Whitefield Academy Blog
Saturday Saunters
A month or two ago, Carol Nichols, our test coordinator, showed me a quote that so delighted me. The photo accompanying it looked like it might be a quote from George MacDonald, the writer who according to C.S. Lewis “baptized my imagination.” But it was not; rather it was a quote from John Muir, the noted naturalist.
The Reformation of Education
Today marks the quincentennial—that’s the five-hundredth anniversary—of Martin Luther’s protest against the Roman Catholic Church which started the Protestant Reformation. We usually think of Martin Luther’s reforming work as having to do with theology and worship, but Luther had a lot to say about the education of children as well. In fact, Luther saw the proper education of children as essential to the spread of the gospel, and so he sought to reform the schools as well as the church. Luther wrote that “If I had to give up preaching and my other duties, there is no office I would rather have than that of a school-teacher.”
Whitefield Alumni: Staying Connected
Whitefield Academy Blog With the holiday season quickly approaching, our family has started to prepare some of our traditions. We have some that are pretty universal like eating turkey on Thanksgiving and some that are a little more unique like celebrating Reformation...
Sugar Cube Pyramids: The Epic Project
My oldest daughter is a second grader this year, which means she’s starting to study history.
Daughter: “We’re starting to study history.”
Mom: “Oh yeah, what are you starting with?”
Daughter: *eye roll* “Adam and Eve.”
Serving Kansas City: Whitefield’s Serve Day
“Oh, I am so glad you came to see us today! I don’t get to see kids your age very often,” said the resident of a senior living facility to my first grade daughter. The first and second grade classes had come to the senior living facility for…
Does Tech in the Classroom Make a Difference?
In the past few decades, we’ve seen a revolution in the way most students are educated in this and many other countries. Countless hardware and software products have been produced with the promise that they will help schools better achieve their mission of educating students. Often these methods and applications carry the label “STEM” for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Those anxious that the humanities are being left behind have coined “STEAM,” where arts are shoehorned into the mix.
7 Ways to Find Success Through Deep Work
While most of us understand that social media and other online activities cut into our ability to do good work, high-tech gadgets and constant connectivity to the web have become so common that it seems hard to imagine life without them. In a recent popular business book Deep Work, Cal Newport offers some ways to reduce the noise of these distractions and enhance our ability to do valuable and meaningful work.
I Will Never Use Algebra in Real Life
“I will never use this in real life,” says almost every exasperated junior high Algebra student. The hours of solving algebra problems. The random letters. The complex terminology: factors, commutative, quadratic and rooster form. The bizarre word problems about how long it takes Superman and Iron Man to fly and crash into each other from 100 miles away given different speeds and different starting times. All of these add to a student’s perspective that the information they are learning in my class is irrelevant to their everyday life. So how do I convince a junior high student just how relevant algebra is?
Remembering September 11th
Every year at Whitefield Academy, one of our Juniors gives an address to honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
Why Are We Learning This?
Membranous, scaled, leather-like, and horny. These are the four types of wings found in the insect world, and it is actually fascinating! This fact makes the following so shocking.
In the middle of my engaging lecture on different types of wings, a hand shoots up. As a teacher, we always hope and assume that students are completely riveted by our subject matter. It is with this assumption that I call on this Biology student.