7/8/20 7/8/20

COVID-19: Provide Feedback to your School Board

Parents: now is the time to provide feedback to your school board members regarding your district's plans for this coming school year.

Schools provide an essential service in our communities that go beyond teaching kids to read and write. For many families, schools provide essential childcare for working parents. Schools are a safe place for children who live in abusive environments. Schools provide meals for students who do not get enough food at home. We go on, but the bottom line is schools are important to the overall wellbeing of many thousands of kids.

School districts are balancing the need to keep their faculty and staff safe from COVID along with their responsibility to fulfill their mandate within our communities. I fear many districts are erring on the side of "what's best for the district" rather than what is best for families.

Our schools are like a cruise ship with many thousands of people involved--students, faculty, staff, volunteers. When the school district opts to forego a regular school schedule, it is as if they are putting the students on a lifeboat and setting them adrift, hoping they find safe passage to another place. The reality is, many students will not.

The district is better serving its families by owning their responsibility as an essential service and working with partners in healthcare, social services, and churches to best meet the needs of their community.

Now is the time to act on behalf of the well-being of our school-age children within our communities. Contact your school board members and let them know you value their essential service and ask them to accept the high level of trust and responsibility families have given to them. They are essential and they cannot default on this responsibility at a time so critical to our families.

2/10/19 2/10/19

The Economist Sees An Apocalyptic 2019

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Three ways things could go horribly wrong with Brexit in 2019

From The Economist:

PARTY CONFERENCES always attract people with placards proclaiming that the end is nigh, from Marxists declaring that the long-awaited crisis of capitalism is finally upon us to religious fundamentalists spying the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on the horizon. Usually we journalists pass them by with nary a glance. But 2019 could prove that they were right all along.

Europe is falling apart. Great Britain is trying to pull out of the EU before it collapses, but the globalists are fighting. This is the kind of "European-style" socialism the leftists in the USA are pushing us towards.Why would any sane person argue for a government and ideaology that is bringing France, Germany, and the European Union to destruction?

11/27/15 11/27/15

Contend for the Faith

We started our look at the one-chapter epistles of the New Testament by highlighting the importance of truth. A Christian would point to the Word of God as the bedrock foundation of truth. It is from the Bible that we learn and understand the essential elements of the Lord God that define our human understanding of morality and ethics. Our culture, from the constitution of the United States to the legal code that guides our daily life and interaction with each other was founded upon the bedrock truth found only in the Bible.Today, the very definition of absolute truth has become relative. Rather than identifying what is absolute based on the unchangeable Word of God, our culture believes that absolutes can be defined and redefined to accommodate the needs and necessities of society. As a result, absolute truth (the Word of God) does not define and guide culture, culture defines and redefines what is absolute truth!The church is guilty of the same fallacy. Many Christians shy away from hard absolutes because our culture has painted such beliefs as extremist and hateful. Moreover, we have allowed our “pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness” to slowly silence the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit in our life. In a 2009 end-of-year perspective, Christian pollster George Barna noted that “only one-third (34 percent) of [American Christians] believe in absolute truth. This is down from 50 percent in a 2002 survey. The consequences of this slide into relativism within the church is startling. Barna observes,

Americans typically draw from a broad treasury of moral, spiritual and ethical sources of thought to concoct a uniquely personal brand of faith. Feeling freed from the boundaries established by the Christian faith, and immersed in a postmodern society which revels in participation, personal expression, satisfying relationships, and authentic experiences, we become our own unchallenged spiritual authorities, defining truth and reality as we see fit.

Consequently, more and more people are engaged in hybrid faiths, mixing elements from different historical eras and divergent theological perspectives. In some ways, we are creating the ultimate ecumenical movement, where nothing is deemed right or wrong, and all ideas, beliefs and practices are assigned equal validity. Everyone is invited to join the dialogue, enjoy the ride, and feel connected to a far-reaching community of believers. Screening or critiquing what that community believes is deemed rude and inappropriate. Pragmatism and relativism, rather than any sort of absolutism, has gained momentum.It is sobering to realize this is from 2009—six years ago—and the moral decay and confusion within our culture has accelerated at an increasingly alarming pace.This reality makes the warnings from Jude more critical than ever. Jude warns in explicit language that the teaching and acceptance of false teachers leads to destruction (Jude 13b). Jude encourages his readers to contend for the faith and to be people of faith, prayer, and the word. “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 20-21).How can you tell if you have fallen prey to relativism, the false teaching of our age? Is the Bible your bedrock guide for how you live and conduct your life? Do you find yourself making decision to participate in things and not participate in things based on biblical conviction? Are you more concerned about biblical truth than about being popular or in with the crowd? These are all signs of a Christian life committed to following God and openly identifying with Jesus Christ.If these signs are not evident in your life, do you live a life of self-determined truth and beliefs. Do you find yourself seeking and searching for spiritual guides and teachers who support your view of life? Do you find yourself confronted with biblical truth yet internally arguing, “yes, but…” Do you find yourself listening to voices who say “judge not lest you be judged” when you see society running in the opposite direction of God’s declared truth? If you answer yes to any of these questions, you need to heed Jude’s warning!Oh, beloved, don’t fall prey to the false beliefs of our age. Ground your life and your worldview on the Word of God. Study the Word. Memorize the Word. Let the Spirit of God mold and shape you into the image of Christ through the Word of God. There is nothing of more importance to the Christian than this process of sanctification that produces the outward evidence of one’s salvation. “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:24-25)–Chris EllerThis week’s R2R distinctive Authenticity (John 13:33-34): I know and understand biblical truths and transfer these truths into everyday life. Who I am on the inside and outside is a pure reflection of Christ and His Word.

For this week's devotional study, download this week's issue of The Compass.

7/23/11 7/23/11

The Promise

6/2/08 6/2/08

A Useful Site for PowerPoint Users

One of my objectives this summer is to advance my PowerPoint skill beyond the basics. PowerPoint is an incredible tool, but like most software, we only use about five percent of its capabilities. Effective visuals are a powerful way to connect with and engage learners...especially younger learners who are accustomed to seeing life play out in front of them via virtual worlds and gaming systems.

One blog I've enjoyed reading is Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Blog. While the stated focus is towards business uses of PowerPoint, most of what he writes about is very applicable for educators.

Here's a sampling of his recent posts:

Dave is also the publisher of ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com, which is filled with tips and helps for those wanting to advance their PowerPoint skills.

There is also an important secondary lesson here for educators: technology can be utilized in many forms and fashions, and some of the best examples of how you can use a given technology may come from outside the educational community...especially when it comes to standard applications like PowerPoint or any of the Microsoft Office applications. Learn to explore and have fun with technology.