I could not fit all the excellent quotes from J. Oswald Sanders' classic work, The Incomparable Christ in just one post so here are more thought-provoking statements.
- "Anyone can sing in the sunshine, but to sing in the shadows is a rare accomplishment" (181).
- "We are apt to advance pressure of business as a reason for not praying. With Jesus, it was a reason for giving extra time to prayer" (194).
- "He drank a cup of wrath without mercy, that we might drink a cup of mercy without wrath" (204).
- "Never were legal proceedings more irregular or verdict more unjust than in the trial of Jesus" (209).
- "The death of our Lord was unlike every other death. It was not an incident in His life, but the very purpose of it. His self-oblation was no accident in a brilliant career, it was the chosen vocation of the God-man" (226).
I just finished J. Oswald Sanders' classic work, The Incomparable Christ (originally titled Christ Incomparable). It turned out to be a great devotional read, focused entirely on the Person and work of Jesus. My next few posts will include reflections on material from this book.
Today, I am sharing some great stand-alone quotes from the book. It appears that there are many great books in the series of Moody Classics. You might want to check them out.
- [It is our task]..."to examine the glorious colors that emanate from the prism of His holy person and redemptive work" (24).
- "If He is not God, He is not even good" (95).
- "Christ never concealed the cross to gain a disciple...The emphasis of our day is rather on what one gains by becoming a Christian. Jesus never failed to emphasize the cost of following Him" (124).
- "It should not be borne in mind, however, that Jesus' perfection of character did not consist in merely negative faultlessness. Throughout His whole life He was characterized by positive and active holiness" (140).
- "Not until Jesus came with His peerless life and matchless teaching was humility elevated to the level of a primary virtue" (174).
- "One fact stands out crystal clear - God's way up is down" (179 - on becoming humble).
Today, I have been going through past notes and materials from workshops and books over the years. It brings back memories of so many good people that I have learned from along the way. It is impossible to put into words the gratitude for the wisdom and guidance others have shared with me.
One of the items I found was an article written by David Langford entitled "Working on the System." One of his main contentions in the article is that "administrators must spend an increasing percentage of time working on the system, not in the system." This statement, in one sentence, is essentially the reason I desired to become an administrator. I saw an opportunity to work on the bigger processes that drive much of the work teachers do, and in turn much of what students experience on a daily basis.
I am reminded often to think systems. I am also reminded that the results we are getting are exactly what our systems are designed to produce. More importantly, I am reminded that these systems I talk about are made up of people.
There are some simple facts about us. About people.
We have feelings. We have dreams. We have beliefs. We have perceptions. We have needs.
So, I want to take a minute to be clear that I wholeheartedly believe that we absolutely must address the systems within which we work. That is a critical point!
And...
I would like to be equally as clear that I do not intend to insult individuals within the system by pointing out concerns or outcomes of the system. To do so would miss the purpose of raising the concerns in the first place because it might fix blame on outliers rather than improve the process as a whole. Generally speaking, my blog is not about outliers. I feel like that would be a waste of most people's time, including mine.
I do intentionally use provocative language at times to stress the magnitude of some of the issues I write about. I will continue to do so. There has to be a sense of urgency and seriousness about our business of improving how we teach and raise and disciple the next generation, lest we fall prey to what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism." Some improvements require more than minor tweaks here and there to the system. I make no apologies for beating that drum.
I do, however, apologize for anything that I have said or written that gives the impression that I do not respect and admire teachers. Most teachers I know work very hard and care very much. I trust that those educators I have had the privilege to work with most directly know my heart. They know that there is, simultaneously, joy and dissatisfaction in my work at all times.
Joy, because it is a sacred honor to be called to this kind of work.
Dissatisfaction, because we can always do better. (Dissatisfaction, by the way, is the prerequisite to any great change that takes place, so there is no need to be scared of it.)
Our school district aims to think students first. A mentoring principal once told the audience at a leadership academy, "I tell my faculty that if there ever comes a time when there is a conflict between doing what is best for teachers and doing what is best for kids, then I will do what is best for kids."
What is best for kids is for all of us in education to continuously reflect on our practices and challenge ourselves to grow. I am the perfect example of why this is necessary. I still have a long way to go, but I am thankful that I am not the educator I was five or ten years ago. There have been countless changes to my practices over the years because of the encouragement and wisdom and honesty of those people that surround me, both those who agree and those who disagree with me.
Thanks for helping me grow!
It is fitting that this post is about feedback. A couple weeks ago, my wife read my posts about grades and gave me some feedback. She said, "These posts are always so depressing." Well, that happened to be timely feedback because it is time to turn the corner to the hope that a grading overhaul can bring. The solution is wrapped up in one word: FEEDBACK!
My wife, I have to be honest, was right. The first posts in this series are depressing. It is sad to see what we are guilty of doing to children in the name of giving them an education. My hope in presenting the impact of the problems is that people will see that this "disease" is very real, very harmful, and in very real need of a remedy. Without coming to that conclusion, little effort will be expended to create a new reality.
Now, it is time to focus on the actions necessary to create that new reality. This process begins with coming to a consensus around the word "accountability" by answering one question: What do we need to hold students accountable for?
The number one answer should be learning, as demonstrated by mastery. If we agree on that answer, then we need to agree that traditional grading methods are some of the worst means of measuring accountability (for all the reasons mentioned in my previous posts). A new, simpler method is to plainly show what a student knows compared to the standard of what the student is expected to know.
With that established as the objective worth measuring, then we can turn attention to giving feedback that is specific, timely and actionable. Good feedback will tell students and parents where gaps are present, how big those gaps are, and most importantly, how to close the gaps.
So, let's focus now on how to use valuable feedback systems to truly hold students accountable for the right things.
Here are links to useful resources on this topic:
If I had to prioritize the steps to take in creating an effective feedback process, I would probably put emphasis on ensuring that feedback is actionable (#3) and timely (#5). The most powerful feedback also "feeds forward" to improved performance. It gives the student an idea of where to go next in the learning process. The timing of the feedback is also important. The sooner a student can receive and respond to feedback, the better.
Hopefully, there will be much more to come about ways to inject better feedback loops into our student accountability systems in our schools.
Today, I want to feature "Made In a Free World". I guess you could call it an organization or a ministry, but I like the description of "disruptive network" because of the way they connect individuals, groups, businesses, etc. to disrupt slavery and spread freedom.
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| Justin Dillon |
I heard the founder, Justin Dillon, speak at the Free Austin summit hosted by Allies Against Slavery in October 2013. He is a creative, musical artist that has harnessed some energy and resources to do impressive things in the fight against human trafficking and slave labor.
As a newbie to the world of the modern day abolition movement, it is sometimes confusing to understand the real problem and even more difficult to realize the best solutions. What I appreciate about Made In a Free World is the job they do of breaking down the problem into understandable parts, and then giving people practical steps to make a difference.
Please consider checking out their additional website resource, Slavery Footprint. Here you can take a survey to find the answer to a most uncomfortable question: How many slaves work for you? I have done this, and I will be the first to confess that I have too many working for me. (I know one is too many, but I have many more than that, and I don't even drink coffee!)
If you are like me, then there is a part of you that would rather not do things like this. It is easier for me to live in denial about some things. It is better to not know. "Ignorance is bliss," they say. But I can guarantee you "they" aren't slaves.
I have come to accept that I won't be able to change the world with just knowledge, but neither will I help it with guilt. So, feeling guilty is not the aim. My hope is to spread awareness. With a growing awareness comes more options. It is what offers us a vision of freedom for more people than have it now. Information alone changes nothing, but nothing changes without information. So, let's just start there.
