Academy Senior Serves Local Widow
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.
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.
Love Your Neighbor, Learn Their Language
Team member Anna Reyes (left) volunteers as a high school Spanish teacher at the Academy for G.O.D. She particularly enjoys helping students come into an awareness of not just the mechanics of Spanish grammar, but the social realities faced by many speakers in the US and how followers of Christ can responsibly respond.
Written by Anna Reyes
This school year, four of our Latin America Team members serve as volunteers teaching Spanish at both the Academy and Institute for G.O.D. Learning Spanish is an important requirement for all members of our team for our work in our international region. However, sharing our skills with students here in the US is important for us as well. It is our privilege to help bridge the communication divide between neighbors here in the states, regardless of whether our students’ paths ultimately take them outside of the US or not.
I volunteer to teach a Spanish grammar course at the Academy for G.O.D. My students are high schoolers on various trajectories towards their life and career goals. One of my favorite questions to ask my students at the beginning of the semester is, “Why are you in this class?” At first, they are confused. The question may seem rhetorical, but it really isn’t.
Team member Lavinia Fernandez (right) volunteers as a Spanish teacher at both the Academy and Institute for G.O.D. She approaches the task by first acknowledging that language is necessarily tied to human speakers and therefore cannot be responsibly approached without considering the perspective of the other.
“What do you mean?” they ask. I respond by pressing the pause button on the busy lives we lead. “Why are you in this room, on this day, beginning a course in Spanish?”
A surprising theme that has emerged from their answers is the desire to understand Spanish speakers, not on the scientific level of translation, but on the emotional level of human connection. When they take a moment to pause and assess their personal motivation, they find more than simply being able to translate their thoughts. They would like to be able to take the perspective of another, a perspective that eludes them due to the barrier of language.
“I want to learn Spanish so that I can talk and connect with people who speak Spanish. Learning this language can help me develop new relationships with people I couldn't talk to before. The skill of learning different languages can help you in a lot of ways, but I think this one is one of the most important ones to consider,” a student said.
Pledges and candidates of the Latin America team benefit from the instruction offered by team member Ben Reese (right) at the Institute for G.O.D. All team participants are encouraged to continue pursuit of fluency and take annual exams to ensure that progress is being made.
Another student reflected after her semester, “Something that surprised me was that we could apply what we learn in Spanish to the world changing around us.”
It is bridging this connection that excites me as an educator. 1 John teaches that “he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God who he has not seen.” Doing the arduous work of learning a language in order to understand another in order to take their perspective is a valuable step towards just such a love of neighbor. Though our classes and the material to cover is vast, I make it a priority to include assignments that can broaden the perspective of my students. We’ve had class discussions or presentations on current events about immigration issues in our nation. We’ve discussed the growing desire among Spanish-speaking Americans for Spanish language children’s books that don’t simply translate stories from English, but make available the stories that native speakers enjoyed as children. I have also offered extra credit to students who volunteer with the ELL program of GOD, not to teach English, but to help the staff and students in service such as cleaning or hospitality while simply observing and reflecting on the experience. Though it is God who gives us sight to see our fellow brothers and sisters with the love that He has for them, it is moments such as these that bring an opportunity for God to move.
Students in the high school Spanish class taught by team member Ninfa Parker (right) approach language from a conversational strategy. Growing up in a truly bilingual environment, Ninfa’s expertise helps students to intuit the artistic side of language learning, developing a feel for the correct use of grammar.
The weekly effort of teaching Spanish is not unlike many educators throughout the US. What’s different is that language acquisition isn’t our only goal. Instead, we aim to increase fluency in our students as well as cultural and political sensitivity. We want them to not only hear, but also understand the perspective of our Spanish speaking neighbors in Nashville and Latin America alike in order to build unity within the Kingdom of God.