October 28, 2013 Fixed/Performance vs Growth/Master mindset

Our staff recently had a professional development day regarding assessment, grading and evaluation. We discussed God’s good gift of assessment practices.  One of the most striking pieces that day was looking at assessment, grading, and evaluation as a way to bless and honour our students as learners.   When doing this we look at those practices with a growth mindset, wanting our students to master what is needed.  In a mastery mindset we want our student to value learning, not just getting it right or getting good marks. We desire for our students to believe that effort leads to success not just ability.  We desire for learners to believe that they have the ability to improve and learn as we believe that all of our students can learn and are born learners.  A performance or fixed mindset is concerned about being viewed as able and proving themselves and gains satisfaction from doing better than others whereas a growth mindset fosters the idea of success as personal success.  A fixed mindset that is performance driven shows more concern for proving competence than it does in improving competence.  We will continue to delve into the specifics of comparing and contrasting these two mindsets in assessment and refine our practices to shift towards growth and mastery.  Progressing in growth towards mastery is what we want for our students. 

October 21, 2013 Serving with Gladness– Community Building

Preparing our students for a life of Christian service requires 360 degree activities.  These activities should provide the student to be challenged intellectually and accept things of the mind, stir them emotionally to engage the heart, and provide opportunities to learn by doing, activating the hands.    These can come in the form of community building initiatives that stress the need for community in our lives and our need to share community with others.  The community builder theme suggests that students will be active pursuers, builders and promoters of communal shalom. We strive to have our classrooms be communities of grace where students will walk and work together.  Our students take part in this through their classrooms, in their neighbourhoods and in the global village they are part of.  In fact, they need to be. Reading through the teaching for transformation booklet, they give numerous examples of community and outline this theme well. Community is how God made us.  One of clearest and most well-known Biblical metaphors compares Christian community to a body which is made up of many parts. We need all the parts to work together in order to experience health and wholeness.  We all know that maintaining a healthy body isn’t something that just happens by itself. Attention must be paid to what we eat and drink, how active we are and how we manage other contributing factors. Students need to learn and experience that community doesn’t just happen, it does take work. We need to pursue it. We can’t just wait for community and peace to come to us – we must go out and make it happen. We need to build and promote shalom– to be active and eager examples of these types of communities.  Blessings on the journey.  ~Mr. Bouwers

October 15, 2013 Preparing for a life of Christian Service -

Since we hosted the Special Olympics at our school we have continued our learning related to this event.  One of the themes of our learning has supported and explored the notion of servant working.  If in our mission statement we desire to prepare our students for a life of Christian service then we need to provide opportunities for our students to become engaged in those activities through their learning.  Our grade 6, 7 and 8 students were heavily involved in servant working when the Special Olympics came to town.  This easily follows the path of shalom that we talked about last week.  If we do want our students to be salt and light then we want to afford them the opportunity to work to actively heal brokenness and bring joy to individuals and to culture.  These are biblical themes that we want to integrate into our curriculum so it becomes rooted in our students’ worldview.  We want our students to learn through those service tasks before them.  We are called as individuals and communities of grace to make a difference in our world, in our neighbourhoods and on our streets.  We do this not just through personal behavior but through intentional, biblical acts.  As Graham puts it in his book, Teaching Redemptively, “We are also called to the restoration task as communities of believers. As redeemed image bearers we should be making a difference in the culture.” Every good and perfect gift has been given to us by God.  As we see in the Teaching for Transformation publication from our sister organization the Prairie Center for Christian Education, God wants us to use the gifts of ideas, skills, materials, and awareness in order to make an impact for His kingdom. That’s what we need to cultivate in our students and ourselves: the desire and ability to offer hope, healing, and restoration to this world and its people. Blessings on the Journey.  ~Mr. Bouwers

October 7, 2013 - Connecting Vision to our Learning - Shalom Seeking

Connecting Vision to our Learning

 

Our vision statement at Providence is a short statement with a broad scope and a tall order.  Our vision is to see God’s children transforming His world.   Let’s take a closer look at how that may play out at the school.  We desire for our students, as God’s children, to be actively engaged and contributing to works of shalom.  We want to see this happening in the world and that includes our small corner of God’s big kingdom.   Looking at it closely we could say that, for the here and now, we want to see our students leading and contributing at our school and in the community to God’s glory and honour.  The service work they do enables them to be agents of reconciliation, peace and wholeness.  Nicholas Wolterstorff in his book “Until Justice and Peace Embrace” promotes this vision of shalom which he defines as peace and flourishing. 

 

Last Thursday, our students had the opportunity to have their learning shaped, formed and impacted by our relationship with Special Olympics Ontario.  In the next few weeks I will write about some of the biblical throughlines and principles that guided our students’ learning in relation to the event.  Each of the themes discussed will be framed by the overarching notion and biblical principle of shalom.  Wolterstorff continues to give clarity to this by expressing that shalom incorporates right, harmonious relationships to God and delight in his service.  Secondly it incorporates right harmonious relationships to other human beings and delight in human community.  Thirdly, it incorporates right, harmonious relationships to nature and delight in our surroundings.  In Micah 6:8 God invites us to engage in works of shalom where we act justly, love mercy and kindness and walk humbly with him. 

 

Partnering with Special Olympics Ontario gave our students an opportunity to engage in works of shalom.  Shalom seeking, as a theme, incorporates our students as agents of change by identifying and responding to situations where we can bring flourishing and wholeness.  On Thursday our students did not just hear of an opportunity to seek shalom.  They did not just see an opportunity to be the agents of love, mercy and kindness. Our students actively partnered with God in doing His work in this world.  It was quite a responsibility and a privilege!  We ask for you to continue to pray for the staff and students as we nurture and disciple your children to take on this ongoing responsibility.  We also ask you to rejoice with us in the glimpses of the kingdom we see when God allows us to partner with him to bring about flourishing moments in His kingdom.   

 

September 30, 2013 God's Good Gifts

God’s Good Gifts –This year we are focusing on God’s good and perfect gifts as an expression of His providence. This filters into the devotions we have with the students and with the staff.  Sometimes it is easy to see and recognize the gifts and blessings the Lord bestows on us and other times it is hard to see or make sense of what lies before us.  We recognize that we live in the brokenness of a fallen world and the darkness threatens to overwhelm.  We trust in the Lord and his faithfulness to keep His promises.   This past weekend I had the privilege of attending a service to celebrate the life and mourn the loss of baby BB.  The parents gave a stirring testimony.  They spoke of the gift of Ben.  They intentionally phrased it that way and asked others to speak of this gift as well.  They recognized the good gift of their son came from their heavenly Father.  At devotions this morning we discussed gifts once again.  It was highlighted that the gifts we receive, the most memorable ones, point us to our relationship with the one who gave them.  I am thankful for their testimony to God’s goodness and His providence.  May we all take to their example and live the words of the songs we sing.

September 23, 2013 Marathon of Hope

Our students participated in the Terry Fox Marathon of hope today.  In the assembly led by the grade eight students we were reminded of some character traits of the young man who exemplified compassion in his Marathon of Hope.   The students and teacher spoke of Terry’s compassion, perseverance, empathy, and determination.   He used the gifts God gave him to the fullest.  These qualities are admirable and biblical.  We desire to see these characteristics in our students as well.  Next week we will host the Special Olympics Ontario 4 corners event at our school.  Many of these athletes will demonstrate perseverance and determination using their gifts to their fullest potential.  It is an opportunity for our students to join them in their perseverance while showing Christian charity and compassion.  It is a wonderful experience and opportunity for our students to share the love of Christ with others while being salt and light in our community.  Please pray for our school as we approach this event and we pray it will be a blessing for everyone involved.