A Prayer to Be Enduring Problem Solvers
Deputy Headmaster, Ms. Corey Foster, reflects on a student’s prayer to open her creative arts class and how such a request from the Lord informed their class on critical thinking and SEL skills.
On Monday morning this week, my 7th grade Mixed Media Art class began with a student led prayer that has impacted me all week. The words of this student’s prayer included, “Lord, give us the patience to be effective problem solvers. Help us to not get down on ourselves when we have to try something again, because we are students and we are still learning.”
Sit with that. Read it again. Think about a 13-year-old student asking for this type of help from the Lord for herself and her classmates.
Natania, a senior at the Academy, joins us for a portion of each art class for her Teaching Practicum course. This course is designed to give seniors practical skills related to teaching concepts to younger students. She is learning to communicate with students in a way that effectively helps them think through visual art processes and encourages them towards good work. She is pictured above helping a student talk through the process of making a brown paint color for the skin tone of a girl from India. It's been a blessing to have her join us.
These words are profound for a few reasons. First, teens today are faced with all kinds of social media that promotes fast paced pressure for them to have an appearance that they have things figured out. This prayer directly opposes what the culture they are living in demands and instead, sticks closely to God’s hopes for them. Second, our values here at the Academy resonated in this student’s prayer. She not only acknowledged herself and her classmates as students, but took the humble position that they are in need of continued growth because they are learning. Finally, she acknowledged that this would take patience and isn’t something that can be faked (James 1:22).
To make God proud (Law #3 - Exodus 20:7), these students are implementing what it looks like to uphold God’s reputation. They are learning to recognize that their efforts to become effective problem solvers can only come from God’s presence in their life, their knowledge of the word of God, and their ability to walk it out in obedience. Their hard work and faithfulness to the tasks and projects given to them is a sign of their obedience.
After the class collectively said “Amen,” I was able to encourage the students that learning to be effective problem solvers according to God’s word is a lifelong practice. The adults around them engage in problem solving every day and we are prayerful in our considerations along these lines as well. I pray that they can continue to hold this type of reliance on the Lord as they are becoming the people that God needs in the world.
After this wonderful moment, students dove into their art workshop developing class murals. Their first quarter project is to collectively create a mural that expresses a value that they chose from God’s word that has been highlighted during their time at the Academy. One group chose the theme of “Unity” with an emphasis on people from around the world working together. The other group chose the theme “Rise Up” and are working through the resurrection motif that comes with our school's mascot, the Phoenix.
Students are engaging in higher order thinking skills related to creating artwork that communicates a theme or concept based on their knowledge and ability to apply and analyze it. This project has required students to problem solve with measurement (more math than they would have imagined fitting into an art class), color mixing, and painting. Students are also engaging their SEL skills of teamwork and communication to effectively problem solve their project as a team. I’m seeing wonderful fruit during this first quarter of Jr. High!
Exploring the Visual, Auditory and Physical Styles of Learning: The Benefits of Various Teaching Styles
Simply put, learning styles are the different ways in which a person intakes information. While there are multiple ways to analyze this, one of the easiest ways to break this down is through our senses.
Simply put, learning styles are the different ways in which a person intakes information. While there are multiple ways to analyze this, one of the easiest ways to break this down is through our senses. Students learn through seeing, hearing, and handling the subject matters taught to them. Some children are more prone to retaining information when presented in a certain way, and thus one student may learn more quickly through hearing a teacher’s lesson while another may better grasp the concept if that same information is formulated into a graph. With that said, here is a quick breakdown of some of the learning styles and how they can be used.
Visual: Here are some ways in to use visualization to your advantage: Use multiple colored pens when taking notes to color-coordinate certain ideas, create graphs, charts, webs, and illustrations to depict the information you were taught, make a mind-map to see how various ideas connect to each other, or put facts on images and make a review collage.
Auditorial: Some people prefer learning through hearing the information, so here are some study ideas: Listen to energizing but not distracting music while studying, memorize facts by putting them to the tune of a popular song, download lectures and re-listen to them in the car on the way to soccer practice, read through your notes out loud, or take turns with a study partner re-teaching each other the information by putting it in your own words.
During a lesson exploring the digestive system, students participate in hands-on experiments to guide their understanding of the course material.
Physical: Get moving! This style of learning requires you to use your body: Act out what you are trying to learn as if rehearsing for a play, read your notes while walking or chewing gum to keep your subconscious busy with movement to help your mind focus on what you need to memorize, put choreography or dance moves to the information you are trying to memorize, or place index cards of facts around the room and connect them with string. Anything that gets your body moving in sync with your brain as you digest the information can be beneficial for a kinesthetic style of learning.
For rather obvious reasons, the smelling and tasting methods are rarely used. While delicious, writing your notes in icing on a cake and then eating it is neither practical nor efficient, even if you do technically digest the information.
What’s a way to wrap all of this into one useful study tip: draw your notes. Edutopia explains how drawing while notetaking can increase retention rates by utilizing multiple learning styles at once. The student is intaking the information audibly by listening to the lecture; by depicting the information in charts, symbols, or pictures, they are constructing visuals; and by using their hands to draw, they are keeping their body physically active.
While certain learning styles may come easier to some than others, we should avoid pigeonholing anyone to a specific style. If not understood correctly, a student may lay blame on the way a topic was conveyed rather than trying to take responsibility for trying extra hard to understand the concept. Rather than looking to strengthen a weakness, they may turn it into a handicap. This may be why the developer of the multiple intelligence theory, Howard Gardner believes it best to leave behind the term “learning styles,” even though he does highly encourage educators to “pluralize” their teaching methods.
SOURCES:
Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2020). Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide
“Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences.” Northern Illinois University. (visited 24 March 2022)
Cherry, Kendra. “Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences.” VeryWellMind.com. July 28, 2021 (visite 24 March 2022)
https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161
Terada, Youki. “The Science of Drawing and Memory.” Edutopia. 14 March 2019. (visited 4 April 2022)
New Year, New Logo: Here’s what it represents.
We gave our school logo a fresh look for the start of our 10th year! Here’s the meaning behind the design.
Our logo just got a wonderful makeover for our 10th year, and we couldn’t be more excited about it. This emblem shows off some core values of our school. The new logo is a silhouette of a phoenix head in front of five blue flames, all above an open book. It looks amazing, but what does it mean? Well, let us explain…
The Flames:
The five blue flames are representative of the five goals set in our mission statement, the first of which is providing holistic education. There are also five categories which make up holistic education: academic, emotional, social, moral, and spiritual. The next is implementing this holistic education to teach children how to be responsible, kind, and ethical neighbors. The last three also deal with how we strive to shape students into being ones who are competent persons, who are globally conscious, and who are historically relevant.
The Phoenix:
The Phoenix serves as the school’s mascot, but was chosen so due to what phoenix’s are known best for: resurrection. We believe resurrection is a core element of our faith in God. The resurrection of Jesus reveals that God is the final judge and that life in him can triumph even over death. It is the epitome of hope, and is essential to our walk of faith. Our desire is to instill this undying flame of perseverance in the students, teaching them to stand firm in the fact that their hope in God does not disappoint (Rom. 5).
The Book:
The open book in front of the Phoenix is from where all our values derive: the Bible. It is not a closed book left on a shelf only to serve as a reminder of ancient traditions, but it is one we constantly open to study, so we know how to maneuver an ever changing world. Through meditation and study, we derive principles and lessons that can be applied in a relevant way to a watching world, allowing us to be a light in a world too often characterized by darkness.
A special THANK YOU to Genovations Media for the fresh design. Your team is always a pleasure to work with!
Does Spirituality Belong in the Classroom? How Prayer and Worship Impact a Student's Experience
What happens when spirituality becomes a big part of what takes place at school? Does it disturb the child’s learning process or make it more dynamic?
What happens when spirituality becomes a big part of what takes place at school? Does it disturb the child’s learning process or make it more dynamic? Some may send their kids to a Christian school more so to get out of the public education system than to have their child involved in the spiritual practices a Christian school offers. If that is the case, then what they don’t realize is how those spiritual practices actually shape these schools into the wonderful places of holistic education they are trying to be. Spirituality is not a hindrance to one’s mental capacities, but instead encourages the building up of the mind as a part of one’s overall development as a person. So let’s take a look at how spiritual elements such as Bible reading, prayer, and worship actually work in favor of a child's education.
People who think that spiritual things could prevent students from learning facts often forget to consider how useless learning facts are if not applied in a way that is beneficial to a society. Without God’s word guiding us, how could we effectively apply the knowledge we gain? Learning the Bible develops wisdom, allowing students to put to good use what they learn in their classes. Even the brightest students may not know how to produce much with their lives if they are void of the ethical guidance from Scripture. This requires students to develop their critical thinking skills in order to figure out how to exercise the information they are absorbing in a way that aligns with God’s will. This turns students into future leaders because they have direction and know how to utilize the knowledge and skills they possess to get there.
Each week, all K-12 students participate in chapel worship and bible teaching. This intentional time of focus on spiritual development is a guiding exercise for students to implement throughout other parts of their week.
Alongside learning the Bible, prayer is another essential component. It is not just the regurgitation of dead, religious words, but a connection to a living God. This is why prayer should be our first response when encountering problems, because without asking God for a heavenly perspective of how to solve the issue at hand, our solutions are going to be inadequate. By encouraging students to connect with the God who created the universe, it teaches them to step back, look at the bigger picture, and approach the issue with creativity. This gives them confidence to overcome the obstacles life will throw at them, in whatever form they may be, allowing them to be innovative thinkers as they move out of schooling and into the workforce.
Worship through song is a method to connect with God, and focus one’s mind and energies on him. Worship and prayer can lead to better emotional stability by providing an outlet as they share their struggles with the Lord. Spiritually healthy individuals will not be overcome by the distractions life lets in, but will be able to maintain focus on their times of education, knowing it is an essential step in the journey God has planned for their life. These spiritual activities of Bible reading, prayer and worship create focused, ingenuitive students who can critically think and who have direction. These are the types of students we want to develop, and spirituality in the classroom is how to get there.
Sources:
Garner, Gregg. Entrepreneurial Skills. The Institute for G.O.D. International. Old Hickory, TN. March 2022.
Parent Testimony Regarding the Dismissal of Case Against Garners
A personal reflection by Tim Jester, Academy and GOD Int’l Parents’ Day Out Parent
It’s taken me a minute to decide how to handle this but here goes.
I’ll start by saying, Marissa and I are proud to send both of our boys to The Academy for G.O.D. which is part of the parent organization, Global Outreach Developments International, just up Old Hickory Boulevard in the Hopewell neighborhood.
The parent organization, the school, and everyone we know personally associated with G.O.D. International are God-fearing lovers of Jesus and others, and they have our full-throated support.
Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, Marissa and I found ourselves having to defend our choice and the community surrounding the school. This was in light of a salacious website and a largely one-sided article that appeared in The Tennessean after Global Outreach Development’s founders, Gregg & Tara Garner, were arrested on charges of TennCare fraud in March of 2021.
I must admit that, after hearing about the arrest and discovering the website, I too was gravely concerned about our choice. Should we continue to send our son to a school which claimed its mission was to, “holistically educate children to become responsible, kind and ethical neighbors,” while being run by a man arrested for fraud? If the allegations were true, we were not ok with that.
We had done our due diligence. For several years before sending our eldest son to The Academy, we became friends with people in the community and spent time thoroughly learning about the school and how they view education. Although not members of the organization (we still are not), we were welcomed with open arms and felt comfortable, accepted, and even loved.
When time came for us to put Callen in school, it wasn’t even really a choice.
But the events of March 2021 caused us to second guess our decision and dive back into more due diligence. I scheduled a meeting with Gregg, and Marissa and I spoke personally with him and other administrators about the fraud charges, the website, and the whole scenario.
We felt assured after that conversation, but it wasn’t enough. I had lunch with Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk a few weeks later and weaseled questions into our conversation. Funk put me in touch with his ADA in charge of financial crimes and I sent more questions to his direction.
Ultimately, we decided that we would trust Gregg, continue to believe the Academy was truly in the business of raising ethical neighbors, and continue sending Callen to school there. And in the time since, we have defended the school and the community at every opportunity.
And now, finally, it was made public a few weeks ago that on July 28, 2022, the court dismissed the case with prejudice and the District Attorney’s office declared nolle prosequi. (FULL STORY HERE.)
Without prejudice means the court reviewed the merits of the case and decided to not move forward.
Nolle prosequi is a legal Latin term that means the district attorney’s office is declaring that charges either could not be proved, that evidence demonstrated innocence or that there was found to be a fatal flaw in the prosecution's claim and the district attorney became convinced the accused was innocent.
Tim Jester, and his wife, Marissa, offer to make parents coffee at a morning fellowship for Academy families. The Jesters are participation and support of their student’s education at the Academy is a blessing to our faculty and staff.
Along with the news of dismissal, it also came to light through the process of legal discovery that a group of people disgruntled with Global Outreach Development presented false accusations of wrongdoing to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in 2017 which began a five-year journey that ultimately ended in complete dismissal.
So, why write all of this?
There are a few reasons.
We want you to know we support Global Outreach Developments International, their leadership, their mission, and the school where we send both our sons.
If you trust us, you can trust them.
But also, because The Tennessean probably isn’t going to run a retraction, we want all the people we know and care about to also know this organization is good and the people running it and serving it are amazing people.
If you have any questions or thoughts, please feel free to pick up the phone and call me.
If you read this from beginning to end, thank you.
And if you’re interested in a school that raises ethical neighbors while focusing on early childhood emotional and social development, let’s talk.
You’re not going to find a better school for your kids.