Two years ago I led our team in moving away from the modern letter/number grading system to the use of an all narrative grading system for our kindergarten through 6th grade. We held parent forums, meetings, created informational videos, trained our teachers, and launched the new format. From this change we have seen a tremendous growth in our students in the area of their “love of learning.” The pressure of an “A” was removed and our students are flourishing. While this system goes against what all modern educators know, narrative liberates the students from a label and fosters a love of the content rather than the final grade. It has transformed our school and is a model that could transform other classical schools.
Rebekah Shaffer
My husband, Dr. Jeremy Shaffer, work as a team in ministry at our church, where he is the executive pastor. We have two children, Grace (15) and Luke (12), who have both been in our classical Christian school since kindergarten. I hold a BS in elementary education from Pensacola Christian College and am currently working on my Masters in classical education from the University of Dallas. I taught first grade at Pensacola Christian Academy from 00-04′ then stayed home to raise my children till 13′ when I began working part time at Covenant School. In 15′ I moved to full time as the Kindergarten teacher and in 17′ I moved into the role of Lower School Principal in addition to my kindergarten role. I lead our church’s thriving children’s ministry and have lead them for 12 years. I also lead a weekly women’s Bible study and work with my husband leading a small group for families.
