I have always loved learning, but when I was an undergraduate student at Calvin University, school was challenging for me. I was young and struggled to handle balancing my workload and playing college sports. Organizing the daily requirements of being a student proved difficult for me. However, when I reflect back on my college journey, I believe God used those years to develop my grit and perseverance, and also my empathy. My positive experience at Calvin fostered in me a deep passion for Christian education and the conviction that all my students and staff are image bearers of God.
I carry these skills and attitudes into my teaching and into my role as a Principal at Denver Christian School. For example, when I see a student or a teacher struggling, I can empathize because of my own struggles. As a result, I can offer humble grace and patience as I journey alongside that person. I find ways to reach out and I ask why the person is struggling. Questions like “What barriers exist to success?” or “How can we help reduce them?” are part of my default thinking. I ask myself “What do I need to do differently to support this teacher or student in the immediate moment and going forward?” and “What resources does this community offer in this situation?”. A hallmark of my approach is to consciously apply my belief that, because we bear God’s image, each person brings a uniqueness to the classroom and inherently houses the potential to grow.
My students and staff are learners who will grow when the right environment is present. Not every response is the same and I try to assess individual needs and react accordingly. All people deserve to flourish and I work to provide students and staff at Denver Christian School with quality interventions that are the catalyst for becoming who God has created them to be. As a Dort professor, my role will be to facilitate learning, differentiate to serve student needs, and to be sure students understand the core value and power of positive relationships in a school. Setting high standards for content mastery, promoting divergent and creative thinking, and fostering a trusting atmosphere where risks and challenges are seen as opportunities are cornerstones for me as a classroom teacher. Graduate students bring a wealth of experience to their new learning and I would celebrate this as a collective whole by respecting and using their diverse backgrounds to enhance the learning for each individual student in my class. I understand that graduate courses have required expectations and I believe that genuine learning is also anchored in meaningful reflection and exploration. At Dordt, I hope to provide my graduate students with enough flexibility in meeting the course expectations that their work is real, concrete, practical and of lasting value in the schools where they serve.
One of my favorite activities is conducting informal and formal research. Right now, most of my effort in this area is focused on my dissertation research project. I am currently developing and sending out a survey to Christian school principals and school leaders in the United States and Canada. This research will help to determine the level of support leaders experience in their work, the specific resources they turn to for professional insights, and the ways that organizations like Christian Schools International can improve professional development efforts for Christian school leaders. I have focused my research in this area because there have been many times when I wished for a local cohort of Christian school administrators to lean on for advice, encouragement, prayer, or shared resources. I imagine other Christian school leaders also feel that way. My dissertation question seeks to identify gaps in professional learning networks and to suggest improvements which may include using technology. I believe Christian school leaders need a network to which they can connect, and this survey instrument will help me better assess the needs they have, the resources they use, and then devise a plan to link individual Christian educators in the U.S. and Canada. In my work at the student level, in my work in the classroom, in my work at the building level, and now in my doctoral work at the national level, my philosophy has stayed the same. Each time, my desire is to use my knowledge, my heart and my expertise to improve the learning and the experiences of those I serve.
Writing about my work has been an essential way for me to shape and share my thoughts and ideas. For example, since 2011 I have maintained a blog titled “tyleramidon.wordpress.com”. This online space contains my reflections on teaching and learning. One of my blog posts is about a time when my middle school students and I Skyped with Guatemalan middle school students. My blog emphasizing how fantastic that experience was because students had a mutual and meaningful exchange. Another blog post from May 2014 focused on Exodus 16:4 which reminds us that God will provide what we need each day. That is one of my favorite posts because it captured the efforts involved in Denver Christian’s substantial move to a new campus. During a time of change, this blog was a great way for me to reach out to my school community, keep them informed, and provide the encouragement that God’s plans were underway. Blogging is informal writing, but while pursuing my Ed.D., I have had to expand and refine my writing abilities. This has been healthy for me because it taught me technical skills and forced me to synthesize ideas in an academic format. As a professor at the graduate level, I will try to balance the demand for academic writing with an understanding that students must also share their own voice.