Cracks and All, We Stand in His Strength-Part 1

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Written By Dan Nommensen, LPC, NCC, BC-TMH, CEAP
Christian Family Solutions

Called workers have one of the world’s best occupations! What an amazing opportunity to serve the Lord in a full- or part-time ministry and watch the Holy Spirit kindle or grow the faith of those you serve. You are devoted and faithful pastors, teachers, and staff ministers who also know you are fragile “jars of clay,” as the apostle Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 4:7.

Fragile Jars of Clay
The message of the gospel and the mission to be a light in the darkness is entrusted to all Christians. Whether we are called workers or lay workers, we are all fragile jars of clay. We humbly agree that even though God created and fashioned us for his purpose to hold and share a mighty message of salvation, we are fragile indeed! Sometimes we can’t even believe that God chose us to share this message! We’ve got cracks in our jars, and sometimes it seems we are ready to collapse.

Pastors, do you feel your fragileness more lately? Teachers and staff ministers, are those cracks in your emotional health feeling more difficult to handle?

Perhaps the events in our culture over the last couple of years have placed even more pressures on our fragile natures. Perhaps you have considered what life might be like apart from the public ministry. Maybe that thought crossed your mind after you got home from a tough meeting with a parent who took the opportunity to list every mistake and fault you have. Maybe that thought crossed your mind after you finished listening to the multiple voicemail messages from members with so many needs that you feel ill-equipped to handle the demands.

These feelings are the cracks in your jar. Some have described burnout in ministry as the final breaking of the jar—a complete feeling of brokenness. Continue reading →

Lutheran School Principals: A Changing Paradigm

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Written by Dr. John Meyer

Five years ago, I asked the question, “Can Lutheran schools reimagine the principal position” (Meyer, 2017)? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”

At that time, the Wisconsin synod had just begun a system-wide effort to increase Lutheran principal time, training, and compensation. The goal was to increase principal effectiveness and retention so that Lutheran schools and students would thrive.

Five years later, new data reveals that those efforts are Continue reading →

Peer Tutoring: Taking Advantage of Our Resources

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Written by Nicole Lehman

The following is a brief summary of Nicole’s Graduate Studies Capstone project, “Developing a Peer Tutoring Program for Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School.” There will be a link at the end of the article if you would like to read her entire paper.

The Problem
“I don’t get it.” “This is too hard.” “It doesn’t make sense.” “Can you help me with . . .?” How often do you hear these or some variety of these statements each week? How often do these questions come 30 seconds before class starts/ends or before you need to get to your extra-curricular? I think we can all agree that we love when our students ask for help and wish we had more time in our day to actually sit down and give them the help they need.

The Solution
Since we don’t have access to Hermione Granger’s Time-Turner necklace, which would give us more time to get stuff done, one solution to this problem is peer tutoring.

We all have students in our schools who excel in one or more subject areas and have the ability to explain/teach what they know to others. The problem is, we don’t always know who they are, and sometimes they themselves don’t realize that they have this gift. Continue reading →

Want to Teach Reading and Math? Try Singing!

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Written by Elizabeth Poncelet

This was the title of a session that I attended at the Minnesota Educators Association Conference (MEA) in October of 2019. As an elementary music specialist, I was hooked. I knew that music supported literacy and math; I simply needed the data to back it up. So this was the start of my research project, Music: The Link to Literacy.

Correlation Between Music and Literacy
Previous research has indicated that there is a correlation between music training and reading, specifically pre-reading abilities (Corrigall & Trainor, 2011). According to Hall and Robinson (2019), music and reading share three primary learning processes: auditory processing—which is the ability to hear and manage sound; symbolic representation processing—which is the use of symbols to communicate a message; and coding processing—which is the ability to use encoding and decoding processes to make meaning. With their individual studies, Moreno, Friesen, and Bialystok (2011) and Swierk (2018) supported this belief that music training for children improved rhyme awareness, the ability to understand that a symbol can be a representation of a concept, and memory processes. Continue reading →

Roles of Men and Women: Separating “Can” From “Should” (and Why It Matters)

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Written by Dr. Kristi Meyer

Can I eat popcorn and ice cream for dinner? Sure (and I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I’ve done so recently). Should I eat popcorn and ice cream for dinner? Clearly not. It’s not a balanced meal, and the nutritional value is terrible.

We have no problem separating “can I?” and “should I?” in meal planning. But what about when it comes to women fulfilling leadership roles in our churches and schools? What about women serving as Lutheran elementary school principals or ushers or church board members? Can a woman serve in each of these roles? Should she? Here, we’re often much more reticent to make a distinction between “can” and “should.”

Differentiating Between Principle and Application
In order to determine whether we’re in a “can” or a “should” situation, we need to clearly understand the difference between biblical principles and applications. Biblical principles are timeless, foundational teachings that transcend culture, time, and place.

Applications, on the other hand, are specific ways these principles play out in our lives. Unlike principles, applications can and sometimes do change, both from biblical times to now and from one contemporary situation to another.

When it comes to roles of men and women, the biblical principle in view is that of headship. God created men to fill the role of head, and he created women to fulfill the role of helper. In the apostle Paul’s writings about these roles, he often switches back and forth between principle and application. Differentiating between the two can be challenging, but doing so is crucial when examining and evaluating individual situations. Continue reading →

How to Serve Racially, Ethnically, Culturally Diverse Students-Part 3 Books

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This blog ends a three-article series on the importance of adopting a culturally responsive approach in Lutheran schools. As communities become more diverse, Lutheran schools will want to become more diverse as well. Crossing cultural lines with the gospel can be difficult, as the early church quickly learned (Acts 15). The series is written by Professor Tingting Schwartz, who has personally experienced and intellectually examined these challenges, providing valuable insights to anyone wishing to minister to new people groups.

  1. What’s in Your Student’s Lunch Box? Focusing on intercultural competence for educators.
  2. What Language Do the Parents of Your Student Speak? Discussing anti-bias education for young children.
  3. What Books Are on Your Classroom Bookshelf? Underscoring the importance of the Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) model for racially, ethnically, culturally (REC) diverse students.

What Books Are on Your Classroom Bookshelf?

Written by Professor Tingting Schwartz

My previous blogs discussed intercultural competence development for educators and anti-bias education for young children. For the third one, using the Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) model proposed by Derald Wing Sue and David Sue, I will shift the perspective to racially, ethnically, and culturally (REC) diverse students and focus on the nurturance of their racial and cultural identity.

What Do We See?
The demographics of the United States are increasingly diversified. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2020), the non-Hispanic white population decreased to 57.8%. The second-largest racial or ethnic group is the Hispanic or Latino population, comprising 18.7%. The third-largest group is the Black or African American population at 12.1%. The percentage of non-Hispanic white children under 18 is 49.8%, less than half of the total children population. About two in three children are projected to be a race other than non-Hispanic White by 2060 (The U.S. Census Bureau, p.8). Continue reading →

How to Serve Racially, Ethnically, Culturally Diverse Students-Part 2 Language

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This blog is the second in a three-article series on the importance of adopting a culturally responsive approach in Lutheran schools. As communities become more diverse, Lutheran schools will want to become more diverse as well. Crossing cultural lines with the gospel can be difficult, as the early church quickly learned (Acts 15). The series is written by Professor Tingting Schwartz, who has personally experienced and intellectually examined these challenges, providing valuable insights to anyone wishing to minister to new people groups.

  1. What’s in Your Student’s Lunch Box? Focusing on intercultural competence for educators.
  2. What Language Do the Parents of Your Student Speak? Discussing anti-bias education for young children.
  3. What Books Are on Your Classroom Bookshelf? Underscoring the importance of the Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) model for racially, ethnically, culturally (REC) diverse students.

What Language Do the Parents of Your Student Speak?

Written by Professor Tingting Schwartz

What Do We See?
It was a bright sunny afternoon when I picked up my son Elijah from his preschool room. I first talked with Elijah in Chinese and then a student teacher in English. A young girl from the other preschool room overheard our conversations, so she turned to her teacher and asked: “Why does she [referring to me] talk differently?” That young teacher was not prepared for such a question. She froze, and her face flushed. This curious young girl repeated her question: “Why does she talk differently?” Such a great question, yet the teacher seemed to be embarrassed by this question. What did this young girl mean by saying, “talk differently”? Was she curious what language I was using with Elijah? Did she detect my foreign accent when I spoke to the teacher? Why did the teacher not know how to answer this question? What social meaning did she attach to this word “different” when hearing it?

There was still no response as I was about to leave. I thought this was a great teachable moment, and I should not miss it. Hence, I went back and lowered myself to that young girl’s eye level: “You asked a great question! I bet you heard a difference between my English and yours! I grew up in China, so Chinese is my mother tongue. I learned English, your mother tongue, when I was an adult, so English isn’t my first language. This is why I only speak Chinese with Elijah. This is also why my English sounds a little different from yours.”

Did I know how to respond appropriately to this kind of situation years ago? No. I learned my lesson by encountering similar experiences in my daily life and reflecting on them.

Let me tell you another similar story. Continue reading →

Creating a School Culture That Celebrates Our Faith

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Written by Dr. Susan Decker

It’s the beginning of another school year, and as the students settle into their new routines, I find myself thinking about how much academic and emotional growth they will experience over the year. But what about their spiritual growth as children of God? A student’s walk of faith is the most important part of life’s journey, yet you won’t find a question about their spiritual growth in between the multiple choice and short-answer questions on an exam.

How can we foster a love for God’s Word in our school culture? How can we help our students develop an authentic, personal connection with their faith that goes beyond memorization of Bible verses and regurgitating the expected catechism answers? Continue reading →

Supporting the Social and Emotional Needs of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Written by Dr. Rachel Youngblom

It is likely that you know, have taught, or have interacted with a child who has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Furthermore, it is possible that you may not even have been aware of the child’s diagnosis, based on the severity of his or her symptoms, let alone the social and emotional challenges that a child with autism experiences daily. While teachers should not attempt to make a diagnosis, they will likely encounter students, whether diagnosed or not, who have difficulty making friends due to their social, emotional, and communicative challenges.

Teaching Children Social Skills
A child with Autism Spectrum Disorder demonstrates social difficulties in various ways, such as deficits in social and emotional reciprocity (e.g., conversational turn-taking, sharing of interests and emotions), and difficulties understanding and using nonverbal communicative behavior (e.g., eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, body language) and developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships (e.g., understanding of friendships, “stranger danger”) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Continue reading →

Voice, Choice, Pace, and Place: Tools to Support Blended Learning

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Written by Jason Schmidt

The last two years have seen a dramatic increase in our familiarity and comfort with the tools of online learning. As schools return to face-to-face learning, educators would do well to use this as an opportunity to take the good things we learned during the pandemic and apply them to our current situations. We’re especially interested in ways we can empower students with voice, choice, pace, and place.

Station-Rotation Model: Perhaps one of the simplest ways to incorporate blended learning into a classroom is using the Station-Rotation Model. In this model, the instructor creates blocks of instructional time with a variety of tasks to complete. Continue reading →