National Day on Writing - a few minutes late

I’ve been sitting on this for a while, and haven’t posted it because I’m a bit timid. I’m a Christian. There’s nothing that I think more about than Biblical literature, interpretation, and application. But this subject is a bit different than anything else I’ve written about, so expanding into new territory isn’t easy. I figured today, on the National Day on Writing, I would be adventurous.

Four weeks ago I started going to an old school, proper Sunday School at Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church where a friend of mine leads the class. They started a series on the book of Philippians, which is one of my favorite books in the Bible, so I decided I would try it out.

The study started out by looking at Philippians 1:1-26. I was surprised by the idea of Christ’s work in Christians as a process. This is something that had occurred to me, but never quite so explicitly from the Bible. Personally, I had grown weary by the idea that when one “becomes a Christian” everything changes. We are physical beings, with urges and impulses and drives that become so ingrained within us that they become almost impossible to break—almost. But through the work of Christ, over time, change occurs. I think it’s pretty cool, even if it is a little crazy.

The verses that stand out to me, that encourage me in my thinking are Philippians 1:4-6, and 9-11.

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Later, after confessing his desire for death more than life and pleading with the Philippians to have the same attitude as Christ, he persists in his emphasis on process oriented Christianity in 2:12-13.

Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Now, chapter 3 of Philippians is probably my favorite chapter in the entire Bible, and in this chapter, specifically verse 12, Paul looks toward his goal and realizes he has far to go.

Not that I have already obtained all this*, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 

*This refers to verses 8-11.

Paul is a man who, if we believe the Bible, heard and saw a blinding vision of the Lord, and this experience transformed him in an amazing way—he stopped persecuting the Church and Christians, became a Christian himself and was himself persecuted. But still this transformation was not absolute or complete. Paul uses words and phrases to represent a process or journey oriented life in Christ. This often is not what is represented in the modern Church, and often not what is presented by Christians as they live their lives. Often I have encountered a Christianity of immediacy and perfectionism, and experienced nothing but a stifling mood. According to Paul, and his letter to the Philippians, this should not be. Why not approach life in Christ as a journey in coming to know Him more? Why not approach living as a Christian as a process in coming to know Christ more, and allowing that experience to change oneself? 

The Sunday School class was really fun for me to attend. It was good to meet some new people, and experience a new a different church experience apart from the one I’ve had for the past nine years. It’s always good to be challenged in my thinking, and I’m grateful that I’ve been exposed to new ways of reading one of my favorite texts. 

it was a good day

Well, I'm extremely tired, so as has become my custom, I'm going to keep this short.

1. School went well. Lots of different short activities. Talked symbolism in Haroun and the Sea of Stories; heard from the kids about their own ideas. My favorite interaction: Student 1: "Are turtle doves a symbol of anything, Mr. Maerke" Me: "I don't know. Why don't you use the computer to see if you can find an answer." Student 1: "Sweet." Students 2, 3, 4: "Hey, can I look up something too?" Me: "Is it about symbolism?" Students 2 and 4: "Yes." Student 3: "Uh, nope." Me: "Yes and yes. What are you looking up?" "Student 2: "What time the Chiefs' game starts tonite." Me: "Nope." Student 1: "Hey, 2 turtle doves from the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' song represents the Old and the New Testaments from the Bible. I found a site that tells about everything. The five golden rings isn't about rings at all, it's about the first five books of the Bible." Student 12: "What's with the Bible?"

2. Exploratory even went well today. We read. We watched a video of Irving Roth's testimony. We even watched Channel One. They're getting the hang of things. Good thing, because it's the fourth week of school. Tomorrow we respond to the video on the wiki. I'm excited.

3. After school I did my best to get organized. I'm not great at that, but I tried.

4. I met with Lisa and Sarah about their experiences in Berkeley with the NWP MAKE initiative. They had some really cool stories to tell, and I loved hearing them. I'm hoping that experience really was a positive one for them, and helps them find a niche. We talked quite a bit about a mini-grant for the site. I don't even know if a mini-grant is necessary, but it sounds like they're going to spend some time working one up. When I heard what they were doing I was really excited. It sounds amazing and wonderful and I'm totally jealous of their experiences.

5. At the meeting with Lisa and Sarah, at Panera Bread on N. Kansas Expressway, I saw a former student and his mom. It wasn't a pleasant meeting because none of our meetings when I had the student in my classes were pleasant. All are unfortunate.

6. I could have gotten more grading done than I did, but I'm totally ok with out it. It'll get done.

I'm late again, but I'm still up so it counts for today

Today I wanted to post something from all this Twitter crap that I've been writing and working on, but I wrote it in Word and the formatting is giving me such fits that I absolutely will not post it here. I'll be giving everyone who attends my session on Twitter for Teachers the link to a Google Doc which will serve as a resource when they leave. It's a ridiculously long and dense handout, which is why I'm going to tweet the link out to those who are following me. Only those interested will seek it out and use it. And that's how I want it to be.

Today I worked with the OWP LSRI VI research team. It's super weird for me to write, but I'll be leading the professional development. We worked from 9:00-4:30, took a break until 6:00, when we had dinner and continued our conversation. It was a completely exhausting day. At 4:30 I came home to read and watch soccer. I couldn't nap, because if I did I would have slept for five hours.

It was an amazing time for work with some wonderfully smart and nice people. Linda Friedrich from the NWP office came to talk us through this whole thing, and her assistance will prove to be invaluable, I'm sure. A new book which she just coauthored has come out, How Teachers Become Leaders, and she shared it with us. It was amazing getting to pick her brain as we sat at the same table and shared donuts and thoughts on research. I'm so blessed.

Two things stand out to me as impressive:

(1) We somehow gel. Even though that's the first time this entire team has been together, although we've worked in some capacity with one another, we get along really well. There were very fast introductions all around, and then we got to work. We weren't scared to disagree with one another, or to ask tough questions. I wasn't scared to ask questions that I thought might be dumb--and that's a pretty good indicator of the acceptance and climate in the room. We laughed at goofy jokes together. We talked about Twitter and Facebook--and more importantly, internet privacy and transparency. It was a great time.

(2) I was the only "dude" on the team, and I hope to remedy that. Also, I feel woefully undereducated sitting at a table with three Ph.D.s and a teacher who has been at it for more than twenty years. I'm going into my fifth year, and I just finished my Masters. Rarely, if ever, have I found myself in a majority when it comes to education situations. I'm starting to really know and understand how prevalent it is in my thinking and awareness, and I'm really wishing that I could be part of a majority at some point. I had a great time learning from these wonderful professionals, and working with them was challenging in a positive way. It would just be nice to have some other dudes around.

Spring Break

I’m now watching Aston Villa vs. Wolverhampton on ESPN2 in HD. I must say that it is a beautiful picture, but not yet a beautiful game. Both teams need to bring the ball down and look for open spaces to pass; there are too many balls in the air. It is the first time I have turned on the TV since Sunday. I didn’t turn it on at all during the week, and I’m very pleased of that. It was a productive week without the distraction; I came home each night to read and grade, usually grading first and reading before I head to bed. I think I’m going to continue to try to temper my TV watching, limiting it to Tuesday nights of Lost and Thursday nights of Community, The Office, and 30 Rock. That would leave Monday, Wednesday, and Friday open for grading and reading and writing. I would love that.

I’m leaving on Monday to head to Washington DC to see Brandon and then go to the Spring Meeting for the NWP. I don’t think I’m going to be very helpful at all at the Spring Meeting, but I’m going. I plan to write an apology letter to Keri about what I haven’t done to help or prepare with that meeting. In most situations, and I could even argue all situations, I need to have a detailed description of goals and an understanding of how to achieve that in order for me to be successful. I don’t feel like I have a full understanding of the goal for this Spring Meeting, and thus I don’t understand how to achieve it. For that reason, I flounder, and am more of a distraction than a help. I hope that is not the case, but I do believe it is true.

Spring Break is here and the fourth quarter is upon us. It seems like this 3^rd quarter has absolutely flown by, maybe because of soccer or the OWP. It has definitely been the best quarter we’ve had so far; the students are maturing and developing and becoming more independent in their learning by taking initiative in helping and challenging one another.

As I sit in my living room, with the big blinds open and looking out at the wet pavement and glistening grass, I can’t wait for Spring and Summer weather to really get here. I hope it isn’t too wet, but the rain is necessary for growth. The big problem is that it disrupts our Soccer schedule. The temperature is currently 34 degrees with a Winter Storm Warning in effect through the weekend. That’s not very Spring-ish. I really want to get a Bar-BQ pit and build some horse shoe pits and maybe even get a fire pit, all in the back yard, so that I can have people over and we can hang out, or at least I can enjoy the wonderful weather during the Spring and Summer. I would love to cook and eat and read and relax outside during the summer knowing that I’ve got my own space. This is one of top reasons why I’m hopeful about having the house now. Maybe I am buying into the selfish aspect of not wanting to share space, but really I would be all for sharing the space with many of my friends and even neighbors, as the weather gets nice. I want to have the Life Group over, and have the OWP people over, and have school friends over, and even meet the neighbors down the street and have them over to enjoy some good food and hang out. I don’t just want the space to myself all the time; there will be times when I want it for myself, but I would welcome having people over to share the space and to enjoy the time and weather and company.

I look forward to using some podcasting tools this morning at the Tech Team meeting, and for that reason I am now off to prepare. By they way, the game has turned around. Wolves now lead 2-1, and the football is getting to be challenging and more technical. Until next time.