What Is the Most Significant Resource for Helping Students Flourish?

Photo by Hans Reniers on Unsplash

Some things I find scary: spiders, making phone calls in Japanese, and teaching a subject area or age group I am not an expert in. That doesn’t mean I haven’t done it, or can’t gain expertise. When my children were small, I played the part of the fearless superhero who rescued them from terrifying arachnids. Last year when I asked my EFL students to commit to an action that would increase language learning, I committed to answering the phone in the teachers’ office in Japanese. And over the last 35 years, I’ve taught many subjects and levels, including PE to 6-year-olds and chemistry to 18-year-olds. 

Teaching that chemistry class for one quarter on an emergency basis was easily the scariest. It wasn't all that great for the students, either. In fact, I’d be the first to say that those students did not get the science education that I hope for students. Secondary English language arts is my area of expertise and experience. When I am teaching it, my understanding of my students, the deep structures of my subject matter, and how to connect the two energizes me and fills me with joy. That’s when I am the most helpful resource for my students.

Does that sound odd, to speak of the teacher as a resource? When I think of educational resources, I tend to think of the accoutrements—the library, the science lab, the gym, band instruments, technology, even textbooks. But in reality, the teacher is the most influential resource in a student’s experience. That’s both encouraging and sobering. Those other accoutrements are largely outside of my control, and some of them may not even be within the realm of current possibility for a given school at a particular time. But teachers—well, without them, there is no school! 

When I say I want students to flourish in terms of helpful resources, my deep hope is not for a well-stocked library or 1-to-1 Chromebooks (though both of those things are significant tools). My deep hope is that they are experiencing qualified, joyful, Christ-centered staff who have a best-practice mindset. What does that look like? 

(1) Qualified staff means teachers who understand their subject area, possess a set of pedagogical tools, and have experience. There are, of course, exceptions. I’ve known a fantastic math teacher who didn’t major in math or graduate from a teacher training program. While I know that I’m a much better teacher now that I was 35 years ago, fresh out of college, I’d never have gotten here without starting somewhere. And while I didn’t give those chemistry students the quarter of learning I’d wish for them, it was better than no teacher! Emergencies and exigencies happen, adjustments are made, gifts are uncovered, and experience accrues. But consistently having teachers without field knowledge, pedagogical competence, and experience—that is not what I would wish for my own children, not what any parents wish for their children, not what any school would plan on promising to its students. To increase the likelihood of students experiencing excellent staff, ACSI puts it this way: “New teacher hires are credentialed (educationally and licensed/certified) and have classroom experience” (Flourishing Schools: Research on Christian School Culture and Community, p. 17). 

(2) Joyful staff enjoy the stuff of their field, the children in their charge, and the opportunity to induct those children into the work of that field. Joy has many different expressions. It doesn’t have to be fireworks and vuvuzelas (see video): 

But if I don’t enjoy my field, then why would a student be attracted to learning about it? Dave Stuart Jr. calls it being “an apologist winsome and sure.” The world is an amazing place, filled with amazing people, who have explored and thought deeply about it, and we can invite our students, the amazing, potential-filled beings in front of us, to join that exploration and thinking in ways that celebrate the beauty, expand the possibilities, love our neighbors, and heal the brokenness. 

(3) Christ-centered staff use renewed minds to cultivate a learning community and to think about their discipline. Cultivating a learning community with a renewed mind includes living the community that Jesus’ resurrection empowers, and extending the grace I receive daily to my students as we learn together about God, his world, and our place in it. Thinking about my discipline with a renewed mind includes humility, critical thinking, hope, and love that ask questions like…

• How does the stuff of my discipline fill me with awe for the Creator and joy in his good gifts? 
• How does the stuff of my discipline demonstrate sin’s vandalism of the good and the ways people turn away from God, create their own kingdoms, and misuse and abuse creation, including their fellow people? 
• How does Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection change the way I see and work in my discipline? 
• What will the stuff of my discipline look like in the new heaven and new earth, and how can I be part of bringing that now?   

(See this blog post for some answers to the questions from 12 fields.)

(4) Staff with best practice orientation know that their pedagogical practices can always be honed. They also know that they don’t have to do everything now. My mother-in-law gave me some invaluable advice early in my career: if you just add one new teaching practice per year, in 10 years, you’ll have mastered 10 new teaching practices! In the last few years I’ve added independent reading, teaching grammar in context, and transforming into an EFL teacher. How do I know what to choose? Join a professional organization (like ASCD). Pick one book (I find staff book discussions to be my best form of professional development!). Subscribe to a newsletter (like MiddleWeb SmartBrief). Read a blog (like Dave Stuart Jr.). Listen to a podcast (like Cult of Pedagogy). Follow an educator on Twitter (like Larry Ferlazzo @Larryferlazzo). 

I hope I never have to teach chemistry again. I hope no student ever has to experience my chemistry teaching again. I hope students at international Christian schools get to experience qualified, joyful, Christ-centered staff who have a best-practice mindset. 

How about you? What scares you? When are you the best resource for your students? In your experience, what kind of staff help students flourish? What are the characteristics of the staff you hope the students at your international Christian school are experiencing?