Educational Practices

What do younger Christians need? Older Christians. What helps a Christian teenager navigate ideas in the public square? Watch our two minute Truth in Two minutes to find out! (full text below). Titus 1.9 is clear: we are to encourage each other with sound doctrine. Subscribe to “Truth in Two” videos from Comenius (here). Mark is President … Read more

Respecting university work . . . . . . Shows respect for the subject, the professor, and God-given intellect. There are few things that dismay me more than shoddy work in any field. Watch our two minute video about the need for academic excellence (text below). 1 Thessalonians 4:12 says it best: our work shows … Read more

Sensitivity in words shows sensitivity toward people. My friend and brother, Dr. Dave Deuel, Senior Research Fellow – Policy and Publishing – of The Christian Institute on Disability of Joni and Friends asked me to publish the style guide for “Writing and Speaking about Disability in Biblical Counseling Ministry.” I offer this guide at Warp and … Read more

Seeing beauty – education’s goal. Humanities’ instruction depends on the origin of humanity. Caldecott’s thesis can be easily summarized: To be educated means we must constantly return to origins in order to pursue any ends. For the Christian educator, education must begin with, end on, and be motivated through Heaven. Against the fragmentation of god-less … Read more

I really blew it. He was doodling. I was angry. The high school student sat right in front of me while I was teaching. Doodles poured from his pen. I thought he might take some notes from time to time, but no. At some point, I had had it. I needed to rein in this … Read more

“You don’t understand.” I have been gladly married to the same woman for 38 years. We celebrate our anniversary on August 4th. One would think that after 38 years there would be no more surprises, no more to discover, no more need to ask “How do you feel about that?” After 38 years she still … Read more

The Marks of a Christian Mentor: A Vocational Description (Part Three) “By guiding attention we take in our hands the key to the formation and the development of personality and character.” Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky[2] “Teacher,” Part One (here), “Scholar,” Part Two (here) My first stint as an educator was chosen by a four letter word: … Read more

Want to be a Christian intellectual? Read The Intellectual Life. “Let us not be like those people who always seem to be pallbearers at the funeral of the past.                           Let us utilize, by living, the qualities of the dead” (15). A man who … Read more

“Humor plays close to the white hot fire of truth.” E. B. White “Our laughter contains the hope of redemption.” F.H. Buckley, The Morality of Laughter Laughter. We began each class hour the same way. When I was teaching in high school I would show the latest “Darwin Awards,” weekly “Calvin and Hobbes” cartoon strips, … Read more

The Marks of a Christian Teacher: A Vocational Description [1] The true function of the teacher is to create the most favorable conditions for self-learning. True teaching is not that which gives knowledge, but that which stimulates pupils to gain it. One might say that he teaches best who teaches least.[2]  “I do not want you to … Read more