The perspective of a current online grade 7-8 Algebra 1 teacher and former high school math teacher
Written by Emily Grunwald
The coronavirus has created new challenges for teachers and students. With little time and training, teachers are moving lessons online. I’ve been teaching math online for the Association of Lutheran High Schools Online (ALHSO) program for several years. Here are some things I’ve learned. Continue reading
Written by Grey Davis
The student body in some Lutheran schools has changed in the last 20 years. As the world globalizes, Lutheran schools see an opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission (Hoover, 2013). Increasingly, schools use access to education as a means to share the gospel of Jesus with young souls of all races and ethnicities. While such schools have physically added students with diverse backgrounds, they sometimes fail to meet the hidden needs of a changed school population.
A main challenge for multicultural schools is meeting the needs of students from minority cultures. Enrolling a diverse student body is only part of the challenge. While it may be intuitive that schools need to offer an education that meets the needs of all their students, schools may not recognize the need to reduce bias toward those cultures (Shannon-Baker 2018). Before accepting students of new races or cultures, school administrators should first prepare the school to welcome them and teach them well (Akcaoğlu & Arsal, 2017). Schools will want to slow the roll on accepting students until they grasp what it takes to operate a multicultural program. Continue reading
Written by Dan Johnson
What does poverty look like? Can you tell by looking at the students who walk into your room? Are they hungry? Dirty? Sleepy? Does poverty only affect those in large cities and urban areas, or can you see poverty in rural and suburban schools as well? It may be possible to see some of the signs of poverty in students as they come into your classroom, but what can a teacher do?
What is poverty?
The federal poverty line for a family of four is $25,750 in 2019. Poverty is defined as not having sufficient income to meet basic needs. Many families struggle to meet these basic needs. Even those families above the poverty line, at 130-200%, earning up to $51,500, will continue to exhibit signs of poverty. Continue reading
Written by Craig Bretkreutz
Where has the youth gone in our church? How could our students make a real impact in their community? Will my students ever really use the stuff I teach them?
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably wrestled with one or more of those questions. You may serve in a place where confirmands disappear like children who know it’s time for chores. You may have students struggling with the real-world connection to what they are learning in the classroom. You may have students who spend time thinking about themselves and their friends. But what about the outside world? Hasn’t God commanded us to go out into the world? Continue reading
Written by Professor Peter Baganz
Before teaching at MLC, I taught history for 19 years at one of our area Lutheran high schools. Every student in every one of my history classes wrote a major research paper each year in addition to writing shorter papers and doing other projects. Why did I subject myself to all that correcting? Because research writing is such a vital component of “doing” history. Continue reading
Written by Professor Peter Baganz
In the 5th century BC, the ancient Greek Olympics not only featured athletic competitions, but Herodotus, often considered the first historian, read his Histories aloud to a great crowd of people. In 1893, the Chicago World’s Fair not only featured the marvels of technology for that time, but Frederick Jackson Turner presented his famous “Frontier Thesis.” When I mention these famous historians, I tell my students that they had the greatest gig ever, to have crowds gather to hear them talk about history. Then after pausing, I point out, “Wait, that’s what I get to do, to spend each day talking with you about history. I have the greatest gig ever!”[1] Continue reading
Written by Dr. Kari Muente
It is a challenging time to be a teacher. As our WELS classrooms are becoming more academically, culturally, and linguistically diverse, tension is rising between curriculum and instruction. Federal and state mandates are requiring students to pass tests, which leads to a more fact-based curriculum, while 21st-century learning encourages the engagement of students in more critical thinking skills.
As our classrooms become more diverse, students are challenging the traditional instructional design framework with their various backgrounds, cultures, and learning abilities. Diversity of learners, or the exceptional learners, require teachers to engage in more inclusive instruction and practices. Teachers struggle and even feel inadequately equipped in designing and delivering inclusive instruction to engage and train all their students to become expert learners (De La Paz, 2005; Minarik & Lintner, 2016). Inclusive instructional practices require not only close teacher involvement but instructional support for all learners. Continue reading
Written by Professor Alan E. Uher
Defining Background Knowledge
In order for learners to learn, they need to have something—knowledge, experience, or a combination of both—to which they can connect new learning. Researchers refer to this something as background knowledge, pre-existing knowledge, or prior knowledge. Marzano (2004) claimed, “What students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information relative to the content.” As educators muse over myriad decisions to plan and present meaningful lessons, they must avow to activate student background knowledge to ensure student learning. Continue reading
Written by Dr. John Meyer
What are the teachers at your school talking about? Schools where teachers talk positively about ways to improve teaching and learning are more successful than those that complain about students and parents (Ronfeldt, Owens Farmer, McQueen, & Grissom, 2015; Gruenert, 2005). Principals and teachers can use micro-credentials as a tool to create the kind of positive, professional collaboration that improves student achievement (Crow & Pipkin, 2017).
Micro-Credentials: Formal Recognition for Informal Learning
Earning Micro-Credentials is a way that teachers can receive formal recognition for skills learned informally. After all, teachers are constantly reflecting on and improving their practice. They experiment with new approaches learned through books, articles, inservices, and conferences. These new skills become effective teaching strategies in a teacher’s toolbox. But such competencies don’t show up in credits or clock hours. Micro-credentials give teachers a way to receive formal recognition for their skills from a respected institution, including colleges like the University of Wisconsin, MIT, Penn State, and Martin Luther College. Continue reading
Written by Matthew Moeller
21st-Century Education
The fundamental issue is not of new versus old education nor of progressive against traditional education but a question of what, if anything whatever, must be worthy of the name Education. John Dewey, 1897 (Nutbrown & Clough, 2014)
Are the educational activities that we design for our students worthy of the name education? Are we preparing our students for success as employees and citizens in the 21st century? Reflecting on these questions and determining what needs to be changed in our classrooms and schools can be uncomfortable, messy, exhausting, and complicated, but it is a tragedy to prepare students for a future that doesn’t exist. Continue reading