Christian Education Reflection Paper

Throughout my previous thirteen years of education I like to think that I have learned a lot about life, the world and of course teaching. My parents were very committed to Christian Education, thus they enrolled my in Christian Schools from kindergarten all the way through grade 12. They strongly encouraged me to go to a Christian post-secondary institute to further my education. I agreed with my parents that Christian education, thus I decided to come to Dordt College to further my education in hopes to become an educator. Since have done all of my schooling in Christian Schools I think that I have a solid grasp on what teaching Christianly looks like from a student’s perspective. As a young student I was very observant, I watched teachers closely and noticed many things. Some of my teachers have “simply taught” whereas others I have seen “teaching Christianly.” From my own experiences in a Christian grade school and high school I have seen all sorts of positive and negative classrooms and teaching methods and styles that work and do not work.

I have definitely experienced classrooms where the only “Christian” thing that was included in our daily plans was an opening prayer and devotional and a closing prayer.

Although teaching is a difficult and taxing profession, the teacher should be able to control his or her classroom. I had a fun time, but our teacher did not, I am not so sure on how much I actually learned and I think that it had a negative effect on my learning. In my classroom I want to be able to be in control of my students to provide a positive learning experience. I want to be able to use my power and responsibility to be an effective Christian teacher. Since God ultimately gives me the authority and the responsibility of serving students through teaching, I need to recognize how my power or lack of power and actions are affecting the classroom