Every classroom has specific procedures, rules, and expectations. Statements like: Be prepared for learning, Keep hands, feet, and other objects to yourself, or Raise your hand to speak are commonplace in schools across the nation.
The Concordia Lutheran High School Choir classroom has four simple rules that permeate our culture.
- Be Here
- Praise God
- Be Excellent
- Have Fun
Be Here is an imperative that demands full physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual engagement. Be actively and positively present first. Now we can work on rule #2…
Praise God is our life calling and a necessary response to God’s incredible work. We have a privilege and responsibility to praise God through our speech, thought, action, and song!
Be Excellent. Not average, not good enough, not mediocre. Work toward a full realization of individual and collective potential. Offer back the "first fruits" in effort, attitude, and focus.
Have Fun is not a rule. Rather, it is an outcome. A natural result from the other rules. It is fun to be fully present, while praising God in excellent ways.
Order matters. In choir, in school, and in life: Be here to praise God to the fullest. Now that’s fun!
Tavis Schlicker,
Director of Choirs