Does Jesus care how I arrange the desks in my classroom? How I evaluate student work? The way I interact with students and colleagues? What if all these small, moment-by-moment classroom decisions a Christian teacher makes are actually the evidence of living discipleship?
Teaching Christianly does not just happen; it is the result of deliberate choices to work toward shrinking the gap between what we (say we) believe and what we actually do in our teaching. This book is an exploration of the teaching profession through the lens of living out our calling through teaching-as-discipleship. Whether you are new to the profession or a seasoned veteran, you will find ideas to expand your imagination about what teaching Christianly looks like, considering topics that run the range from professionalism and ethics, to a biblical view of learners and learning, to content knowledge and curriculum, to planning, instruction, and assessment.
Teaching Christianly is a journey, a process of growing as a more faithful disciple, and more closely following Jesus day by day. Learning to teach Christianly is an adventure of “always becoming, and never arriving,” until that day when we meet the Lord face-to-face. Welcome to the adventure!
This was a mandatory read for a post-spring semester course, so I was admittedly not super excited to read it. However, I ended up finding the book really insightful and helpful for my future as a Christian in the education field. I especially found the chapters on curriculum and assessment useful.
A helpful read to gain a faith-based perspective on a wide range of topics in education. I imagine this would have been a very helpful book to have read in my early years of teaching.