understood.”
• “I partner with them for encouragement, for accountability, or to help them take their next action step.”
• “Who is the one who comes alongside us? It’s the Holy Spirit in order to produce fruit in our lives. What happens when God gets the glory? He is celebrated!”
• “You are capable because you are God’s creation and He longs for you to become all that He intends [you to be].”
• Proverbs 20:5
• “The process of holding that person capable really shifts how you see people because it takes all judgment off the table, and that’s difficult.”
• Matthew 20:32
• Luke 10
• Mark 8:29
• “The coaching process has helped me be able to move forward in my own spiritual development, maybe by learning to ask questions, certainly by having other people have opportunity to ask me some great questions and get out of some thinking ruts.”

April Reflection:  What are you doing now that, if you did it differently, would be so much better?

What's changing our lives: 

• Keane: The Happy Lion book
• Heather: Taking time off
• Brian: Rediscovering creative pursuits

Weekly Spotlight:  Ukarumpa International School

We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!

Raphael Haeuser joins us for today’s episode about how Christian educators can live out their calling and disciple the next generation, whatever the context where they serve.

• Learn more about Didaque here: https://didaque.net/
• “We are always teaching and we are always discipling, whether it is our kids or our students. Sometimes this can be very obvious or explicit because we are using the Bible or we’re mentioning Christian themes, but sometimes it’s also the very basic day-to-day things that we do, the way we treat people, the way we listen to them and respect them.”
• “This whole idea of teaching is there in Scripture, and maybe more specifically, if you think of the Great Commission, part of making disciples is teaching.”
• “One of the important things that a Christian teacher can bring to a classroom is a different way of looking at the world.”
• “One of the things that I see as extremely missional is that we need to live fully Christian lives in the place that we are.”
• “We can bring ourselves and we can bring Christ within us. The way we teach in a loving way or an interesting way or even in an excellent way can make people ask questions, and then perhaps we have a better opportunity to share the Gospel once we have established some sort of relationship.”

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: In-person church service
• Heather: Spring playlist
• Raphael: Going for a walk or jog in the mornings

Weekly Spotlight: Arbor Christian Academy

Click here to learn more about the Teacher Appreciation campaign!

We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!

How can we create classrooms based on the belief that all students can learn?  Morgan shares Biblical insight and practical tools from her background in special education.

• “The idea that all students can learn comes from the mindset that every student has the ability to take some steps forward.  Every student can grow and learn in some capacity.”
• “It’s about being flexible and creative […] in how we can get all students to be able to get access to what we’re teaching.”
• “Every student is unique and every student is an individual.”
• “It can take extra work to have an inclusive classroom.  Of course, it’s worth it, and we should all have that as a priority, but it’s going to take changing our mind and viewing it as important in order for that not to be a barrier.”
• “We have to overcome the mindset that it’s more work because students are worth it.  Every student deserves to grow and learn, and we need to do our best to reach them.”
• “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, then we should teach the way they learn.” – Ignacio Estrada
• “Kids do well if they can.” – Ross Greene
• “The simplest [accommodation] is writing things down.”
• “Something schools can be doing is educating all of the students on disabilities, on learning differences, on diversity because that makes us more accepting when we understand things.”
• “Differentiation and having inclusive schools and inclusive classrooms is really the heart of God […] Every person is unique and designed by God.”

What’s changing our lives: 

• Keane: The Witness BCC “Pass the Mic” Podcast
• Heather: Longer spring days
• Morgan: Adapting to warmer climate

Weekly Spotlight:  Faith Academy

We’d love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show! To learn more about TeachBeyond, visit teachbeyond.org. And as always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!

Dr. Jan Dormer shares about open doors for ministry through TESOL and language learning, unique opportunities during the pandemic, and the impact of a family Bible.

• Jan’s web site: TESOLtools.com
• TESOL = Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
• ESOL = English for Speakers of Other Languages
• “We can choose content that is edifying, that helps people to think more deeply about their values, their lives, their commitments, their goals.”
• “An environment for language acquisition is a very relational and authentic environment.  It’s the ideal setting for connecting with other people, caring for others, and building community.”
• Teaching English in Missions by Jan Dormer
• “It is very different teaching online than teaching in a real classroom, so we need to acknowledge that difference and make changes.”
• “This an opportune time to focus more on the domains of reading and writing.”
• Language Learning in Ministry by Jan Dormer
• “I saw such a disconnect between my goals and values as a language teacher and how I saw missionaries being taught.”
• “When we go into a new setting needing to learn the local language, that positions us as learners [...] That is the groundwork for any good ministry.”
• “I have training in my field, and I do think training is really important. I don’t ever want to minimize that. However, our greatest training comes from the Lord.”

What's changing our lives:

• Keane: Cast iron pizza
• Heather: Cooking around the world
• Jan: Reading through her father’s Bible

Weekly Spotlight:  LinGo Ocean City

For more about Third Culture Kids, check out episode 22 with Michele Phoenix.

We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show!  To learn more about TeachBeyond, check out teachbeyond.org.  As always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!

Michael Acock pastors us in remembering Christ’s sufferings and exploring the tie between Good Friday and the Great Commission. Listen to the end for Holy Week reflections from podcast co-hosts Keane and Heather.

• “I’ve found that there is an ideal of loving the nations, which is very different than learning to actually love the people of the nations.”
• “If we’re going to really make peace, it’s not about just keeping everybody calm and keeping the surface from having disruption, but it’s really actually creating disruption for the sake of hearts being connected. You don’t do heart connection without suffering.”
• “Lament has to do with actually grieving someone else’s pain as much as your own.”
• “Grief is the noun form [...] but lamenting really moves you into the verb form of grieving and expressing grief.”
• “Jesus lamented our condition, but then He solved our condition as well on the cross.”
• “On Good Friday, we get propelled into seeing Jesus’ Great Commission, which was to share His Sonship with us. We get to join as co-heirs with Christ because of what He did.”
• “The Great Commission is more than just telling people about Jesus, but it’s actually living completely loved in front of people.”
• Living the Resurrection by Eugene Peterson
• Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright
• “Easter says, in all pain, there is still this ray of hope that comes because of the love of Christ.”
• “I don’t think we were supposed to get through this life completely unscathed. We are supposed to get through this life redeemed. That’s where Good Friday is about redemption.”

What's changing our lives: 

• Keane: Video animation
• Heather: “Rest” by Kari Jobe and being still
• Michael: Leading in interdependence on the church staff

Want to connect your church with TeachBeyond?  Email [email protected] or click here.

We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show.  And as always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!

As we anticipate Holy Week and journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem, Brian Delamont invites us to see ourselves in this familiar story.

• “Sometimes, even when we’re told something plainly, we don’t understand it until it’s the right time.”
• Matthew 16:21
• “Transformation is not information.”
• “As leaders and educators, this can really encourage us to keep communicating what we know is true, even if it doesn’t appear to be received or applied the right away.”
• “God may ask me to go with HIm to some places that are uncomfortable and even threatening.”
• John 11
• “God may ask me to retreat for a period of time in order to prepare for what’s to come.”
• “Ordinary things like dinners can turn into acts of worship because Jesus is present.”
• “Being in close connection with Jesus doesn’t stop problems from happening, doesn’t prevent major misunderstanding, and doesn’t keep me from being in jeopardy.”
• John 12:9-11
• “When we face those moments of conflict and tension: What’s true here, and what is God revealing?  How is God showing His glory in the midst of a really difficult situation?”
• “The disciples didn’t understand all of this, so it’s reasonable for me to think that I won’t understand everything God does or everything He wants to lead me to in order to transform me, in order to help me be and become all that He intends.”
• John 12:2-18
• “God’s Word actually shows us that there are things we don’t understand.”
• “There is Biblical precedent for not understanding the situation you’re in.”
• “He created us because He loves us, and He pulls us back into relationship with Him through Jesus’ redemption - and then restoration, to set us at the table with Him again.”
• “If I need to understand everything in order to follow Jesus, then I’m placing myself above God’s position and authority because God has to give me an explanation that’s satisfactory.” 

March Reflection: Where do I see myself in this week of Jesus’ life? How does God want to speak to me about that?

What's changing our lives: 

• Keane: Bluetooth headphones
• Heather: “The Chosen” and “The Friends of Jesus”
• Brian: Haribo Goldbaren and the Gospel

Weekly Spotlight:  Christian International School of Prague

We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show!  And as always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!

Kristen Kailer shares tips about job searching, unpacks the myth of a dream job, and makes a case for professional networking, wherever you are in your career.

• “What are my values for this next season?  What’s something I really want to learn in this next season?”
• Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung
• “Be picky enough to know what you’re ultimately getting to, but also remember that it doesn’t always have to be that very linear next step.”
• “The Lord has made work, and He has gifted us with things that we have aptitude for and interest in.”
• “Maybe on this side of heaven, you will know why you took that random job after college for a year and you’ll see the clear outcome of how God worked that in your path, maybe you won’t.  You can trust that He is always working things together for His good and your good.”
• “Be someone who is a connector.”
• “Approach networking like a bank account: You don’t want to make a big withdrawal before you’ve put anything in.”
• Join us for the 3:20 Day of Prayer on March 20!

What's changing our lives: 

• Keane: Paint Sticks
• Heather: Twizzler Bites
• Kristen: Survivor TV Show

Weekly Spotlight: North Africa TCK Classical School

We'd love it if you would subscribe, rate, review, and share this show!  And as always, you can reach us at [email protected]. See you next Friday!