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| Volume 8 | September 23, 2020
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Brian Doornenbal (both a dear friend and an important creative voice into the development of TfT over the years) shared the following quote with me this past week:
People lose their way when they lose their why. – Gail Hyatt
The essence of this quote is embodied in the visuals we use to represent the core practices of Teaching for Transformation.
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The ongoing hope is that the TfT Bulletin will support you as school leaders and classroom teachers in the pursuit of your why, your deep hope.
Please continue to reach out to me (darryl.deboer@cace.org) with your TfT stories and resources to share as we work to encourage, inspire, and connect our network of TfT schools. In particular, at this time of the school year, we would love to share stories of how you are inviting your community into Storyline and Deep Hope.
Darryl DeBoer
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Celebrating and Honoring a TfT Co-creator
It has been almost two years since the passing of Doug Monsma. In his roles as a teacher/administrator at Edmonton Christian School and Director of Learning at the Prairie Center for Christian Education, Doug was both an original TfT pioneer and a co-creator of the core practices that developed over the years. If you missed the opportunity to meet Doug personally, I promise that you are meeting my deeply missed friend every time you design learning within the deep hope of the TfT framework. His fingerprints and creative genius are everywhere throughout TfT.
We honor Doug as we officially unveil our Throughline characters created by Peter Reynolds (author/illustrator of The Dot, ish, Say Something and countless others) and the team at FableVision Learning.
Whereas we are eager to share the whole team of Throughline characters (and we will!), today we share only Image Reflecting as Doug’s three daughters (Tara, Leanne, and Erin) chose this Throughline as one that they most closely identify with their father.
In creating these characters, Peter Reynolds was inspired by actual elementary school photos of Doug Monsma. Personally and professionally, Doug’s joy-filled demeanor reflected our Creator God, and it is forever captured in our Image Reflecting illustration.
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Elementary TfT: Apologizing and Deepening
In the previous TfT Bulletin, I incorrectly identified the teacher of the “Nature News” story. My sincerest apology to Valarie Matthews for my mistake. Embracing the growth mindset embedded in TfT, we are using this moment as an opportunity to deepen our learning: we are pleased to share the entire TfT design that led to this student initiative. Thank you, Valarie, for embracing the design role of inviting, nurturing, and empowering your students within the Story!
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Secondary TfT: Sioux Falls Christian
Sara Mulder is the secondary art teacher at Sioux Falls Christian in South Dakota. Her deep hope for her students is “to increase our student’s sense of wonder, and explore more about who God made them to be through the gift of creating ART.” To invite her students into this statement, Sara created a visual representation of her deep hope and shares her hopes for her students in her artist’s statement.
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Inviting Parents into our Deep Hope: Surrey Christian School
The Leadership team at the Fleetwood Campus of SCS created this compilation poster of their staff’s deep hopes for the year. The poster was sent home to parents and will hang throughout the school building as both a reminder to parents that we are people of deep hope and an invitation to join this story at SCS.
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Throughlines–A resource for teachers and parents
This Throughline resource produced by the Prairie Center of Christian Education features the Creation Enjoying Throughline. While these resources were originally designed for the purpose of supporting parents during remote learning, they serve as an excellent resource for teachers during face-to-face learning as well.
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Professional Development Opportunity: Teacher CollaborationThis is a final reminder to participate in collaboration with TfT teachers across the network. (The sign-up deadline is Sept 25—soon!). Given that one of the impacts of Covid-19 is an increased feeling of isolation and fatigue, we hope that this networking and sharing will provide an energizing connection with colleagues on the same journey as you.
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Professional Development Opportunity: Instructional Coaching
Likewise, we are approaching the enrollment deadline for Instructional Coaching (also September 25). First-time participants in Instructional Coaching training should enroll in Level 100, while those who have attended the previous intensives are invited to enroll in Level 200. Current enrollments indicate an ongoing, strong desire for this support and training.
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Getting to know our TfT family of schools: Bellingham Christian School
For this school year, Bellingham Christian School has chosen "Step by Step, He Leads Us" as their school storyline. Roxann Rose, Director of Learning, shares these reflections and images from BCS’s TfT professional development day.
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