Category: School Life & Culture

“Hey! Who’s that?” shouts an excited three-year-old as he enters the church for the first time. He points again at the large Christus Rex (Christ the King) statute over the Altar and demands, “Who’s that?” Read More »

Welcome to 2020 – a leap year, a summer Olympics year, and a presidential election year. Are you nervous about the elections? Friends and colleagues with divergent political perspectives have expressed anxiety about the polarization in our shared civic life, especially for 2020. I have read blogs describing exhaustion from feeling like we are swimming in a sea of political and cultural hatred, and watched public figures give advice about how to talk to your intolerant relatives about politics. The funny thing is, folks from all parts of the political spectrum are making these same observations about feeling silenced, marginalized, and being branded as the other. My advice is to try to be more like a third grader. Read More »

For me, New Year’s resolutions always came with a sense of impending doom, as if I was being set up for failure. After all, how could I do something for a whole year? But soon after January 1 comes January 6, Epiphany. And Epiphany offers an opportunity that, to me, feels both profound and inspiring. Read More »

Is it my imagination or is Christmas coming earlier every year? The Great Pumpkin had not even appeared before – boom! – here comes Santa Claus. It seems that stores just can’t get the bows, ribbons, and wreaths on the shelves fast enough. Read More »

I recently had the opportunity to preach in our school’s annual Thanksgiving Eucharist. It is difficult, every year, to come up with new and striking ways of communicating a similar message, the message of gratitude. But this year I was fortunate to come across Diana Butler Bass’ excellent book Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks, which provided more than enough novelty for the occasion. Read More »

I can remember with great clarity the moments in my young life when I had to speak in front of a group for the first time. It took so much courage to stand before adults and peers and play a witch in third grade. I can barely remember the “before” of that moment, however, and how scared I must have been. What has stayed with me is the exhilaration I felt when it was over and I heard from my parents and friends that I was convincing as a mean and terrible witch! I felt a kind of power that I would work to cultivate and hold in my growing self over many more years. Read More »

There are 515 Episcopal preschools listed in the NAES database. They range in size from about 30 to almost 300 students. Some are tucked away in the lower levels of parish halls while others occupy multi-story buildings. They include Montessori and Reggio Emilia schools, programs based in the best of developmentally appropriate practices, and an increasing number with outdoor classrooms and school gardens. Some of the most vibrant school chapels happen in Episcopal preschools, lively services with storytelling and skits, finger songs and child-centered prayers, enthusiastic Alleluias and student participation. Read More »

Recently in our community—in fact, just about a week after the start of classes—we lost a fourth-grader in an automobile accident. Such an unimaginable tragedy is, unfortunately, one that many of us have lived through in the lives of our schools. It brings to the surface everything that we claim to be important in our faith and in our schools, confronting us with the most raw emotions, the most difficult questions, the most heart-rending scenes we will ever face as educators. Read More »

Nothing makes me more aware of the power of language than raising a child. My daughter is in the very early stages of using words, but it’s already clear that the languages she’s... Read More »

During our Opening Day of the School Year (Monday, August 12th), I participated in convocation ceremonies at all three of our campuses. Given the distance between campuses, it is a bit of a scramble... Read More »