School is not a PGA Tour Event

 I love golf.

I love playing, and believe it or not, watching it.   There are not many things as riveting as watching the final round, and final holes, of a tightly contested PGA Major championship.   It is spectacular TV! 

There are some interesting similarities between a PGA golf tournament and a school year.     

PGA Tour Golf Event                                                     School 

4 Rounds of Golf                                                               3 Terms of School 

Individual and Group Work                                              Individual and Group Work

PGA Tour Official                                                             Principal

Caddies                                                                              Teachers

Scorecards                                                                         Report Cards

I’m actually not convinced there are many similarities between a teacher and a caddie but a student did ask if I could pass him his #2 pencil yesterday, so the connection is clearly warranted. 

After 2 rounds of a PGA tournament, based on score, the field is cut in a half (hence the phrase “making the cut”), and the remaining golfers left standing go on to compete in the final two rounds.  As the players make their way around the course, focused on executing their game plan, the leaderboard is ever present.   The leaderboard informs the player of where they stack up with the competition, and influences what their next move might be in order to progress up the standings.  Every player has their own scorecard they carry in their pocket but what really matters is where their score places them on the leaderboard. The leaderboard is much like the billboard eyes of T.J. Eckelburg in The Great Gatsby, ever watching and looming over those below. 

From tee off to graduation, students may place themselves, or may be placed by others, on a leaderboard that is detrimental to their learning and development.

In Ecclesiastes 3:7, Qoheleth, the teacher, laments that “all man’s achievement spring’s from envy of his brother.”  All human achievement is rooted in our desire to out due one another.  We desperately want to be higher on the leaderboard.  You can see this characteristic of the human condition at school.  Some students are indifferent about their assessment pieces until they compare their results with their peers. Tests are returned and before the teacher has the opportunity to comment on the results, some students are comparing their performance to their classmates. Their interest is not to compliment or encourage a friend but rather to assess their own standing in the classroom.  Every teacher has witnessed the flock of students comparing results on report card day.  Students can create leaderboards.

    Educators have historically praised students for being “top of the class”.  Report card comments have read things like “You are in the top 10% of the class”, or “Your score was higher than the class average,” which translates in golf terms, “you made the cut.”  I recall watching an episode of Saved By The Bell when Miss. Bliss posted all the students marks outside the classroom for everyone to read.  It was a literal leaderboard.   Teachers can create leaderboards.

  Schools print monthly honour roll list in their community publications that elevate students over others.   Schools are guilty of overemphasizing the importance of University attendance and devaluing trade and technical schools, thereby creating a sense of inferiority for students pursuing the trades. Mistakenly, school award ceremonies can lose perspective and honour the “crème de la crème” and unabashedly parade the same student time after time to the front of the school to be cheered by the runner-ups. We can mistaken envy for motivation.   Schools can create leaderboards.

   Leaderboards undermine the type of learning community we want at Unity Christian School.  We aim to have a learning community that operates like a family where each child is recognized for their individual gifts.  We want students to take responsibility for their own education and the education of their classmates; to be a place where we learn, collaborate, and explore together.   The success of an individual in a family does not take precedent over the well being of the family.  Schools need to recognize every student’s role and contribution to the school’s success.   

  Schools should avoid installing leaderboards within its walls; they are an unnecessary hazard to student learning.  Schools should not resemble a PGA tour event.  Education is not a competition nor is it a spectator sport.

Blessings

"Fatigue Makes Cowards Of Us All"

   The basketball season has started at Unity Christian School.  The senior boys basketball team competed this weekend at St. Ann’s Academy in Kamloops.  We narrowly lost our first game 53 – 55 and went onto to win our next two games versus Pemberton and Kamloops Christian.  It is a terrific group of guys to coach because they are committed to working hard and improving every game and practice.

  Coaches are required to be good communicators. Whether teaching a skill in practice or relaying instructions during a game, coaches find simple and effective ways to communicate complicated things.  Effective coach’s use “keywords” to help athletes recall important information.  Volleyball coaches may say “straight and simple” to remind players to have a good platform when passing the ball.  Basketball coaches may say “aim small miss small” to remind a shooter to pick a specific spot on the rim to focus on while shooting.   Whenever I say “baseline” in practice, players understand that they are about to complete a conditioning drill.    At times, the drill is punishment for poor performance while at other times it is meant to simply improve the teams conditioning.   At the end of every practice we complete a conditioning drill, either the “Spartan Pyramid” or the “Sweet 16,” which is not that sweet for the players. 

   All coaches have their favorite conditioning drills.  Legendary Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”  It is one of my favorite quotes.  What coach Lombardi was saying to his team was that during the course of the game, as fatigue sets in, an athletes will to succeed will falter.  Tired teams make the most mistakes.  When athletes get physically fatigued they lose sight of the goal and begin to accept mediocrity and failure.  Coaches use conditioning drills to improve an athlete’s ability to outwork the opposition but more importantly to outlast the oppositions will to win. You may walk into the gym and see the senior boys basketball team completing a conditioning drill, and me shouting words of encouragement and motivation to help them finish.  I am trying to help the players forget their tired legs, burning lungs, and to ignore the small voice telling them to accept mediocrity, to fail and quit.  After a condition drill I refuse to allow players to show signs of fatigue by sitting or learning on the wall.  Athletes and coaches spend hours training the body not to fatigue and the mind to stay strong.

    We know from Scripture that we are more than simply a body; we are a soul.  There is physical and spiritual fatigue.  Isaiah 40:3 says that “even youth get tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.”  We can become spiritually tired.  We are like the apostle Peter who took his eyes off Jesus and looked at his tired feet quickly sinking into the terrifying waters below.  There are many things that can bring about spiritual fatigue.  We can train the body; can we not also train the soul?  Isaiah 40:30 continues that though we may tire and fail “those that hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”  Peter, panicking as the rising waters engulfed him, raised his eyes and stretched his hand out to the only one who could save him.  The psalmist King David expressed it this way: “I lift my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.”    How often do we spend reading the life giving Word of God?  Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  It is common to hear people say that reading the Bible is boring, or Church is boring, or Bible class is boring – how we want to be entertained!  Athletes do not enjoy conditioning drills.  Conditioning drills are not fun but they will make an impact in one’s performance.  Much like sports, in life there are high and lows, ups and down, times when we are walking on water and times when we are sinking and looking up for help.    Spiritual training is vital; a disciplined scheduled is necessary.

  A team can often become overly focused on statistical success and winning championships and forget the commitment and dedication to training that is necessary.  Christians tend to focus on Paul’s injunction to the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 9:24) to run a race as to win the prize but forget his instructions to commit to daily spiritual training.   He says in 1 Tim. 4:6 “Exercise daily in God – no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever” (The Message).  

Blessings

The End of Compact Discs

This past weekend I was able to visit Vancouver and stop by my favourite record store, Zulu Records.  I am 4 weeks late in purchasing Jeanette Berkenbosch her yearly CD birthday gift, as I was unable to find any CD I like in the Chilliwack area.  I have been waiting to get to Zulu Records for weeks.  When I entered I couldn’t find the new music section.  I asked the clerk where it was and he replied, “we don’t sell new CDs anymore, nobody buys them”.    This means the top record store in BC no longer sells new CDs.   Future Shop, Wal-Mart, and Target have a very limited selection left.  Gone are the days where there are HMVs in every mall.  The only place that a folk/indie/adult alternative cd can now be purchased in person is at the local Starbucks.  Much like the rise and fall of the local video store, the CD generation has faded. 25 years of purchasing CDs, listening to Discmans, and playing CDs in the car has now shifted to buying MP3s on ITunes, listening to IPods, and using Bluetooth in vehicles.  I am hereby reporting that the demise of the compact disc is complete.  The technology is dead.   Jeanette Berkenbosch may need to settle for an ITunes gift card. 

I thought about the parallels of the rise and fall of the compact disc to education.    The compact disc was a way for the world to hear music.  Music was as popular before the compact disc as it is now, but the compact disc changed how we can hear it.  MP3s, ITunes, and digital media have both changed and enhanced how we hear music again.  Is the same not true for education?  The acquisition of knowledge and learning in general has always been the goal in education, however educational innovations and trends that come and go allow us to enhance learning and increase the ability to enable children to think critically.    The challenge for schools is to recognize when an innovation or new idea may not be new anymore.  Educators must see the new innovations that enhance learning as they come out.  We don’t want out educators to still be listening solely to Discmans when and IPod can provide so much more.    With this in mind, there is still a lot of good music that 1 can listen to on a Discman.

At Unity Christian School this year, we have had 2 professional development days that have focused on 21^st Century Learning.  SCSBCs 2 learning leaders, Greg Gerber and Darren Spyksma each spent a day with our staff sharing new innovations in learning.  Greg was able to focus more on the technology end of educational innovation, giving staff web based tools to assist in good pedagogy.  Darren was able to focus on the structure of a classroom, sharing with staff opportunities for hands on and student centered learning.  Darren was able to draw from experience and provide many examples on how collaborative learning can help grow a school culture of innovative young minds.   All staff at Unity Christian School were challenged to build on their already excellent teaching in new and innovative ways.  All staff at Unity were challenged to keep their Discman but embrace the IPod.

In 1762, philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that, “reading is the plague of childhood”. Rousseau’s thesis was that children under the age of 12 need to explore and experience the world themselves before reading about it.  Rousseau wrote, “Books are good only for learning about babble about what one does not know.  I am convinced that in matters of observation, one must not read, one must see”.  Rousseau recommended that books should be avoided completely until children were 12 years old, so that children could have the opportunity to explore, interact, discover, and be adventurers of the world.     Fear not, we don’t subscribe to Rousseau’s “no books” philosophy. Books are an integral part of education and this should never be lost. However, as a Christian School, we do want our students to recognize and appreciate God’s sovereignty over His beautifully created world as our students head out to explore, interact, have adventures, and discover.   In combining solid classroom instruction and the acquisition of knowledge through experience and adventure, it is our goal to help our students recognize their God-given gifts, see their calling, and enable them to join in the work of building the Kingdom of God.  

Before I retire, MP3s and IPods will be dated technology.  Some new way of accessing media, likely all cloud based, will take over.  Before I retire, research based innovations on how students will best learn will change as well.  At Unity Christian School, we want to use experts, research, and ongoing professional development to stay on the cusp of helping all students reach their God-given potential.  

Learning and Living in Christ...

Yesterday was Unity's annual Auction and Celebration.   From breakfast to cleaning up, it was an amazing day of community building and celebrating.  The day was filled with lots of laughter, food and fun activities. 

I always enjoy the auction.  I served on the auction committee for years at a previous school, and was always amazed at the camaraderie on the planning committee and the amount of fun we had putting it together.  That's not to say that it wasn't a LOT of work, and at times involved some frustration.  But the outcome of the actual day always made it worth it.

A few years ago, the celebration part of the title was added.  The point of this (if I recall correctly) was to celebrate the school as well as the community.  The development team had a table and there was space to highlight what was going on at the school.  Part of this was an opportunity to display student work. 

Yesterday, part of my responsibilities included taking down the displays of student work at the end of the day.  I was struck, once again, at how amazing the staff are at what they do in the classroom.  Each classroom from K-5 had provided some work to be displayed.  All of it was amazing and demonstrated how the students at Unity really do learn and live in Christ.

Kindergarten provided Picasso inspired artwork - have you ever seen 24 Kindergarten students' replications of a Picasso painting?!  It was wonderful to see how each of the students, while following directions from the teacher, was still able to come up with a unique piece of artwork!

Grade One provided a combination of written and art work.  The Grade One students are studying trees and how they change through the seasons.  Each of the students was given a frame for a poem in which they filled in the blanks.  Then, they painted a picture to go with their poems.  The poems were fantastic!  And again, even though they were provided the same framework, each one demonstrated the uniqueness of each child.  Their projects were delightful.

Grade Two students shared what freedom is like.  This was a project done in conjunction with Remembrance Day.  Students shared their thoughts on freedom in writing and they were added to a larger page with some artwork as well.  Reading what a 7 year old thinks about freedom is a pretty humbling thing. 

Grade Three has been studying about colour in Art.  The project they shared was of exploration with primary colours.  Each student, given the same materials, put together a paper quilt of primary colour squares.  When placed side by side and row by row, this provided a great quilt of red, blue and yellow.

Grade 4 students had reflected on a Bible lesson about Paul and his imprisonment.  They were learning about Paul's attitude and ability, amidst difficult times, to rejoice, find joy and even advance the Gospel.  Students had made posters outlining some ways in which they could rejoice and find joy at all times as well, highlighting Philippians 4:4-7 - Rejoice in the Lord, always...

Grade 5 students have been studying about the human body and exploring what it means to be fearfully and wonderfully made.  Each student had researched a part of the body and presented it on a poster.  The things that these children were able to learn and discover about their bodies, and their Creator, were fascinating!  And they were all so proud of the work that they did! 

Through all of these learning experiences, teachers have provided opportunities for students to discover and uncover more and more of who God is and how this world has been created.  From the beauty of artwork and the expression of the human condition that goes with that, to the power of the written word and all that we can communicate with and through that medium, to the discovery of the world in which we live and the intricacies of creation...all of these things point to an amazing Creator and the gifts that he has given us with which to enjoy that creation.  Within (and outside of!) the walls at Unity Christian, students are exploring creation, discovering the Creator and developing their gifts in ways that allow them to figure out their place in this world.  In short, they are learning and living in Christ. 

Who knew a few years ago, when that tagline was created and then adopted by Unity, that it would become such a key phrase when it comes to talking about why we do what we do?!

"I'm Talking About a Place Called A-S-P-E-N"

“We got no food, we got no jobs. . . our PETS’ HEADS ARE FALLNG OFF.”

In the 1994 hit movie, “Dumb and Dumber,” Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne have fallen on hard times.   Upon finding their pet bird, Pettie, decapitated in its cage, Lloyd delivers an emotional plea to his loyal friend to join him on a journey across the continental USA to escape the miserable state of their affairs, and to return a forgotten briefcase to Mary Swanson.

Lloyd paints a picture of the Promised Land: “I’m talking about a place called Aspen“ he tells Harry. 

 

Lloyd and Harry decide to go to Aspen

Everything will be better in Aspen.   

For the past six months I have been painting a picture of a program called Aspen.

I received notice in March of 2014 that Unity Christian was going to be a part of the first wave of schools on the new student records program called Aspen. The Ministry of Education is systematically phasing out its previous program called BCESIS; all schools in BC will be using Aspen by 2016. 

When I first heard that the program is called Aspen I couldn’t stop referencing the scene from Dumb and Dumber.  I would catch myself describing the program to teachers at a staff meeting and concluding with,  ““I’m talking about a program called Aspen“ Thankfully, like Harry, the staff jumped on the bus (not a Shaggy Dog van) and embraced the journey.

The switch from BCESIS to Aspen has been a significant change for office staff and teachers.  It has vastly impacted the way in which we register and enroll students, create timetables, complete attendance, and track student learning progress.   The office staff went to a workshop in the summer and continues to take part in online learning sessions. Teachers have taken part in numerous online workshops, and have had tutorials to learn the attendance and grade book functions.  Teachers will be updating their marks and assignments minimally every three weeks.    

The rationale for switching from BCESIS to Aspen as part of the first wave was to make use of the online reporting function.   Effective Christian education involves a strong partnership between the school and the home.  You have probably heard the phrase that education involves the home, church, and school; schools alone cannot address all the development needs of a child. Our staff handbook highlights our schools value on partnering with parents:

Unity Christian highly values the parent-school relationship. Teachers are expected and encouraged to take the initiative in communicating with parents.  Our goal is to work together with parent to best serve our students.  Appropriate and timely communication with parents is critical.

The central role of the parent in the education of their child requires that we make use of all possible tools to communicate with the home.   The online reporting functions of Aspen are a welcome addition to our communication toolbox.  Although it has taken much longer than anticipated, the parent portals are currently open and operational.   The portal gives parents the ability to track their child’s attendance and learning progress.  Beyond seeing the up-to-date course mark, parents are able to see each individual assignment and keep track of incomplete and poorly done work.   The objective of the parent portal is meant to strengthen the partnership between the home and school to the benefit of student learning.

There will be a time in near future when students will be given their own portal.  It is interesting to note that students were extremely excited about the parent portal.  They want to know the status of their learning progress.   

All of this change is thanks to a short conversation in my office with Mike Campbell on November 23, 2013:

Matt Van Muyen - “That’s it.  I’ve had it with BCESIS.  Why are we using it? “

Mike Campbell: “Ok. Calm down.  What else can we use?”

Matt Van Muyen: “I’ll tell you.  A program with colour.  A program that doesn’t lock you out for 90 minutes.   A program with an online portal.”

“I’m talking about a little program called A –S – P – E – N”

Mike Campbell: “Ok Matt.  Aspen it is.”

[Tears of Joy were shed]

Blessings