A Masterpiece of Ministry (I Got Accepted to Grad School!)

I am thanking the Lord today because I just found out I've been accepted to Northwest Nazarene University's graduate school. I'll be working on my M.Ed. in Curriculum, Instruction, and Innovation over the next year or two as I continue to teach, write, and be a wife and mother to my family. Thank you so much to those who have been praying for me! This is a tangible answer to prayer. God has been richly blessing my family above and beyond what I could wish for.

The journey of "What Do I Want to Be When I Grow Up?" seems endless for many people today. It hasn't been easy for me to get to the place where I now find myself, confident that God is creating a masterpiece of ministry in me. Getting a master's degree will, God willing, be part of the preparation for that ministry--and also part of that ministry. Slowly the pieces of the puzzle come together and I see that each is a beautiful part of the beautiful whole. I continue to wait for God's will, but I can rest in the knowledge that He is both powerful and good, and He will bring it to pass.

I would appreciate continued prayer for God to open the way for me to begin classes soon and to cover the tuition in His perfect way and time.

Thank you again for your partnership on this journey!

Learn more about my journey in "Teaching as Calling" and "Narratives of Grace."

Decompartmentalization, an important struggle for the Christian teacher

One of the discussions we have in my session called Faith and the Public School Teacher centers around the idea of decompartmentalization. Okay, the dictionary says it's not a word, and it certainly is unwieldy, but it serves a purpose.

In my own words, decompartmentalization means something along the lines of "ceasing to place things in separate compartments," or "rethinking concepts that were formerly seen as separate so that they are seen as part of a unified whole."

Think of dresser drawers.

When I started out as a teacher in the public school system, I struggled to know whether my Christian faith should be kept separate from my professional life. If my life were a dresser, I'd be wondering whether my yoga pants belonged in the same drawer as my jeans. I wasn't sure if I should be telling students I would pray for them, inviting new staff members to my church, or reading a nativity picture book aloud in class.

Now that I have wrestled with the question of where my First Amendment rights begin and end, I feel more confident to decide questions like these. I see my life less and less like a dresser with many separate drawers and more and more like a wardrobe that contains all of my clothes, every item of which expresses my style. I am who I am. I am a Christian; I teach in a public school. To try to leave part of myself home in some compartment destroys my integrity, my wholeness.

There may be many times during a school week when a Christian teacher must essentially submit to her students and cherish their First Amendment rights over her own. But that doesn't mean she has to be someone she's not.

I hope teachers will think through the question of decompartmentalization for themselves. Certainly there are those who will see it another way. For me, I need to work toward having fewer compartments in my conception of my life, my self.

Matthew 5:37, Psalm 26:11, Titus 2:7-8, and Colossians 3:23-24 offer biblical perspectives on walking in integrity.

Know another Christian teacher in the public schools? Pass it on. You can also find me on Facebook.

Faith and the Public School Teacher at the Idaho Education Super Conference

"I thank my God always. . .that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge. . ." I Corinthians 1:4-5

Today at the Education Super Conference in Boise, I had the pleasure of enriching others and being enriched by them in my session, Faith and the Public School Teacher. There were about 25 attendees, and they eagerly shared their thoughts on what it means to be a teacher of faith working in the public school environment.

Some perspectives from our discussion:

• One attendee said it was her faith that caused her to enter the teaching profession in the first place. So many of us feel a strong sense of calling to be where we are, doing what we do.
• When questions of religion and faith come up in class, teachers must answer ethically and honestly. One attendee stated that when explaining viewpoints on the origins of life in his science class, he makes sure that students understand that the areas of controversy are small. On so many areas of science, consensus is easy.
• A kindergarten teacher in today's session pointed out that the age of students matters when a teacher is determining whether to make her faith public. High school students may be able to understand that their teacher, while employed by a government entity, holds religious views not endorsed by the government. Kindergarten students, though, often can't make that kind of distinction.
• One high school teacher suggested that teachers of faith "always offer students an out." Teachers cannot give the impression that a student's views are not valid or that the teacher's own religious views are right or more valid than other views.
• It pays to be peaceable. One attendee told of a student who asked to be given an alternate assignment for religious reasons. The teacher handled the matter peaceably, satisfying the student's concerns rather than escalating them.

Some classroom-ready strategies we used:

• Agreement statements
• Teacher reads statements
• Students move to one of three places in the room: agree, somewhat agree/somewhat disagree, or disagree
• Teacher facilitates discussion throughout, noting especially when a few loners stand alone; why?
• Close reading
• All students receive a copy of the text
• Teacher offers text-annotation strategies, such as writing a question mark beside text portions the student would like to know more about
• Students silently read and annotate the text
• Teacher facilitates discussion; often, text-based questions are used to keep the discussion focused on the words of the text throughout
• Group and share
• Students form groups of three to five
• All students read the text
• Groups discuss the text
• A member of the group shares with the whole class
• Student readers
• When presenting a slideshow, the teacher invites students to read slides
• This strategy reduces the monotony of having just one speaker, and it helps keep students engaged

Not only were this session and the conference as a whole a huge blessing to me, but on the drive home I had the chance to mull over some of the questions I still have about the enormous topic of Faith and the Public School Teacher. The Lord has opened the way for me to begin work on my master's degree. Will working on my degree help me answer some of my questions? I can't wait to find out how.

Would your school staff like to learn more about what it means to be a teacher of faith in the public school setting? I would love to present Faith and the Public School Teacher for professional development at your school. Contact Amy Ballard by email at amy@ amyballard .com (just remove the spaces). You can also connect with me on Facebook.

Learning Across All Dimensions--Meet With Christian Teacher, Public School's Amy Ballard at Idaho's Education Super Conference

Amy Ballard

It's almost conference time for Idaho teachers planning to attend the Education Super Conference in Boise Oct. 6 and 7. I'm thrilled to be presenting two sessions:

Writing and Publishing Narratives Using Digital Technology
Description:  In this session, teachers will learn to apply choose­-your-­own­-story structure to narrative fiction or nonfiction writing. Using Google Drive, teachers will learn to link story pages to form narratives with alternate endings.

Faith and the Public School Teacher
Description:  Can your faith coexist with your professional life? New legislation and news headlines may shake things up, but by identifying your stance on faith in the classroom, you will face the turbulence of our changing world with more confidence. In this session, teachers will learn what the law allows and expects of teachers who hold to a religious faith; take a look at teachers whose actions have come under scrutiny; and share appropriate ways to live out faith in the public school environment.

I'm eager to see how God will work, since conferences are always a time for reflection and change. Who will God bring across my path? Which sessions will bless me in unexpected ways? How can I be a blessing to some other attendee?

Okay, maybe for most people an education conference is just an education conference. But the way I see it, a Christian can and should view life through a spiritual lens. At a conference of any kind, you're outside your usual circle of acquaintances and responsibilities. Simply by making small talk with strangers between sessions or at lunch, you can let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify God.

Hope to see you in Boise!

Learning Across All Dimensions Education Super Conference
6 Strategies For Avoiding Conference Fatigue
Choose Your Own Adventure and Narrative Writing
Resources for Christian Teachers in Public Schools