A Parable to Start the Year

If any of you know the parable of the sower from Matthew 13 (verses 1-9 and 18-23), you know the focus is typically on the being the good soil so the seed will produce a harvest. Where's your heart? Is it receptive to the gospel presented to you? The sower flung the seed on the path, on rocky soil, in the thorns, but some fell on good soil. You've got to read the parable to understand it (go here for the story). I pray that my heart will be receptive when the gospel is presented to me.

Our pastor presented a different perspective to us this past Sunday. He started by telling us that the sower in the parable must not have been a very good farmer. The seed he sowed had only a 25% chance of making it. You can imagine the scene as the farmer just threw the seeds everywhere! In first century Palestine, this was a waste of valuable resources.

Instead of focusing in on our own hearts and how receptive we are to the gospel, our pastor challenged us to see it from the sower's perspective. And that's the point of the sermon when the teacher side of my brain tuned in. I started thinking not only of my heart, but I began to consider my students that will be walking into my classroom this fall. And I applied the sower's attitude with the seed to my attitude toward the boys and girls who will be walking through my door in 2 weeks.

You know, we are often careful to share our lives with only those people who we're sure will receive us and what we stand for. As teachers, there are often those students who are involved in class, who seem to have a deep desire to learn what we are offering, who stay on top of their homework, and who genuinely listen. It's easy to teach those kids, isn't it? These are the ones who bring you something for Christmas, who write you a thank you note "just because". Don't get me wrong, I have my own children do those things; I have nothing against those students. But do I really go into my school year expecting this from the students, that they are all a part of the "good soil" the parable discusses?

The reality is that we have students who carry a lot of baggage.

The seed along the path:
Some of our students have trouble understanding what we present or the activities that we've delicately prepared for them. Perhaps there's a learning disability or an attention disorder that gets in the way. Whatever it is, the learning is snatched away and seemingly gone forever.

The seed in the rocky soil:
There are students who aim to please and they try to do well. We may even have a wonderful lesson planned that unfolds something for them they've never understood before. They're engaged, but when it comes time for evaluation, we too clearly see that they haven't grasped the concept for the long term; the material was too difficult for them. What appeared to take root never did.

The seed among the thorns:
Still other students have the odds stacked against them. They're intelligent, and we know they have potential, but their home lives challenge them in ways we don't comprehend. These students may have concerns that choke their good intentions out of them. When they're at school, it's fine, but as soon as they leave, the worries return. Where will my next meal come from? When will my mom get home from work? Will my parents or my sister treat me well, or will they yell at me again? When will I find a true friend?

My question is, How can we become more like the sower? Instead of simply focusing on preparing our own hearts to receive, as a farmer would prepare the soil, let's take the attitude of the sower who would extend grace to each and every type of student, even the ones we're unsure will learn a thing from us this year. You will have students who struggle to learn because of a disability. You will have students who struggle because the material is just too hard for them, no matter your methods. You will have students who struggle because of the worries they harbor, concerns you may never fully understand.

If we become like the sower in this parable, though, we will not hesitate to fling the seed in apparent reckless abandon. I say apparent here because others may not understand what we're doing. They may drag us down with excuses like, That kid can't be reached. As teachers, though, we have the highest calling. We must give every student (and I mean every student) our absolute best. I pray that I can do that this year. I pray that you can do that this year.

Perhaps the sower who appeared to know so little about farming knew more than what we give him credit for. What seemed to be reckless abandon on the sower's part in flinging the seeds every which way may have actually been intentional love for every person. No matter our students this year, our highest task is to love each one of them, according to their needs, attempting to reach them, never giving up on them no matter their circumstance.

10 Take-Aways from EdTechTeacher Chromebook Workshop

After using an iPad cart for 2 years and a chromebook cart for half a year, our middle school is heading 1:1 with chromebooks. I jumped on the opportunity to head to the San Francisco Bay Area in June with our tech guy to learn more about chromebook implementation. We were blessed with 2 wonderful presenters from EdTechTeacher, Avra Robinson @avrarachel and Brenda Doucette @doucetteb.

I, of course, wanted to learn how I would be using the chromebooks in my own English and Bible classes (not to mention my computer classes), but I also entered with the perspective to watch out for other subject area ideas that I could bring back to my colleagues for use once school starts in the fall. Suffice it to say, I came back with chromebook overload, but I'm going to attempt to unpack it for others' benefit. Grab it if you want.

C-R-C-D Framework (collect-relate-create-donate)

We didn't dive into philosophy much, but this was a helpful framework to organzie my thoughts into what I want my students to accomplish with their devices. From Professor Ben Shneiderman - Leonardo's Laptop, it focuses in on what we want students to DO. That's one thing I always try to push in my classes - get the students to create something and then share it out.

Evernote

I've used this before to archive information, especially from workshops or other meetings. I think the best description for Evernote would be a digital form of traditional spiral notebooks, except that you can save websites, photos, and even video along with your notes. It's powerful, and I can see students using Evernote to organize their school lives. It can be used across all devices, too. The free basic service works well (unless you want to keep multiple videos which need more storage than the free service provides). Other archiving options given at the ETT workshop were Google Docs and Google Keep.

Google Docs

We spent a significant amount of time, especially on day 1 of the workshop, exploring Google Docs. Not only can students type their "papers" in Google Docs, but they can research while in the document, cite information in different formats, and even edit PDFs. Of course, the collaboration aspect of Google Docs is, in my opinion, the coolest. Being in the same document as somebody else has many advantages, and commenting back and forth is so valuable when it comes to peer (or teacher) editing.

Vocaroo

This is a registration-free space for you to record your voice. Have students record for each other and share the link. It is saved as a link and can get pasted or embedded anywhere. Teachers can share feedback right on a student's Google Doc. I'm definitely using Vocaroo for end of paper summation comments this year.

Thinglink

This one has so many options. Use a photo and tag it with links to other locations. Lisa Johnson @techchef4u is a whiz with Thinglink. Spend some time reading her stuff and be inspired. Get some ideas on how to get started with Thinglink here - make sure to scroll down and see the teacher who used a class picture to create ePortfolios for her students. I've got to study more of her stuff.

Padlet

You can use Padlet in your classroom when you want to gather student input. Imagine having students place thoughts or answers on your whiteboard in front of the classroom, but that whiteboard is on their own chromebook screen and it holds every student's contribution on a collaborative "wall". What could you use this for?

Tackk

Tackk.com is an online space that I would consider a mini-website. Students can use this as an online flyer to share information about a book they've read as a kind of book report. They can link other web pages or videos to it. It scrolls like a web page and can include multiple headings. They can easily change the theme, colors, and fonts. I use something similar as an online home for my soccer team. It's called smore.com and varies just slightly from tackk.com.

Google Classroom

If your school has Google Apps For Education (GAFE), then I would highly advise setting up Google Classroom for your self-contained classroom or for each of the classes you teach. Students can sign up using your class code. You post assignments and resources here, and then students use Google Apps to complete the assigned work. They create and turn in their documents (or forms or drawings, etc.) within your Google Classroom, which transfers ownership to you, then you can give feedback and return their work, which transfers ownership back to them. If you've thought of going "paperless" at your site, then this is the place for you.

PrintFriendly

Sometimes teachers may want to assign an online article or other Internet reading to their students, but they want to adjust it slightly or simply keep it in a more secure location like your own Google Drive. A handy way to do this is to use PrintFriendly to turn the web page into a pdf and then edit some of it down. Using DocHub in conjunction with PrintFriendly allows further editing and even export into Google Drive. Once it's in your Google Drive, you can place it almost anywhere online, but I would suggest putting it in your Google Classroom as an assigned reading.

Google Forms

Google Forms are a super cool way to poll students. If you do it right, students could even poll each other. Creating a form and sending it also creates a spreadsheet with responses, which then allows you to evaluate the responses given. Another way you can use a form is to simply collect links from students. If they have edited their website and you'd like to see it (or grade it), then you could create a quick form for students to post their website page link. Any online work the student completes can be turned into a link that can then be handed in using a quick form you create.

And there you have it, my 10 takeaways from the EdTechTeacher chromebook workshop I attended in Menlo Park in June. Special thanks to Avra Robinson and Brenda Doucette who led a very engaging 3 days!

Is Knowledge Really Power?

I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid and seeing Schoolhouse Rock in-between shows. Shucks, I still use one of the songs when talking about conjunctions in class. One thing that was often said on Schoolhouse Rock was the statement: Knowledge is Power.

And I ponder if that's really true. Education has changed since those days, and my job as a teacher is not to simply inform students about material that I know and they need to learn. I should have a strong grasp of my field, but I don't have all the answers; in fact, I have way more questions than answers.

So are we here to impart knowledge to the students? And therefore, give them power?

My wife and I took a class at church during the winter, and these questions arose. Questions about knowledge and wisdom. Questions about how our brains function. How we learn, how students are tested. Questions about community. Though standing in front of the class and following the set curriculum is a routine and "easy" teaching method for me, it's important to let the students get their hands dirty and explore new options, to choose their own routes, to expose them to innovative technique, to problem solve at a deeper level.

To share their ideas.

I have often used the line (and I'm sure I'm in good company) "two heads are better than one." When you work with another person or group, it's easier to dive deeper into the topic. Different ideas are shared, new perspectives are explored, alternate problem-solving techniques are employed. That concept was key to our discussion at church--Knowledge is more powerful when it's shared.

I don't fault Schoolhouse Rock's educational catchphrase Knowledge is Power. It's a good motivator for students. We all want to gain knowledge. If there's something I want to know, I will try to figure it out, but the important part is finding a person you can trust who can share some of their answers with you. We can learn from each other.

In many ways our society is driven by individual success. I might think it's important to have a skill set that nobody else does so that I become valuable in my work, powerful, maybe irreplaceable. But that's a dangerous perspective, I think. When we keep the knowledge to ourselves, we may be tempted to lord it over somebody else. And really, that amount of knowledge can only take us so far.

I don't lose anything by sharing my knowledge with somebody else--that knowledge doesn't become less. In fact, it can deepen in a way that it couldn't before the sharing. It can be taken to new levels.

In the classroom, it takes a willingness to trust each other. That trust must develop before true sharing of knowledge can occur. Trust takes time, though, and it must be something in which we invest intentionally.

In our church discussion, we whittled it down to relationships. In order to have the right attitude in sharing and receiving knowledge, we have got to develop strong relationships with each other that allow for mutual trust, a trust between students as well as between the teacher and the student(s).

A teacher must:
-value each student and their situation
-connect meaningfully with students as often as possible
-manage behavior thoughtfully
-make material important to each student
-smile a lot
-share expectations clearly
-forgive often
-ask for forgiveness freely
-model respect and responsibility
-empathize regularly

A student must:
-help others become successful
-listen carefully
-speak strategically
-lead when necessary
-follow appropriately
-forgive and try to forget
-ask for forgiveness
-humble themselves
-respect themselves
-enjoy their classmates (and teacher)
-try hard
-empathize regularly

Working toward a classroom atmosphere of mutual trust, such as the one in which teachers and students have the above defined roles, will allow for a true sharing of knowledge. When we work together and respect each other, then our shared knowledge can be taken to new levels and truer wisdom can be attained.

Use Remind from Science Camp!

I have always thought more communication is better in many areas of life. School is one area in which I think clear communication is key to mutual respect and understanding.

Yet there must be a balance between a teacher and a parent or student. I don't think everything that happens at school needs to be communicated directly to parents, but when parents send their sixth graders away for 5 days/4 nights to Science Camp with the teachers, some well-chosen communications from teacher to parent come in handy.

Campfire Night!

No, not the phone call about a major behavior issue or a homesick kid. Just some snapshots of how camp life is going--the positives! This is where the Remind app came in handy for me this year while I was at Science Camp with the students.

Team Building!

I had begun using the Remind app with my soccer team a few seasons back to communicate with them, and this year I encouraged the parents of my sixth graders to sign up for the messaging system. The draw for me with Remind is that phone numbers are not shared. I don't necessarily have a problem if parents know my phone number, but I do appreciate the anonymity of Remind, the respect for privacy it provides.

Kissing a Banana Slug!

Science Camp was a good way to get the parents on board. I thought they would appreciate some information throughout the week since our Science Camp is set up so students do not have contact with their parents the entire time. And Remind now has photo capabilities, so parents could see their kids in action, succeeding through camp activities.

I sat with a different group each meal!

To be honest, parents often stress more than the students do about this big week in their lives. Remind provided a way for them to participate in camp. What parent doesn't want to take part in such a cool experience as Science Camp?! However, in my opinion, it is HUGE to have students conquer a week up at camp without their parents around. With that said, my own oldest child attended camp this year (with me there as his teacher), and I considered for the first time what a parent (my wife) would love to see while she was, well, NOT at camp. I considered for the first time parents feeling left out of their kids' lives.

Single file was standard around the poison oak!

So I brought my iPhone and started snapping pictures of some cool moments, some normal moments. I could remind parents to pray for us as we began our night hike, which includes a solo walk (something which causes anxiety for many kids). I used it to remind parents that their children were well taken care of.

A midday rope swing during Adventure Day!

So I'd like to just thank the folks at @RemindHQ for helping to put many parents at ease throughout our week and for allowing those parents to be involved in Science Camp when they couldn't be there themselves. Thank you!

Thanks Mount Hermon Outdoor Science School!

Discipleship and 6th Grade Science Camp

Our 6th grade is going to Science Camp this week, myself included. I counted, and I’ve been there 12 times, 2 when I taught 5th grade and 10 teaching 6th grade, so this is Lucky #13. Needless to say, it gets kind of old after a while.

But at the same time, it’s new every year.

Parents sending their oldest child away for the week.

The stray sleeping bag flying away on the freeway.

The cafeteria’s cold-turkey-surprise-switch from beef to turkey.

The random knock on the door in the middle of the night with some “emergency”.

The newness I appreciate the most is the perspective of each new student who experiences Science Camp for the first time.

The rock stars at camp are the Naturalists. They are in charge of teaching classes to a couple cabins of kids, typically a boy cabin and a girl cabin together. They lead the kids in their trail groups and teach about the ecosystems up at Mount Hermon in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains of California, about plants and animals, about stewardship in all areas of life, even in how much food we try NOT to waste at meals.

During one of the first classes, poison oak is discussed. When I tag along, I typically pull up the rear of the trail group. And it’s interesting to see which students pay attention to poison oak and which ones don’t. The visual from the back of the line is the single file in front of me, and no matter how many times I see it, I can’t help but think: these kids have no clue where they’re going, and they’re putting their faith in their Naturalist, who’s at the front of the line leading them forward at a good pace, stopping to point out plants or animals, consumers, producers, and decomposers like the infamous banana slug, helping the students see God’s inspiring creation and our role in it. It’s a bit like how Jesus taught his disciples while on the road. The students are the Naturalists’ little disciples.

This is a perspective I forget when I carefully tend to my classroom routine. We are discipling our students.

We do make mistakes… Last year a Naturalist got lost on the all day hike, and a few of our students took a tumble down a steep hill. (We teachers told them they’d laugh about it later...and they now do...some laughed about it then.)

We ourselves are disciples of Christ. But we’re also in charge of our group of students that come to our classrooms every day, ready -or not- to be discipled. As teachers, we better have it together so that we can disciple these kids. I don’t know about you, but I often feel like I don’t have it together, maybe like that Naturalist who lost her way. And the best way to prepare yourself for your students is to dig into God’s Word.

I found a bunch of verses around the discipleship theme. I think these remind us of what’s so important about teaching (discipling). We must have our ducks in a row before we approach the students each day. Meditate on these verses...slowly. Intentionally. With purpose. Listen to what God is saying to you so that you can be an example to your students.

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. Ephesians 4:11-17

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:1-17

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Luke 6:40

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. Mark 1:16-22

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:8

For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. John 13:15

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Hebrews 13:17

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 2 Timothy 2:1-26

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:5

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:9-13

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” John 21:21-22

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Matthew 18:20

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 2 Timothy 1:6

And said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3-4

Coincidence? Or Grand Design?

I had a math professor in college, an eccentric fellow to say the least. As he hunched over and peered into the overhead projector to show us an enlarged example of the solution to his math problems, he would pause, look up with a conspiratorial squint in his eyes, raise his inky index finger, and say, "Coincidence? Or Grand Design?"

He was making a statement about how God has placed the universal truths of math, along with its recurring patterns, into this created world.

I wouldn't say these coincidences happen to me frequently, but from time to time they pop up without warning, and it's usually about something I'm teaching. Here's the most recent one.

I was teaching a lesson on Tuesday in Bible class to my 7th graders, and a piece of the lesson was directed toward Bible translators around the world. We discussed this for a bit, and then I referred to somebody from a particular organization who spoke in my church about this over a year ago. I walked the students through the process of how a translator might do the job in a different country. But for the life of me, in that moment, I couldn't remember the organization's name. The bell rang, and we went off to chapel. Since it's our Spiritual Emphasis Week this week, we have chapel every day. Of course my thoughts shifted during chapel to how the Spirit moves in our lives, and I forgot about our class discussion for a while.

That afternoon, I received one of those emails I get from random organizations once in a while. However, this organization didn't seem so random--it was Wycliffe Bible Translators.

What?! I hadn't ever received an email from them before, and now it was on the same day I had discussed it in class. They were asking for teachers interested in considering working in the organization. It was funny, too, because the email wasn't even intended for me--it was for my wife who also teaches (and who has a very similar email address as me).

That's not the end of my coincidence, though.

The next morning in Bible class we reviewed some material about Bible translation, and I shared with the students again about how the Spirit moves in mysterious ways. Then I told them about the crazy coincidence about how I found out the organization's name. Some of them were quite impressed. I shared with them that when we visited chapel again directly after class to be open to the Spirit's leading, and I left them with that.

We sang some songs and had an altogether wonderful time of worship. Our speaker for the week began talking, and about 10-15 minutes into his talk he told our group of middle school and high school students about his conversion story as a high schooler and his ensuing plan to work for...

...wait for it...

...Wycliffe Bible Translators!

My 7th grade Bible class was way on the other side of the auditorium, so I just sat up a little higher and checked to see if any of them caught the connection. After a couple of moments, one of the boys in my class popped his head up and looked over at me. We exchanged a knowing nod, and I sat marveling about what these connections could mean.

Some people would say they mean nothing; it's just coincidence.

But could it mean more? Maybe the Lord was speaking to me about working with Wycliffe Bible Translators someday. I couldn't even contemplate doing that right now, but maybe someday... It sounds really cool! Maybe since the mysterious email was addressed to my wife, it was meant for her (but of course we're a packaged deal).

But maybe, just maybe, it was meant for a certain 7th grader in my Bible class. I don't know. Maybe through our discussion in class, the random email, the mention of the exact organization in chapel where we hope the Spirit moves mightily, maybe through these coincidences, God had a message for somebody, maybe God decided to spark somebody's purpose.

Coincidence? Or Grand Design?

Positive Peer Pressure

At my Christian school, with the 7th grade Bible class I teach, students were "required" to volunteer. I know, I know, how can you require people to volunteer? That's an argument for which I really don't have a defense, other than this: service often must be taught.

In response to a discipleship lesson about what it means for students to carry their crosses, each student designed his or her own service. The requirements were few. Students needed to: 1) do something out of their ordinary, 2) work for free, and 3) use parents only for driving to and from the destination.

The first part of the assignment consisted of simply writing the action down on an index card and getting a parent signature of approval. Cards were brought in the next day and taped to a construction paper cross on the board, representing the carrying of the cross.

As we discussed the projects at the beginning of the period every day, students were forced to think through when and how they would complete the project. When hands went up to ask for the due date, I stated, "We'll figure that out later." I didn't tell them that I simply hadn't thought that far ahead.

After the following weekend, students represented to me that their project was finished by coloring their index cards with a crayon, a symbolic gesture which made the cross even more beautiful.

During the week, I continued to ask about the projects. A few people would come up each time and color in their cards on the cross. Meanwhile, students asked for the due date, but I still didn't have an answer for them.

During the next two weeks, almost all index cards were colored in. We began to discuss the projects in class, and it was clear that students were proud of themselves and their efforts at service. They were using their own minds, muscles, and merit to share something valuable with somebody in need. As color went up, more students felt left out. Hands shot up with the question, "When is this due?" "When do I need to finish?" And again I didn't answer.

Not all students finished without a given due date, but 90% of them got it done before it got to that point. And I think many students were motivated by others who colored their cards in early. For something like this, positive peer pressure made positive things happen!