Transforming Teachers - Transforming Teachers (Global)

Have faith and experiment

S. T. in OnPractice, May 10, 2023

It is such a pleasure to be able to share my thoughts with you all as you transform lives around the world. While the focus of this article is science, it can easily relate to every subject. God created this world and set us as caretakers.[1] Science is our process to learn more about the world that God made, which He considered good. Analyzing God’s creations can also be inspiring to our students. In science, students must concretely see the purposeful design of the world—both in the amazing way things work and through the difficulty of trying to recreate even simple parallel systems.

Knowing the Bible is not enough

By Harold Klassen, an educational consultant for TeachBeyond

Exploring or learning about anything in God’s world without considering God’s revelation of His plans and purposes for His creation is foolishness. But of course, you know that the Bible, God’s word, is important. Obviously, anything that claims to be Christ-centered must be Bible-based or it is merely the figment of our imagination. But what exactly is the role of the Bible in education? Why do many students struggle to see the relevance of the Bible? Why do many teachers find transformational interactions with their students so much easier outside the classroom, rather than in the midst of studying the details of what God has made, where Romans 1:19-20 says His power and nature are clearly seen?

The Book that made your world

The book that made your world By Harold Klassen

Wishal Mangalwadi has written three books about the impact the Bible has had on the modern world including his home country of India.

The insights into history, language, literature, science, and technology helped reshape my understanding of these important subjects as I saw in new ways the transforming power of the truth of God's word.

Bach's inspiration

"Besides being the baroque era’s greatest organist and composer, and one of the most productive geniuses in the history of Western music, Johann Sebastian Bach was also a theologian whose expression of inspiration was music. Nearly three-fourths of his 1,000 compositions were written for use in worship, and Bach’s deep religious faith could be found even in his secular music. Between his musical genius, his devotion to God, and the effect of his music, he has come to be known in many circles as 'the Fifth Evangelist.'" The Epoch Times has an interesting series of videos about Divine Messengers: Visions that Forever Changed the World. The first video in the series gives insight into Bach's life and thinking, but also illustrates how God can use even a single imperfect person to draw attention to His greatness and goodness and in doing so, change a whole culture.

From God’s Genius to Human Frailty: The Adventure of Teaching Science (and More) Christianly

God Is A Genius By Mark Witwer, February 17, 2022, Faith and Science, The CACE Roundtable

From the very start of my career, I simply loved teaching. The fact that I was teaching in a Christian school was a plus, but as a rookie, I could not articulate a clear philosophy of Christian education.

By the time I retired from full-time teaching two years ago, I had come to love teaching Christianly. I describe teaching Christianly as nurturing minds and hearts by allowing my faith to inform both what I teach (offering a Christian perspective on the subject matter) and how I teach (attending to the formative power of practices).

The discussion that follows explores some of my favorite strategies for teaching Christianly, grouped under two broad topics: God’s Genius and The Embrace of Controversy. My focus is on science, but most of these ideas can be adapted to other disciplines as well.