Academy Staff Instruct Educators in the Philippines

Written By Alison Sherrod

In 2011 I spent six months teaching Kindergarten at a rural barangay (neighborhood) school in Sariaya, Quezon, Philippines as part of a study abroad program with the Institute for G.O.D. Being in a crowded classroom with 30 five year old children who primarily spoke Tagalog was not the most comfortable experience in my life, to say the least. 

Alison teaches math in a rural classroom of 30 kindergarten students in Sariaya. Quezon in 2011.

Furthermore, because the children were too young to travel alone, many of them coming from the coast, the mothers were also present, peering through the open windows, observing my cross-cultural class management skills, delighted at the scene while giggling with one another over the “American teacher”. Fast forward 8 years later to August 2019 when I visited the Philippines for a week-long leadership summit conference with the Association for Christian Schools International (ACSI) Global. My perspective on education in the Philippines has grown much deeper after spending the past 6 years as part of the school administration and start-up team at the Academy for G.O.D. I have learned lessons in school administration and a holistic approach to education for children that can be transferred into any culture, and that’s just what I was blessed to teach at the conference last month. 

Leafa Vagatai and Alison Sherrod were blessed to be invited to the ACSI Summit Leadership Conference, hosted by ACSI Philippines Director, Ces Tajales and ACSI Global Vice President, Dr. David Wilcox.

Dr. David Wilcox speaks to hundreds of Filipino educators and school leaders on the current generation and the enduring values that should be present in Christian education curriculum.

My teammate and co-worker at the Academy for G.O.D. Leafa Vagatai and I were invited to attend and facilitate breakout sessions at the ACSI Convergence Conference in Palo, Leyte with over 400 Filipino school leaders and teachers. The annual leadership summit is held in a different location throughout the Philippines each year, and this year’s conference just happened to be in the same town as our ministry hub. Our week was filled with insight from Filipino educators and leadership from ACSI Global, including Dr. David Wilcox, Vice President of the Asia region. 

It was after my experience in 2011, that the Lord impressed upon my heart a need for accessible, alternative Christian education in the Philippines. I was moved by some of my kindergarten students in Sariaya who endured physical hardship, or others who had social-emotional challenges, and several other students who could only attend school on certain days due to familial obligations. The opportunity for quality education is not available to all. A couple of years later when the Academy for G.O.D. began in Old Hickory, TN, I learned what could be possible in children’s education under the direction of our Headmaster, Gregg Garner. Other regional team members were also involved like Leafa with the kindergarten program, Craig Duffy with upper-elementary students, and Michelle Madron with special needs services. The Lord is continuing to connect all of our work at the Academy with what we hope to see in the Philippines.

It was a blessing to be among so many Filipino Christian educators in Palo last month, to hear their stories and connect with their experiences in the classroom and working with parents. Many of the private school teachers in the Philippines receive less pay than public school educators as they do not receive government funding, so they consider their work ministry, a service of teaching God’s children. 

Academy elementary teacher, Leafa Vagatai, facilitated workshops on early education and music as a tool in the classroom. Leafa has over a year experience teaching in Filipino schools.

Please join us in prayer for these men and women in the Philippines and around the world who give themselves to this work each day. Opportunities like the Convergence Conference are a special time for these individuals to collaborate, learn from one another, and develop friendships with those who are like-minded in terms of philosophy and motivation. God willing, some of the educators we met last month will become wonderful resources and co-laborers for our schools in the Philippines as we look into the coming years in faith!

Academy Senior Serves Local Widow

Written By Rosemary Sherrod

Eighteen year old Blake Botzum, now an Academy for G.O.D. graduate, wanted his senior project to be connected to ethical building. Blake interviewed several builders within the GOD community to learn what that meant, and what he found was one common motivation: to help someone who could not help themselves in a way that could be modeled by others.  Therefore, instead of focusing on what kind of building project he would enjoy doing, Blake first considered who he wanted his senior project to benefit. “I want to serve those who are on God’s heart and I thought about a verse in the book of James that my Mom had me memorize years ago: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” He went on: “God emphasizes caring for children and widows. So that is what I would do. I wanted my offer my services to a widow in our neighborhood and that’s when I met Mrs. Frances.”

Denise Bennecker, manager of G.O.D.’s Widow and Elderly Care program, introduced Blake to Mrs. Frances, and pointed him to a biblical precedent for caring for widows in 1 Timothy 5. It may come as a surprise that the Bible gives standards for which widows should be helped, but when dealing with a large number of widows, the text is very helpful. After Blake’s time with Mrs. Frances, he agreed that she was one of the “true widows” that the text describes: “at least sixty years old ... well attested for her good works, one who has brought up children, shown hospitality, washed the saints’ feet, helped the afflicted and devoted herself to doing good in every way,” (5:9-10).  Blake recounted: “She spent her life serving the children at her church and in her neighborhood. She describes herself as the neighborhood’s grandmother and that fits her perfectly. It was so easy for me to talk to her and before long I discovered how I could help her.”

Mrs. Frances has always worked in her yard whether planting or maintaining her shrubs and flowers. However, at this time in her life, she expressed that there were things she needed or wanted to do but she was no longer able. Blake asked, “What can I do for you?” and Mrs. Frances was ready with an answer. “I need a step with a rail built so I can get in and out of my shed and I would really enjoy having an arbor built right here.” The “right here” is the spot where Mrs. Frances could look out her back door and see the greenery covering her arbor.

So Blake got to work. The Academy at G.O.D. provided all the materials and Blake provided the labor (Blake’s dad helped him with planning, design and a little hands-on work). Blake intentionally paced himself so that the job took the full five weeks that the project was termed. I asked him why he didn’t just get it done. “I could have, of course, especially if I asked my dad to help more. But I wanted to show consistency and have time to build a relationship. Even though I love building, I loved serving Mrs. Frances more.”  Blake isn’t interested just in building but ethical building which means he cares so much about the person on the other side of a building project that their needs are incorporated into the actual project plans. In considering Mrs. Frances’ needs more significant than his own, Blake committed himself to a longer period of time than was actually required to finish the project but not without effort. “It takes longer to get something done when you stop and consider the person you are serving. I am such a task-oriented person and I wasn’t sure I could get over that.”

I asked Blake how he will go forward from this project. “I’m maintaining my relationship with Mrs. Frances by visiting her and helping her in any way I can.” He smiled and said, “I offered to fill her car tire and she offered to bake me some cookies.” The service, it seems, goes both ways.

In the end, Blake expressed how thankful he is that God showed him that he works well with the elderly and he said he will be getting involved with our Widow and Elderly Program. In a more sober but hopeful tone, Blake commented about this grandmother who lives out of town: “My Grandma is also like the 1 Timothy widow. I hope the church back home is taking care of her in a similar way.”

Honor widows who are really widows...The real widow, left alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayer night and day (1 Tim. 5:3,5).

What I Learned at Academy Performance Night

Written By Brett Madron

This last weekend I had the privilege of attending the Academy for G.O.D.’s performance night. I anticipated the event, wondering how my children, 8 and 6 years old, would perform. But, more than that, I knew there would be unique twists and turns to the evening’s routines. I know the headmaster, I know the administration, and I know they shoot for excellence in all things.

Levi’s class was singing a song in Spanish. Levi is non-verbal. I had no question they’d find a way for him to participate.

My daughter’s kindergarten chose to perform jokes. Hilariously cheesy stuff like, “What’s the scariest tree in the jungle?”…”Bam…BOO”.

In fact, each class presented in a way that displayed their collective personality, and certainly the personality of their teachers. There were instrumental guitar performances, live readings from a student written story, a parent/student trivia game show, songs in Swahili and Spanish, one acts, student bands with original numbers, and more.

The diversity of performance style was refreshing. It illustrated the varying types of the intelligence developing in students at the Academy. Some musical, others linguistic, others interpersonal, or kinesthetic.

What struck me? A bunch of students who don’t perform very often looking confident and comfortable on the stage. Why? I suspect it was, at least in part, because they were given an opportunity to do something that reflected their growing interest and skill.

While Michelle and I knew Levi would need some individualized attention at the Academy because of his developmental delays (more on that here), it’s something each student receives in such empowering ways.

Students are exposed to many different activities and fields, over time they learn that they have certain proclivities, certain interests, certain things they understand faster than other things, things they feel passionate about and things they would just as soon never do again.

Broadly, unfortunately, education does not work like this. Students are not always given this sort of individualized attention or support. They are not treated as unique. And so often it is less the fault of the educator and more the fault of a broken educational system in which students and teachers exist. There’s not enough time, not enough resources or support, not enough personnel to guide students in some of the most impressionable years of their development. Teachers are tired.

Performance night made me thankful, and it helped me to see the life-giving benefits to a different approach to education. These kids deserve it, and they’ll be better adults for it. Thank you teachers, wherever you teach, for giving yourself everyday.

As for Levi, he played the drums and a friend held up a microphone to his talker while he talked about how to say ‘peace’ in Spanish. It wasn’t perfect, but man was it perfect.

Not Failing Our Students

Academy for G.O.D. Principal Grant Dailey recently updated parents on the progress reports released to their students. We thought his update would be celebrated by an audience larger than just the students’ parents, so we posted here for you to read as well!

Recently we distributed quarter 3 progress reports. While elementary students received updates on the progress they have made in achieving benchmarks, Jr High and High School students were mailed a printout of their current grade in each course. I am pleased to report that our Jr High and High School students had a great third quarter! Of the 300+ grades given at the third quarter, only 5 were failing between both high school and jr. high. This is a great improvement from the end of Q1 in the Fall, where we had 13 failing grades from 7-12th grade.

I share this with you not to boast our grade statistics. That is not who we are as a school. Much of our effort is directed at measuring success by metrics other than GPA. Rather, I want to highlight our approach to grading students and working with those individuals that do struggle. We do not give grades to elementary students until the last quarter of 6th grade. We do this because we want to introduce grades at a point in their development where students can differentiate the evaluation of their effort (a grade) from their value as a person. Once a student enters Jr High, however, the reality is their work is graded. School is not a YMCA soccer league; we don’t hand out arbitrary participation trophies to each student for just showing up. Sometimes students fail to do homework or perform poorly on a test. But our conviction is that we have the responsibility to do everything within our power to help students improve.

As a lead teacher to the Jr High students, Mr. Aaseby invests time and care into the students not only academically, but also socially and emotionally.

Let’s face it: failing is the worst. No kid wants to fail, and a sustained feeling of failure, coupled with not getting the help they need, often ends in students just giving up. Take for example national dropout statistics (1). Decades ago, dropout rates were largely related to factors other than school: “chose to work, got married, enlisted in the army.” By the 2000s, however, the rationale for students dropping out shifted. “Getting failing grades, could not keep up with school work, thought could not complete requirements, couldn’t get along with teachers.” The increased expectations on students and the heightened emphasis on college readiness (both measured almost exclusively in alphanumeric terms) have led to a school environment where students that fail also fail to get support, with many quitting in the end.

We understand the obligation we have to help students that fall behind. When a student is failing or on the verge of failing, we work with them to help move them in the right direction. Study halls, plans for make-up work, opportunities to retest and retake. Most important, we meet with our students to help them see that they aren’t bad or a failure themselves. They are learning to manage their time and make their effort match the responsibilities at school. This is, for us, more important than getting in the work that was missed: we want our students to develop the confidence that comes from recognizing they are children of God, created in his image to do good works (Eph. 2:10).

All this to say, I’m very proud of our Jr High and High School students this semester. These reports are a piece of the evidence that they are continually growing and improving, not just academically, but in understanding what they are capable of as children of God.

(1) Jonathan Jacob Doll, Zohreh Eslami, Lynne Walters, “Understanding Why Students Dropout of High School, According to their Own Reports,” Sage Journals 3, no. 4 (January 1, 2013), https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244013503834

Keeping Our Way Pure

Written by Craig Duffy

The following is a glimpse into a conversation that I appreciated and was grateful to have with my students this week. I'm so proud of what the Lord is doing in their hearts!

"What is a theologian, students?"

Blank stares, shoulder shrugs.

"Okay, look it up."

Student raises hand, “someone who specializes in theology."

"Good. What is theology?"

Silence.

“Okay, look it up.”

Student raises hand, “the study of God and his relation to the world.”

"Fantastic. Do you think you all specialize in theology?"

"No?"

"Look up the definition of specialize."

“To focus on or give increased effort in a particular field of study.”

"Good. Do you think you all focus on and give increased effort to the study of God’s word and his relationship with the world?"

Student raises hand, “yes we do!”

"Okay, prove it. How much time do you actually spend in God’s word on a weekly basis through classes, homework, chapel, beginnings, wrap-up, church during the week, and youth groups you might have. Calculate it up, please."

(Class average comes out to 9hrs a week).

"Do you think this amount of time in the word is normal or abnormal?"

At the Academy, the Bible is the foundational text for the entire curriculum. Students are learning to apply scripture to every part of their lives!

Students shrug shoulders.

"According to a Barna study, 7 out of 10 Christian teens own a bible. Of those 7 teens, 5 are in it for about 15 minutes, about 4 times a year. 2 of them are in the word 1 time a week for 15 minutes. (1) Meaning that your above average Christian teen is floating around 3% the textual exposure rate that your average student is in our classroom."

They gasp and cover their mouths.

"Again, let me ask you, do you think you specialize in theology?"

Yes, they shake their heads.

"Do you think, then, that you are young theologians?"

They shake their heads again, up and down.

"Do you think you're normal?"

This time they move their heads back and forth.

"Good", I say, "lets move on." 

“How Can A Young Man Keep His Way Pure? By Keeping It According To Your Word.” 

- Psalm 119:9

(1) Barna: Only 3 Percent of Teens Read Bible Daily.” OneNewsNow.com, onenewsnow.com/missions/2016/08/28/barna-only-3-percent-of-teens-read-bible-daily?&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news_important_info_for_parents&utm_term=2019-03-24.