Middle School Update
February 12, 2016
Integrity and our Mission
This semester, for the first time, the balance in our student enrollment has shifted. In Middle School, Malaysian students now represent the biggest national group, followed by North Americans and Koreans. This change has been coming for awhile, and is something that God has really placed on my heart.
For 86 years, Dalat has been a school devoted to serving MK's and TCK's, helping them to find their place in God's plan and to be a part of world missions. While that will still continue, we also need to adjust our focus to include a vision for our local kids. The past few weeks, I've been sharing articles with you on the centrality of Christian education in worldwide evangelism. That is definitely part of of our focus, as we have many students coming in from a variety of faiths.
The other side is all of the Christian Malaysian kids we have. In church last Sunday, I was struck by how many of the kids are Malaysian Dalat students. I believe that we need to help these kids grow into leaders, not just around the world, but here in Malaysia. That's why Mrs. Lo's talk this morning in chapel was so appropriate. She also has a vision for these kids to grow up and impact their nation for Christ.
One of the things that's been keeping me busy over the last few weeks is interviewing potential new staff members. I love "meeting" these people and having the opportunity to talk about Dalat and the great things happening here. This dual focus on reaching for local and international kids is one of the things I've been talking about with these teachers. I'm praying for God to send us teachers who have a heart for God and students above all else.
So how does this relate to integrity? Part of integrity is being wholehearted and undivided. I think this means providing the best education, both academically and spiritually, for every student God sends to us. Let's continue to look for opportunities to encourage our Malaysian kids to be strong believers and world-changers without the need to abandon their own people. I don't know how this will look moving forward, but I do believe that we are called to pray for our students and to be open to opportunities. I've been thinking and praying about this for a few months now, and I feel like the chapel service this morning was one answer to that prayer. God is faithful.
Important Dates
Feb. 16: Divisional Meeting; NJHS Voting
Feb. 16-20: ACSC Girls Basketball Tournament at Dalat
Feb. 17: Progress Reports Due
Feb. 23: PD Meeting: Where do we go with grading?
Feb. 25: 8th grade - HS course selection
Feb. 29-March 2: MEW
Top 10 Active Learning Structures: Guess
I love using the mataphor version of this active learning strategy and use it weekly in my Bible class. I like that it helps my students to think about and apply what we’re learning, and I always get such interesting answers. There are many ways to do this, and it can be adapted from pre-school all the way up to grade 12, where I’m using it.
Object Version:
• Bring an object in a bag that somehow relates to your lesson and have students try to guess what is in the bag. To help them guess, you can use “hot” or “cold” or let them play 20 Questions.
• Once you show the students the object, ask them to talk to their table partner(s) about how they think it relates to what you have been/will be learning in class and then choose students to share their ideas.
• An optional activity for critical thinking is to ask students to each think of an object that could have been placed in the bag.
Metaphor Version:
• Project a picture on your screen or give a word picture out loud. Ask students to talk to their table partner(s) about how they think the picture or word picture relates to the lesson/concept you have been or will be discussing and then choose students to share their ideas.
• An optional activity for critical thinking is to ask students to each think of a different metaphor to illustrate the same concept you’ve just been discussing.
Susan Allen