At a time when all schools are navigating exceptional circumstances, we can thankfully tell JKCS families that we are working out ways to cover the full range of curriculum content in all grades and subject areas. In some cases, our methods of teaching and learning have been revisioned.
In support of continuing courses that are significantly constrained by COVID-19 safety protocols, we have adapted practises and invested in new resources. Bucket Drums, Ukuleles and specialized Personal Protective Devices are being incorporated into music classes. Our students are spending a lot more time outdoors and their teachers are developing ways to connect the environments of their outdoor classroom to valuable and authentic learning experiences.
In next week’s newsletter, be sure to read Mr. Wasik’s article; he will share a first-hand story about his opportunity to poignantly connect an actual, ‘In our own backyard’ piece of Canadian history, to the Biblical framework of creation, fall, redemption, and renewal.
In the context of this narrative, JKCS students are participating in the purpose of a Christian Education. Learning that reaches beyond the aim of academic mastery, teaches students to understand themselves, their fellow humans and the created world, all in relation to God.
The influences of developing faithful Christian curriculum practices are far-reaching. In our drone-piloting and coding course, our students develop cognitive abilities as thinkers and computer programmers, but the teaching extends beyond that to include the Biblical seat of learning, which in scripture is not the head, but the heart. In this context, learning about the ethical use and development of technology is solidly rooted in merging the goal to know with the goal of love.
Perhaps the most lyrical expression of this theme is captured in 1 Corinthians 13.
If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love… if I understand all the mysteries there are, and know everything… but without love, then I am nothing.
Biblically, the metaphorical heart (in Greek, kardia) is the seat of learning and formation of character. Growing in wisdom and love touches on the intellectual, emotional, physical, social and spiritual aspects of our lives and within this holistic understanding of a Christ-centered education our teachers, in partnership with your family, seek to educate God’s well-loved and precious children.
Wendy Perttula
Director of Curriculum and Learning