How Topeka Lutheran School's Joshua Grass instills God's love and science passion into teaching

To take his students to the dark side of the moon, Joshua Grass had them eat some Oreos.

This was the best way the Topeka Lutheran School science teacher could illustrate the various phases of the moon, and it was an idea his wife suggested when the two of them were eating the sandwich cookies some years ago.

Students could easily scrape (and eat) away at halves of the Oreo cookies to show sunlight bounces off the natural satellite to create each of the four waxing and four waning phases of the moon.

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"I've done this lab before, and students still come back and say, 'Remember that one time we ate cookies glued some to a piece of paper?' But at the same time, if you can ask them to name at least one phase, they can still do it, because they remember doing this lab."

It's projects and hands-on activities like this that earned Grass the hearts of this students and co-workers, and ultimately, a statewide teacher award.

Grass earlier this month was named the 2023 Distinguished Lutheran School Teacher of the Year by the Kansas Association of Independents and Religious Schools.

He was nominated for the award by Topeka Lutheran School principal Kyle Johnson, who in just one year in that job, had seen the passion and energy Grass brings to the classroom each day.

"He’s kind of the heartbeat of the school, and I think that’s about the best way to describe him,” Johnson said. “Mr. Grass has a big smile and fist bump for every kid who walks in his door, and the kids can see how much he cares and loves each one of them. He gets them ready to learn.”

Joshua Grass' science lessons allow students to use their creativity and imaginations

While he also teaches religion and math classes in the small Lutheran school, Grass' main focus has been on science, which has been a passion for him ever since he was a kid.

Grass, a Missouri native, is now in his ninth year teaching and his fifth at Topeka Lutheran School. Johnson said Grass has been transformational for the school in that time, helping put together a newly remodeled science classroom, creating a native prairie program and setting up an outdoor learning space, where Grass and other educators could “teach God’s word out in God’s world.”

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However, the science teacher was reluctant to take credit for those projects, pointing out that he was only able to accomplish those tasks with the help and support of other teachers and parents.

"I wasn’t sure I deserved credit for things that a lot of people helped me do," Grass said. "Even in my day-to-day teaching, we work together as a team so well, that it really should have been called a team award, but it can be that. This award is a reflection on all of us here."

Most of Grass' lessons involve some hands-on aspect, such as by teaching students about energy by building mouse-trap cars or biology by bringing in animals from one school family's farm.

"He doesn’t make us just take notes," said fifth-grader Jayel Micheel. "He gives us opportunities to work with our classmates, build stuff and do experiments."

"He’s nice and helpful, and he helps us have fun whenever we’re doing projects," said George Hogg, also in fifth grade. He added that Grass' class experiments inspire him to conduct his own science experiments at home.

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It's tangible experiments and labs like the Oreo-modeled moon phases that stick with students, Grass emphasized.

Any time students can touch their learning makes lessons memorable.

"Most kids want to be creative… they want to use their imaginations, and they want to use their hands," Grass said. "So if you can use that to teach a big concept, then that’s fun. That’s how they enjoy coming back every day eager to learn more."

Inspiring passion for science is Joshua Grass' way of showing God's love

Beyond the experiments, Grass said his way of reaching and inspiring students is something he saw from his own teachers growing up.

"I was not easiest student when I was in middle school, but I had a lot of teachers who showed us a lot of care," he said. "What they were really doing is showing us how God loves us through how they treated us. This is an important mission and field to be able to do that on a daily basis."

In reflecting on the award, Grass said any successes he has had in reaching students have only been because of God's will working through him and others, and he appreciates that the school's first priority is living out God's word.

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It's what drew him and his wife to the school in the first place.

"Faith is really the first, biggest and foremost thing we do — we center our daily lives around God," Grass said. "Getting that award, too, isn’t so much a reflection on me. It’s more about the school, and being a place where God is taught first. That makes this a nice place to work and be a part of, and good things happen from there."

Johnson said Grass has a great ways with kids.

"For us, his ability to share that love of Jesus with students every day just makes him really special and unique," Johnson said.

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka Lutheran School's Joshua Grass is KAIRS Distinguished Teacher