Christian Educators Journal: December 2025

Christian Educators Journal December 2025 Vol. 65 No. 2

The Analog Issue Stories for Community Check Yo Self: A Plea for Self-­Editing Think Before Pressing Play Rediscovering Analog Connection Beyond Devices Analog Hospitality in a Digital World Classrooms Come Alive . . .

In the Cemetery!

Contents

3 Editorial 5 Stories for Community: Curriculum Planning ERIKA KNIGHT BAKKER

9 Check Yo Self: A Plea for Self-Editing JEFF MINGEE

17 Think Before Pressing Play: A Call for Hands-On, Experiential Learning Opportunities SUSAN DYKSHOORN

22 Ink, Presence, and Prayer: Rediscovering Analog Connection in the Classroom TOBY BROOKS AND DOUG DENDY

28 Beyond Devices: A People-Focused Approach to Citizenship Education

CHRIS PRIOR AND ANDREW LESLIE

32 Analog Hospitality in an Increasingly Digital World: Re-Imagining and Re-Claiming Universal Design for Learning TIMOTHY HENDRICKSON AND MICHAEL DIETER

39 Classrooms Come Alive . . . In the Cemetery!

CARY SHAW

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Christian Educators Journal Vol. 65 No. 2, December 2025 cejonline.com Editor Abby Zwart cejeditor@gmail.com The Christian Educators Journal (CEJ) encourages letters to the editor in response to articles presented in the CEJ. Letters must be accompanied by the author’s name and email address. The CEJ reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Where a letter addresses issues raised by the author of an article, the CEJ reserves the right to invite the article author to respond to the letter.

Subscriptions Klaas Wolterstorff 2474 Westboro Dr NE Grand Rapids, MI 49506 business@cejonline.com Subscription Price (US dollars) Digital only: $25.00 per year Beginning October 2025, all subscriptions are digital only. Please visit www.cejonline for subscription information.

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Scripture All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Statement of Purpose The Christian Educators Journal Association publishes the Journal as a channel of communication for all educators committed to the idea of Christian day school at the elementary, secondary, and college levels. The views expressed are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the association.

Reprint Policy We allow free reprinting or photocopying of individual articles that have appeared in our journal, as long as the copied articles are used within the context of schooling and the source is acknowledged.

Editor Abby Zwart Copyeditor Bethany Murphy Design Editor Klaas Wolterstorff Business Manager Klaas Wolterstorff Web Shepherd Heather Altena Board of Trustees Dr. Henry Algera Heather Birch (Chair) Eunsub Cho Justin Cook Albert Kok Dave Loewen Gayle Monsma Sean Schat Christine Scholma (Secretary) Tricia Stobbe Heather VanDyke Supporting Institutions Calvin University The King’s University Redeemer University Trinity Christian College Tyndale University Subscribing Organizations Christian Educators Association Christian Educators of British Columbia Edvance Christian Schools Association Prairie Centre for Christian Education Printed back issues (if available) can be purchased for $7.50 per copy (cost of shipping to be added to total).

Some back issues may be available in digital format.

Cover: Page from original manuscript of Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens.

Editorial

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his month’s issue arrives in the midst of holiday preparation. My social media and search engine algorithm has been serving me all kinds of ideas for holiday crafts over the last few weeks—how to recycle paper bags into handmade decorations, suggestions for easy and personalized gifts kids can make for their family members, and of course, a hundred and one unique ways to wrap a gift.

I’ve always loved crafts, but during the school year, when planning and grading and emailing take over, I don’t get to pull out the scissors and paint as often as I like. Which is why the day after school lets out for Christmas break is one of my favorite personal rituals: I stir up some hot chocolate, turn on the Christmas music, and clear the kitchen table for an entire morning of wrapping gifts. After hours of reviewing end-of-semester projects and exams, it’s a relief to do something with my hands that has a starting point, an ending point, and a tangible and beautiful result.

I believe that in this digital world, our students are yearning for that same hands-on experience. As students get older, it seems that they spend more and more time—likely hours each day—on their computers or tablets scrolling resources, playing educational games, typing out their thoughts, and watching or recording video.

This is all well and good. Technology provides incredible resources for efficient teaching, engaging learning, and personalized instruction.

However, there likely has come a time in all of our careers when we thought, “Maybe I could just explain this, write something on the board, and then have them write down an answer!” That may sound a bit “oneroom schoolhouse” to some of us, but research supports the idea that analog or low-tech teaching and learning are still effective—sometimes even more so.

So in this “analog issue,” we’ve asked writers to share lessons or methods that they find work even better than technological solutions.

They remind us that seeing a unit’s scope and sequence written out instead of just on a screen can foster collaboration and help us picture a student’s learning. They suggest no-tech field or service trips you can take with your class to build connection to the local community. They think about the ways technology can actually create barriers instead of destroy them. And, they give suggestions for practices in your classroom that go beyond pressing play or asking students to email you their questions.

This Christmas season, we turn our gaze away from the glow of the screen and toward the tangible, intentional practices that nurture deep Christian Educators Journal

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learning, connection, and a robust faith grounded in the physical reality of the Word made flesh. May your mind be still this season as your hands continue to work—wrapping gifts, baking pie, wrangling batteries into a new toy, and holding your loved ones close.

—Abby Zwart

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Stories for Community: Curriculum Planning ERIKA KNIGHT BAKKER

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tories nurture the forming of community (Vryhof xiii). Listening to stories about our school places students in a narrative, creating a sense of belonging. How did our school begin and for what reasons? How do these stories affect our present practices? What vision do we have for the future in light of these stories? For staff, too, stories can be a powerful way to connect and reflect. For example, the following stories of curriculum planning demonstrate opportunities to place ourselves within a larger narrative of Christian education, to reflect on curriculum practices in the present, and perhaps to adjust our actions in the future.

A Curriculum Story from the Past Thirty years ago, I opened the cupboards of my first classroom and saw a sea of plastic buckets. It was a second grade classroom, and the curriculum I inherited was organized by monthly themes. Each bucket was labeled with a marker in that cheerful printing of primary teachers. The buckets contained picture books, bulletin board pieces, homemade worksheets, and photos and articles cut from magazines.

At the top of each bucket, well worn, was a large piece of paper describing the important details of the unit. Those 11 × 17 pieces of paper were especially valuable. They held the plan. Main goals, faith foundations, objectives, and assessments were handwritten in detail. I studied those plans carefully that first year! We taught in big, integrated units, so the theme of our buckets directed our days. I remember how satisfying it was to put one topic away and how exciting to dive into a new one.

In our June meeting at the end of my first year, we gathered as staff to catch up on curriculum planning. We each brought to the meeting our papers that summarized each unit and reflected on the year. When it was time to consider scope and sequence, we moved the furniture to the edge of the room and spread our papers on the floor. The Kindergarten papers formed the top row, showing September to June’s themes from left to right: names, apples, fairy tales. First grade topics were placed in a row below it, and so on. We could see the whole year at once, easily visualizing our students’ experiences from K to 8. I clearly remember our petite curriculum leader climbing up on a chair for a good view. She peered over her glasses at the sea of papers and helped us draw conclusions.

One of the decisions made during that session was that we needed an ecosystem study, and I was asked to create a unit on the rainforest. The curriculum coordinator brought me a bucket and a blank 11 × 17 piece of paper.

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Thirty years ago, I opened the cupboards of my first classroom and saw a sea of plastic buckets.

We could see the whole year at once, easily visualizing our students’ experiences from K to 8.

Over the years, I continued to add to the bucket, and eventually it was passed on to the next teacher who stepped into that classroom and eagerly opened the cupboards.

She explained that we first consider the biblical context: how worship, awe, and an understanding of God’s character would be woven throughout the unit. She guided me through the big binders of curriculum standards that lived in her office. We studied the main objectives and decided what assessment would reflect those goals. And then came the hardest part—finding resources.

Over the summer, I went to the public library and fingered through the card catalog to find books I could use for lessons. I drew (by hand!) a variety of worksheets and wrote out passages for the kids to read at their own level.

I noticed an old calendar with rainforest pictures at my aunt’s house, and she happily donated to the cause. Slowly the bucket contents grew. It became a favorite topic to teach! Over the years, I continued to add to the bucket, and eventually it was passed on to the next teacher who stepped into that classroom and eagerly opened the cupboards.

A Curriculum Reflection for the Present Stories like the one above remind us that we are planning and implementing curriculum in a long line of curriculum planners. This sense of belonging is a gift. Reflecting on past stories also brings me to consider four realities of the present.

Perhaps in this drastic shift of resource availability, a different struggle emerges—we can drown in options.

When one is rich in resources, it might be tempting to teach from activity to activity, skipping over the intentionality of a thoughtful plan.

Resource Availability: First of all, what a rich ocean of resources we have available to us now! Finding the resources to teach about the rainforest was a struggle. We couldn’t then imagine tapping a button on a teacher sharing site and instantly printing a class set of colorful activities! Curriculum now often comes with materials for multiple reading levels so all students can engage the lesson successfully. AI can instantly produce similar materials on any topic. Videos are available at the click of a finger; we no longer have to order a VHS cassette over the phone, send a check in the mail, and wait six weeks for delivery before eventually rolling the TV cart into the classroom!

The curriculum guides we purchase now are so complete, a teacher can open the book and begin with very little prep. Sometimes even the words to say are scripted!

Perhaps in this drastic shift of resource availability, a different struggle emerges—we can drown in options. Decision fatigue can affect us, as can the temptation to do too much.

Intentionality: Because resources were limited, we had to prepare in advance. It took time to find the books and make the handouts and assessments. As a result of this time and effort, we were intentional. What was important? How was our faith going to be foundational and woven into the unit? We wanted to teach only what was worth the effort of finding the materials, so the 11 × 17 paper held more information about the essential questions of faith and overarching objectives than details on the actual lesson plan activities. It seems our current curriculum sometimes flips this emphasis, offering many details about how to teach specific activities and giving little content about the big picture. When one is rich in resources, it might be tempting to teach from activity to activity, skipping over the intentionality of a thoughtful plan.

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Ownership: I felt ownership for the contents of that rainforest bucket. I planned and researched, added books that I found at garage sales, wrote the assessments, and found my own collection of random poems, magazine photos, and newspaper articles that applied to the unit. I was proud of that bucket! The curriculum programs available to us today might be a book or box handed to us, ready to go. Often they come online, with videos, slides, and sometimes a student portal for their activities and assessments. The school pays a monthly subscription for access. The difference between this format and the rainforest bucket is striking. A curricular subscription offers a wealth of resources and little sense of ownership. If the school doesn’t continue to pay, it’s all gone.

Teacher sharing websites are interesting when it comes to the idea of ownership. When we create an activity now, we can share it with thousands of other teachers. What a good idea after putting in that work! We can purchase other teachers’ helpful or adorable items for a few dollars. What a fun expansion of a curriculum community! In a sense, these sharing sites allow us to own a plethora of curriculum ideas and activities, now through monetary purchases instead of personal time handwriting worksheets or cutting up calendars.

Curiously, when I’ve posted items to share with teachers online, the work I’ve done that is more big picture, like unit overviews or ways to align two texts over a semester course, sells far less than the cute instant activities. It seems we typically turn to these websites for smaller activities rather than larger plans.

Scope and Sequence: The scope and sequence work we did in the past was communal. We gathered together to make observations and decisions. The work was also tangible. The papers were in our hands, and they moved across the floor. Our curriculum coordinator sometimes concluded our session by having us tape our overarching themes onto a roll of newsprint paper. This large K–8 curriculum overview was hung on the wall of the staff room where we could see at a glance what each teacher was working on at any given time.

When we update our curriculum scope and sequence details these days, we usually each work at our own computer, updating charts of the standards we meet. We enter our curriculum details to a computer program or a shared document, a primarily individual task. It’s also been quite common, for us at least, that once the information is put into the program, we seldom look at it again.

Four Curriculum Considerations for the Future In light of these stories from the past and reflections on the present, I’d like to suggest four actions to influence our future practices: 1. Do a little jig this week when you download differentiated reading passages, when you quickly pull up a relevant magazine article, or when a student portal offers individualized reviews and preassessment data. Celebrate the wealth!

2. Choose one curriculum topic coming up next semester to discuss with a colleague. Be intentional about your deeper goals and faith connections Christian Educators Journal

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When we create an activity now, we can share it with thousands of other teachers.

When we update our curriculum scope and sequence details these days, we usually each work at our own computer, updating charts of the standards we meet.

Is there a way that our big picture plans could be more visible to staff or shared with the school community? Can we show students where they’re going?

before choosing the activities. What’s truly important? As you discuss, consider the context of your school’s story: Who are these kids, at this time, in this culture, with this Christian foundation? Remember that the curriculum company doesn’t have that kind of wisdom; you own the plan.

3. Upgrade your scope and sequence work to be more communal and tangible. Once in a while, print out the topics and main objectives, pour some coffee, and create room to notice where the school excels or carries gaps. Our bodies might appreciate walking away from the computer, stretching out some papers on the floor and climbing on a chair! As well, is there a way that our big picture plans could be more visible to staff or shared with the school community? Can we show students where they’re going?

4. Finally, let’s share more stories! Our communities are richer with stories, and we all benefit from the reflections and discussions that result.

A narrative shared is a gift we give each other.

Steven Vryhof has noticed that successful school communities share stories of their past and provide a vision for the future, thus giving students the gift of belonging to something bigger (xiii). As educators, too, let’s share stories and reflect, recognizing that we belong to a long, beautiful story of Christian education.

Works Cited Vryhof, Steven C. Between Memory and Vision: The Case for Faith-Based Schooling. Eerdmans, 2004 Erika Knight Bakker is thankful for the many stories of community she has experienced at Christian schools in British Columbia and Washington state. She lives in the Seattle area, supporting Christian educators through writing, coaching, and professional development.

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Check Yo Self: A Plea for Self-Editing JEFF MINGEE

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ell-chosen words influence worlds. They move governments, shape wars, and stir hearts. Conversely, a haphazard approach to words negates potential impact. Dull knives don’t cut cleanly. They must be sharpened and resharpened. Words must be written and rewritten.

In this essay, I argue that high school students should build the habit of self-editing their written work for three reasons. First, excellent outcomes depend on intentional actions or habits. Second, excellence in writing requires self-editing. Finally, expert writers model self-editing. Teachers should embrace these three drivers as they help students develop this critical skill. Like a coach helping an athlete reach the next level of performance, teachers can help students reach the next level of excellent writing.

The Great Conversation We can safely assume that editing has always accompanied writing. Frustrated writers have discarded stone, crumpled paper, and slammed computers. Both professional writers seeking publication and amateur authors seeking an A in English know the grief and groans of searching for the right word. Hemingway admitted that he rewrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times, but the figure is believed to be even higher (“Ernest Hemingway”). I’m currently editing a printed copy of this essay with a red pen in hand while waiting in a car shop. I doubt I’m the first or the last.

Our digital age has not produced better writers. Penmanship pundits bemoan the writing of today’s teenagers. Illegible handwriting combined with poor sentence structure frustrates exhausted educators and worries watching parents. Michael Carter and Heather Harper lament, “Unfortunately, a slew of empirical studies conducted over the past thirty years have provided ample evidence that those who believe that writing continues to decline are indeed correct” (285). Students need the skill of self-editing. And they need teachers who will help them develop the skill.

Excellent Outcomes Depend on Intentional Actions or Habits Habits matter. Logan Fiorella, professor of educational psychology, exposes the power of habits in academic work: “Many academic . . . outcomes depend on frequently repeating the same behaviors in the same contexts (e.g., reading, studying, sleeping, exercising, or healthy eating). This suggests habits, in addition to motivation and metacognition, play a critical role in student Christian Educators Journal

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Both professional writers seeking publication and amateur authors seeking an A in English know the grief and groans of searching for the right word.

self-regulation” (611). Student success and excellence require intentional habits.

This shouldn’t surprise most teenagers. Student athletes understand that excelling at a sport requires regularly showing up to practice. Musical teenagers know that skill demands practice. Excellence in every field, artistic, athletic, or academic, depends on purposeful repetition and practice.

Excellence in Writing Requires Self-Editing

This self-induced scrutiny sharpens the written work.

In writing, practice may take the form of self-editing. Students grade their own work with the teacher’s eagle eye and red pen. No page skipped and no ink spared. They critique essays and paragraphs, sentences and word choice.

Self-editing is the act of editing your own work in preparation for submission. This self-induced scrutiny sharpens the written work.

Consider one mark of excellent writing: clarity. Students lacking clarity stumble over their words and ramble through a speech. They reach a word count without ever making a point. Writing expert William Zinsser warns, “Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other” (8).

Thus, students must pursue clarity in their thinking and writing. They go hand in hand. Zinsser explains, “The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest component” (6). Similarly, Brandon O’Brien, the director of content development for Redeemer City to City ministry network, advises, “For the sake of clarity and your own sanctification, I recommend you delete all the words you can” (106). He provides practical ideas: simplify redundancies, beware of prepositional phrases, trust your verbs, and ruthlessly eliminate jargon (106–7). Unnecessary parts of a written work are unhelpful parts of a written work.

Clear writing powerfully communicates the author’s thoughts and serves the reader. Professor Belle Rose Ragins explains, The beauty of clear writing is that it creates nearly effortless reading . . . for the reader. Clear writing may be elegant, but it is never pretentious. The goal is not to show the reader how smart you are but, rather, to take the reader with you on a journey that is clear, logical, and direct. Clear writing is about writing simply, but it is not simplistic. (494)

Clarity matters to Christian students as they seek to communicate the truth.

Such writing requires self-editing. After pushing keys or putting letters on paper, the author takes the time to examine what they have written with the reader in mind. Jumbled thoughts don’t become clear merely by being written. Clear words emerge through the process of revision and rewriting.

Further, clarity matters to Christian students as they seek to communicate the truth. Author Andrew T. Le Peau warns, “Without a rigorous commitment to clarity we . . . fail in an important way. We fail to tell the truth straightforwardly” (83). Christian students put in the work of self-editing as an act of love for their neighbor-reader and love for the truth.

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Teachers, Set Your Students Up for Self-Editing Students who write as an act of love need teachers to help them fine tune this discipline. Self-editing rarely comes naturally. The natural bent of most students is more likely to finish, submit, sleep, repeat. Who has time or energy to self-edit?

But teachers draw the best out of their students. This is one of the chief joys of teaching. We get a front row seat when the light bulb turns on and the student finds a subject they love. We get to fan into flame the educational embers that just might grow into a passion or a career. Many of our heroes credit a teacher for the early stages of their love for learning a given topic.

So, teachers, are you setting your students up for self-editing? Are you helping them understand the difference between the right word and the almost right word? Are you confronting them with the intentional word choice of the apostle Paul and Athanasius and Augustine and Martin Luther?

One way we can do this is to continually introduce them to great writers.

Expert Writers Model Self-Editing Expert writers model self-editing. These prose pros have enough selfawareness to know that their first draft won’t be the final draft. They’ve embraced the process of self-editing, and we get to enjoy the fruit of their labor. They chose not to serve the first meal they cooked, and most of us are thankful for their restraint. Stephen King, C. S. Lewis, and Anne Lamott provide helpful examples of self-editing.

Stephen King is known for terrifying readers with words. To do so, he revises. King explains,

These prose pros have enough self-awareness to know that their first draft won’t be the final draft.

I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day . . . fifty the day after that . . . and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. (125, emphasis his)

King amends a catchphrase: “To write is human, to edit is divine” (13).

Editing is not only divine but difficult. King commands, “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings” (222). Editing requires verbose writers to pick up the surgeon’s scalpel and get to work. It will hurt. It may feel like death. But only the sharpened knife cuts. King recalls feedback he received as a senior in high school: “Not bad, but puffy. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd draft = 1st draft - 10%” (222). This is a formula that may prove helpful for high school writers.

Christian writer C. S. Lewis also emphasizes the importance of selfediting. In 1959, C. S. Lewis advised a young writer, “Take great pains to be clear. Remember that though you start by knowing what you mean, the reader doesn’t, and a single ill-chosen word may lead him to a total misunderstanding” (4). A single word can derail the communication process.

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Editing requires verbose writers to pick up the surgeon’s scalpel and get to work.

This means that we must print out our work, grab our red pen, and examine every word. You can’t scroll your way to effective editing.

Lewis further drew a connection between clear writing and clear thinking: You must translate every bit of your theology into the vernacular. This is very troublesome, and it means you say very little in half an hour, but it is essential. It is also of the greatest service to your own thought. I have come to the conviction that if you cannot translate your thoughts into uneducated language, then your thoughts were confused. Power to translate is the test of having really understood one’s own meaning. (122)

American novelist and writing instructor Anne Lamott both practices and preaches self-editing. She knows that first drafts are rarely, if ever, final drafts. Lamott explains, Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft—you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft—you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy. (24)

Lewis calls us to examine every word and Lamott calls us to examine every tooth. The experts agree: Every word matters. In light of Lammot’s insight, high school students should determine never to submit an unedited first draft. If it’s the first draft, you know it isn’t good. That’s okay. What’s not okay is to submit it without serious self-editing.

Counterarguments

Requiring self-editing exercises indeed adds another task to an already full pedagogical plate.

Some—particularly educators aware of clocks and calendars—might argue that requiring students to complete self-editing exercises would take too much time. We need to cover the following ten chapters before the marking period ends. We have standardized tests looming. Who has time for a second or third round of self-edits? Requiring self-editing exercises indeed adds another task to an already full pedagogical plate. However, the conversation regarding quality versus quantity deserves consideration. Perhaps less is more. Possibly, students would gain more from several rounds of self-edits to produce one excellent piece of writing than they would from quickly writing and submitting several half-hearted and even less-witted essays in the hopes of picking up tips and tricks from the teacher’s feedback as they go.

Additionally, some might argue that students already self-edit of their own accord. Of course students should edit their work before they submit it.

Don’t they know that? Well, apparently not. Whether it’s the informal communication habits fostered by text messages or the distracted teenage mind riddled by too much time online, most students could benefit from learning self-editing habits. They need to be taught. Future employers pray that high school teachers will help them develop clear written communication skills.

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A Framework for Self-Editing1 So, how might we go about self-editing when we sit down at our desk? What questions should we ask? What problems should we look for? Here is a simple framework based on the acronym CAVES. Students might be encouraged to bring their writing out of the caves and into clarity and light as they follow these questions.

• Criteria: Examine your writing in light of the assignment. Did you actually answer the question posed, or did you simply regurgitate what you could remember about the topic? If you were given a word count floor or ceiling, did you meet the requirements? Don’t miss points simply because you forgot the original instructions. Self-editing a printed copy of your work (just like the one your teacher will grade) should help you avoid these careless errors. You should be able to draw a line from the question to your answer or be able to underline exactly how you answered the assigned question.

• Argument: Review your argument for clarity and flow. Can you underline your thesis statement easily, or will your teacher finish your essay and still not know exactly what you were writing about? If you have subpoints, do they clearly and obviously support your central thesis?

Are your points in a logical order, or will your readers experience mental whiplash as they try to follow you? It can be helpful to summarize each paragraph into a sentence and then assess whether the outline flows smoothly. Or write in the margin a single word or phrase describing the content of that paragraph and how it advances your argument.

• Verbs: Verbs can powerfully advance the point of a sentence or slowly bore the reader to death. Underline your verbs and ask if this is the best verb to describe the action at hand. Demand your verbs to perform.

Eliminate the weaklings.

• Expression: Several components comprise a complete sentence. In addition to verbs, strong sentences include strong subjects and clear expression. With a colored pencil in hand, read each sentence and examine it for clarity and beauty. Does it communicate the intended point? Does it do so beautifully? Will readers enjoy reading your work, or will each sentence bog them down like hiking uphill through mud?

• Start/Finish: Introductions and conclusions matter. Your first sentence is like your first impression on a blind date. You don’t want to get that wrong. Like someone who checks and double-checks their outfit in the mirror before a date, check and double-check your introduction. If you were reading this opening, would you want to continue reading? And 1. This framework was developed, in part, through an interactive prompt with ChatGPT 5. I listed five categories of self-editing questions I wanted students to ask and included several examples of questions under each category. I then used the prompt: “I’m working with high school students on self-editing their papers. I’ve drafted five areas of questions that I’d like them to start asking as they edit. My goal is to take these five areas and create a memorable, clear, and powerful way for them to remember them. Ask me five questions, one at a time, and help me draft some ways to summarize these five points.”

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Can you underline your thesis statement easily, or will your teacher finish your essay and still not know exactly what you were writing about?

If you were reading this opening, would you want to continue reading?

then move to the conclusion. Does it effectively summarize the argument? Like a championship boxer, finish the round by landing a strong punch. Then go to your corner with a healthy sense of accomplishment.

Conclusion High school students can develop this habit as an act of love for their neighbor.

High school students should develop the habit of self-editing their written work. They should create a personal checklist that helps them critique and correct before they turn in a paper or essay. Failure to build this habit will only further their intellectual atrophy. Instead, high school students can develop this habit as an act of love for their neighbor. In Charitable Writing, Richard Gibson and James Beitler compare writing to giving a gift: To recognize that writing not only can be but also should be a hospitable practice has profound implications for Christian writers. To write hospitably requires that we use words and genre conventions that our reader will recognize and understand. To write hospitably requires that we take the time to edit our writing so as to make it approachable. To write hospitably requires that we actually think about who our readers are in the first place. Above all, to write hospitably requires that we recognize writing as a gift. (115)

I’ve told my students that research and writing are like a golden key: They will open up doors you never thought you’d be able to walk through.

The ability to write a compelling sentence, paragraph, or paper will allow students to be in critical decision-making moments with an earned voice.

But, unedited work will leave those doors locked and opportunities lost.

Reader beware. Go forth and edit. The rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube warns, “Check yo self before you wreck yo self.”

Works Cited Carter, Michael J., and Heather Harper. “Student Writing: Strategies to Reverse Ongoing Decline.” Academic Questions, vol. 26, no. 3, 2013, pp.

285–95, doi.10.1007/s12129–013-9377-0.

Clear, James. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results; An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. Avery, 2018.

“Ernest Hemingway: 47 Farewell to Arms Endings Published.” BBC, July 10, 2012, www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-18769231#:~:text= Hemingway%20famously%20revealed%20that%20he,campaigns%20 of%20World%20War%20I. Fiorella, Logan. “The Science of Habit and Its Implications for Student Learning and Well-Being.” Educational Psychology Review, vol. 32, no. 3, 2020, pp. 603–25, doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09525-1.

Gibson, Richard Hughes, and James Beitler III. Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words. InterVarsity, 2020.

King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft: Contributions from Joe Hill and Owen King. 20th ed., Scribner, 2020.

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Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. 2nd ed., Anchor Books, 2019.

Le Peau, Andrew T. Write Better: A Lifelong Editor on Craft, Art, and Spirituality. IVP Academic, 2019.

Lewis, C. S. On Writing (and Writers): A Miscellany of Advice and Opinions, edited by David C. Downing. HarperOne, 2022.

O’Brien, Brandon J. Writing for Life and Ministry: A Practical Guide to Writing for Publication. Moody, 2020.

Ragins, Belle Rose, ed. “Editor’s Comments: Reflections on the Craft of Clear Writing.” Academy of Management Review, vol. 37, no. 4, 2012, pp. 493–501, doi.org/10.5465/amr.2012.0165.

Zinsser, William. On Writing Well: The Classical Guide to Writing Nonfiction.

7th ed., Collins, 2021.

For Further Reading Forsyth, Mark. The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase.

Penguin, 2014.

Hale, Constance. Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing. W. W. Norton, 2013.

Kostenberger, Andreas J. Excellence: The Character of God and the Pursuit of Scholarly Virtue. Crossway, 2011.

Mackey, Mary-Kate. Write Better Right Now: The Reluctant Writer’s Guide to Confident Communication and Self-Assured Style. MJF Books, 2020.

Williams, Joseph M., and Gregory G. Colomb. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace.

University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Dr. Jeff Mingee (DMin, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) serves churches in southeast Virginia with the SBC of Virginia. He teaches rhetoric as well as research and writing at Covenant Classical Community School in Hampton, Virginia. Jeff has authored several books including Digital Dominion: Five Questions Christians Should Ask to Take Control of Their Digital Devices.

Jeff and his wife Lauren live in Newport News with their son Carter. His oldest son, Aiden, is at West Point USMA in New York.

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Think Before Pressing Play: A Call for Hands-On, Experiential Learning Opportunities SUSAN DYKSHOORN

W

e’ve all been there—cuing up the video to show students as part of our lesson. Having the students view a read-aloud math teaching video or science experiment is often a way teachers help students gain information on the knowledge and skills needed for the required curriculum learning standards. Following their viewing, we expect that they have a proficient understanding of what they saw and are prepared to complete a worksheet, response, or discussion based on this passive method of learning. But is this a helpful practice, or is there a better way?

Effects of the Pandemic The closing of classroom doors in 2020 due to the pandemic caused teachers to find new ways to teach, with many of those being through online interactions, breakout rooms, and videos (Lucy 81). This began an explosion of YouTube videos and tutoring sessions through platforms like Zoom, making teaching accessible to as many students and families as possible (Kramer and Hicks 346). However, as students returned to the classroom, the trend did not reverse itself. While many teachers looked forward to real-time and in-person interactions with their students, many held on to some of the teaching methods that videos and online platforms provided to further students’ learning during these unprecedented times.

I’m not saying this is a bad thing. Many great educational advances were made—were forced to be made—during these times, and continuing their use is appropriate when it has positive implications for the students being served. Videos can be interactive and engaging when used in a particular, planned way. What I am arguing for is the need for students to experience learning for themselves in a hands-on, active, and relational way so that they can experience growth, joy, and deeper connection to the subject matter and to the community in which they are learning.

History of Experiential Learning Experiential learning was first introduced during the progressive movement by educational leaders like John Dewey who advocated for students to be active and creative in problem solving and play under the supervision of a teacher who guides the learning environment (Beatty 424–25). Dewey believed that students learn from experiences, which support future learning and problem solving (Buethe 85). Theorists like Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky Christian Educators Journal

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While many teachers looked forward to real-time and in-person interactions with their students, many held on to some of the teaching methods that videos and online platforms provided.

Rather than students passively taking in information, the learning environments that emerge from this active way of thinking draw students to participate in their education.

also stressed that knowledge, skills, and understanding are constructed through active experiences, collaboration, and engaging in dialogue during the learning process (Laurienti 4–5). Rather than students passively taking in information, the learning environments that emerge from this active way of thinking draw students to participate in their education by using materials, employing tools, encountering problems to be solved, and using abstract ideas in meaningful, hands-on experiences that can be applied and transferred to other situations and real-life contexts. We can see these ideas in action in inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, and hands-on curriculum approaches.

Read-Aloud Lesson

A video may omit some of these necessary pieces, including the reader’s non-verbal communication and student responses that require teacher response.

Imagine a classroom where a teacher has primary students sitting at their desks, watching on a screen the pictures from a story pan in and out as an undisclosed voice narrates the words that students may or may not be able to see. Perhaps this read-aloud serves as the context for students to complete a follow-up worksheet on making connections to self by writing some sentences and drawing a picture. In contrast, think about students gathering on the carpet and listening to a read-aloud story. The teacher has the ability to pause, point to text features and details in the pictures, ask comprehension questions, engage students in think-pair-shares or turn-and-talks, and have students share ideas before releasing them to individually complete the activity. While the same book and activity is used, in the latter scenario, the students are provided with individualized teaching, a chance to think about distinct aspects of the story, solidify their understanding, reflect on their learning, and be more prepared to complete the activity. While this can be done with a video (if planned well and if the teacher has the mouse ready to pause at predetermined points throughout the video), what about the reading skills being taught that are unintentional?

Burkins and Yates (27–28) explain that for students to show comprehension, four processing systems work together—phonology, meaning, context, and orthography. These systems need to be activated throughout activities like the interactive read-aloud, by focusing on how we engage children in talking about them. A video may omit some of these necessary pieces, including the reader’s non-verbal communication and student responses that require teacher response. How easy is it to repeat a line or provide clarification on a vocabulary word in the moment as opposed to finding the exact location in the video? And will children watch passively and refrain from questions because an actual person is not there to ask? If our intention is literacy growth and development, a video might not be the best choice to provide ongoing support and formative assessment strategies.

And I don’t know about you, but as a teacher, do I get the same joy out of viewing a book read versus reading the book? What might give my students more enjoyment and promote a context for growing lifelong readers?

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Science Lesson Again, let’s consider an intermediate science period looking at the effects of temperature. Direct instruction, followed by worksheet-based response and memorization, has been the traditional method of education to ensure that all students learn the basics and can reproduce their learning on an assessment (Isik-Ercan 330). Yet when thinking about the needs of students, can adopting a textbook that explains how solids, liquids, and gases change with heating and cooling be as effective as testing out chocolate melting or freezing water (Province of BC 19)? Perhaps a good text with photos and detailed explanations can show how a sealed plastic container will break if filled to the top with water, but will it help students understand how this learning can be transferred to bursting pipes in houses? Will they understand how much extra room ice takes up in comparison to water? Will they be able to see how the ice froze and where the breaking points occurred in order to design pipes and use materials to create artifacts to ensure the safety and well-being of those working or living in the building?

Or think about forms of energy. Does knowing the definition of kinetic, thermal, or nuclear energy help a student understand it in the same way as testing it out? I can tell a student the way a magnet works, but unless a child tests out magnets in an authentic setting, including their polarity and strength, will they really understand their attributes, behaviors, and applications to the real world? Hands-on learning experiences, exploration, and play in the science classroom allow students to gain the knowledge, processes, and skills necessary for deeper understanding (Isik-Ercan 332). With guidance from the teacher, these experiences provide them with questions to redirect their learning and formative measures of assessment to support their academic and interpersonal growth.

Does knowing the definition of kinetic, thermal, or nuclear energy help a student understand it in the same way as testing it out?

Benefits and Barriers In addition to reflecting on these scenarios, Laurienti (1–10) outlines several more benefits of hands-on and interactive learning experiences, including how transformative they are for students’ engagement and motivation to learn. By design, students are required to actively participate, which raises interest and memory retention. Because students are using various modalities to explore subject matter, visual or auditory learning can be enhanced by discussion, exploration, critical thinking, and application.

Maybe we can agree that this active, hands-on learning sounds like a better way. Let’s consider some of the barriers that are preventing teachers from implementing experiential learning lessons.

While new curriculum requirements are pushing for inquiry-based approaches and interdisciplinary learning, many teachers lack confidence and time to explore these approaches and instead find it easier to replace experimentation and inquiry methods with text and video-based content (Isik-Ercan 330–31). However, to meet curriculum requirements outlined by governing bodies, active learning is an essential piece, and many provinces and states are using a more flexible model and competency-development initiatives to ensure its inclusion (Isik-Ercan 331; Province of BC, para. 2).

Governing bodies are also increasingly releasing exemplar lessons, sample Christian Educators Journal

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Because students are using various modalities to explore subject matter, visual or auditory learning can be enhanced by discussion, exploration, critical thinking, and application.

Teachers play a significant role in experiential learning opportunities by helping students during face-to-face interactions to be intentional, work together, build social-emotional skills, and take responsibility for their own learning.

curriculums, workshops, and professional development training to build teacher confidence and knowledge on its effective implementation. With the need to develop habits and competencies for future success, teachers play a significant role in experiential learning opportunities by helping students during face-to-face interactions to be intentional, work together, build social-emotional skills, and take responsibility for their own learning (Kramer and Hicks 347).

Another perceived barrier is the need to meet basic skills and standardized testing measures (Isik-Ercan 331). Isak-Ercan points out that unless a child fully understands the concepts being tested, which can be enhanced through increased interaction with the materials and collaboration with peers surrounding the content, test-focused teaching can have a negative effect on various groups of students. According to Lucy (81), students crave opportunities to make sense of their experiences and learning through active involvement and practice. Students can receive effective feedback as they work together and engage in learning (Laurenti 9).

A very real barrier is the lack of resources to implement experiential learning, such as a lack of materials, outdated facilities, and insufficient training (Isik-Ercan 331). While including experiential learning does not mean stopping the use of all technology and textbooks, supportive and innovative school environments increase the potential for implementation, as well as understanding that its greater use would allow for increased ability to meet the diverse needs of all students (McCoy and Lynam 575–76).

Technology can be used well while also placing students in an environment of inquiry and collaboration. Engaging students in video-recording themselves and replaying it to help them understand oral presentation skills, using programs like Skype a Scientist while also having students critically think about effective research questions, or using Virtual Museums and Field Trips to learn more about topics are only some of the ways teachers can integrate technology into hands-on learning experiences. However, this needs to be done with intentional planning, pre-teaching, and valuable follow-up to prevent its return to passive learning again! The application of learning in these contexts can often allow for the use of creativity and for a variety of interests and vocational goals to be addressed, celebrated, and encouraged (Laurienti 7).

Our Call as Educators Stepping away from videos and replacing them with active and engaging experiences provides the context for applying creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills needed for school and life.

As elementary teachers, we have the immense responsibility of making decisions about the best ways for students to learn as we seek to provide meaningful and responsive learning experiences (Burkins and Yates 2). As Christian educators, we desire for students to see the wonder and awe in God’s created world and explore the joys and intricacies of their place in his greater kingdom story (Ps. 8:3–4; Rom. 1:20). Stepping away from videos and replacing them with active and engaging experiences provides the context for applying creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills needed for school and life. If we want our students to be change agents in this world, offering authentic learning environments in which to use their knowledge and practice skills can support them in shining their light in the world (Matt. 5:14).

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Works Cited Beatty, Barbara. “John Dewey’s High Hopes for Play: Democracy and Education and the Progressive Era Controversies over Play in Kindergarten and Preschool Education.” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, vol. 16, no. 4, 2017, pp. 424–37, www.jstor.org/stable/26854801.

Buethe, John. “A Philosophy of Experience for the Unfamiliar Encounter.” Educational Theory, vol. 72, no. 1, 2022, pp. 85–101, doi.org/10.1111/ edth.12513.

Burkins, Jan, and Kari Yates. Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom. Stenhouse, 2021.

Isik-Ircan, Zeynep. “‘You Have 25 Kids Playing Around!’ Learning to Implement Inquiry-Based Science Learning in an Urban Second-Grade Classroom.” International Journal of Science Education, vol. 42, no. 33, 2020, pp.

329–49, doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2019.1710874.

Kramer, Mariah Fiona, and Troy Hicks. “Teaching Remotely Without Being Distant: Implications for Primary Age Students’ Learning of Foundational Reading Skills.” The Reading Teacher, vol. 77, no. 3, 2023, pp. 341–49, doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2250.

Laurienti, Bill. “Top 10 Benefits of Hands-On Learning.” SmartLab Learning, 31 Oct. 2024, www.smartlablearning.com/benefits-of-hands-on-learning/.

Lucy, Breanne R. “Things I Do Not Know.” The English Journal, vol. 110, no. 4, 2021, pp. 79–82, www.jstor.org/stable/27115249.

McCoy, Selina, and Aoife M. Lynam. “How Field Experience Shapes PreService Primary Teachers’ Technology Integration Knowledge and Practice.” Teacher Development vol. 26, no. 4, 2022, pp. 567–86, doi.org/10.108 0/13664530.2022.2074086.

Province of British Columbia. Area of Learning: Science, Province of BC, 2016, www.curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/science Province of British Columbia. Introduction to Science, Province of BC, 2025, curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/science/introduction.

Susan Dykshoorn is a faculty associate/assistant professor at Trinity Western University and a grade 1 teacher at Abbotsford Christian School in British Columbia.

She leads professional development training and encourages the use of hands-on, inquiry-based learning in the elementary classroom so both students and teachers can find joy in learning.

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Ink, Presence, and Prayer: Rediscovering Analog Connection in the Classroom TOBY BROOKS AND DOUG DENDY

I

What we call the “communication card” has become, in our experience, one of the most analog, unpretentious, and surprisingly transformational tools in our teaching toolkits.

Students are specifically told that the instructor will pray over each card individually and by name each time a card is submitted.

n an age where apps track everything from steps to sleep cycles and where artificial intelligence can generate convincing essays in seconds, it may seem almost quaint to rely on a 3 × 5 notecard and a pen to facilitate classroom communication. Yet after nearly two decades each in higher education faculty roles, we have found that this simple approach has produced some of the most significant impact in our teaching.

In the past, faculty might have turned to a mobile survey tool or logged attendance in a spreadsheet. Post-COVID-19, however, the need to cultivate authentic, bi-directional communication has only grown (Avcı; Garrad and Page; Marler et al.). In that context, the power and value of a personal, handwritten system has come into clearer focus. What we call the “communication card” has become, in our experience, one of the most analog, unpretentious, and surprisingly transformational tools in our teaching toolkits.

At the beginning of every class session, a blank notecard is distributed to each member of the class. Every student is asked to write their name and a praise or gratitude on the front of the card along with any concerns on the back. The prompt is simple: “I care about you. Let me know if there’s anything in your world you’d like me to know about.”

In a state or secular institution, this practice can be framed as an opportunity to share a gratitude and/or a concern. In a faith-based institution, it can be presented as an opportunity to share a praise and a prayer request. Gratitude exercises like this or variants on the theme (i.e., “three good things,” etc.) have demonstrated the ability to potentially reduce the incidence of depression and anxiety in some populations (Petrocchi and Couyoumdjian; Schienle et al.). Regardless of setting, the card is a tangible means for faculty to open a dialogue with each student in the hopes that they feel seen, valued, and appreciated. By adding in the “if there’s anything in your world you’d like me to know about,” we seek to extend a genuine invitation for students to share whatever they feel led to communicate.

In practice, responses may include a question about the course material, a comment about the class, or—more often—something deeply personal. In faith-based contexts, students are specifically told that the instructor will pray over each card individually and by name each time a card is submitted, so each is encouraged to include a prayer request if they choose. Cards are then collected and reviewed. When a student’s comment warrants a reply, a personal, handwritten note is created and delivered at the next class session on a fresh notecard or sealed envelope.

Simple. Analog. And profoundly human.

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A Gentle Disruption of Routine Like most faculty who have taught for any length of time, we have experimented with numerous systems for tracking attendance, soliciting questions, and keeping communication lines open. From digital gradebook signins to QR codes and course management messaging systems, we have tried a host of options. While convenient, these methods often lacked soul. What they gained in efficiency, they tended to lose in intimacy.

The notecard, by contrast, slows the moment down. It provides students with a tangible pause. It is a quiet breath before each class session to reflect, to reach out, or simply to be present. It also reinforces that our classrooms are not merely transactional spaces where information is dispensed. Instead, they are intended as transformational spaces where presence matters.

This small act of reflection resonates with recent scholarship on contemplative pedagogy, which emphasizes intentional stillness and reflection in learning environments as a means to enhance focus, deepen learning, and foster emotional resilience (Grace; Chapman). Such analog practices may also serve as an antidote to the cognitive overload and information fatigue so prevalent in digitally saturated learning environments (Barbezat and Bush; Zajonc).

Figure 1: Example of a card submitted by a student concerned for family.

Figure 2: Example of a card submitted by a student excited to share a triumph.

Building Belonging and Trust One of the unintended but deeply welcome consequences of the notecard practice has been the trust it cultivates. Students often share things on those cards they might never feel comfortable putting in an email. From mental health struggles to worries about a parent’s cancer diagnosis to hopes for Christian Educators Journal

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Our classrooms are not merely transactional spaces where information is dispensed. Instead, they are intended as transformational spaces where presence matters.

We have watched a stronger community take shape.

landing that first job interview, the range and depth of the notes are often stunning.

In return, we seek to honor their vulnerability with our own. We write back encouragement. When and where appropriate, we offer prayer. We remind them that they are not alone. Over time, we have watched a stronger community take shape. Many of our courses are designed in lock-step cohorts, with students taking many or even all of their courses together. Ironically, despite the familiarity and the sheer amount of time spent together, students often fail to really see one another and be seen. The connection card shifts this dynamic. It is not a practice built on anonymous digital engagement but rather one that models and requires genuine human interaction.

Paul exhorts the Galatians to “carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). In our classrooms, the note­ card has become a small but meaningful way of living out this calling.

This sense of belonging echoes research in higher education emphasizing the importance of connection, particularly in fostering persistence and retention among students (Strayhorn). When students feel seen and heard, their academic motivation and emotional resilience improve (Tinto).

Better Than Email

Because the medium is analog, there is no character limit, no formatting rules, and no pressure to “get it right.”

It can be tempting to assume that email should be the default communication mode for students. After all, email is official, timestamped, and searchable. However, particularly in healthcare and related fields, it often replaces human connection with sterile utility. For today’s college student, email can be a loathsome communication medium (Uddin and Jacobson; Robson et al.). It is also intimidating for some, easily ignored by others, and rarely as personal as we would hope. While we were unable to locate empirical data, some contemporary sources estimate that up to 75 percent of university students admit that they never or rarely open university emails (Shahade).

By contrast, when students write to us on their card (even though the practice is semi-compulsory and professor prompted), it is often the first time they have been directly invited to lend their voice. This is particularly compelling for introverted students, who often have much to offer but face significant barriers to offering it aloud. For them, the connection card can be a rare but welcome opportunity to contribute. And because the medium is analog, there is no character limit, no formatting rules, and no pressure to “get it right.”

An Assessment Tool in Disguise Interestingly, connection cards have also become a formative assessment tool that we did not anticipate. When a student is regularly confused about content, their comments will reveal it. When a particular concept consistently generates questions, we know it is worth revisiting. And when students affirm what they have learned or describe a shift in perspective, we are able to see the impact of the lesson in real time.

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than the impersonal Likert scales of end-of-course course evaluations. The concept aligns with principles of formative assessment, emphasizing the importance of frequent, low-stakes feedback to inform instructional decision making (Sadler).

Handwritten Hope One of the more sacred moments in this practice comes when we return a handwritten response to a student in the next class session. There is something powerful about seeing your name written by another person, held in ink and not in pixels. We have long considered the professorate to be a sacred calling, one we seek to fulfill with gratitude and service. Over time, we have come to view this process as a form of academic pastoral care that is rare, resonant, and needed by not just the students but also by the faculty who extend it.

More than once, a student has said, “I really needed that,” or “Thanks for remembering.” Others have expressed gratitude for prayers offered before certification exams, for following up on a grandmother’s surgery, or for encouragement to persist when they were tempted to withdraw.

We do not always know what burdens or joys students bring with them into the classroom. However, analog practices such as this can create space for those quiet burdens and quiet victories to surface, moments that might otherwise go unseen.

There is something powerful about seeing your name written by another person, held in ink and not in pixels.

Concluding Reflections The connection card practice is simple. It requires about five minutes per class, a stack of cards, and a willingness to listen. In return, it yields connection, compassion, and clarity.

Technology is not the enemy. In fact, we regularly use digital tools including daily well-being check-ins as a part of teaching practice. But the connection card reminds us that things like presence, prayer, and personalized attention do not need to be optimized. They need to be operationalized, embodied, and personalized.

In a time when education can feel increasingly transactional, analog practices like this can bring us back to what matters most: our shared humanity, our mutual hope, and our calling to teach not just minds but also hearts.

Works Cited Avcı, Mehmet. “Belongingness, Social Connectedness, and Life Satisfaction in College Students After COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Happiness and Health, vol. 3, no. 2, 2023, pp. 23–36, doi.org/10.47602/johah.v3i2.43.

Barbezat, Daniel P., and Mirabai Bush. Contemplative Practices in Higher Education: Powerful Methods to Transform Teaching and Learning. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.

Chapman, Laura Roche. “Contemplative Pedagogy: Creating Mindful Christian Educators Journal

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Analog practices such as this can create space for those quiet burdens and quiet victories to surface, moments that might otherwise go unseen.

Educators and Classrooms.” Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, vol. 6, no. 6, 2021, pp. 1540–53, doi.org/10.1044/2021_PERSP-21-00065.

Garrad, Traci-Ann, and Angela Page. “From Face-to-Face to the Online Space: The Continued Relevance of Connecting Students with Each Other and Their Learning Post COVID-19.” Frontiers in Education, vol. 7, 2022, doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.808104.

Grace, Fran. “Learning as a Path, Not a Goal: Contemplative Pedagogy—Its Principles and Practices.” Teaching Theology & Religion, vol. 14, no. 2, 2011, pp. 99–124, doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9647.2011.00689.x.

Marler, Emily K., et al. “The Impact of COVID-19 on University Students’ Academic Motivation, Social Connection, and Psychological Well-Being.”

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology [US], vol. 10, no. 3, 2024, pp. 320–30, doi.org/10.1037/stl0000294.

Petrocchi, Nicola, and Alessandro Couyoumdjian. “The Impact of Gratitude on Depression and Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Criticizing, Attacking, and Reassuring the Self.” Self and Identity, vol. 15, no. 2, 2016, pp.

191–205, doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2015.1095794.

Robson, L., et al. “Student Experience of University Communication.” INTED 2016 Proceedings, 10th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain, 2016, pp. 6118–24, doi.org/10.21125/ inted.2016.0452.

Sadler, D. Royce. “Formative Assessment: Revisiting the Territory.” Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 1998, doi.org/10.1080/ 0969595980050104.

Schienle, Anne, et al. “Effects of Gratitude Exercises on Reducing Anxiety: An App-Assisted Study.” Acta Psychologica, vol. 254, 2025, p. 104,874, doi .org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104874.

Shahade, Satya. “The Campus Communication Crisis: Why Students Ignore Emails & What Universities Can Do About It,” HootBoard, 17 Apr. 2025, about.hootboard.com/education/campus-communication-crisisstudents-ignore-emails-universities-can/. Accessed 4 Sep. 2025.

Strayhorn, Terrell L. “Exploring the Impact of Facebook and Myspace Use on First-Year Students’ Sense of Belonging and Persistence Decisions.”

Journal of College Student Development, vol. 53, no. 6, 2012, pp. 783–96.

Tinto, Vincent. “Reflections on Student Persistence.” Student Success, vol. 8, no. 2, Mar. 2021, pp. 1–8, doi.org/10.5204/ssj.v8i2.376.

Uddin, Shahadat, and Michael J. Jacobson. “Dynamics of Email Communications Among University Students Throughout a Semester.”

Computers & Education, vol. 64, 2013, pp. 95–103, doi.org/10.1016/ j.compedu.2013.01.014.

Zajonc, Arthur. “Contemplative Pedagogy: A Quiet Revolution in Higher Education.” New Directions for Teaching and Learning, vol. 2013, no. 134, 2013, pp. 83–94, doi.org/10.1002/tl.20057.

Toby Brooks, PhD, MBA, LAT, ATC, CSCS, is director of the Academy for Teaching & Learning and a clinical professor in the Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is passionate about identity, resilience, and purpose-driven education with research interests in the scholarship of teaching and learning and in a variety of factors related to optimizing human performance.

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Doug Dendy, PT, ScD, is an associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas. He is a recognized expert in pediatric physical therapy with research interests in various aspects of mitigating injury risk and enhancing performance, particularly in young athletes.

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Beyond Devices: A People-Focused Approach to Citizenship Education CHRIS PRIOR AND ANDREW LESLIE

I We offer a few reflections on our teaching of citizenship in year 9, particularly on our approach to teaching justice, including biblical justice.

n the midst of the busyness of our roles at Plenty Valley Christian College, we regularly discuss what we consider to be “big picture” issues of Christian teaching. A significant portion of our time is spent working with students and their families. We earnestly desire for the students we teach not only to understand the gospel but to seek the kingdom of God themselves, to follow Christ, including at school. As we reflect on our practice, there are days when we think we are maturing in our understanding and practice as Christian teachers. We also have moments when we look at our own teaching and the practices of our school and wonder whether we are truly gospel focused. In this article, we offer a few reflections on our teaching of citizenship in year 9, particularly on our approach to teaching justice, including biblical justice.

Our Context

We rely on technology.

Almost everything we do requires digital connectivity.

Plenty Valley Christian College is a growing Christian school with approximately one thousand students located on the northern suburban fringe of Melbourne, Australia. Like many other Christian schools, our promotional material includes several lofty claims regarding the education provided within our classrooms and across our various programs. We are “Christcentered.” We state that the curriculum at Plenty Valley Christian College is taught from a Christian or biblical perspective. Additionally, like many Christian schools, we aim to equip students for Christian discipleship.

In many respects, if we were to remove the word “Christian” from our signage, our school and our classroom spaces could be described as typical of schooling in Australia. Whether our classrooms have been recently refurbished or not, it is evident that “digital devices and the media they access have moved to the center of our lives and many of our classrooms. Digital technologies and the practices associated with them therefore loom large in our cultural and educational conversations” (Smith et al. 16–17). We rely on technology. Almost everything we do requires digital connectivity. While some classrooms still have projectors, most have large smart televisions as a central feature. Students are issued a personal laptop, and almost all of our textbooks are online. Indeed, without a digital device, it can be difficult for students to participate in classroom activities.

There is undoubtedly an intentionality to our uptake of technology. It is also true that many Christian schools, like ours, have, over the past generation, mirrored the culture we are embedded in. Additionally, the COVID pandemic had a significant impact. During that time, our state government 28

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enforced a series of lockdowns. Students were not permitted to attend school, and schools were instructed to provide online learning opportunities. Today, although some secondary school classes still involve writing in notebooks, the majority of learning is now computer based. Most lessons and curriculum materials are delivered through a digital learning management system.

As teachers, we certainly see the impact of technology in the classroom, both positive and negative. Among the benefits is ease of access. Students can access their learning whether at school or at home. Work can be submitted and feedback given using the same technology. Parents can also easily monitor their children’s progress. We have also found that this approach has unintended consequences. Classrooms, at times, are seemingly more device directed than teacher directed. This is evident when students automatically open their devices upon entering a classroom. We have also found that students often turn to the internet or artificial intelligence for answers to posed questions, rather than wrestling with ideas and collaborating with others.

Classrooms, at times, are seemingly more device directed than teacher directed.

Teaching Citizenship In our year 9 program, we emphasize citizenship, particularly justice. More accurately, across several subjects, we aim to deepen our students’ understanding of the communities in which we are embedded, the issues that affect our communities, and the diverse peoples who live in our local communities. Our ideal is to ground students’ learning in the biblical story. A significant theme across Scripture is for the people of God to adopt “a distinctive way of being and living in the world” (Watkin 137). The call for those of us who profess to follow Christ is to love the Lord with all of our hearts (Deu. 6:5; Matt. 22:37), and to love our neighbour as ourselves (Matt. 22:39).

A key verse we anchor learning in is Micah 6:8. Our ideal is for students to go beyond knowing about justice issues to living in ways that are consistent with God’s call to love our neighbour.

Our teaching of citizenship begins with classroom projects. We introduce students to community issues and show them how to seek the perspectives of others, including through interviews and surveys. Students work in groups of four, exploring issues and presenting their findings to their classmates. This year, there have been many moments when we were reminded of the extent to which young people are prone to being “formed relationally and ideologically through a screen” (Burrows 37). Despite working in groups, on several occasions, we noted the students weren’t talking with each other, weren’t sitting together, and weren’t discussing the issues they were exploring. When quizzed on this, the replies were unanimous.

They said they were working in groups, discussing ideas, and doing it all through online platforms. Several also balked at personally interviewing or surveying others. Again, the preference was to interact online. From our vantage point, there appears to be a growing disconnect and relational distance within certain sections of our student body.

Admittedly, like the goals of the Christian school where we teach, ours are lofty! Our ideal is for students to engage deeply with the material. We do not want them to understand topics like justice simply as concepts. Instead, Christian Educators Journal

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Students go beyond knowing about justice issues to living in ways that are consistent with God’s call to love our neighbour.

From our vantage point, there appears to be a growing disconnect and relational distance within certain sections of our student body.

we desire that they take up that intentional countercultural love of neighbor we bear witness to in Scripture (Luke 10:25–37), to seek justice and love mercy (Mic. 6:8). We know that our own actions, how we relate to the students in our care, and our own passions are essential. We also believe this requires time away from screens, time in community settings, and time listening to voices students may not otherwise hear.

Beyond the Classroom

The whole group listens to the stories and perspectives of various people, for example, those experiencing homelessness, those struggling with gambling and addiction, and individuals from marginalized groups who experience discrimination and racism.

Creating space to disconnect from devices and engage in real-world learning moves Christian citizenship beyond theory.

To complement our classroom practice, we have established a special program for the year 9 students. Our setting for this is the city of Melbourne, specifically our central business district. The city is not our usual classroom.

Being on the urban fringe, we do not presume our students are familiar with the city. As we want them to focus on learning, we spend time in the weeks leading up to our weeklong city-based program preparing students.

We brief them on themes that they will be focusing on during the week.

They are divided into working groups of between four and six students.

They choose a theme to explore and develop an inquiry question to answer, all as part of the pre-learning. Additionally, we aim to familiarize them with the city through two day-long excursions a few weeks before our week-long program. On one of these days, we ask them to find their own way to the city by public transport and then invite them to “race” from landmark to landmark using some carefully worded clues (and a little covert teacher guidance).

Our weeklong program is multidimensional. Interspersed throughout the week, the whole group listens to the stories and perspectives of various people, for example, those experiencing homelessness, those struggling with gambling and addiction, and individuals from marginalized groups who experience discrimination and racism. As mentioned above, however, the primary focus for the student is to work in their group on a particular pre-assigned justice theme, addressing their inquiry question. To encourage students to delve a little deeper, guest speakers who share their stories also generously provide students with opportunities to further the conversation and ask questions. Additionally, the student projects require them to interview these speakers. They are also encouraged to use their developing surveying skills to interview “typical” Melburnians. During the week, students also gain insight into the work of those in our justice system, including the courts and police, as well as the planning and decision making involved in creating a more sustainable and environmentally conscious city.

What we have found in teaching students about Christian citizenship is that balance is key. Digital learning has its place, but we believe stories (the testimonies of others) are powerful to inspire, develop empathy, and promote action and agency. In our experience, these stories have a profound impact on students. Of course, the degree of influence depends on each student’s own heart, their willingness to engage, be challenged, and grow.

Still, we have seen that creating space to disconnect from devices and engage in real-world learning moves Christian citizenship beyond theory. We see this when students are willing to lean in and listen to others. We have also witnessed it in a few students who genuinely desire to live it out.

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greater awareness of the complexities of the world they inhabit through guided encounters with real-world realities. Shifting from information to formation immerses students in a profoundly transformative way. But what do the students say? At the end of our week in the city, we invited students to reflect on their experiences. It was encouraging to hear comments indicating that the week helped them appreciate what they take for granted and how being outside the school bubble was a great learning experience.

Concluding Thoughts We began this article noting that, as Christian teachers, we often reflect on our own practices. We are very aware that we are called to foster Plenty Valley Christian College’s vision for Christian education. As we have written and reflected on both our words and practice, we know when it comes to teaching Christian citizenship, we are but partway there. We believe that the teaching of Christian citizenship and justice in our context has been enriched by moving beyond the classroom and encouraging students to engage in meaningful conversations, including with those on the margins of our communities.

Works Cited Burrows, Sam. “Beyond Rational Detachment Within the Digital Canopy: An Open Letter to Those Who Teach Worldview.” Reflections: Conversations on Worldview and Christian Schooling, edited by Chris Prior and Fiona Partridge, National Institute for Christian Education, 2024.

Smith, David, et al. Digital Life Together: The Challenge of Technology for Christian Schools. Eerdmans, 2020.

Watkin, Christopher. Thinking Through Creation: Genesis 1 and 2 as Tools of Cultural Critique. P&R, 2017.

Chris Prior and Andrew Leslie are both experienced Christian educators who have worked at several Christian schools. Andrew coordinates the year 9 citizenship program. Both serve in leadership roles within the secondary school of Plenty Valley Christian College in Doreen, Victoria, Australia. Chris also lectures on world­ view with the National Institute for Christian Education in Australia.

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Analog Hospitality in an Increasingly Digital World: Re-Imagining and Re-Claiming Universal Design for Learning TIMOTHY HENDRICKSON AND MICHAEL DIETER

T UDL is the belief that students should have a choice in how they engage with and communicate knowledge.

There is also a need for educators to consider the ways in which digital technology may prevent access, whether through distraction, lack of resources, or difficulty in classroom implementation.

hroughout the Bible, Christians are directed to be hospitable. We often associate the term with providing food, drink, and shelter to others, but there is also an established tradition of viewing hospitality more broadly as being welcoming to strangers. Christian educators can practice this type of broader hospitality by fostering an environment in which all students are valued and equally set up for success, and one well-known way to establish such a space is by following Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles.

A product of the Center for Applied Specialized Technology at Harvard (CAST), UDL seeks to eliminate unnecessary barriers to learning by providing students with multiple means of representation, engagement, action, and expression. At the core of UDL is the belief that students should have a choice in how they engage with and communicate knowledge. In contemporary classroom spaces, those choices often include only digital options.

And while adhering to UDL principles allows for digital technologies to support student access to, and engagement with, the school curriculum, there is also a need for educators to consider the ways in which digital technology may prevent access, whether through distraction, lack of resources, or difficulty in classroom implementation/integration. While it is of course important for students to encounter and effectively utilize digital technology, it is more important that students can effectively communicate their learning in multiple ways. Our call to hospitality in the classroom requires us to accommodate all learners, including those for whom reliance on digital technology prevents learning. This essay seeks to re-vision and re-imagine UDL principles for use as an analog tool and to explore the ways in which analog options can be embedded in courses to further student learning. Examining artifacts from a class at Trinity Christian College in Chicago, IL, that followed UDL principles while offering analog options, we argue traditional (i.e., analog) submissions allow for as much variety and creativity as those based on technology use.

Defining hospitality for Christians is not as easy as it might seem, especially considering that contemporary understanding of the term does not really match its biblical usage. In the New Testament, we find two instances of the Greek noun philoxenia (φιλοξενία): Hebrews 13:2 and Romans 12:13.1 While most translations render the Greek into “hospitality” (NKJV, NIV, ASV, ESV, etc.), some add a reference to strangers (NRSV, CEV), which is 1. In the former, the writer encourages Jewish Christians not to “neglect to show hospitality to strangers” by reminding them that the strangers may be angels, a clear reference to Genesis 18, in which Sarah and Abraham receive angels unaware. In the latter, Paul directs the Roman church to “extend hospitality to strangers” (NRSV).

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important for our purposes here. The word is related to the adjective philoxenos (φιλόξενος), “hospitable,” and is formed from the roots philos (φίλος) and xenos (ξένος) (Strong and Vine 184).2 But this information does not really tell us anything about how Christians currently interpret the word.3 What we can say with clarity is that hospitality in the United States in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has become simplified. In support of this claim, writers often reference Henri Nouwen’s Reaching Out, published in 1975. More recently, though, Christine Pohl opens Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition with a telling story about a conversation she had with a founder of a community for homeless people. When asked whether he understood his organization’s work as “offering hospitality to strangers,” the founder said no. Rather, he said, “[We] welcome strangers into a home environment; we give them a safe place” (Pohl 3). That this organization could be practicing hospitality without its founder knowing it suggests that Nouwen is right—for many, hospitality has become nothing more than “tea parties” and “bland conversation” (66).

And while Pohl notes that it is both impractical and unwise to return to an ancient understanding, she argues that a rejuvenated concern with Christian hospitality “provides a bridge which connects our theology with daily life and concerns” (8). She agrees with Nouwen, who defines hospitality as “primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend” (71).

Thus, Pohl, Nouwen, and others like them encourage us to view hospitality as a posture of love that extends to every aspect of our lives.4 As teachers, we would do well to consider the ways in which our classrooms and courses welcome strangers. Again, Nouwen says it best: When we look at teaching in terms of hospitality, we can say that the teacher is called upon to create for students a free and fearless space where mental and emotional development can take place. . . . The hospitable teacher has to reveal to the students that they have something to offer. Many students have been for so many years on the receiving side and have become so deeply impregnated with the idea that there is still a lot more to learn, that they have lost confidence in themselves and can hardly imagine that they themselves have something to give. (86–87)

One of the ways in which teachers create that “free and fearless space” is through utilizing Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

2. Philoxenos (φιλόξενος) appears three times in the New Testament: 1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:8, and 1 Peter 4:9 (Strong and Vine 184).

3. For a detailed discussion of historical hospitality, see And You Welcomed Me: A Sourcebook on Hospitality in Early Christianity, edited by Amy G. Oden (Abingdon, 2001).

4. There is not space for a more extended discussion here, but Elizabeth Newman’s Welcoming God and Other Strangers insists that “hospitality cannot be sequestered from our economic, political, and public lives” (13).

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Pohl, Nouwen, and others like them encourage us to view hospitality as a posture of love that extends to every aspect of our lives.

A Brief History of UDL

CAST refined what would come to be called Universal Design for Learning, increasingly drawing on neuroscience to better understand how humans learn and how environments can be designed to support learners with various strengths and learning styles.

Interestingly, we find the origins of UDL outside of the field of education.

In 1985, architect and designer Ronald Mace published “Universal Design: Barrier-Free Environments for Everyone” in Designers West. At the time, Mace was president of Barrier Free Environments Inc., an organization that researched and created designs for disabled and elderly people, a cause that concerned him intimately—he was a wheelchair user who experienced difficulties accessing campus facilities at North Carolina State University, where he completed his undergraduate degree (Woodward). Mace defined universal design as “simply a way of designing a building or facility, at little or no cost, so that it is both attractive and functional for all people, disabled or not. The idea is to remove that expensive ‘special’ label from products and designs for people with mobility problems and, at the same time, eliminate the institutional appearance of many current accessible designs” (Mace 147). Mace’s vision was of a future in which accessibility is the norm, not an afterthought.

At around the same time Mace articulated Universal Design, a group of education researchers in Massachusetts formed the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). Their goal was to explore how technology could be implemented to create better educational opportunities and outcomes for students with disabilities by removing barriers to student success (CAST, “Timeline”). Over nearly twenty years, CAST refined what would come to be called Universal Design for Learning, increasingly drawing on neuroscience to better understand how humans learn and how environments can be designed to support learners with various strengths and learning styles.

Tobin (et al.) notes, “The scientists at CAST incorporated neuroscience into the mind-set of UDL because UD principles that were created to guide the design of things (e.g., buildings, products) were not adequate for the design of social interactions (e.g., human learning environments)” (24). This neuroscience-informed research laid the groundwork for CAST’s formal definition of UDL: “a framework to guide the design of learning environments that are accessible, inclusive, and challenging for every learner. Ultimately, the goal of UDL is to support learner agency, the capacity to actively participate in making choices in service of learning goals” (CAST, “Goal of UDL”). Although much of CAST’s early work focused on using technology to reduce barriers, UDL is not dependent on it. Nelson emphasizes that UDL is not something educators “do,” but rather a decision-making framework that guides them to “investigate all of the resources available,” including non-digital tools and strategies, to design flexible and barrier-free learning environments (47).

UDL is built on research about how the brain learns, and it recognizes that every learner is different. Researchers have found that learning involves three main networks in the brain: engagement (the why of learning), representation (the what of learning), and action and expression (the how of learning). Engagement is about interest and motivation—what ignites a learner’s curiosity and keeps them involved. Representation focuses on how information is understood and interpreted, recognizing that students may need different ways to access content. Action and expression are about how learners plan, organize, and show what they know in different ways (CAST, “UDL & the Learning Brain” 1–2). As this neuroscience-based framework 34

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demonstrated its potential to make education more inclusive, it led to wider adoption of UDL principles in K–12 settings and, later, in higher education, particularly after the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which required colleges to report on the UDL-related training provided to education majors and minors (Tobin et al. 33–34).

Emerging research suggests that UDL practices not only improve academic outcomes but can also enhance the college student’s sense of belonging in learning environments. Wells found that providing flexible participation, varied access to materials, and multiple assessment options was associated with greater perceptions of inclusion, comfort, and connection among fifty-seven undergraduates in virtual and group learning environments (6–8). Similarly, Fleming, based on a qualitative study of twenty-two undergraduate students in a UDL-redesigned course, concluded that offering meaningful choices in classroom engagement and assessment fostered a stronger sense of belonging and inclusion, which reinforces UDL’s role in creating and fostering welcoming learning spaces (84–85).

Emerging research suggests that UDL practices not only improve academic outcomes but can also enhance the college student’s sense of belonging in learning environments.

Going Analog with UDL If educators are to remain true to the principles of UDL and its aim to identify and remove barriers to learning, it is necessary to consider not only digital tools that can support learning but also non-digital, analog options that provide students with multiple ways to engage and demonstrate understanding that honor their needs and preferences. The following section illustrates how these principles can be lived out in the classroom, showing that intentional, analog UDL practices can extend Christian hospitality by removing obstacles to participation and empowering students with genuine choices in how they engage and express their learning.

Last spring, a class covering J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings at Trinity Christian College provided evidence that UDL structures can be just as, or even more, effective when teachers provide analog options. Offered as a section of English 356, Topics in Literature, the course awarded either English or Communications credits due to its interdisciplinary content: Students were required to read Tolkien’s novel(s), watch the Peter Jackson movie trilogy, and listen to BBC radio dramatizations from the 1980s. Staying true to UDL principles, the three major assignments provided at least two options for completion and could be submitted in whatever order the students chose.

According to student evaluations at the end of the term, such a set-up was welcomed by many of the students. One representative comment read: The non-linear organization of larger assignments was exciting because it allowed us to arrange them in a way that was most beneficial to our semester path and interests. I got to leave the one I knew would excite me the most for last, which made the end of the semester more fun than stressful.

Moreover, the assignments prompted us to engage with Tolkien’s work in different forms, something that my other classes haven’t really done before, especially to the extent of reaching beyond Tolkien’s own work into work influenced by him (e.g., for the Universe assignment). This was a great way to push me to think creatively in making connections and thinking deeply about what parts of the books really drew me in.

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Intentional, analog UDL practices can extend Christian hospitality by removing obstacles to participation and empowering students with genuine choices in how they engage and express their learning.

The Tolkien Universe assignment offered students five options: a work of fan fiction, a review of The War of the Rohirrim (which was in theatres at the time), Twitch streaming video game play and commentary, cosplay of a scene from either the books or the movies, or something of the student’s own imagining.

Many of the most memorable submissions for this assignment, however, were either completely or primarily analog.

Other students decided to produce translations that represented a hybrid of analog and technological work.

One assignment, with which the rest of this article is concerned, required going outside the books, movies, and radio plays and examining a single facet of the extended Tolkien universe. The Tolkien Universe assignment offered students five options: a work of fan fiction, a review of The War of the Rohirrim (which was in theatres at the time), Twitch streaming video game play and commentary, cosplay of a scene from either the books or the movies, or something of the student’s own imagining (with prior professor approval, of course). There were, as was expected, several students who recorded themselves playing and commenting on LEGO Lord of the Rings, Shadow of Mordor, and other video games—decidedly technological options.

Many of the most memorable submissions for this assignment, however, were either completely or primarily analog. Four are worth more discussion here.

One of our recurring classroom discussions revolved around the relative lack of attention paid to what we might refer to as Orc culture in The Lord of the Rings. The most public servants of Sauron in Tolkien’s novel (or trilogy) do not get a whole lot of page time. We know that they are bad and that they are that way because of Sauron. There is some discussion about where the orcs come from, but Tolkien gives them almost no psychological depth. In response to that perceived lack, one student created a short graphic novel (more of a comic strip) that told the story of the last living orc and its post-Sauron legacy. The story was unique—providing a thoughtful and needed addition to Tolkien’s legendarium—and the artwork, done in pencil, was beautiful. Most importantly, the new story encouraged deep thought about what makes something evil, the ways in which evil is represented, and the prospects for the redemption of once-evil things.

Another student delved deep into Tolkien lore, finding the story of Galadriel’s naming in volume 12 of Christopher Tolkien’s The History of Middle Earth. In that account, we learn that Galadriel was born Artanis, was given the mother-name Nerwen (“man-maiden” in English), and was also called Alatáriel (“maiden crowned with a garland of radiance”), which is Galadriel in Sindarin5 (Tolkien 336–48). Armed with the knowledge of elvish naming customs and the scant information from Tolkien’s own writing, the student wrote a short story that detailed how the character known as Galadriel earned her mother-name by defeating other male elves in a tournament containing feats of strength and agility. The writing was polished, and the idea was in line with the little history that we do have of Galadriel’s name.

Thematically, the story asks readers to consider the ways that Tolkien’s fictional world presents sex and gender.

Two other students decided to produce translations that represented a hybrid of analog and technological work. One, noting that Tolkien often marks important moments, ideas, or characters in The Lord of the Rings with poetry, wrote her own original poem about the sundering of the elves and dwarves, who do not get one from Tolkien. She began by writing the poem in English and then translated it to Quenya, another of Tolkien’s constructed languages, and she wrote the poem down using Tengwar script.6 (She also put the poem to music, though that used digital music production tools.) A second student began with a contemporary song, Hozier’s Damage Gets Done, 5. One of Tolkien’s constructed languages.

6. That is, an alphabet.

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translated that from English to Latin, and then further translated the Latin into Quenya. As the first student did, the second also rendered the product in Tengwar script. And while both students could have gotten the basics of Tolkien’s Tengwar online, each started from the very analog Appendix E to The Lord of the Rings and went from there. Each of these projects grappled with Tolkien’s constructed languages, their compatibility (or lack thereof) with English, and their importance to Tolkien’s creative and world-building process.

These four submissions were possible due to both the admirable creativity of the students and an assignment prompt that allowed choice and individuality while not insisting on technology use. That they were among the best in the class and analog suggests that UDL-style assignments do not need to provide solely technological options to allow students to flourish.

As UDL gains popularity in both K–12 and higher education settings, it is thus important to remember that it can, and does, allow for tasks that do not rely on digital tools. Given the biblical call to welcome the strangers among us, and Nouwen’s call to make our classrooms “a free and fearless space,” we must remember that not everyone is comfortable with digital technology, that not everyone has easy and consistent access to it, and that those circumstances need not be predictive of failure.

Works Cited Anastasiou, Dimitris, Andrew L. Wiley, and James M. Kauffman. “A Critical Analysis of the Theoretical Underpinnings of Universal Design for Learning.” Exceptionality, 2024, pp. 1–18, doi.org/10.1080/09362835.202 4.2426801.

CAST. “The Goal of UDL: Learner Agency.” UDL Guidelines, Version 3.0, CAST, 2024, udlguidelines.cast.org/more/udl-goal/. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

———. “Timeline of Innovation.” CAST, 2025, www.cast.org/resources/ timeline-of-innovation/. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

———. UDL & the Learning Brain. CAST, 2018, www.cast.org/wp-content/ uploads/2024/12/cast-udlandthebrain-20220228-a11y.pdf. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

Fleming, Erica C. “UDL for Inclusive Teaching: Offering Choice to Increase Belonging Through Technology.” Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, vol. 12, Special Issue, 2023, pp. 72–90.

Laughlin, M. J. “Access to the General Education Curriculum: Paperwork and Procedure for Redefining Special Education.” Journal of Special Education Leadership, vol. 12, no. 1, 1999, pp. 9–14.

Mace, Ronald L. “Universal Design: Barrier-Free Environments for Everyone.” Designers West, vol. 33, no. 1, 1985, pp. 147–52.

Nelson, Loui Lord. Design and Deliver: Planning and Teaching Using Universal Design for Learning. E-book, Brookes, 2021.

Newman, Elizabeth. Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God and Other Strangers.

Brazos, 2007.

Nouwen, Henri. Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. Image Books of Doubleday, 1975.

Pohl, Christine D. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition. Eerdmans, 1999.

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These four submissions were possible due to both the admirable creativity of the students and an assignment prompt that allowed choice and individuality while not insisting on technology use.

Strong, James, and W. E. Vine. The New Strong’s Concise Concordance & Vine’s Concise Dictionary of the Bible. Thomas Nelson, 1999.

Tobin, Thomas J., and Kirsten T. Behling. Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education. West Virginia University Press, 2018.

Tolkien, Christopher. The History of Middle-Earth III. William Morrow, 2002.

Wells, Jacqueline. “Student Perspectives on the Use of Universal Design for Learning in Virtual Learning Modalities.” Smart Learning Environments, vol. 9, no. 1, 2022, pp. 1–17.

Woodward, Stephanie. “Ronald Mace and His Impact on Universal Design.”

Center for Disability Rights, 21 Aug. 2008, cdrnys.org/blog/advocacy/ ronald-mace-and-his-impact-on-universal-design. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

Michael Dieter is an assistant professor of education at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois. He was a former high school reading and social studies teacher. His research interests include hospitality in the classroom and autoethnography as method.

Timothy Hendrickson is an associate professor of English and Chair of Literature and Languages at Trinity Christian College. While his specialty is Victorian literature, he and three colleagues have just completed the first draft of a book that examines methods for pairing graphic novels with canonical works of literature.

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Classrooms Come Alive . . . In the Cemetery!

CARY SHAW

W

ith time comes perspective. Since I started teaching, my classroom has transitioned from chalkboards and mimeographs to computers and interactive whiteboards to AI tools and virtual reality headsets (though, for those of us who can remember it, nothing is quite like the smell of that purple mimeograph ink). As I reflect, there certainly is reason to pause to consider what classrooms might be like thirty years from now. Yet with all of the changes that have taken place and that may come, one of my favorite lessons has not occurred in a school classroom at all. Rather, the lesson takes place in the quiet, fact-filled surroundings one can find in communities all across the country: the local cemetery.

After thirty years in Christian school secondary education, I am now privileged to work with future educators at Cedarville University, where I teach methods of teaching for the middle school educator. In the course, my students are exposed to a variety of ideas, practices, and techniques to fill their teaching toolbox to benefit their future students. One of our lessons occurs after we take a short trip to either of our two local cemeteries. Though my students will likely be teaching someplace other than Cedarville, Ohio, the lessons they experience are applicable to communities everywhere.

One of my favorite lessons has not occurred in a school classroom at all.

Why the Cemetery?

I am compelled to give credit where it is due. My initial cemetery trip started because of two individuals. Dr. Tim Heaton was a long-time friend and a professor at Cedarville University who is now enjoying life in the presence of his Savior. Dr. Heaton was not one to be confined by typical methodologies. I was privileged to be one of his students when he first came to the university, and I recall one early morning class when this interesting character by the name of Horace Mann came to share with us education students. Impersonating historical figures was one way Dr. Heaton engaged his students in learning, and trips to the local cemetery was another. Years later, when I returned to the university to teach, my colleague Professor Comers encouraged me to continue what Dr. Heaton had started many years ago, and I am glad that I took her encouragement.

A trip to the cemetery is filled with possibilities that all teachers should consider. I take my preservice teachers to the cemetery for three reasons.

First, there are opportunities for learning no matter the subject area. The future middle school teachers in my class represent various teaching disciplines: social studies, mathematics, English language arts, and science. No matter their discipline, the cemetery is what Barbara Kissling describes as Christian Educators Journal

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A trip to the cemetery is filled with possibilities that all teachers should consider.

The cemetery trip provides teachers with a beautiful opportunity to talk with their students about our God, this life, mortality, and eternity.

“a great laboratory for learning” that presents all teachers with an opportunity to enrich their teaching (1). Later in this article, we will examine more closely how teachers in specific disciplines can tap into the resources of the cemetery.

Second, a cemetery trip can engage students in active learning, which is an integral strategy that teachers can use for successful teaching (Edwards 28). Collins and O’Brien describe active learning as that which keeps students mentally, and often physically, active in their learning through activities that involve them in gathering information, thinking, and problem solving (5). With all of the varied and engaging activities that are possible at a cemetery, teachers can, as part of a well-structured lesson, unleash students to construct their own learning.

Most of all, I enjoy the cemetery trip because it provides teachers with a beautiful opportunity to talk with their students about our God, this life, mortality, and eternity. When students spend time in a cemetery, significant questions and conversations that would not typically surface in a traditional classroom are bound to follow. I share with my students that as future Christian teachers, they need to be prepared to have conversations about eternal truth with their students. The activities that can be part of a cemetery trip and the student questions that follow will naturally create those conversations.

Preparing for the Trip

It is helpful to call the caretaker at least twenty-four hours before the trip to see if any services are planned.

As with any school trip, teachers need to plan ahead, and planning should begin with a call to the cemetery office. At many cemeteries, there is a caretaker or supervisor who will be your point of contact. When they hear that a school group is interested in learning more about their cemetery, caretakers are generally quite amiable. That was my experience when I spoke with the caretaker for the Cedarville cemeteries. He was happy to share many details about the cemeteries’ history and those who are interred there. The details I received from the caretaker provided a helpful baseline of information that made our trip to the cemetery that much more meaningful and successful.

Scheduling is certainly part of the trip preparations. Unless a class is to visit a cemetery that is no longer in use, teachers need to be mindful of events that might happen the day they visit the cemetery. It is helpful to call the caretaker at least twenty-four hours before the trip to see if any services are planned. If so, it is still likely that the trip can go on; however, teachers need to be aware so that the class does not disturb any ceremony that might be taking place. In addition, teachers need to speak to their class about cemetery etiquette prior to their expedition. My students are preparing to work with middle school students who, as we all know, can be quite unpredictable. Therefore, it is important that teachers emphasize showing respect for both the cemetery grounds and anyone who may be present during their class visit. To prepare them for how they might conduct their own class visit, I ask my students to practice respectful behavior by moving in small groups, speaking quietly, refraining from walking on grave markers or monuments, leaving objects and artifacts alone, and moving along quietly if someone is visiting a gravesite nearby. Once plans have been confirmed, we head off to the cemetery.

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Lessons to Be Learned A study on experiential learning outside the classroom found that “the cemetery can provide students with a powerful and unforgettable learning experience” (Hegediš and Hus 2662). That is the type of lesson—powerful and unforgettable—that should appeal to all students and teachers. While the list of lessons that can be learned at a cemetery is not endless, there are many opportunities to enhance the curriculum of nearly any classroom and to engage learners of all ages. To help middle school teachers of mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts, I will summarize below ideas that were presented by Kissling in her book for middle school teachers.

However, I believe elementary and high school teachers will find these ideas helpful to stimulate their own ideas for lessons for their students. As they plan cemetery activities, all teachers should be mindful to map lessons to specific standards. Further, all teachers will be challenged to integrate biblical truth in their lessons as they use the opportunities the cemetery provides.

I have a penchant for numbers and data which, I suppose, influenced my early career as a Christian school math teacher and provided a place to start with our cemetery trip. As they visit gravesites, students should record the deceased’s age and the year of death. Students should also note the person’s gender if that can be determined by the name or other indicators on the marker. With their data, students can create various graphs such as line graphs, scatter plots, and histograms. During instruction, teachers should stress the need for accurate data collection and help their students understand the importance of ensuring data validity. Once data is collected and graphs are constructed, teachers should engage students in critical thinking to interpret the meaning of the data, explore gaps in information, and discuss any surprises that surface. Among other things, students may be curious to explore death ages during different periods of history. As Kissling points out, “The best part about using tombstone data is the discoveries made about the people buried in the cemetery. The math becomes alive for the students with references to people and connections to the real world” (32).

The cemetery also holds possibilities for any science teacher. While cemeteries are often associated with death, biology teachers could direct students to look for evidence of life, such as plant and animal life. Students should note signs of wildlife and consider the topic of habitats. Younger students may benefit from a cemetery or teacher-prepared field guide to help identify the life within the cemetery. Chemistry or earth science teachers could focus on the effects of potential pollutants and weathering on rock types of grave markers and monuments. Data is waiting to be found, studied, and interpreted by all students of science. Kissling notes, “A cemetery is a natural laboratory that holds learning opportunities for any type of science,” where students are challenged to use their “skills of observation, inference, and experimentation to ask questions about what they see or what they do not see in the cemetery” (72).

It should be obvious that a cemetery is a great place to learn about an area’s history. Our rural community is home to two cemeteries that provide insight into the antiquity of Cedarville. Prior to our trip, I heard about Major Martin Delany, who had achieved the highest rank for a Black officer Christian Educators Journal

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There are many opportunities to enhance the curriculum of nearly any classroom and to engage learners of all ages.

With their data, students can create various graphs such as line graphs, scatter plots, and histograms.

Chemistry or earth science teachers could focus on the effects of potential pollutants and weathering on rock types of grave markers and monuments.

Grave of Major Martin Delany

in the Civil War, who had met and strategized with Abraham Lincoln, and who is buried at the Massies Creek Cemetery. We also learned of other past residents who are interred at our other cemetery, such as Charles “Bumpas” Jones, a Major League baseball player from the late 1800s, resting at the North Cemetery. Jones holds the distinction of being the only Major League pitcher to throw a no-hitter on his first Major League start. When one studies a community, it is quite interesting to learn about the lives of individuals like Delany and Jones. Yet teachers must help their students understand that research is more than uncovering intriguing facts. “Researching individuals buried in a cemetery allows students to develop a sense of historical perspective and to understand how the world has changed since earlier times,” writes Kissling (61).

Creative writing possibilities await at the cemetery for English language arts teachers. At Massies Creek, I incorporate “death activities” gleaned from Nancy Nerny and Sue Williams when I ask my students to respond to questions such as “What can you do to make your life more meaningful, how would you like others to remember you, and if you could write your 42

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own epitaph, what would it say?” (29). Exercises such as this are bound to be deeply personal, meaningful, and impactful for the students and afford a natural segue to conversations about life and spiritual matters.

Finally, many of our class conversations involve legacy. I have my students write about, and we discuss, the kind of legacy that Christians should leave behind. Also, the students are asked to ponder how their gravestones could reflect their faith and, in that way, leave a lasting legacy. The cemetery reminds us all that there is “a time to be born and a time to die” (Eccl. 3:2).

As the teacher, I want to remind my students that, “whether . . . at home in the body or away from it,” their goal must be to please the Lord (2 Cor. 5:9).

Then, when it is our time to pass, we can share the confidence of David who exclaimed, “My heart is glad and . . . my body also will rest secure. . . . You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Ps. 16:9, 11). If I, and my students, are provoked once again to live with a God-oriented focus as a result of our cemetery trip, it has been time well spent. I am confident in that. And I am confident that my teacher, mentor, and friend, Tim Heaton, would say amen and amen to that as well.

Works Cited Collins, John William, and Nancy P. O’Brien, eds. The Greenwood Dictionary of Education. Greenwood, 2003.

Edwards, Susan. “Active Learning in the Middle Grades.” Middle School Journal, vol. 46, no. 5, 2015, pp. 26–32, doi.org/10.1080/00940771.2015.114619 22.

Hegediš, Polona Jančič, and Vlasta Hus. “Cemetery as an Opportunity for Learning Outside the Classroom.” Creative Education, vol. 11, no. 12, 2020, pp. 2660–71, doi.org/10.4236/ce.2020.1112197.

Kissling, Barbara. Cemeteries: Alive with Learning. National Middle School Association, 2010.

Nerny, Nancy, and Sue Williams. A Visit to Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum: Educator’s Guidebook. Woodland Arboretum Foundation, 2000.

Dr. Cary Shaw is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, and a former Christian school administrator. He remains committed to strengthening Christian education through consulting and professional development for school leaders and teachers.

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I have my students write about, and we discuss, the kind of legacy that Christians should leave behind.

Future Issues February 2026—Money Scripture has a lot to say about money. Many Proverbs encourage generosity or caution with money, many biblical stories serve as examples of what not to do with money, and Jesus speaks at length about how we as his followers should be using the financial blessings we’re given, be they big or small.

And while some of us think of it as a necessary evil, money is also a vital piece of our world that offers great potential for doing good in God’s world. In this issue, we’d like to hear about the ways you’re teaching students about money or how your school approaches various financial matters. What are your best lesson plans for teaching elementary students the basics? How does your high school’s social studies or family and consumer sciences department teach economics, budgeting, or investing? Does your school have any businesses that are planned and run by students? Beyond the classroom and curriculum, what fundraisers have been successful in your building?

What scholarships, church support, variable tuition, or other discounts does your school offer to help families with tuition? We’re looking for articles on Christian ways of teaching about and using the monetary blessings we’re given.

Proposals due October 20, 2025. Articles due November 17, 2025.

April 2026—Resource Review Each year we highlight the best books, films, websites, teaching tools, and other resources for Christian school teachers. We publish reviews of student-facing material (like which books to stock in your classroom library) as well as materials relevant to school staff (like curricula or books about teaching). Articles may focus on one text or may be written in a list style featuring multiple texts around a particular theme.

Proposals due December 15, 2025. Articles due January 19, 2026.