new church life: jan uary / february 201 4
Last winter the
Executive Director
from the Gurian
Institute visited
and observed
our teachers. She
managed to get into
every classroom to
see if the teachers
were using the Gurian
strategies they had
been taught. She
was impressed and
pleased with what
we are doing.
involved. We are tentatively planning a
parents’ night, put on by our trainers, to
inform and educate parents about how
we are doing single-sex education. We
will show them some of the strategies we
are using, and more importantly teach
them about the brain and why those small
differences between girls and boys translate
into big differences in how they learn. For
those unable to attend this presentation,
we will be filming it and posting it on our
website – www.ancss.org.
While we need to educate parents, we
also want our students to understand why
we have changed things in the classroom.
We need to show them the brain differences
that are driving our classroom basics. The
more people know about all this, the better
informed we all will be.
Finally, we will be collecting and
assessing the data to see if the Gurian
strategies are making a difference for us.
We have never been driven by data as a
school, but we know we need this, and we
will find the tools to collect the data integral in making this initiative a success.
As a final note on this Gurian update I cannot say enough about the
generosity of our donors. Without their support and ability to see the big
picture, this never would have gotten off the ground. I am humbled by their
involvement. We received a grant this year that enabled us to buy 100 high
desks and 50 rocking chairs, which help our students get engaged and stay
focused. Our classrooms are unconventional looking but the work is being
done and our students are learning.
We know we have the theological teachings about the complementary
nature of the sexes. Now we have the brain-based research to back up what we
have always known and the way we teach our girls and boys.
Conjugial Love Study
We are still working on making Conjugial Love more relevant and hopeful
for our girls. When we started this project we were looking specifically at the
book. Over the last three years we have realized that this is a much bigger issue
than just the needs of our senior girls. We want to keep in mind that we need to
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