Entries by Becky Hunsberger

Unstringing the Bow

June 4, 2014 in /by

Several years ago, at an ACSI school administrator’s conference, I heard ACSI’s regional director for international schools (and former BFA head) Tim Schumann speak about the principle of unstringing your bow. Essentially Dr. Schumann was encouraging school leaders to take the time to step away from the battle—the stress and the busyness that comes with […]

Designing a Literacy-Rich Classroom

May 7, 2014 in /by

It has been said that learning travels on language, and there is no denying that language fluency is foundational for ensuring student understanding of any learning objective. With this in mind, it is not surprising that much time has been devoted to the concept of setting up literacy-rich classrooms. This is an important concept at […]

FarBeyond: How Jesus Modeled Transformational Education

April 23, 2014 in /by

At our FarBeyond conference this month, Dr. Joseph Kim gave us some good reminders about what it means to be involved in transformational education. Speaking out of Matthew 11:25-31, Dr. Kim pointed out that Jesus himself provides a model for the transformed teacher. For those of you who might have missed out, here is a […]

Connecting Field Trips to Learning Objectives

April 2, 2014 in /by

One of the many perks of teaching internationally is the availability of some really cool opportunities for taking field trips. Field trips are a great learning tool because they allow for experiential learning and the opportunity to apply content knowledge and skills in a context outside the classroom. But in order for your students to […]

Recognizing Different Ways Boys Learn

March 5, 2014 in /by

Boys and girls are different. They play differently, relate differently, even develop differently. While little girls are practicing their newly found language skills, chattering away to whomever will listen, little boys are busy climbing on things and racing cars—delighting when there is a big crash with a lot of noise. Anyone who has ever worked […]

How Do Our Embedded Biases Affect Our Classrooms?

February 19, 2014 in /by

In their book A Vision with A Task: Christian Schooling for Responsive Discipleship,[1]Gloria Stronks and Doug Blomberg make the following observation about the hidden curriculum of North American schools: “Schools in our society feel the persuasive and pervasive effects of individualism. Students want to choose their own courses, decide their own amount of effort, and […]

A Framework for Connecting Faith to Life

January 22, 2014 in /by

In his book, A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good, theologian Miroslav Volf argues that Christianity is a prophetic religion—that is, it is characterized by a personal encounter with the divine (receptive ascent) followed by an active response advocating transformation of the surrounding culture (creative return).[1] In other words, we […]

Making Biblical Connections

December 18, 2013 in /by

A great resource for thinking about Biblical integration in your classroom is the work of Dr. Christian Overman and his colleagues at the Biblical Worldview Institute. Dr. Overman has put together several great teachings through the “Making the Connections” series that offer practical suggestions for how teachers can implement Biblical integration into their academic lessons […]

Time for Review

December 4, 2013 in /by

In many school settings, the end of December and/or beginning of January are characterized by a review of the learning that has been done throughout the semester. There are many fun ways to review material ranging from simple to complex in nature. Here are some suggestions for review games and resources that can be adapted […]

Taking Transformation Seriously

November 20, 2013 in /by

Book Feature Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning. David I. Smith, James K. A. Smith, eds.  New York: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishers, 2011. What would happen if educators decided to allow Christian practices to shape the way they approached classroom pedagogy? That is the premise of a collection of essays, Teaching and Christian […]