Kaitlin Battel Lutheran Education Portfolio

Good Shepherd Lutheran College, Northern Territory

INDUCTION: LUTHERAN EDUCATION- WEDNESDAY, 29 JANUARY 2020

Session 1 ePortfolio:
Connect - Accreditation for teaching in Lutheran School
What do we want to get out of Lutheran Education:
 Fundamental principles of Lutheran Ed
 Curious about how students will develop with religious identity 
 Gain knowledge and confidence to deliver Lutheran Ed to the school
 How to support the students at GSLC and build faith in the students. 

1. Your beliefs and purpose

 What is important to you? What are you passionate about?
o Educating secondary aged students to prepare and equip them to be members of the
community.
o Promoting active and healthy lifestyles.
o Friends, family, pets.
o Communicating with a wide range of people.
 What has brought you to this Lutheran school or ECS?
o Pastoral care system in the school
o Change of scenery and demographic of students, colleagues etc
o Opportunity to work with a cohesive community.

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 o Opportunity to explore Darwin!
 What questions do you have about Lutheran education and your role?
o How does Lutheran Education support students on their spiritual journey?
o How can teachers support students on their own spiritual journey and provide opportunities
to demonstrate their learning in the community and school environment?
o Are we required as teachers to facilitate school community service camps or overseas
programs. 
2. What do we believe?
 What is important in Lutheran education?
o Understanding people and life
o A caring environment
o embraces high standards of teaching and learning
o promotes Christian growth and development
o works as a team with parents
o part of the greater community and contributing
o Lutheran beliefs 
o Developing personal identity and work
 What questions emerge for you after viewing the sites and videos?
o  Previous platforms that have worked to connect with parents and work as a team with
student, parent/carer & teacher. 
o How does the school nurture students values and community involvement

3. How do we live out our beliefs?

o What would we like to know more about?
o How does science education fit into the Lutheran beliefs?
o The service requirements for each student, do they have community service hours they have
to complete?
4. The Lutheran church and Lutheran education
 What questions do you have about the Lutheran church?
o What are the church requirements for students and staff throughout the school calendar?

CRITERIA 1: HOW HAS MY LEARNING INFLUENCED MY UNDERSTANDING, PRACTICE AND

CONTRIBUTION?

Reflection on Learning:
I am excited to go on this new journey Lutheran Education and upholding Christian values. This session has
been interesting to learn about the important aspects on Lutheran Education, the importance of Pastoral care
and what is important to other staff members at this school. We learnt about our own personal beliefs and
what is important to us and our teaching pedagogy.
Reflection on practices:
I had conversations with other staff members such as Sue Nalder about their pervious schooling systems and
what they believed was important. Sue explained that by Good Shepherd Lutheran College having a pastoral
care groups differentiates this school from other local Darwin schools and that is a major pulling point as why
parents want to send their children to this school. She explained that Good Shepherd has a reputation for
caring for their students using pastoral care and that students feel safe and supported during their school

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experience. I am excited to be at a school that has this type of reputation because I believe that if you show
students that you genuinely care, they become engaged in your classes and treat you with respect back.

CRITERIA 2: ANALYSE AND DESCRIBE WAYS LUTHERAN PERSPECTIVES CAN SHAPE YOUR
SCHOOLS PRACTICES

In Lutheran Education, Chapels can be used to spread the values and essential teachings to students on a
weekly basis. This is important to get the message of Lutheran faith principles across to students consistently. I
believe this is important as I can use the chapels to announce important information to students as they will all
be gathered in a meeting area each week. Devotions are also important as teachers can use the Bible readings
and their own understanding to put across an important message for the week. Devotions are a place where
teachers can learn different perspectives of Bible readings and gain some inspiration in the morning.

CRITERIA 3: CRITICAL REFLECTION ON FUTHER LEARNING

By continuing on the Connect framework, I’ll be able to learn about Lutheran Education, how it was founded
and how this school is shaped around the Lutheran Education. I think the Connect program will enable me to
understand the core values and ways that this school shows it faith.

CONNECT 1 -GRACE 29 TH JANURARY 2020

Spirituality in Australia

o What do my photos reveal about me and what is important to me?

o What is the connection between what is important to you and your spirituality?
o When we talk about spirituality, what are we actually talking about?

https://padlet.com/GoodShepConnect/Session1
 “'As a yoga practitioner my spiritual practice is how I live my life—how I'm treating others, family,
how I live my life towards the planet and being responsible for my actions,' Murphy says. 'At the end
of the day, self reflecting and simply trying to be the best human being I can be. 'No religion can do
that, we all have to reform ourselves.'” (ABC News Link)
 6 types of Spirituality in Teenagers:
 Research has found that many teenagers are not associating with any spiritual identity.
 Many don’t understand the importance of identity and don’t have time to learn, practice and attend
religious organisations. 

“'As a yoga practitioner my spiritual practice is how I live my life—how I'm treating others, family, how I live
my life towards the planet and being responsible for my actions,' Murphy says. 'At the end of the day, self
reflecting and simply trying to be the best human being I can be. 'No religion can do that, we all have to reform
ourselves.'” (ABC News Link)
 
6 types of Spirituality in Teenagers:
Research has found that many teenagers are not associating with any spiritual identity.
Many don’t understand the importance of identity and don’t have time to learn, practice and attend religious
organisations. 

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/the-six-types-of-teenage-spirituality-in-australia-
20180918-p504dr.html

Group Discussion: What ideas about spirituality can be found in contemporary Australia?

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  Generation Z is moving away from religions and moving towards spirituality. They have world views
and are completely open minded to everyone having their opportunities to practice but they choose
to believe more in science.
 No religion is becoming a more prominent selection in Australian census data. This was discussed
being linked to age & education. We also discussed how Australians are selecting different options
from church like yoga and meditation.
 There has been a move away from denominations and "strict" teachings in favour of a more individual
quest for inner peace.

Spirituality at GSLC:

• What is of importance to this school community?

Students are asked to be respectful to the Lutheran Religion if they personally do not have religious
beliefs. Students are asked to behave and act using the schools core values as a guide.

• What is revealed about the spirituality of the school through the text and images?

• What
questions
arise as you consider the school website and the information about spirituality in Australia?

 What are the core values?

 Where do the schools logo originate from?
 Why does Australia have such a board view of Spirituality?

CRITERIA 1: HOW HAS MY LEARNING INFLUENCED MY UNDERSTANDING, PRACTICE AND

CONTRIBUTION?

Reflection on Learning:

Students and others are becoming less interested in Religion and religious beliefs. The new generation are
interested in the aspect of spirituality and connecting through their mixed beliefs and values they have
developed from families and friends. As the new generation is more aware of health and mental health
wellbeing, people are more likely to participate in yoga and meditation strategies in order to create a
connection and a deeper understand of life.

Reflection on Practices:

During my first term of teaching, I had some troubles with the Year 9 students regarding wearing their hats on
the oval at lunch times. When I asked the students to get off the oval as they did not have the correct uniform,
the students started to object and question my authority. As I was getting quite overwhelmed, I asked James
Faraone, to come and assist. As a result, the students were moved off the oval and banned from the oval for a
week. In order to create relationships with the students again, we organised to have a restorative conversation
with the students. At first, I was quite nervous to sit with the students however I see the importance of re-
establishing relationships with students and both gain an understanding on how each other felt about the
situation and their point of view.

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 CRITERIA 2:
ANALYSE AND
DESCRIBE WAYS
LUTHERAN PERSPECTIVES CAN SHAPE THE SCHOOLS PRACTICES

In order to show forgiveness, the Lutheran perspective is to use restorative conversations.

Restorative conversations, allows both parties to address their feelings, concerns and opinions about
the matters in a place that is comfortable. Teachers can use this in order to create mutual
understanding about how their student is feeling about a situation and identify ways that the can
create a supportive and caring learning environment.
CRITERIA 3: CRITICAL REFLECTION ON FURTHER LEARNING

To show grace to students, especially when my emotions come into play is by seeking guidance
about different behaviour management styles. By attending behaviour management PDs allows me
to identify ways I can over come my emotions and teach and react in a calm and collected manner. I
believe I need to identify ways in which does not allow me to use my voice to bring students back to
their work or to address their behaviour. By seeking Professional Development in their field, will
always enable me to continue to follow the Lutheran values by showing grace and understanding to
all students.

CONNECT 2 : CREATION 20 TH JULY 2020

Spirituality in Australia

o What do my photos reveal about me and what is important to me?

o What is the connection between what is important to you and your spirituality?
o When we talk about spirituality, what are we actually talking about?

Creation Theology and how it provides a way of viewing God, the universe, humanity and learning in Lutheran
education.

Gods Creation:

- The theological significance of Creation:

 Belief in the creation of the world and biblical material is seen in many
different ways and in many different religions.
 God cares for us, the creation of the world, and all of creation- All people
have a responsibility to take care of creation.
 Creation is the result of the will of God.
o World in the classroom:
o Safe and supportive environment
o Student voice

Lutheran Perspective on Creation:

o God created all things from nothing

o God continues to create
o God’s creation is good

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 o God made people in god’s image
o God creates people as unique individuals
o God invites people to be co-creators
o God promises to restore the brokenness of creation through Jesus.

What new insight did I gain? What new actions might I take? How am I feeling about my way forward?

In regard to the Lutheran Education, the core ethical morals and teachings of the Lutheran faith can be
incorporated into all classroom teachings and subjects. Core values and lessons can be used as examples in
relation to real world concepts and real-world situations, to develop students critical thinking.

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As a teacher, in both inside and outside the classroom, I can strive to be a role model of the Lutheran morals
and be a leader. Students should also be provided with multiple opportunities for development, success and
personal growth. As Lutheran education promotes of students developing their God given gifts.

What new actions might I take? How am I feeling about my way forward?

I am feeling a bit nervous about this step forward as I am concerned that I will not be able to articulate the
words correctly and with correct terminology. As I have a lack of understanding about lessons and teachings in
the Bible, I will not be able to connect the stories naturally, and I will feel a bit forced when trying to make a
connection. I believe that if I had a greater understanding of the core values, especially the core values that the
school has, I will be able to make connections in a natural manner.

How am I going to partner with God to co-create a better future, restore some brokenness in my world? Be
specific- make a plan- in my classroom, for a student?

As an educator, I will make effort to put emphasis in demonstrate respect during Chapel at school. To
encourage students to create a stronger relationship with God, students should walk into the Chapel quietly
and actively become engaged with the readings and teachings presented to them. I can be help students to
come out of their comfort zone towards developing a relationship by walking in quietly, answering questions
that are given to the audience, actively monitoring student’s engagement and give students little reminders
when starting to get distracted. I plan to act as a role model for the students in order to create a better future.

CRITERIA 1: HOW HAS MY LEARNING INFLUENCED MY UNDERSTANDING, PRACTICE AND

CONTRIBUTION?

Reflection on Learning:

As a educator in a new setting, it is importance for myself to attempt to understand the ways of Lutheran
Education and the importance practices that the school uses every day. I need to attempt to reenforce the
Lutheran core values into my classroom teaching to allow students opportunity to use their in their own way. I
also need to use reflection as a way of students understanding how they have shown a core value and identify
ways that they can continue to demonstrate this in different lessons.

Reflection on Practices:

To show that I want to embrace the Lutheran Education, I nominated myself to lead staff Devotion. My
devotion was about Perseverance and the importance of helping each other in times where you may be alone
and unsure. As 2020 has been a year of dramatic change, I was thankful for my staff members for helping and
guiding me through my first year of teaching. Not only have they supported my and my questioning, but also
they are a major support factor being away from home. I made reference to my family and let the staff know
about my family and where I am from, then finished it off with a bible reading.

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CONNECT 3: RELATIONSHIPS AND COMMUNITY 27 TH OCTOBER 2020

https://padlet.com/GoodShepConnect/ffa3vulmqusx8trf
Learning intentions for Connect session 3:

o God has created us for relationship.

o How does this find expression in Lutheran education communities.
o Explore love, forgiveness, service and vocation as key beliefs and practices that guide Lutheran
education communities.

What are the joys, challenges and questions that concern us and our work in Lutheran education
communities?

Joys: Grace and being able to give students an understanding about forgiveness. Being able to see students
connect and get excited about certain things and having small wins about education. Students showing
empathy in situations that doesn’t regard themselves.

Challenges: Students not appreciating the hard work teachers put into students and the lessons. Students not
being able to connect and respect other people’s perspective.

Questions: How do you build broken relationships? How do you engage students in a respectful questioning
about faith?

Vocation: God calls us to work to

My Family

Me

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Padlet video: Rob Bell

1. Spirit
2. Creator
3. Word
4. Community of creativity

What are things stand out for you? Having a strong feeling towards your career and life

What are your different vocations now? Work and my sporting environments.

What do you bring to this community? I bring enthusiasm and active wellbeing.

What do you seek in this community? I seek professional guidance, understanding and emotional support.

BIBLE Perspectives:

What is God’s for relationships? The relationship is with people and their thirst for a relationship with God.
The water symbolises faith and people seeking a relationship with God and Jesus, using creation as a means of
connection.

How are love, forgiveness, service and vocation enacted/ present in this story? Love is being represented in
this story, as God and the connection is used by symbolising water. Water is needed by everyone in order to
survive, and the love of Jesus and God brings eternal love and life to all that drink water.

Where do you see these reflection in this school community?

As we live in Darwin, water and rain is constant. Water plays a huge part in many students lives, and they often
seek relief in the rain. This connects to students seeking a connection to water, and therefore seeking a
connection to God in a simple form.

Mixed Up Fairy Tale:

1. Super popular kid

2. Teacher
3. Afterschool
4. The main character has been let down by the other again
 After school, the super popular kid asked the teacher to use the sports equipment to practice for
PARRS volleyball. The teacher said yes at recess; however she forgot and went home after school. The
students went to find the teacher and she was no where to be seen.
 The kid feels let down and upset. In order to recover the relationship, the teacher offers her
lunchtime and recess to help practice the volleyball.

What might be essential practices to nurture positive community relationships that are at the heart of
Lutheran education?

- Creating relationships between students in which they care, respect and

communicate with each other
- Trust ; during SEL students are given activities to participate in which develop these
characteristics and help students demonstrate the key values of GSLC.

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 What new insights did I gain?

Lutheran education enables teachers to demonstrate compassion, forgiveness and service daily. This is by
actively participating in Chapel and being a role model to other staff members and students. Darwin is a
tight school community, where compassion is shown greatly in the students participating in community
fundraisers e.g Bethany Holmes.

What new actions might I take?

I need to take more action in becoming active in devotions in order to great a relationship with God. I can
do this by answering questions when asked in devotion and to put my hand up to facilitate a devotion
when it is my turn. When it is my time for devotion, I can put myself out of my comfort zone and answer
other teachers questions and contribute to discussion.

How am I feeling about my way forward?

I am feeling nervous as this is a step out of my comfort zone. I am nervous as Devotion is still new to me
and the concepts behind bible readings, the bible verse and how to make an appropriate prayer at the end
of the devotion. I know that I don’t feel 100% confident in my ability to make connections to certain
readings and be able to recognise modern day occurrences, which could make my devotion confusing or
uninteresting.

CRITERIA 1: HOW HAS MY LEARNING INFLUENCED MY UNDERSTANDING, PRACTICE AND

CONTRIBUTION?

Reflection on Learning:

By viewing your job as a vocation allows the individual to achieve their full potential in their career. The
Lutheran Education has placed emphasis on viewing your teaching career as a vocation due to teachers care
and passion for the students. For myself, I view teaching as an amazing opportunity to inspire the future
leaders of the world whilst creating supportive teacher-student relationships. In order to build broken student-
teacher relationships, it is important that you are respectful to the student and put in effort to move forward.

Reflection on Practices:

As I am extremely passionate about my sport and being the sports coordinator of the college, I have pushed
for a high participation rate for the interschool sporting carnivals. I made sure that I created connections with
the wider community to allow students the best possible opportunities to develop their skills in the wide range
of sports that the NT offers. I constantly kept in contact with the organiser of the events and as a result he
thanked me on my efforts for my school.

CRITERIA 2: ANALYSE AND DESCRIBE WAYS LUTHERAN PERSPECTIVES CAN SHAPE THE
PRACTICES OF THE SCHOOL

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Lutheran Education is supportive of creating connections within the communities. By showing the students the
importance of community involvement and working as a team to develop interpersonal skills, allows the
students to demonstrate the appropriate behaviours in the sporting environments. As the Lutheran Education
fundamental principles are demonstrated daily in the school life, students are more able to apply their learning
to the wider community, creating a contributing citizen of society.

CRITERIA 3: CRITICAL REFLECTION ON FURTHER LEARNING

I can create a connection to the greater community by being involved in the development of future sports
athletes. As I am very passionate about Netball and Touch Football, in the past, I have been a talent identifier
and coach. By moving to a new state, I have been a bit hesitant to participate in many after school activities,
however I believe it is now time that I give back to the community and help develop future players of that
sport. This can also include student development as many students at GSLC are interested in participating in
State level and I will support those students and inform students of trial dates.

CONNECT 4: BIBLICAL LITERATURE 11 TH NOVEMBER 2020

https://padlet.com/edteam/Connect4LESNW
What can ‘creation’ tell us about God?

Creation=

- Your reason
- History’s collective wisdom
- Every experience you have ever had
- Every place you have ever been
- Look out your window.
o Everything is well planning and designed to interconnect with one another.
o Water and its interactions
o He is detailed, cares about the details
 God is relational, and how people are urged to create relationships with others.
 That god is unique and have made everyone, thing and creature unique, with a unique job and
purpose in the world.
 He values things and purpose.
 Beauty of nature- uniqueness

What did we learn?

- His nature?
- How he feels about me?
- How he feels about humanity?
- What am I to do?
- How I am to relate with others?
- The meaning or purpose of life?

Christians are not unique with having sacred texts; Lots of religions have sacred texts.

“In the beginning, God created man in his own image and ever since, man has returned the compliment”

- What is meant by this statement?

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 o Gods image can be represented by humans by living by Jesus’s teachings and demonstrating
the values. Anyone can therefore live in the image of God by this.
- How do we know the correct image of God?
o We know the correct image of God by reading and interpreting in the scriptures and
demonstrate the values and beliefs in our daily lives.

How does God reveal himself to us?

o Genesis 15:1- Visions

o Exodus 3:1-4- Burning Bush

o 1 Kings 19:9-13- Low Whisper

o Jeremiah 1:4-5- Simply Comes

o Hebrews- 1:1-2- Through Jesus

o 2 Peter 1:16-21- Through Scripture

Documentations for Lutheran Education:

Growing Deep- Leadership & formation framework

Our foundation- the Lutheran lens

The foundation of Lutheran education is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What is the Bible?

- The bible is the collation of old and new texts.

- It is multiple stories that have been evolved over 1000s of years.

Questions to ponder?

- What do we learn about god through this story?

- What did (bible character) learn?
- What is it saying to me?
- What might it be saying to our community?
o An approach- hermeneutical approach

Connect: How are the ideas and information presented connect to what you already knew?

Lutherans believes that God and Jesus’s teaching is presented through the scriptures and gospel teachings.
God can be viewed and seen in many ways, and by understanding the Scripture can help lead individuals to
make informed/better decisions that represent the correct teachings.

Extend: What new ideas did you get that extended or broadened your thinking in new directions?

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The new concept in which why the Lutheran religion was created and the values in which they believed that
was most important for the new religion. In modern day, it is important to not take the bible readings literally
and refer to the teachings behind the scripture and relate back to how Jesus and God would like people to
connect and behave.

Challenge: What challenges or puzzles have come up in your mind from ideas and information presented?

As I come from a Catholic background and have studied at a Catholic University, understanding what Lutheran
Religion is still new to me. Understanding what makes each religion unique whilst identifying similarities is a
challenge that I have had to explore this year. What also puzzles me is the different versions of the Bible and
the different scriptures being included or excluded in different versions of the Bible. Due to the differences, it
makes identifying what is important, true and reliable hard to distinguish.

Jonah/ Using the 3 worlds of the text:

•What do we learn about GOD through this story?

The story of Jonah explains that God shows compassion, love and empathy to all his people on earth. God is
willing to forgive others for their sins, decisions and actions, even if they have lost their way and have wronged
God. God believes that we all should forgive those who may have wronged us and show compassion to our
enemies. As humans, we have obstacles placed in front of us and we need to learn to follow the path that God
has planned for us and believe that he has a plan for our development and our own personal journey.

•What did Jonah learn?

Jonah learnt that God had a plan for him and that no matter how hard he tried to hide from Gods plans, God
found a way to bring him back. Jonah learnt the power of showing compassion through Gods ability to give
forgiveness to those who lived in the town of Nineveh, as they were sinning and becoming destructive in their
ways. God allowed their sins to be forgiven and showed Jonah that he must learn from this. Jonah also learnt
that he was behaving in a way which is rude and disrespectful as he was casting judgement on others who he
did not have anything to do with. In the end, God made reference to his concern with the tree, yet he did not
have anything to do with the tree growing.

•What is it saying to me?

I believe that this story is telling us that we all have a plan that is created before us. In our life, there are going
to be situations in which we don’t want to do something or help those who have wronged us, however we
need to move past that and understand that God shows compassion to everyone and we must too. I believe
that this story is talking about having a destination end point of our journey. This story is also showing me the
importance of not becoming concerned with matters that do not have anything to do with me. In a world of
social media, it is easy to cast judgement on matters that do not concern myself as they are posted
everywhere, that I need to stay grounded on my own issues and keep focus on making myself better.

•What might it be saying to our community?

This story is connecting to the community by explaining the importance of entitlement and having opinions on
other matters that does not concern themselves. In society, people have become quick to judge others and
cast their opinion on what they believe it right, without taking into consideration other factors at play. We
need to learn from Jonah the importance of being concerned about things that impact us personally and
staying focused on things that will benefit us, rather than casting judgement and making others feel bad and
disadvantaged.

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CRITERIA 1: HOW HAS MY LEARNING INFLUENCED MY UNDERSTANDING, PRACTICE AND
CONTRIBUTION?

Reflection on Learning:

The story of Jonah and the whale had connected with myself and my teaching experience as I want to strive to
be a compassionate teacher which allows the student to develop as a whole and are able to reach their full
potential. By showing compassion, it allows teachers to recognise when students may be having an off day and
are not feeling the best. We will be able to adapt out approach to their learning and allow the student time off
or provide them with a break to allow them to focus on what is important and what needs to be done in this
lesson.

Reflection on Practices:

In connection to the story of Jonah, it is important as a teacher to not cast judgement on other students
without getting to know them first. As it has been my first year of teaching and teaching at a new school, it is
easy to pick up students learning trends from previous teachers. I had a conversation with Sue Nalder about a
particular student who did not focus in class and was quite disruptive to other students. She told me that as
we are a practical topic and subject, students who struggle maintaining interest in stationary subjects really
thrive in Health and PE. She said it is important to keep things active and exciting as it allows these students to
develop and excel in a subject that allows them to reach their full potential. I took this advice on and made
sure that even in my Health classes, that the activities are hands on so all students can stay engaged and on
topic. I believe this helped a lot for this student as he was able to concentrate for the whole lesson, it created
minimal distractions to other students, and he was able to complete all of his work.

CRITERIA 2: ANALYSE AND DESCRIBE WAYS LUTHERAN PERSPECTIVES CAN SHAPE MY

PRACTICES IN THE CLASSROOM

The Lutheran key principles is showing compassion to others around them and following the teachings of
Jesus. Forgiveness which was also shown and demonstrated in the story of Jonah, is consistently spoken about
in Chapels to teach students the importance of accepting that others are not perfect and that students
sometimes make mistake and like what God did with Jonah, we also need to forgive others for their decisions.

CRITERIA 3: CRITICAL REFLECTION ON FURTHER LEARNING

To achieve an understanding and forgiveness-based heart is by actively participating in reconciliation. Recently

during a Professional Development day, we were given the opportunity to identify an aspect of our lives that
we were able to show forgiveness. I t was so intriguing to listen to experienced teachers who have had to learn
to forgive the past teachings (such as the lack of understanding of Indigenous History) and actively set out to
generate a deeper understanding. Most of these teachers have come from previous Indigenous schools where
they had to adapt and change to suit their students’ needs and understanding. Through this, they were able to
great a deeper understanding about Aboriginal culture, the importance of Aboriginal culture and how they can
create a change and promote community understanding. Ways in which they showed community interactions
is by running information sessions for teachers, sharing incites and stories of how their background of teaching
enabled them to show a sense of reconciliation.

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