Year 1:
(what I had, but I deterred a tiny bit from the original in the actual speech, would have to find the recording!)
Yesterday, I planned to come and tell you tonight about a student, who I have seen grow tremendously in many different areas academically and spiritually, but before I explained all these areas in which she has grown, I decided it would be wise to pull this student aside to see if she realizes what God has done in her life this year.
So, I pulled her aside during recess and asked, “What have you learned the most this year?” She looked straight at me and said, “I have grown in the gospel.”
I wasn’t even expecting that answer from an 8-year-old.
I asked her what that meant to her, and she said she understands more of who Jesus is.
So, we sat there and we started to dissect her year together. Those times she felt lonely? God used his story to remind her that she is not alone. He is always with her.
Those times she had a bad attitude over an assignment she didn’t want to do? She remembered that Jesus revealed her selfishness and her need for a rescuer.
The time she got into a disagreement with a friend? We remembered together how God revealed her pride, and how God used that time to show her true humility and weakness. We remembered that Jesus walked through humiliation perfectly so that even when we succumb to our pride, we have his good reputation.
What about that time when she pretended she didn’t know how to do her math assignments just so she could get the attention of her teacher? The gospel even applied to this situation. We talked about the first lie that Satan told Adam and Eve—that God’s love wasn’t enough for them. He convinced them they needed more than God’s love.
But could she also see God working in the every day things? “What about at recess?” He provides rest and fun and laughter.
In math, as she practices her multiplication facts, she hears about how perfect God is.
In phonics she hears how creative God must be to give the letter e so many jobs. By simply adding an e to a word, all the sounds in a word can change!
As she says a chant about ants working underground, she hears Proverbs 6:6: “Go to the ant, you sluggard, remember his ways and be wise.”
Truth surrounds her.
As I stand back and see that this child has grown academically, she has grown in self-control, in love and good deeds, in maturity, I see the message of the gospel fully covering this child.
The Socratic Method, on which Classical Education stems, is based on the idea that that there is a truth, it can be known and it can be explained. The gospel is the only truth there is.My hope and prayer is that every student who walks through Seattle Classical Christian School would see every situation they encounter through the lens of the truth that is the gospel.
Year 2:
He walked into the first grade classroom. Started to unpack his things and turned in his homework. He sat down, looked at the task on his desk to complete, then looked up at me, with concern on his face.
I pray we are able to keep our own child's heart as we disciple our children well and that we are able to teach a child the tools he or she needs to continue learning beyond Seattle Classical Christian School - the most important tool being Jesus’ story of coming to a broken world, dying an underserved death for an undeserving people and giving us eternal life so that we may know Him, love Him and serve Him in ALL we ever do.
(what I had, but I deterred a tiny bit from the original in the actual speech, would have to find the recording!)
Yesterday, I planned to come and tell you tonight about a student, who I have seen grow tremendously in many different areas academically and spiritually, but before I explained all these areas in which she has grown, I decided it would be wise to pull this student aside to see if she realizes what God has done in her life this year.
So, I pulled her aside during recess and asked, “What have you learned the most this year?” She looked straight at me and said, “I have grown in the gospel.”
I wasn’t even expecting that answer from an 8-year-old.
I asked her what that meant to her, and she said she understands more of who Jesus is.
So, we sat there and we started to dissect her year together. Those times she felt lonely? God used his story to remind her that she is not alone. He is always with her.
Those times she had a bad attitude over an assignment she didn’t want to do? She remembered that Jesus revealed her selfishness and her need for a rescuer.
The time she got into a disagreement with a friend? We remembered together how God revealed her pride, and how God used that time to show her true humility and weakness. We remembered that Jesus walked through humiliation perfectly so that even when we succumb to our pride, we have his good reputation.
What about that time when she pretended she didn’t know how to do her math assignments just so she could get the attention of her teacher? The gospel even applied to this situation. We talked about the first lie that Satan told Adam and Eve—that God’s love wasn’t enough for them. He convinced them they needed more than God’s love.
But could she also see God working in the every day things? “What about at recess?” He provides rest and fun and laughter.
In math, as she practices her multiplication facts, she hears about how perfect God is.
In phonics she hears how creative God must be to give the letter e so many jobs. By simply adding an e to a word, all the sounds in a word can change!
As she says a chant about ants working underground, she hears Proverbs 6:6: “Go to the ant, you sluggard, remember his ways and be wise.”
Truth surrounds her.
As I stand back and see that this child has grown academically, she has grown in self-control, in love and good deeds, in maturity, I see the message of the gospel fully covering this child.
The Socratic Method, on which Classical Education stems, is based on the idea that that there is a truth, it can be known and it can be explained. The gospel is the only truth there is.My hope and prayer is that every student who walks through Seattle Classical Christian School would see every situation they encounter through the lens of the truth that is the gospel.
Year 2:
He walked into the first grade classroom. Started to unpack his things and turned in his homework. He sat down, looked at the task on his desk to complete, then looked up at me, with concern on his face.
“Have you read the instructions?” I asked.
“No, I just- I’m sad for all the homeless people.” He replied.
Although I wasn’t expecting this to come out of his mouth, I wasn’t overly surprised by his words. We were praying for those without homes that week.
In fact, this particular student’s dad had just emailed me the night before saying how in awe he was over his son’s longing to want to pray for those who are homeless and those who are suffering, particularly in the city of Seattle.
Together, we talked about those who don’t have homes, those who are suffering and what we can do to love them.
We were able to talk about the compassion Jesus had (and still has) on those suffering and hurting. We were able to discuss our living in a broken world and our need for Jesus. The best part is we were able to talk about the promises of the gospel and that even in an imperfect world, we can serve a perfect God.
Not only were we able to talk about it, we were able to pray about it as a class. These are the moments I live for: becoming broken for and falling in love with the city of Seattle, right along side my students.
When I first decided to become a teacher, I never realized the huge opportunity God would give me to not only teach math and reading, but to disciple students as well.
It’s an extremely unique opportunity, that I hope never gets lost amongst the academia of classical schooling, but that our staff would realize is an integral part of classical schooling.
When I first decided to become a teacher, I never realized the huge opportunity God would give me to not only teach math and reading, but to disciple students as well.
It’s an extremely unique opportunity, that I hope never gets lost amongst the academia of classical schooling, but that our staff would realize is an integral part of classical schooling.
One of the core foundations of classical education is not only teaching our students, but teaching our students how to learn and think. In fact, something I pray daily for my students is that they would “love to learn.”
However, how can we ever love to learn without understanding the reality of the gospel story in every subject? How can we truly love to learn if the gospel isn’t interwoven into the lessons we teach?
This year, my class has been studying the history of Seattle. As we study the foundations of this city, we see how God has had a plan for this city from the very first time Arthur Denny and his family set up camp at Alki Beach.
My students grow sad when they hear stories about people like Chief Seattle who worshipped many gods… yet at the sound of this news, many of them recall the words of the song we sing weekly, “Are there more Gods than one? No there is only one true God. In Isaiah 45, God says “I am the Lord, apart from me there is no other.”
My prayer for Seattle Classical Christian school is that it would never be a school with a high focus on academics, yet lacking in our love and fervor of the gospel. I pray that we would be able to successfully intertwine the two, with the gospel of Jesus Christ being the firm foundation on which we build.
Sally Lloyd Jones paraphrases Luke 18 in the Jesus Storybook Bible as, “Jesus turned to his helpers and said, ‘No matter how big you grow, never grow up so much that you lose your child’s heart: full of trust in God. Be like these children. They are the most important in my kingdom.’”I pray we are able to keep our own child's heart as we disciple our children well and that we are able to teach a child the tools he or she needs to continue learning beyond Seattle Classical Christian School - the most important tool being Jesus’ story of coming to a broken world, dying an underserved death for an undeserving people and giving us eternal life so that we may know Him, love Him and serve Him in ALL we ever do.
