Sometimes I think about what a great job I am blessed with and what an honor it is to get to be in ECS classrooms all the time: observing teachers, reading to students, watching special presentations, taking visiting families in to observe, or just checking in on what students are learning. In fact, I talk to visitors (and to anyone who will listen!) about the culture of learning and the spiritual impact of ECS all the time. Having been a teacher and a parent at ECS myself, I have my own personal experience to share regarding how ECS has positively influenced my family. Certainly ECS prepared my child for her next academic steps and equipped her spiritually for challenges and changes along the way. It is gratifying to see the fruit of that investment even now.
Parents expect an emphasis on academic and spiritual investment in their child during their years at ECS. At ECS, administration, teachers and staff expect it too!
Every time I visit a classroom, I am still impressed by what I see: the dedication of the teachers, the energy and interaction of the students, the “light bulb” moments when a child understands, the team work among students as they work in groups, the academic conversations in the classroom among students from ages four to fourteen, the ownership of learning by students, and the joy of relationships among teachers and students. Listening as teachers interweave spiritual truths within academic instruction makes the learning more relevant, and students contribute biblical integration of their own, which is always impressive!
This “like-mindedness” within the classroom creates a sense of community that extends to every aspect of our school. To be clear, it takes work to develop a sense of community, striving to work together for the same purpose, and we don’t get it right all the time. Our intention, though, is to communicate to our students that “we are a ‘family’ or a ‘team’ in the classroom”, as one of our teachers shared with her class recently as they discussed how to work together productively. She followed up by reading Romans 12:15 to them, “We rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep”.
Community is built as students collaborate in learning, as they invest in one another through the daily classroom activities, and as they learn to apply the Word to their lives and pray together. Community is created when students and teachers look for ways to serve, within our school and beyond, and know that together they can impact our community and our world.
We are all “better” in community, and we appreciate the prayers and support of all the stakeholders at ECS. Thank you for praying for our students as they learn and grow in their faith and for our teachers and staff who serve them every day.
Part of school life includes testing and accountability, so we appreciate your prayers as our third through eighth graders take the ISTEP+ test the week of March 10.