October 2016
Slouching Toward Bedlam
“Well, I think it is stupid!” said Red Carpenter. “I mean, the golf team hasn’t had new polos for two years, I have been telling the school board for over a decade that we need to rubberize the track if we want to stay competitive, and we still have only two class sets of Chromebooks. […]
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John Walcott: This special issue of CEJ focuses on Sacred Space Pedagogy, and we will use this space to respond to two questions posed by the editors related to this theme. Here are the questions: In conversations about Sacred Space Pedagogy, we have found that educators quickly suggest chapel as an example. While chapel provides […]
by Debra Paxton-Buursma with Becca Brasser, Shanna Pargellis, Mark Ponstine, and Gary Warners This final article explores tensions experienced living with one foot headed toward heaven and the other firmly stuck in earthly educational muck. By sharing professional tensions, we acknowledge our earthly location while simultaneously stepping into the sacred, holy space where Christ […]
Grace in the Midst of Missteps
by Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk with Becca Brasser, Shanna Pargellis, Frency Frans, Livy Fusta, Emily Terpstra, and Glenda Hicks “The quality of human life on our planet is nothing more than the sum total of our daily interactions with one another” (Tutu 4). Observing Forgiveness Routines As we listened and asked questions at the schools we […]
The Practice of Hospitality: From Cup to Community
by Debra Paxton-Buursma with Becca Brasser, Shanna Pargellis, John Booy, Mark Ponstine, and Mark VanZanten The topic of hospitality and the Christian life floods books, blogs, conferences, and conversations. Scholars revisit biblical hosting of angels and Medieval pilgrimage inn practices, sip tea from east to west, and critique Martha Stewart in defining hospitality. Hospitality […]
by Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk with Becca Brasser, John Booy, Mark Ponstine, and Frency Frans How do we make or miss opportunities to design our teaching spaces as safe places? If we trust that places and pedagogical practices are marked by hospitality, safety, and nurturing, then how much attention should we give the physical spaces themselves? […]
Powerful Positioning: Texts, Actions, and Objects
by Debra Paxton-Buursma with John Booy, Kathy DeJong, Mark Ponstine, Aubree Cantral, Jeanine Bakker, Janorisè Robinson, Becca Brasser, and Shanna Pargellis How do spaces create powerful learning possibilities or pitfalls? The Sacred Space Pedagogy project explores how the arrangement of texts and objects can empower or restrain purposeful engagement, exploration, reflection, and production in […]
Sacred Learning Spaces As Sanctuary
by Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk with Paul Dull and Mark Ponstine “So the classroom where truth is central will be a place where every stranger and every strange utterance is met with welcome” (Palmer, “To Know,” 74). In our research to unpack Sacred Space Pedagogy (SSP) over the past five years, it has become increasingly […]
by Debra Paxton-Buursma and Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk Sacred Space Pedagogy is animated by a fundamental belief that God intended space to be sacred: sanctuary for the flourishing and delight of all living things. And yet, we live and teach in a broken world, experiencing the effects of injustice and suffering in our curriculum and classrooms. […]
By Mark Brink and Bill Boerman-Cornell As the start of the new school year marks a time of transition for all educators, it also marks a time of transition for the Christian Educators Journal. After six years of faithful service to the CEJ, Gary VanAaragon retired from his post as editor last spring. (The December […]