Prep Talks: Tales of Challenges & Opportunities in Christian Education

This volume’s title accurately announces that it contains “tales of challenges and opportunities,” though the title under-promises what the book delivers. The 20 stories contained in Prep Talks: Tales of Challenges & Opportunities in Christian Education prompt the reader to wrestle with questions, challenges, and themes that are “increasingly common” (p. 12) in Christian education today. The book’s design, which includes questions for reflection and discussion following each chapter, is well suited for either individual or group consideration of the issues. The chapter, “A Tale of a Great Teacher and a Grade Awakening” was particularly powerful and timely. Current thinking about grading has alerted educators to the limitations of averaging a student’s grades over time, because averaging early work with later work may not reflect the student’s performance at the point of the final or milestone evaluation. This chapter illustrates that dilemma with a realistic and helpful narrative about Michaela and Michelle. Michaela is a particularly good student who does not need to put in much effort to demonstrate mastery and earns a “solid Aþ” in the fictitious story (p. 78). Michelle, however, is the “hardest working and most focused student who had ever gone through this class . . . [She] demonstrated the greatest level of mastery in the course. Yet she finished the class with a Bþ because of those early grades” (p. 78). Bernard Bull, the author of this chapter, does not tell the reader the “right answer” and instead focuses on chronicling the teacher’s journey as she reflects on Michaela and Michelle’s growth, learning, and grades. Another story that I found particularly thought-provoking and challenging was Michael Uden’s “Making a Call When the Lines Are Crossed.” In this story, a young teacher wrestles with an apparent bullying situation in her classroom between David, the son of a single-parent family with a deeply involved mother, and Josiah, the son of a board of education member. Political issues emerge because Josiah seems to be the bully, but the principal does not support the teacher because of Josiah’s parents’ role in the school community. Unfortunately, in real life, tales like this one do not always have the positive outcome of the book’s fictitious tale. International Journal of Christianity & Education