Are Your Students Stuck in the Box?

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Written by Heidi Groth

Students today are free from independent thinking that pushes them to use their God-given creativity.

While that may seem a bit harsh, consider carefully the type of curriculum that students experience in our schools. Do our classroom procedures, assignments, assessments, and facilities encourage students in their creativity or do we lead them by the hand to the answer that we want? It is too often a priority for a teacher to cover specific information during the year rather than teach and encourage students to use their critical thinking skills. In further efforts to form students into the kind we want, we reward students based on their compliance rather than performance. The children who are easy on the teacher or can regurgitate the information are praised; children who disrupt the class with their tangential questions and do not complete their worksheets are the ones who are failing. Continue reading →

The Importance of Early Childhood Learning Centers

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Written by David Gartner

“All 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds need to stay at home with their moms!” This is a statement that was made by a stay-at-home mom in the first meeting we had at St. John-Redwood Falls MN when in 2009 we began the preliminary discussions of starting an all-day/every-day preschool program.

“I can’t believe how our school has grown through the preschool. I still believe it’s good for children to stay at home with their moms, but that doesn’t work for every family.” This statement was made by the same stay-at-home mom as above. Why the change? Continue reading →

The Impact of Early Childhood on LES Enrollment

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Written by Philip M. Gustafson

Enrollment in Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) schools is declining. Since enrollment peaked in 1990 with almost 32,000 students, enrollment has declined to 24,170 students in 2013-2014 (WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools, 2014). Since our WELS school system is so vital to us as a synod, that is cause for alarm, right? After all, with lower enrollment comes fewer students hearing God’s Word and fewer future synod leaders. Continue reading →

Prospect Management for Schools — Part Four: Social Media

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Written by Martin Spriggs

In part three of this series on prospect management, we examined the different ways data could be stored and then accessed to manage prospect interactions and communications. Now in the final article of our series, we will deal with perhaps the most effective prospect identification and nurture tool schools have ever had available to them: social networks. Continue reading →

Born to Lead?

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Written by Steven Rosenbaum

Do you have the leadership gene? One might argue that some individuals are genetically predisposed to lead because of certain personality traits or inherent qualities. Chances are that you—as a reader of this article—are yourself a leader: a teacher, a principal, a pastor, a lay leader, a parent. While some may have characteristics that are generally perceived as leadership traits, leadership is something that can—and should—be taught. Continue reading →

Faithful Work: A fruit of faith or an obligation?

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Written by Andrea Van Sice

“What is left when you give 100% to your ministry? Nowhere does God expect that” (Bauer, 1983, p. 7). Vocation is a fruit of faith and a matter of Christian freedom. When a teacher works out of obligation, their desire for ministry can be depleted. The utilization of called workers should encourage the teaching ministry as a fruit of faith, not an obligation.

Continue reading →

Increasing Effectiveness and Learning Through Flipped Classrooms

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Written by Adam Mateske

The use of technology is commonplace in the lives of today’s students. Consider the dramatic change these students endure after they step into their elementary or secondary schools and are asked to sit in desks and focus on traditional teacher-led instruction. In response, classrooms around the world are introducing flipped learning to students. A flipped classroom model provides teachers the opportunity to effectively focus on student achievement while allowing student learning to excel and grow. Continue reading →

Prospect Management for Schools — Part Three: Data Use

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Written by Martin Spriggs

This article is part 3 of a four-part series.

In part 2 of this series, we dealt with the process of prospect “acquisition” and answered the question of how to build a database of prospects. After all, your prospect database has to have real live prospects in it! Yet having a database full of names, addresses, phone numbers, and notes isn’t enough. What can you do with that data? How is it useful to you and your school? That is the subject of this third installment of “Prospect Management for Schools.” Continue reading →

Are the Claims About WELS Principals True?

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Written by Dr. John Meyer

Recent reports claim that pressures on WELS principals are threatening the position’s viability and contributing to a personnel shortage. For example, a 2015 synod convention report stated that inadequate compensation may “influence strongly . . . the difficulty the synod is having in filling principal vacancies” (Ad Hoc Commission II, 2015, p. 187). Similarly, the 2013 synod convention reported that “nearly 40 percent of our principals would prefer not to be principals,” adding “that if WELS had an improved model of principal training as well as the necessary time resources to fulfill the role well, that a greater number of our men would be more receptive to the idea of entering into and remaining in the principalship” (Task Force on Lutheran Schools, 2013, p. 55). Are these claims actually true? Continue reading →

A School Ministry Model

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A small, rural Minnesota town where half the students are on free or reduced-price lunch hardly seems a likely place to support a vibrant, growing Lutheran school. Yet St. John enrollment has grown by 54% in the last five years under a ministry-focused, low-tuition approach. Principal David Gartner shares the story of God’s blessings and provides a model for other Lutheran schools.

By David Gartner

It’s Call Day in 1992. I wait with eager anticipation. Where will I be assigned? Then comes the announcement. “Dave Gartner, St. John Lutheran School, Redwood Falls MN, grades 2-3, athletic director, Minnesota District.” Redwood Falls has a population of 5,200 and relies a great deal on its farming community, but I grew up in Milwaukee. Enough said. Continue reading →