Centering Teacher Vocation: Physical, Emotional and Intellectual Engagement We often associate the term vocation with manual labor, or an activity that we enjoy but is different from our paid work. In the Lutheran tradition, the idea of vocation is more encompassing; it is our calling –it is what we do in the world to glorify […]

Values and Social-Emotional Development Abraham Maslow contended that after facing issues of survival and safety, humans address additional value and social-emotional needs. These include love and acceptance, leading toward self-actualization. He included acceptance, affection, confidence, self-expression, and creativity as human needs. For many children, these needs may be difficult to fulfill. While, some youth are […]

Student-Centered Instructional Strategies My goal as a graduate-student instructor is to model and enhance each student’s journey toward becoming an educational leader. Modeling student-centered instructional strategies helps prepare future leaders to implement those strategies in their schools and districts to maximize their own, teachers’ and students’ learning. As an instructor, it is important to model […]

Editor’s Note: In 2014, Mimi Larson successfully defended her dissertation in early childhood education. Her empirical research was done in a preschool classroom of the Concordia Early Childhood Education Center. Her research has been presented at two national conferences: the National Association for the Education of Young Children in November 2015, and the Children’s Spirituality […]

I would like to comment briefly on what I take to be the real theological heart of the Reformation, which has everything to do with Luther’s evangelical theology of consolation. As we seek to assess the importance of the Reformation 500 years after its birth, it is important to draw our attention to this theological […]

The topic of school leadership has been widely studied for years. Researchers have studied and proposed a variety of leader theories and models ranging from situational leadership, styles, traits, emotional intelligence, servant leadership, motivation, sociological needs, capability, gender differences, and core competencies.

This article will explore the effects of three constructs on stress. The first two, positive reappraisal and rumination are cognitive emotion regulation strategies; the third is optimism. A secular explanation of each construct as it relates to stress will be presented. This article will then submit a biblical perspective on stress and the three constructs. The article will conclude by proposing biblical meditation as a viable solution to the experience of stress.
Psychologist Richard Lazarus known for his cognitive-mediational theory within emotion, was one of the first researchers to explore the relationship between cognition and emotion. He defines psychological stress as the relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing and endangering quality of life (Lazarus & Folkman 1984). Lazarus argues that defining stress objectively by depending only on environmental conditions is not desirable. He believes that the person-environment relationship that brings stress about is subjective (Lazarus & Lazarus 1994).

Teaching is a stressful occupation (Johnson et al. 2005; Chaplain 2008; McCarthy et al. 2010) and is certainly recognized as an emotional undertaking (Sutton, Mudrey-Camino and Knight 2009). Research shows that love, joy and satisfaction are positive emotions most teachers experience; it also shows, however, that frustration, anger and anxiety are also commonly experienced (Hatch 1993; Hargreaves 1998; Winograd 2003). Christian teachers would be well-served to consider the virtue of meekness as a probable and Biblical solution to frustration in the classroom. The following principles might assuage the effects of stress on teaching experiences.

Ever since The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod was formed, education has been at the forefront of its priorities. In addition to day schools and universities, the Lutheran Church has always valued education in the form of Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Midweek School, Confirmation instruction and ongoing adult education. Historically, this commitment to education could […]