Summary of the Gospel of John

This entry is specifically to help my Religion 11 and 12 students understand what I had in mind when I asked them to do a summary of the book of John.

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the word was God. God created everything through Him. The Word gave life to everything He created, and His life brought light to everyone. The Word came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. The Word lived among us because God loved the world so much that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God didn’t send His Son, Jesus, to the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. (John 1: 1-4; 3: 16, 17)

Jesus told the woman at Jacob’s well that those who drink from His well of living water will never thirst again. Instead, that water will become a fresh, bubbling spring within them, springing up to eternal life. Jesus traveled all over Judea and Samaria, bringing hope and healing to those He encountered. He reminded His followers, and other Jewish people, that He did nothing by His own power; instead He manifested the Father’s power through His actions. (John 4)

It was difficult for Jesus’ followers to understand His mission, so He often reminded them that “I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day (John 6:38, 39). Jesus reminded his disciples that they were truly his followers if they remain faithful to his teachings. He said that the truth will make us free. Jesus told a man, formerly a blind beggar, that He entered the world to render judgment, and that judgment involved giving sight to the blind and showing those who think they see that they are blind (John 9:39).

Jesus compared himself to a good shepherd, who not only looks after the sheep during the day, but also forms a gate to the sheep pen with his own body to keep the sheep safe at night. He knows his own sheep, and sacrifices himself for the good of the sheep, both those who know him, and those who don’t know him yet. (John 10)

When his good friend, Lazarus died, Jesus reminded his sister, Martha, and us, that he is the “resurrection and the life. Anyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.” (John 11: 25)

Shortly before Jesus was crucified he was escorted into Jerusalem by a huge, celebrating crowd. The people shouted “Praise God, blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel” (John 12:13). These particular phrases are based on Psalms 118: 25-26, and were used later by the disciples to help other followers of Jesus understand that Jesus life and death were predicted by Old Testament writers.

Jesus reminded his followers that unless wheat is planted in the ground, it never grows into a whole harvest of wheat. In the same way, Jesus said he had to die and be buried – so that he could be lifted up from the earth, draw all people to him, and enter into his glory. (John 12: 23-34) He told them that they could trust Him just like they could trust His Father, God. He told the disciples, and us, that He was going to heaven to prepare a place for them and us, and He will come again so we can all live with Him. (John 14: 1-3) When questioned further about where He would be going, Jesus reminded Thomas that “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. . . From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14: 6, 7) He also compared us to branches and Himself to a vine. We need to live in Him so we can experience His power. Jesus tells us that whatever we ask in His name He will give us, so we will have victory over the things of this world. Jesus loves us, God the Father loves us, and the Holy Spirit helps us. (John 15 and 16)

The night before he died Jesus reminded the disciples, and us, that He was leaving us with a gift – peace of mind and heart. This peace is much more that the world can give, and helps us to not be troubled or afraid. He also reminded his followers that peace did not mean freedom from persecution, but instead means that we can rest assured that we know that our story ends with a “happy ever after”. Jesus prayed for his current as well as all future believers when he said: “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one – as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. . . May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” (John 17: 20 – 23)

While He was on trial Jesus tried one more time to explain His mission. He told Pilate that his kingdom was not an earthly one, but that instead he was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. (John 18: 36, 37) When Jesus died on the cross for my sin He proclaimed his mission successful when He said “It is finished” (John 19: 30). After his resurrection Jesus proclaimed a special blessing on those who, unlike Thomas and the other disciples believe without physically seeing him (John 20: 29) Just before he ascended into heaven Jesus gave Peter, and us, a special commission. He asks us to feed his lambs and sheep – the other people who live here on earth with us. (John 21).

References Cited:

The Holy Bible: New Living Translation, second edition. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois. 2004.

Mama G

A teacher I admire very much, my daughter, Shannon, posted last evening about the joys of teaching in a small school. She was absolutely correct. There may be downsides, but the upside is not to be discounted. I have known many of my students since they were born, I know their parents, and I can laugh, joke, and cry with them (both parents and students) as I try to teach Math, Biology, Chemistry, or Life.
Life is the hard one. I don't set the curriculum, I don't choose the scope or sequence, and I can't do lesson prep in the evenings or over the weekend. I just have to go with what I think is best, think fast, and pray hard.
Yesterday I got a reward for the work, prayers, and time I've spent. A boy-man in the grade 12 class looked up from his Math 12 assignment, and said in all seriousness "Mrs. G, which would you rather do for our class trip - a cruise to Mexico, or a week in a resort in Mexico?" And HE WAS SERIOUS! My opinion mattered, and he really did want me to come along. Not to chaperone - this isn't an official school event, not to pay - he knows I can't, but just to have fun with people I have watched grow up.
This particular class has been "mine" since their grade 7 year. I love them. And they want me to enjoy this, their grade 12 year.
Life is good. And I don't care whether we go to Mexico by plane, or by boat, or even if they don't actually end up going farther than West Kelowna.

MSSE diploma arrived!

I'm thrilled with the diploma - and it is just a piece of paper. Mind you, that piece of paper represents 3 years of classes, more typing than I enjoyed, and a number of fun, interesting classes. Now I just need to frame it and print and bind the capstone.
Life is good.

It's a girl! (I'm a mother-in-law)

I'm delighted to welcome Sarah to the family. I'm also pretty tickled about my new role. I enjoyed playing "mother of the groom" last weekend, and look forward to visits from them in the future.
Life is good.

There is beauty in every season

Every year I look forward to summer. I crave the warmth of the summer sun and the chance to be lazy for the few days which are entirely too hot for work. I love lemonade, fresh strawberries, capris, and warm summer evenings. I enjoy canoeing, hiking, and swimming outdoors. I appreciate the chance to stay home, sleep in a little, and work on projects which I can't touch all school year. I'm delighted to work for 10 days with little people at Camp Hope. I relish the chance to explore new places, to visit distant family, and to learn new things.

The problem is that I resist the approach of autumn. This is foolish. I love the fall colors, the crisp mornings, the smell of woodsmoke, and the taste of pumpkin spice lattes. I enjoy seeing Orion in the morning as I get up before daylight to head out for my run. I'll admit that I don't enjoy running with a head lamp, but I do look forward to weekend runs on the Greenway. I love fall sweaters, hiking at mid-day, the adventure of geocaching, and coming home to the smell of warm soup and fresh bread.



When fall ends and winter approaches I look forward to Christmas lights, Egg Nog, evergreen trees, candles, cross-country skiing, snow falling, and two weeks of fires in the fireplace. I look forward to seeing family, hearing carols, reading new books and cheering on the Canadian team at the world junior hockey tournament.








About the time Spring break rolls around I look forward to the craziness of coordinating our school teams for the Campus-to-Campus half marathon relay, to helping haul gear for the ski-to-sea race (some day soon I will be a participant instead of just a spectator!), Easter, green grass and daffodils. I don't look forward to March Mudness, but even on the gray days I know that the last of the snow will melt, the mud will dry, and the days are getting longer.




This year I look forward to graduation - for the OKAA class of 2011. I've been especially close to this group of students since they were in grade 7. All those short, silly, high-pitched little boys (and one long suffering girl!) have grown into a fabulous group of young men and women. I know they will go on to have interesting, rewarding, helpful lives, and I wish them well.







I'm also looking forward to seeing my youngest graduate from university this next June. She is a good friend, a great student, a joy to her patients, and a loving great-granddaughter.

With all of these blessings and events to look toward, I really have no reason to miss summer. However, I really wish it was warm enough to wear capris and a tank top, sip lemonade and sit on the porch reading a good book.
Only 8.5 months until July!

Off to a hectic start

Just in case I ever gave the impression that teaching is easy for me. . . IT IS NOT! I have been working as hard as I can to explain quadratic functions to the grade elevens, calculations involving linear measurements to the grad tens, and transformations to the grade twelves. In between times I've tried to teach the chemistry 11 class, the Bible 11/12 class, and supervise graduation transitions and grad class meetings. I haven't even tried to learn how to use BCEsis
I'm ready to give up in defeat. Maybe I'll take up quilting full time.

How will I be able to know if I am successful?

This post is taken - with very small adaptations - from Karl Fisch from The Fischbowl blog.

Here is what I am going to say to my students during the first classes of the school year. There is so much business to cover - introductions all around, course outlines, class policies, and textbook choice. However, I don't want the new year routine to seem more important than a clear look at the goals for true education.

I won’t think I’m a success if you get a good grade in Math, although I certainly hope you do and I’m going to try really hard to help you do that. I won’t think I’m a success if you score well on tests like provincials or the ACT, although I hope you do, and even though a lot of well-intentioned people think that’s how I should define success. I won’t even think I’m a success if you go to a good college and then get a good job, although I certainly want you to do that because I’d like to retire someday and I need you all to have good jobs to support me.

No, I’ll consider myself successful if you turn out to be good, kind, caring adults. If you’re a good spouse, child and parent. If you contribute to the world and to your community and help those around you. If you participate. And learn.

And here’s the deal. The education that I received was a pretty good one. But it wasn't good enough for a lifetime. You see, in a rapidly changing, information abundant world, the people who are going to be successful – both professionally and personally – are the learners. And by “learners” I don’t mean people who just learn what we teach you here at OKAA.

Now, I want to be clear, that doesn’t mean I don’t think you should learn what we teach you here. I don’t want you to go to Mr. L, raise your hand, and say, “Mrs. G said I don’t need to learn what you’re teaching.” Please, don’t do that. That’s not at all what I’m saying. Your teachers here work very hard trying to share important, meaningful and relevant knowledge and skills. And that’s important, but it’s not enough. Because to be successful in the 21st century you’re going to have to be a learner, you’re going to have to learn how to learn, and go after things on your own. You’re going to have to be independent, curious, passionate learners, who don’t just sit back and wait for someone to tell them what they’re supposed to know, but who go out and try to figure things out for yourself. Who pursue your interests, your goals, your passions with intensity, and who actively participate in everything you do. Who go out and find other learners who are passionate about what you are passionate about and learn from them – and alongside them.

The world of school, and the world of work, and the world in general has shifted, and so I need you to shift as well, and that’s what I’m trying to do in this class. I’m trying to get you to be actively involved in your own education, to be independent and curious learners in mathematics, even if Algebra is never going to be your favorite subject.

I believe you need the skills I’m trying to get you to learn for three main reasons. First, to be a successful citizen in the 21st century you have to be numerate. In order to deal with all the data that is going to get thrown at you, and to make good, responsible, effective decisions, you’re going to need a lot of the skills we’re learning in Algebra.

And frankly, that’s not necessarily true about all the math classes you’ll take. Honestly, the Trig and Pre-Calc skills you'll learn are very important if you go into the math and sciences, but perhaps not so much day-to-day life for most of you (some folks will disagree with that). But the algebra skills we learn you’ll be using every day to make sense of all that data in the world, to be informed voters and decision makers.

The second reason to learn the skills is if you decide that you are passionate about math and science, you need these skills in order to progress to more complex topics and to go deeper.

The third reason – and it’s the one I think is least important but you may think is the most important – is that right now in the short term you have to learn these skills to get a good grade in this class, to do well in school, and to get into college if that’s what you choose. So while I prefer that you focus on the first two reasons, this one is still a valid one for many of you.

And this is why it’s critical you do the assignments I’m asking you to do,to become more independent learners. I try to choose the assignments so you can master the math skills so that we can become more curious, active learners, in class, and so we can explore interesting (or not for some of you) applications like calculating remote distances, understanding small concentrations of important chemicals, and other outdoor "real life" activities. In order to apply the skills in class, I need you to do the necessary work outside of class.

But in order for that to happen, in order for us to use our class time to be the kind of learners I think you need to be to be successful in this century, your century, I need you to step up and take care of business. And I really, really need you to participate in class, to be active learners. To ask questions, and be involved, and talk to each other, and help each other, and be willing to take risks in order to learn more, even if that makes you a little nervous or uncomfortable. I need you to do more of the talking in class, and me to do less. I need you to do more of the thinking, and the questioning, and the figuring out.

So I’m asking you to please, please consider what kind of future you want, not just for yourself, but for those around you, and make an effort to be as independent, as curious, as responsible, as passionate of a learner that you can be. And I promise that I’ll bring the passion every day and do the very best I can to help you become that learner.