Christ Is All and In All
May 9, 2023
Heather Nerem,
Head of Academics
We continued our work as a Christian Professional Learning Community (CPLC) during our professional development days in April. Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:1-17) is our overarching focus as a CPLC and is a reflection of our mission to equip minds and nurture hearts to impact the world for Christ. We aim to bridge academics with discipleship.
In Christian education, our goal is to see lives transformed with the gospel AND for our students to have the wisdom, knowledge, critical thinking skills and communication skills to be in the world, but not of the world. This goal means we must have an intentional focus on academics and spiritual formation. With this in mind, we have structured our professional development in a way that provides our teachers with opportunities to grow in both of these areas.
This structure is accomplished through champion groups. These groups include: Biblical Worldview Integration, Effective Instructional Practices, and Effective Assessment Practices.
Teachers were able to choose one of these 3 groups that they would champion during the 22-23 school year. Teachers will rotate through these groups over a period of three years.
Biblical Worldview Integration
This champion group equips teachers to connect their subject to God’s redemption story. The visual below is the framework to help teachers know how to have heart-level conversations with students, showing them how creation, brokenness, redemption and restoration are connected to classroom learning and content.
Effective Instructional & Assessment Practices
These champion groups focus on the four critical questions that drive our instruction and assessment as a Christian Professional Learning Community.
- What do we want students to learn?
- How do we know they have learned it?
- How will we respond when they don’t learn it?
- How will we respond when they already know it?
Within these groups, teachers are equipped with strategies that help us become a stronger culture of learning and growth versus simply being a culture of performance. These groups work to equip our teachers in shifting from ‘lite’ work to the ‘right’ work of a Christian Professional Learning Community, as shown in the chart below.
CPLC Lite Vs. CPLC Right
| Changes in Practice |
| Lite |
Right |
- Chief source of data is summative.
- Data is used to identify non proficient.
- District identifies essential learnings.
- District creates assessments.
- District creates pacing guides.
- Focus is on covering the curriculum.
- The textbook represents the guaranteed and viable curriculum.
- CPLC training is occasional and episodic.
|
- Chief source of data is formative.
- Data is used to improve instruction.
- Teams identify essential learnings
- Teams create assessments.
- Teams create pacing guides.
- Focus is on mastering standards. The standards describe the guaranteed and viable curriculum.
- CPLC training is ongoing and sustained.
|
| Changes in Language |
| Lite |
Right |
- "The CPLC process is what we do."
- "We did CPLCs a couple years ago."
- "I'm going to my CPLC meeting."
- "These are my kids in my room."
- "Our goal is to create buy-in."
- "You are accountable."
|
- "The CPLC process is who we are."
- "We do CPLC all of the time."
- "I'm going to my team meeting."
- "These are our kids in our school."
- "Our goal is to create ownership."
- "I am responsible."
|
| Changes in Relationships |
| Lite |
Right |
- Teachers are organized by convenience.
- Meetings focus on managerial tasks.
- Independence is accepted behavior.
|
- Teachers are organized by meaning.
- Meetings focus on instructional practice.
- Interdependence is expected behavior.
|
We recognize the value and importance of investing in our teachers and students to ensure we are doing the right work with Christ being all and in all. We are extremely thankful for our teachers and their desire to continually grow with Christ. We look forward to continuing this work next school year!