Why I Choose To Teach At Lakeland Christian Academy
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Kate Harmon-
From kindergarten through college, I attended public schools and went on to a state college. I grew up in the Northeast in a middle class community where education was highly valued and very secular. For the most part, I had a very good experience, learned much and was taught by kind and effective teachers.
Raised in a Christian home, I did find that my values were occasionally assaulted or belittled. I remember sitting in an American literature class where the professor began a class discussion bemoaning the fact that there were still people in the world that believed in the virgin birth.
However, these experiences were not what propelled me into Christian education. I sensed that there was something richer to education. I wanted to read a book and discuss more than just what the basic plot was and how the deeper meaning could be interpreted in several different ways that were all legitimate options. I wanted to understand math not just as numbers and equations, but as a way to understand how God made an ordered universe. I wanted to see the beauty of Christ in creation and understand why the Creator would design something like the mosquito. I wanted to see history through the lens of a sovereign God who orders events and circumstances. I wanted to understand culture and human nature from God’s perspective. I wanted my faith to shape the way I thought about everything, not just what I learned on Sunday morning. I also wanted more than just morality, but I wanted to be able to think critically through the lens of a Christian world view.
With my own children I have tried a variety of educational paths, and while I was so thankful for the excellent teachers they had in the public schools, I found myself again drawn back to the idea of Christian education. I am grateful to be able to send both of my sons to Lakeland Christian Academy.
I am also grateful to be able to teach English from a Christian perspective at Lakeland. It is my goal in my classroom to glorify God by encouraging students to think deeply from a Christian worldview, and to see Christ in all that we do. When they read literature, I want them to grow in their understanding of the text, but also to analyze the author and worldview that he or she is promoting.
When my students are writing, I teach them to use their words as a way to create, reflecting the God who created all things by speaking. When their writing displays order, beauty, creativity, persuasive language, and promotes what is good, they are reflecting the image of their Creator. They are to be motivated in their studies by a desire to please God, not merely to work for other people. For those who don’t yet have faith, they will be exhorted to turn to Christ whenever possible through our study of English.
Just to give an example of how this works itself out, my senior class recently studied the Romantic poets. In a discussion on the classic poem “Tintern Abbey,” they were asked to understand the basic meaning of the poem, the form and meter, and how it displayed the characteristics of the Romantic Period. They were then asked to explain what they believed was Wordsworth’s worldview. This led to a discussion of how Christians should view nature. What does it mean that nature is under a curse? How is God glorified in nature? How do we steward the earth and not worship it? We also marveled at the beauty of creation.
This is the kind of education I want for my own children and the students I teach at Lakeland.[[In-content Ad]]
From kindergarten through college, I attended public schools and went on to a state college. I grew up in the Northeast in a middle class community where education was highly valued and very secular. For the most part, I had a very good experience, learned much and was taught by kind and effective teachers.
Raised in a Christian home, I did find that my values were occasionally assaulted or belittled. I remember sitting in an American literature class where the professor began a class discussion bemoaning the fact that there were still people in the world that believed in the virgin birth.
However, these experiences were not what propelled me into Christian education. I sensed that there was something richer to education. I wanted to read a book and discuss more than just what the basic plot was and how the deeper meaning could be interpreted in several different ways that were all legitimate options. I wanted to understand math not just as numbers and equations, but as a way to understand how God made an ordered universe. I wanted to see the beauty of Christ in creation and understand why the Creator would design something like the mosquito. I wanted to see history through the lens of a sovereign God who orders events and circumstances. I wanted to understand culture and human nature from God’s perspective. I wanted my faith to shape the way I thought about everything, not just what I learned on Sunday morning. I also wanted more than just morality, but I wanted to be able to think critically through the lens of a Christian world view.
With my own children I have tried a variety of educational paths, and while I was so thankful for the excellent teachers they had in the public schools, I found myself again drawn back to the idea of Christian education. I am grateful to be able to send both of my sons to Lakeland Christian Academy.
I am also grateful to be able to teach English from a Christian perspective at Lakeland. It is my goal in my classroom to glorify God by encouraging students to think deeply from a Christian worldview, and to see Christ in all that we do. When they read literature, I want them to grow in their understanding of the text, but also to analyze the author and worldview that he or she is promoting.
When my students are writing, I teach them to use their words as a way to create, reflecting the God who created all things by speaking. When their writing displays order, beauty, creativity, persuasive language, and promotes what is good, they are reflecting the image of their Creator. They are to be motivated in their studies by a desire to please God, not merely to work for other people. For those who don’t yet have faith, they will be exhorted to turn to Christ whenever possible through our study of English.
Just to give an example of how this works itself out, my senior class recently studied the Romantic poets. In a discussion on the classic poem “Tintern Abbey,” they were asked to understand the basic meaning of the poem, the form and meter, and how it displayed the characteristics of the Romantic Period. They were then asked to explain what they believed was Wordsworth’s worldview. This led to a discussion of how Christians should view nature. What does it mean that nature is under a curse? How is God glorified in nature? How do we steward the earth and not worship it? We also marveled at the beauty of creation.
This is the kind of education I want for my own children and the students I teach at Lakeland.[[In-content Ad]]
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