Stump the Teacher

Welcome to my on-going series on Christian Perspective in the classroom.

Last time I shared one example of how I apply Christian Perspective in the classroom.

After doing that example with the students I challenge them to "Stump the teacher". They are to bring in any strange or unusual object they can find and I have to demonstrate how to apply Christian Perspective to it as part of my devotions. I put them all in a box and a few times a week I pull one out and do devotions on it.

To do so I use three themes.

Creation: What is good about this item? How does it show the awesomeness of God's world?

Fall: How is this item affected by sin? In what ways is this item used poorly?

Renewal: How can we, as Christians, work to use this item to serve God? How can we make the world a better place with this item?

The students have brought in all sorts of interesting items; toys, tools, food, feminine products... But I can always demonstrate at least one of the three themes and most of the time I can easily do all three.

I hope that by demonstrating this I can encourage students to see that our Christian Faith should influence all of our lives.

Of course, some of you will recognize that this is simply an adaptation of the classic Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration themes. I've simply modified them to fit more easily in an elementary classroom.

Next time curriculum connections and what the students should do with it.

A Christian Pencil

It's just a pencil right? Nothing special. We use them every day in math class. Not remarkable at all.

I disagree. I believe, that as a Christian, everything we do, have, and are should be influenced by our faith.

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, "Mine!”
― Abraham Kuyper

So, what does a Christian pencil look like?

That pencil is a good gift of God's Creation. With it we can craft poetry, songs, stories, and essays that honour him. We can create beautiful art, learn about God's amazing creation by practicing math and so much more.

But the pencil too is affected by the Fall into sin. We can take it and stab our neighbour in the classroom, or write gossipy notes to pass around the class, or we can break it and throw it away without using it.

We are called to Renew the world and to try to show the way through God's grace. We can use our pencils to write thank you notes, use the eraser end to erase mistakes and do things right, and so much more.


This is an example of the kind of exercise I take my 12 year old students through on a regular basis.

Next time "Stump the Teacher"

Teaching Christian Perspective - What it's not Part 3

"And like a flower grows towards the sun so should we grow in our faith towards Jesus."

That's how one student's science fair project attempted to include Christian Perspective.

Now it is a beautiful allegory, and there is a place for allegories like this in the development of our faith, this is not a good example of Christian Perspective about science.

To often we fall into the trap of only using our subject matter as an allegory for our faith and we do not think about how our faith should also inform our understanding of the subject matter.

Do how do we do this? Especially in the elementary classrooms where I teach!

Next time - "Teaching Christian Perspective - A Christian Pencil"