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Five Questions For: Our Lady of Sorrows Educator Jennifer Clark
5FIVE QUESTIONS FOR
Jennifer Clark
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BY LILY PRINCE PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Jennifer Clark is the Technology Coordinator at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School (OLS) in Homewood. Recently, she, alongside Dr. Jennifer Ray and Dr. Cassie Raulston, presented at the Alabama Educational Technology Conference (AETC). Here, Jennifer talks about the success of the STEM program at OLS and the presentation at the AETC.
Why do you find it important for STEM to be incorporated in a classroom?
“As technology has changed and adapted, so has the need for schools to do the same thing.” Because of STEM, children are able to look at real-world problems and come up with solutions for them, using a design process and collaborating with other people. One of the things that Jennifer finds most useful about STEM is that it teaches children to readjust if they do not find the right solution the first time.
How did the STEM program at OLS begin?
OLS decided to phase out the computer labs at the school around three years ago. With a plan in mind to start small, then expand the program, the school was ready to begin a STEM program. Then, COVID happened, and the original idea behind how the program would progress changed because of space restrictions. Despite the challenge, Jennifer says the school continued to work on the program. “We just kept trying to perfect the ideas behind what we wanted to do and worked within the classrooms as best we could.” The school revisited fundraising once everything started reopening. The school transformed the computer lab by replacing desktops with laptops, introducing 3D printers and bringing in collaborative tables.
What made you decide to do the presentation at the AETC?
Jennifer says that when she first took on her role at OLS, she was contacted by Dr. Jennifer Ray, who educates teachers at the University of Montevallo on instructional technology. The next year, Jennifer worked with the fourth grade science teacher at OLS to take a group of girls to an event known as Girls Engaged in Math and Science (GEMS). The girls got an excellent experience with GEMS. Jennifer and the other teachers knew that all of the girls who wanted to go to GEMS would not be able to because of the travel restrictions, so they decided to have a day of their own for the girls called Girls Actively Learning the Sciences (GALS). At GALS, Dr. Ray and Dr. Cassie Raulston, who also teaches at the University of Montevallo, came in and spoke with the girls. The two women later asked Jennifer to do a presentation with them at the AETC about the day she had organized for the girls.
OLS since the STEM program began?
“Rather than a lot of lectures and that type of thing, our teachers are starting to provide more opportunities for students to research inquiry-based things and come up with solutions to problems.” Although the teachers still teach, they function as a support system for kids who are doing their own research and learning. STEM has changed the classroom approach at OLS by incorporating things other than basic textbooks and limited digital materials.
Do you think there are any misconceptions about technology in classrooms?
Some people worry about the amount time students are spending in front of a screen, and Jennifer understands their concern. She says that the last thing the school wants is for the kids to be stuck in front of a screen all day. She says that the principal at OLS “stresses that we find a very balanced approach.” The school ensures that the technology being used is there for the sole purpose of learning enhancement. “I would love for parents and even just the community to know that technology has a lot of positives that contribute to student learning.”
A DIFFERENT WAY TO EDUCATE
Evangel Classical Christian School (ECCS), a ministry of Evangel Presbyterian Church (PCA) and located in Alabaster, Alabama, provides a unique approach to education that seeks to develop leaders who are equipped to transform the culture for Christ. All ECCS classes are taught through the lens of Scripture to support an integrated Christian worldview and to shape students’ minds as well as hearts. Students are not expected only to memorize facts for tests, but they are also encouraged and taught to think critically and logically about the world around them and to apply what they are learning to benefit themselves and others.
Evangel seeks to partner with parents to prepare students for their lives through a unique, threephased approach to their education that includes the schools of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. Designed with a child’s developmental stages in mind, Grammar School is grades K3 through 5th, Logic is 6th through 8th, and Rhetoric is 9th through 12th. Subjects are not approached as individual disciplines, but rather as a holistic way to look for God, His work, His purpose, and His glory in all creation and through all that they are studying. The classical approach to learning helps build the foundation for students to express themselves thoughtfully to reflect truth with precision, conviction, and clarity.
Parents who are looking for an educational option where their children are nurtured spiritually
-Julie McGuffey, faculty
and intellectually can find a perfect fit at ECCS. “Classical education is, I think, the only educational system that really gives kids something beautiful to want,” Julie McGuffey, a Rhetoric school faculty member said, “because I want them to love the God who created them and who created all of these subjects.” The “something beautiful” that Mrs. McGuffey speaks about is a love of learning that is fostered by a sincere love of God, His creation, and His will for their lives, for “in Christ, all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).
Students are not only prepared to have a successful career in college and in the workforce, but they are also guided as a whole person, educated to pursue a life glorifying to God. The school aims for each child to flourish in wisdom, courage, justice, self-control, faith, hope, and love. Bible classes at every grade level and chapel services further promote spiritual maturity. Student life is also an integral part of ECCS. With clubs like drama and scholar’s bowl, athletics, and a unique house system, students have many options to be involved in various activities.
Ultimately, ECCS seeks to glorify God by shaping the hearts and minds of covenant children through a distinctively classical and unapologetically Christian education with the goal of raising up ambassadors for Christ. If you value a partnership with a school that provides a classical Christian education, then you should consider Evangel Classical Christian School. For more information, please visit the school’s website at evangelclassical.com.
