By: Erik Ellefsen and Sahira Kodra In education, we often hear about the “crab bucket culture” – where success is met with pulling others down. But at the BCSL, we’ve embraced a different mascot: the stronger sea turtles who at hatching help others to hatch and get into the ocean safely. Throughout 2024, we’ve witnessed how this simple metaphor has helped us be an encouragement to the educational communities worldwide that are creating ripples of […]
Tag: Faith Formation
Welcome to Wonderland: The Power of Holy Nonsense
By Kevin M. Taylor, PhD Yes, we have a pet rubber chicken! His name? JumbleRumbleKins! Reader of this article, my hope is that someday you may share in one of life’s most meaningful relationships. For to know JumbleRumbleKins (Jumble, for short) is to love him—and to love him is to belong to a family who shares in the utter hilarity of his squeaks and squawks. Ha! Seriously (or maybe not), to be present with young […]
Waypoints: Leveraging Feedback to Catalyze Growth
By John Walker, Ed.D. While there are many ways to define what a “waypoint” is, I love how the National Geographic (2023) defines a waypoint: “a waypoint is a reference point that helps us know where we are and where we’re going. Whether we’re driving, sailing, or flying, waypoints help us find our way.” If you are like me, you love working with a diverse group of people whom the Lord has placed in your […]
Through the Lens of Eternity
By Jami Courson Virtual learning revealed to the world what educators have known for decades: teacher-student relationships matter. Research shows that student achievement increases and questionable behavior decreases when students believe that their teacher cares for them. As Dr. Jon Eckert writes in his book Just Teaching, “We have learned that being present and in relationship matters for each student. Learning in person increases student morale and student achievement. Having teachers who care improves student […]
Starting with the Finish Line in Mind
By Jenny Brady How to help your community prepare for endings at the beginning “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under Heaven.”1 Whether you recognize those words from the Byrds hit song or King Solomon’s original statement in Ecclesiastes, you have likely heard them thrown around in times of change. The truth in these words can be hard for many of us to swallow. As humans, we are not always […]