Planting Seeds of Wonder in the Secular Classroom
Dr. Jen Kleiber – Professor of Education
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.” – Matthew 25:40
Educators shape minds, plant seeds, and guide our future citizens and leaders. Teaching students in a private – or public – school requires patience, kindness, and skill. Approaching education with a Biblical worldview enables teachers to model a joyful, life-giving presence in their students lives.
“Every student in every school deserves an excellent educator who really wants to be there,” Jen Kleiber explains. In the education classes she teaches at Corban, she emphasizes the powerful position teachers are in, and that their Christian worldview allows them to bring the love of Jesus into any classroom, even secular.
Kleiber says her worldview is how she approaches life, and that her Christian worldview – that she is a child of God and Jesus died for her – informs everything she does in life. As a Christian, she believes that everyone is created in the image of God, which impacts the way she approaches and treats her students.
Kleiber says she teaches her students how to balance being a Christian with being a public educator in a secular system. Her students are often concerned about that their worldview won’t mesh with the values of a public school.
She tells her students: “You can be a Christian who is called to be an educator if God has called you to that profession He plans to use it. Don’t stifle Him. Let it go and say God I’m ready to do whatever.”
Teachers are important, Kleiber says, and they can plant seeds of wonder in students, even if they can’t explicitly discuss their Christian worldview: “I can say wow, look at the beautiful things out here, I wonder about them…how they got here.” She emphasizes opening doors, encouraging exploration, and honoring God and God’s creation by being a loving, prayerful presence in the schools.
A classroom is a wonderful opportunity to impact the lives of future generations for the glory of God.
“It’s joyful work. When you’re doing what God has called you to do. Even when hard, it’s joyful.”