Introduction

Hello! Welcome to the first issue of Plant and Water.

Plant and Water is meant to be a resource for you as a Christian educator. I hope that you find something useful in the articles, links, and resources, and that you are enabled to plant seeds or water them with greater joy and skill. My goal is to send each issue out around the 15th of each month.

If you benefit from anything in Plant and Water, please forward to a colleague or friend, and if you've got feedback or ideas to share, reply to this email - I'd love to hear from you!

Happy August and welcome back to school!

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In the Classroom - Prayer

As we begin school this month I wanted to focus on ways to incorporate prayer into the classroom. While this list is not exhaustive, it contains ideas and tips I've gleaned from co-workers and friends.

• I begin each class by praying out loud for the class as a whole and for an individual student by name. I simply move down my roster each day; second semester I often start at the end of the roster and move back up the list. It allows the students to hear a blessing spoken over their classmate and models for them the sort of encouraging environment we should have. This was first modeled for me by Shane Hall, a fantastic colleague from First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, so HT to him!
• Same as above, but a colleague once used names of students written on popsicle sticks, that way it was more random.
• The student of the day could share their prayer requests before praying for them or you could have the other students say kind things about them before praying.
• Instead of you simply praying to begin class, have students pray together in small groups for one another. This allows them to get to know one another better and grow in the practice of praying out loud.
• A colleague here at Charlotte Christian ends his class in prayer rather than beginning it with prayer. It serves as a signal to students that class is over and they are blessed on their way! (HT to Ben E!)
• If you find yourself bogged down with prayer requests from chatty students who need a stage more than they need prayer, consider a Google form or a prayer box - those who need it will use it!
• Consider praying for the nations - Operation World sends out a daily short email that touches on a few prayer points for the nation of the day.
• If you've got great ideas or ways you have seen prayer implemented in the classroom, please respond to this email and send them to me!
• Books to Read: A Praying Life by Paul Miller, You Can Pray by Tim Chester, Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer by Eugene Peterson.

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Tool Box

I use a get-to-know-you sheet a the beginning of the year, and reading the answers is one of my favorite ways to get to know students. You can download it for free here from my TPT store. There's an editable version for sale, but if you would like it for free please just email me at [email protected] and I'll send it to you! (I always like to add "does a parent/relative work here" to the one I use in my class!)

If you have not used the free Thinking Routines from Harvard School of Education, you should add these to your curriculum this year. From their website: "A thinking routine is a set of questions or a brief sequence of steps used to scaffold and support student thinking." My colleague Jessica showed these to me this year and I am excited to use them as unit introductions, understanding checks, and exit tickets.

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Icebreaker Questions

I spin a wheel every day and ask a few students an icebreaker question. Here's a few I'm planning on using this month!

• If you could relive one day of your summer, which would it be and why?
• What's your favorite treat you can buy in the frozen dessert section?
• What smell do you most associate with going back to school?
• What's the best sandwich?
• If you were a school supply, what would you be?

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Music Notes

Olivia Georgia (Spotify, Amazon Music) is a vibe-y, indie Christian artist that should be on your classroom playlist if you teach middle or high school. Her song Remains is my favorite.

Phil Wickham's newest album, Hymn of Heaven (Spotify, Amazon Music) is filled with the sort of upbeat, catchy songs that you need to keep the energy of the beginning of the school year going. Battle Belongs and House of the Lord have been on repeat on my playlists.

Your throwback album of the month to add to your rotation is Audio Adrenaline's Underdog (Spotify, Amazon Music). Full of late 90's alternative jams like the title track, this album is still as fresh as the day it was released.

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Articles to Check Out

Diversity and the Common Good by Natasha Sistrunk Robinson for Comment is an insightful article on why training and growth in our understanding of racial diversity is important from a Christian perspective.

The Church of Christ Without Christ is a great article by Will Ryan for Mockingbird on the desire for control and how we need the good news of the gospel.

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For Fun

Confession: I write scripts for an audio meditation app, and sometimes I slip lines from 80s/90s CCM songs into the scripts and imagine that someone, somewhere, will end up with that song in their head

— Amy Peterson (@amylpeterson) April 28, 2021

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Editor's Note

One of the reasons I love working in education is that we all tend to have similar experiences throughout the year. We all know the grind of mid-October, when we're not planned ahead and yet there are piles of grading, the chaos of holiday parties and trying to squeeze in one last assessment. Every teacher knows the whirlwind of spring semester and the chaos of May. And all of us know the hopeful excitement of August, the new class rosters, the new strategies, the new beginning to fix anything we messed up last year.

It is easy for me to fixate on just that, on the to-do list and the ways I'm going to be different and better and try harder and do more. I want to be an excellent teacher and by George this will be the year I'll keep my email inbox under control! While this level of excitement and energy isn't bad - it is a gift from the God who gives us rhythms and seasons to our lives - it can be dangerous for my self-sufficient heart.

In Psalm 10:4 the Psalmist writes

In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

This sort of godlessness is seductive, because it often isn't overtly wicked or overtly evil. It is simply busy. And the beginning of the year this sort of busy godlessness often goes unchecked in my heart and life. My energy and enthusiasm looks like service for Jesus, especially in a Christian school, when the reality might be that I have no thoughts of God as I work for Him.

Psalm 127, one of my favorite Psalms of Ascent, convicts me every time. It says in vv 1-2:

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

The call of God isn't to stop working, to stop building, to stop watching. It isn't to quit making plans for the year or to give up on trying to be better. That would be antithetical to the rest of scripture.

But what if the call of God for you today is to stop, to be still, and to ask Him to make you more aware of His presence in your planning, your classroom, your students? What if the call of God is to not treat Him like a distant deity but an ever-present help, not a headmaster who is far away but a co-worker who is very near? What if God is asking you to ask Him to help you - not just when you're weak and weary in November but when you're excited and eager in August?

I believe that's what He's calling me to do, and my guess is He is calling you to that as well. Even now, just stop and take a moment to ask Him to make you even more aware of His presence and dependent on His grace for this year.

He is good and we can trust Him.

-Snix