Broken Crayons and Dried Up Markers (and a few chewed pencils, too)

Nancy R. DeHaan
MACSA Executive Director (and recovering preschool teacher)

I love school supplies! I can live without dozens of pairs of shoes (with or without matching handbags), I can wear the winter coat for “one more year”, but I can’t start the school year with last year’s supplies! I LOVE to shop for markers, pens, pencils and new pads of paper! Somehow, I feel better starting the school year new and fresh – with none of last year’s wear and tear on my supplies!

This time of year I can tell – without even looking at the calendar – that the school year is almost over. I can see and hear it in the excited voices of the students and teachers – and in the “what am I going to do all summer” faces of the parents! But . . . it’s not the calendar; it’s not the students, teachers or parents. I can tell it’s almost the end of the school year by looking in the students’ pencil boxes – and in my center desk drawer!

The school supplies that were purchased during the summer started the year all lined up and ready to work in pencil boxes and desk drawers – like an army of soldiers ready to do battle! And now . . . many battles have been fought (some won, some lost) – and it’s hard to find a crayon that isn’t broken and/or missing its paper! And markers with caps – the caps were long gone by Christmas! The nub of a pencil hiding in the corner of the drawer can still do the job, but it is showing the toll that the school year has taken. The pencils, markers and crayons all have the marks of a school year almost over – they look well used, worn and weary!

Teacher - are you feeling used up, worn and weary? Do you feel a little broken, dried up and chewed? Even the best of school years can take its toll – draining us of our energy and creativity.

The solution – visit your local discount store or office supply store and buy a new box of crayons, a few new markers and a package of new pencils! Line your new “recruits” up in your desk drawer and prepare to finish the school year strong! Suggest that your classroom parents do the same – and pick a day in the next week and designate it as the “Beginning of the End" Day and recapture some of the excitement and enthusiasm that marked the beginning of the school year.

And next year . . . buy extra supplies in August – and hide them (remember where, so you can find them in May) and bring out the “new” things when you are feeling as weary as your school supplies look - but try to wait until after Christmas!

Please forward this to a friend or colleague who could use some encouragement today - better yet, stop by the classroom with a brand new marker!

Leading Your School in Uncertain Economic Times - UPDATE

Dr. Mosbacker's PowerPoint presentation - Leading Your School in Uncertain Economic Times - has been added to the MACSA website.

Click here to view the presentation and/or to listen to the audio of the sessions as presented on Thursday, April 30, 2009.

Your feedback is welcome and appreciated!

Leading Your School in Uncertain Economic Times

Leading a school brings with it many challenges but none as crucial as doing so during these challenging economic times. Dr. Mosbacker, Superintendent at Briarwood Christian School in Birmingham, Alabama provides fresh insight to how we can secure the future of Christian education in our region. He provides much food for thought as he presents possibilities about how to increase the 'value' of Christian education in the minds of our parents. This thought provoking presentation made at the Spring '09 Administrator's Summit is well worth your investment of time to listen.

Click here to visit the MACSA website for the audio downloads of these sessions. The files are in MP3 format and are rather large. Please be patient with the download!

Listen - then come back to this post and share your thoughts!

Equipping Teachers - A Balancing Act

Is the Picture in Balance?
Originally posted on Nurturing Faith (Christian Schools International)
April 20, 2009

Do your teachers know Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erikson better than Cavaletti, Stonehouse, Fowler, and Dean? Are your teachers as equipped to nurture student faith as they are to help students reach academic success? Do your teachers possess a common foundation in distinctively Christian philosophy and classroom practices that nurture faith? Do you believe that a high quality faith-integrated, truth-revealing curriculum is the highest need in schools that bear the name Christian?

Do you have a plan to equip your teachers to nurture faith? Perhaps a start is take 5 minutes at your next faculty meeting, ask them how they have been equipped in the two ways shown below, and then discuss the results.

Equipping for Academic Instruction
List the top 5 ways your teachers have been equipped to help students reach academic success.
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2.
3.
4.
5.

Equipping for Faith Nurture
List the top 5 ways your teachers have been equipped to encourage student faith development.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

“The ‘Educere’ in Education”

Bill Stevens, Headmaster
Wilmington Christian School, Delaware

That's what we do . . . we educe. Now all of us can see the root word here, but not many may know the true meaning. It's Latin, educere, for "to draw out", "to elicit", "to deduce". We truly educate when we are drawing out what is from within. It's a delicate balance of giving information and getting response. Too often, (even our) education is pumping in what we want to be there and then testing to elicit the desired answer. What makes a Christian education so distinctive is that this drawing out centers upon what God has already instilled, created in a young person. As Psalm 139 so vividly proclaims, we have been created with a frame of reference already built-in. If we truly believe that, then why do we settle for an inferior version of learning? Why don't we (homes & churches) put all our resources into seeing that our children receive an education that centers on what's been centered naturally in them?

Let me get anecdotal to this point. The other day was a special day in our elementary school. It was Young Reader's Day. Our guest reader was also an author, and someone from our own community! Mrs. Donna Aviles (daughter Estella is a sophomore) has written several books about her family history gained from conversations. She was sharing with our little ones about how they would collect oral histories of their own families. She asked the kids what they would ask their grandparents if they were writing a history of their lives? After several responses that we'll keep to ourselves for a small fee . . . one 3^rd grader uttered, "They could tell us when they asked Jesus into their hearts . . ."

OK, so after we all ran for the Kleenex, the emotionalism turned to realism. This was a natural response coming from a little person who felt comfortable enough to just let it out. I thought to myself, "Now would this deduction be expressed in a secular educational setting? I doubt it. And what would be the response given that would reinforce what was felt in the heart? No, this is not a trivial Sunday School lesson, but rather a facet of the complete life for us to grasp how wide, and long and high and deep is the love of God . . . a
love that surpasses knowledge.

When Jesus told his disciples, "Let the little ones come to me", I do not think he was simply saying to let them come sit on his lap, or don't push them down the mount so just the big folks can hear him. No, I think he was speaking to the kingdom of God that exists in a child, and if we mature, sophisticated, intellectual types don't recognize this and respond to it in kind . . . we won't enter it!

Allow me to "educe" from you a thought . . . looking ahead a generation and writing your own family history, what would you elicit from your children as important to include?

The Barna Group - Worldview Survey

A Note from MACSA President, Dr. Tim Sierer

Please take a few minutes to click on the link below and read the latest study conducted by the Barna Research Group. The study speaks to the changes in Christian Worldview in our society during the past 13 years. If nothing else it clearly points to how parents (working together with the Christian School) must remain vigilant in the training of our young people.

Click here for a full review of the survey as posted by The Barna Research Group.

Thank you for allowing us to partner with you in the training of your children.

The "Buzz" from the MACSA Spelling Bee

MACSA Spelling Bee
Friday, March 13, 2009
Eagle’s Nest Christian School – Milton, DE

Schools in attendance:

• Christian Tabernacle Academy
• West Fallowfield Christian School
• Cape Christian Academy
• Shrewsburg Christian Academy
• Eagle's Nest Christian Academy
• Perry Hall Christian School

Top 2 spellers from each grade:

5th grade:
· Taylor Cox - CCA
· Stephen Rouse - SCA

6th grade:
· Brittany Kramer - CTA
· Emma Miller - WFCS

7th grade:
· Courtney Stangl - WFCS
· Rachel Bernatowicz - SCA

8th grade:
· Paul Stangl - WFCS
· Meredith Lashley - PHCS

Grand Champion:
· Meredith Lashley - Perry Hall Christian School

Highest Team Totals
· 5th and 6th grade team: West Fallowfield Christian School
· 7th and 8th grade team: Perry Hall Christian School