TeachBeyond's OnPractice published "Teachers as Shepherds" by Raphael Haeuser. He argues that the role of shepherd applies to teachers as well as the commonly discussed roles of prophet, priest, and king. Shepherding begins with knowing students, promotes character formation, and aims at flourishing and maturity. How teachers see themselves strongly influences what they say and do in the classroom. The words we use to describe ourselves as teachers are important so adding "shepherd" to our self-description can make a difference as we align ourselves with the Great Shepherd Himself (John 10).
The Colson Center is producing some great resources for teachers in their Colson Educators series. A Christian Worldview of Classroom Management starts with the Christian presupposition that classroom management is about more than behavior management or compliance. It is an opportunity for virtue formation. The two-page resource challenges teachers to use hope, truth, identity, and calling to shape classroom culture and gives practical applications of what this actually looks like in the classroom. I was struck by the similarity to the Visual Valet's organization of the Biblical worldview—God's revelation of how He views His world.
Frederick K. S. Leung is an emeritus professor at the University of Hong Kong and president of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction. Of course, he would be enthusiastic about teaching mathematics, but he makes some important observations about the value and beauty of the subject in his article in his December 16, 2024 article in Plough.
"...the value of mathematics lies not in its usefulness in solving everyday problems, but in inculcating in students a sense of curiosity and in developing the capacity and habit of systematic, clear, precise, logical, and critical thinking. In this era of misinformation and fake news, this is all the more important. And being able to discern truth from falsehood is part of living a good life. Mathematics is about seeking truth, and being rigorous or truthful in the process. Of course, to achieve this, the teacher needs to teach mathematics in a way that instills these attributes, not treating mathematics merely as a skill to be imitated or a collection of facts to be memorized. The essence of mathematics lies in the process that fosters these attributes, rather than in the product such as algebra and geometry. It is in this sense that I consider mathematics the most useful and valuable subject (together with the subject of language, perhaps) in the school curriculum."
I've always found grading to be the most difficult part of teaching, but I've just read something to help justify my opinion. Josh Brake in his The Absent-Minded Professor blog wrote, "My work at school was serving two masters: grades and learning. These masters, I learned, are often at odds with each other and cannot be simultaneously satisfied. I still loved learning, but the pressure to perform overshadowed it. I was good at the game, but the game wasn't good for me." Josh explains how his home education experience is reshaping his practice as a professor. Now I have something more than lazy, procrastination or an unwillingness to offend students, to explain why and how grading needs to be reconsidered if learning is our goal. His proposals aren't easier than A, B, C,... for me, but learning for an old teacher is also a good goal.
In his October 5, 2023 blog, Renewing Classical Education, Christopher Perrin discusses the implications of the words that we use to describe what we do in schools. He suggests that using some older words would contribute to a better sense of the underlying unity of God's creation that is studied. Instead of subject, section & period, we could consider discipline, form, course, session, seminar, symposium, and a host of other words rarely considered in the K-12 world. Words do make a difference so this might be one of the least expensive ways to introduce a new perspective in any school, not just classical schools.
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