JRHS is blessed with an all star cast of first rate, dedicated teachers that pursue excellence in their work with our fortunate students. Teaching can at times be a thankless job, replete with more challenges than rewards. Think with me about the job for a moment: the teacher is tasked with somehow increasing and expanding the mind of a young human being! And more, in the Christian school, we challenge ourselves to increase and expand the heart towards Christlikeness. But wait, there’s more – at the Jesse Remington Christian School, we quest to also increase and expand the skills of a young person, such that they can more fully invest back into Kingdom Advancement.
The Covid 19 Crisis has proven the mettle of our great faculty. We gathered on the weekend of March 14, and everyone brought the same question to the table: “how are we going to continue to create mind, heart and skill learning in our students, in a way consistent with the JRHS Mission, and in a way that honors God?” While some schools struggled to pick up and go, and others took weeks to transition to Remote Learning, JRHS teachers led a trend-setting pace into the new reality.
I am daily impressed with the dedication and pursuit of excellence our team brings to the table every day. Please join me in thanking and blessing our great team this National Teacher Appreciation Week, as they have done their work so well, in a way they were not planning on, nor prepared for. A crisis like this shows us who we really are.
Brock Allen has continued to offer his writing and vocabulary course to our Freshmen in a way consonant with where we were in the winter. His humor, love of the students, and his deep concern for every one of them zooms through the Zoom classroom.
Christopher Knecht has brilliantly demonstrated his versatility as a teacher, adeptly moving over to the on-line forum. Now with a new beard, his warm and gentle smile welcomes his students to class. From the real white board, to the virtual whiteboard, math instruction goes on during his class hours and the several additional hours he offers his students.
Karen Trudeau has used her career of teaching skills to our advantage this spring, all the while facing more adversity than most of us. The Coronavirus moved through her home for its nasty 2 week stay, and yet, Karen never forgot nor forsook her students, doing the best she could to keep the Biology and Chemistry learning moving forward. With a whole team effort, and using previously made lessons, and the gift of YouTube, we carried on through the trial.
Susan Wilderman is the gift that keeps on giving. If I had a nickel for every time I have heard something like this, “well good morning lovely students, it is so good to see you!”, I would be a rich man! Her positive attitude through all this, and her tireless dedication to making excellent Chemistry lectures and demonstrations and discussions has gone to a new level as she daily improves her on-line tool kit.
Matt Hannan has no small task: to teach the holy, inerrant word of God to our students! I have been blessed and encouraged by the stellar readings he has presented to his students using the effective “screen share” feature of Zoom, creating classroom thought that simulates real-time teaching. And during all this, he has joined the ranks of the betrothed, marrying the lovely Heather in mid – April.
Many of us know of Jacob Samuelson’s liturgy of “porch greeting” each day on our lovely front entrance of the school. Well, let me assure you, that during Remote Learning, that is still in place, just in a different forum! The positive attitude, the “we can do this” mental set that Jacob brings to the table permeates through his Humanities and English Zoom Rooms.
This writing has displayed only the academic learning that goes on at JRHS. The creative and worthwhile projects that we have undertaken this season is another story in itself. I will conclude with this: none of us on this side of the education equation signed up for this kind of a job. No one was contracted to be an on-line teacher. These teachers thrive on real-time, face-to-face building of Christian community, and impartation of Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding into growing, seeking and maturing young people. They all had their learning and professional goals this year, most of them came to a screeching halt March 12, necessitating a significant change in the offering they make to JRHS students.
Now, just about a month to the finish line, this TEAM of TEACHERS OF EXCELLENCE will go down in history as the ones who weathered the Coronavirus storm, who met the challenge head on, who delivered the JRHS mission through the challenges thrown at them. From me and all the recipients of your excellence, we give you thanks. We appreciate you! Glory be to God.
If you would like to share a testimonial or leave a word of encouragement for any of our great teachers, please leave a comment down below. Thank you!
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