TfT Bulletin #10 | May 11, 2022

Was Deep Hope realized?

Is this even fair to ask? While we may not fully answer this question, it is worthwhile to engage this question with your students as the school year draws to a close. Heading into the final days, many of us will invite our students to intentionally reflect around Deep Hope.

TfT School Designer Carey Franklin recently shared with me a poem called “Rough Translations” by Jan Richardson.

Rough Translations

Par’ elpida ep’ elpidi.
—Romans 4.18, Greek New Testament
(Literally, “Against hope with hope.”)

Hope nonetheless.
Hope despite.
Hope regardless.
Hope still.

Hope where we had ceased to hope.
Hope amid what threatens hope.
Hope with those who feed our hope.
Hope beyond what we had hoped.

Hope that draws us past our limits.
Hope that defies expectations.
Hope that questions what we have known.
Hope that makes a way where there is none.

Hope that takes us past our fear.
Hope that calls us into life.
Hope that holds us beyond death.
Hope that blesses those to come.

—Jan Richardson

Each line of the poem seems to answer a frequent question we engage during the crafting of our Deep Hope statement: What is a Deep Hope?

Hope that takes us past our fear . . .

Hope that calls us into life . . .

Hope that blesses those to come . . .

The language of this poem provides a wealth of prompts for you and your students as you reflect on your classroom’s Deep Hope. Perhaps, too, the words invite you to consider your next articulation of Deep Hope or Storyline.

Getting To Know Our TfT Network: Central Wisconsin Christian

In their third year of Teaching for Transformation at Central Wisconsin Christian, the staff wrestled with how to get the Throughlines into their students’ homes. Inspiration struck–a good old fashioned paper calendar! Toward that end, CWC gathered talented people (students!) and created videos to teach the school community about the use of TfT and Throughlines at CWC. Each video engages two of the Throughlines and invites parents and others to submit photographs that embody each Throughline. The growing collection of photos will contribute to a 2022-23 school calendar highlighting one Throughline per month.

Personalizing Throughlines at Sheboygan Christian

Sheboygan Christian (SCS), also in their third year of implementing TfT, has been personalizing Throughlines to become their stated graduate profile at SCS. While the list is still a work in progress (they hope to narrow it down next year), Sheboygan graciously shares the draft of their SCS Throughline imagery (created by ‘21 alumni Ashlynn Brown), language, and descriptors. Head of School Ann Steenwyk welcomes dialogue about their process and any kind, specific, and helpful feedback to strengthen the work ahead.

Throughline Coloring Pages and Grandparents Day at Newton Christian

Newton Christian School recently hosted their annual Grandparents Day. In the spirit of celebrating their grandparents, the students were invited to color one of the Throughline characters that reminded them of their grandparents. The students then presented and gifted the drawings to their grandparents. This activity was a great way to reinforce the Throughlines for the students, introduce Throughlines to the grandparent community, and honor their special guests. Throughline coloring pages are now available on the TfT website under Resources.

Reframing and Renaming “Star of the Week” at Dutton Christian School

Many classrooms use the “student of the week” practice to highlight the students in their classroom. Kindergarten teacher Tami Boomsma of Dutton Christian School wanted to align her traditional approach with her Deep Hope: My students will embrace the knowledge that they are uniquely designed by our loving God to work and play in his world. In the past, her star students would complete a store-bought design-your-own poster about themselves; however, she changed the wording from “Star to the Week” to “Uniquely Designed” and created her own poster for the children to complete that applies her Storyline of Color God’s World. Tami says that the poster helps direct their discussion of how each child is “uniquely designed by our loving God to work and play in his world.” This new approach allows the class to review the Deep Hope weekly, personalize it to each child, invite parents into the Deep Hope, and recognize ways that they are all Coloring God’s World!

Secondary TFT: Spanish at Bellevue Christian

Bellevue Christian’s Secondary Spanish teacher Alicia Taleno’s Deep Hope is for her students to explore, enjoy, and admire culture together, showing selfless love to people of different color, race, and economic levels in our neighborhood and world. Listen to Alicia and her students share their story of a growing relationship between the Spanish students at Bellevue Christian and the students at Niños Tres Rios in San Salvador, a collaboration that resulted in the creation of books for the Central American school’s library.

Instructional Coaching Intensive—Registration Is Open

We are excited to announce that registration has opened for the 2022 Instructional Coaching Intensive to be co-hosted by South Christian, Legacy Christian, and Dutton Christian on Nov 16-18, 2022.

Like last year, we are offering Level 100, Level 200, and Level 300 streams of Instructional Coaching.

There is also a pre-conference day (November 17) on equipping schools to host school-wide Celebrations of Learning.

Group rates are available for schools that send teams.

Meeting our School Designer Team: Jenn VanHekken

Jenn VanHekken is passionate about helping both students and teachers recognize that they were designed for a purpose and get to play a role in God's story of redemption in all they say and do. In her role as the Director of Teaching and Learning at Grand Haven Christian School, she gets the opportunity to help teachers understand how strong educational practices and meaningful faith integration allow each student to grow this purpose and recognize God's calling on their life. When she is not in the school building, you can find Jenn enjoying a baseball game, cooking a new recipe, or binging a Netflix series with her husband Chris.

Jenn shares the following storyline from Oakland Christian School: “Trusting God in the Process.”

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