Christian Worldview's Role In Dispensing A Curriculum

In today’s society it is hard to be a teacher; especially, in a secular school. The students in this setting need Christian teachers more than anything. The children today need to have a teacher that has biblical values and understands just how important it is to live by these values. Before stepping foot into a classroom, a teacher really needs to understand that each child’s worldview will make a difference as to how the teacher leads her instruction and how the students processes the instruction that is given to them. We are there to encourage our students to take a good look at them self and really examine what they believe their worldview is. This being said, we really need to understand what a worldview is, why integrating our worldview into the classroom is so important, what it really means when someone talk about integrating, and how a teacher can begin to develop worldview integrative activities in a secular and Christian school environment.

Therefore, Christian education must be centered to God and His salvation to know and comprehend the truth about Him. It is the way to equip and empower people of

Common Core standards at a national level, assist the education system by the establishment of academic expectations that students must satisfy to continue to the next grade level or graduate from high school, no matter the state or school district. With a set of standards, consistency occurs because all students’ are held to meet the same standards skill in their academic studies. Why, then, are there concerns about the implementation and use of Common Core standards within the Christian community? First, to discern this question, an assessment of concerns Christians have

One of the curriculums you could develop would be what is called Christ and culture. You could help the youth understand what scripture says about specific elements in culture. One way that it is done is through basing the scripture as the lesson and bring in different elements of culture. Another way is with starting with the cultural element and bringing in scripture. For example, my youth wanted to learn about the Holocaust. That is an example of culture. So that was the culture element that we based our whole curriculum around. From there we added in religious elements and how society has done things similar with what the Nazis did. After that we added in what scripture says about what is done. This takes in all elements of what Dean was saying in this book. She writes that to engage students you have to teach them what they are interested in and something that they can be involved with. Through this study the youth have learned so much about how to treat people in the Christian mind set as well, as that different religions should treat each other with respect no matter how different they are.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Terri Montgomery, the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the School District of Monroe for this assignment. Terri has been serving in her current role for two years and has been working for the district for over 15 years in different capacities. I was able to take away a lot of information from my discussion with Terri and learn a great deal about what goes into the daily life of a Curriculum Director. The biggest thing that I was able to learn from this assignment was the amount of detail and thought that goes into the process of writing curriculum.

As a Christian my worldview and pedagogy has to match how God sees me. Most importantly, God has shown me compassion, love, forgiveness, etc. As an ESL instructor my duty is to show grace as I have been shown. Above all, my duty is to view my learners as spiritual beings. When I remember my students as part of God’s image, I hesitate to lose my patience. Then, I remember that God has never lost His patience towards

There are a variety of definitions in relation to the term “curriculum”. Hence, in the educational field curriculum has always been one of the main aspect. In other word, “curriculum” seems to be considered as what teachers are going to teach and what learners are going to learn. Moreover, it has been designed to develop the attributes, knowledge and skills to allow children to be successful, confident, responsible and effective learners. Therefore, I am going to look at curriculum transmitted like a body of knowledge, curriculum as product verses process and curriculum as praxis as different ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice.

Developing a curriculum is a difficult process, moreso when an educator has to keep in mind the number of students they are trying to reach. At the secondary level, it is not uncommon for a teacher to be responsible for 150 or more students. Each of these students presents a unique and trying task for educators who want to help students learn. Students have different modalities for which they gain knowledge, and it is the teacher’s job to engage those

As Christian educators, we are called to promote and support learning in those areas. True teaching is a sharing of realities, likening the teaching process and weaving connections between their teachings and understandings themselves and the world around them. If we do not make connections for the students to the world around them, many times these precious gifts graced upon them will be overlooked or passed by because the young minds may not be able to recognize them. Some areas of observation might be seen as open doors to see or perceive and understand something of God and His motion as reflected through the created world and the Bible. Other areas might be seen as open doors to respond, apply, express and practice in ways that are consistent with biblical values. When these areas are discovered and embraced, many times they can address the major developmental needs in the spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, and emotional realms of the student’s life. Identifying these areas is helping the students begin their walk with the Lord and their own calling.

Curriculum planning models form the basis of ideas for current curriculum developments. The Objectives model, constructed by Tyler

Introduction: When one thinks of a curriculum what is it that comes to one’s mind? Is it just an official document or is there something more than that. The term curriculum has various perspectives in general it constitutes the teaching and learning process or one can say that is the intended curriculum that is usually presented in an official document and is employed as a guiding document . Within a classroom setting the curriculum can be altered through a range of interactions and what is delivered is the “implemented curriculum “ and what the learners actually learn or achieve is the achieved or learned curriculum. In addition to this there is the hidden curriculum which helps develop moral values and beliefs that is unintended. Therefore while developing curriculum different dimensions must be taken into consideration especially those that represent the vision of the society, the written curriculum should not be exhaustive but comprehensive and user friendly document which has a framework, syllabus and a set of learning materials like textbooks, guides for teachers and assessment guide. Many people see curriculum in terms of subject to be taught or as a set of textbooks and usually forget its wider goals

The conviction of Christian parents who wanted to provide their children with the Bible-based moral education in a pagan Roman society was a driving force behind the Christian school education that emerged in the early centuries. When Christians were dispersed throughout the Roman Empire after the destruction of Jerusalem, Christian parents - both Jewish and Gentile- faced a dilemma for their children’s education. The Jewish people had a long history of their commitment to the spiritual education of their children. They were the first to establish church-supported religious school system when they exiled to Babylon and started to build synagogues and schools either inside or next to the synagogue. All instructions, either at home or school, were given based on the first five books of the Bible. Gentile Christians also wanted the Bible-based moral education for their children. Christian parents who strongly opposed to the subjects which were filled with immorality and mythology taught in the pagan schools all throughout the Roman Empire had to find an alternative to educating their children.

What do we mean by the word ‘curriculum’? A definition given by John Kerr and quoted by Vic Kelly is 'All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school’. (quoted in Kelly 1983 P10). The idea of curriculum is not exactly a new one; the word itself has its roots in ancient Greek and Latin. But the way it is understood and the way that it has been theorised has altered over the years. There are two key features and four main curriculum models which we will look at now.

The school curriculum models should have essential components, which must be in place to guide instruction. With accountability looming and additional demands, such as concurrent curriculum development and curricular innovation, the design can create great teaching and learning. The one room schoolhouse was easier to decide what to teach. According to Thorndike (1910), educational aims are clearer using psychology ideas such as culture or discipline, knowledge or skills which contributes a better understanding what should be taught (Dunn, 2005). The framework concept includes available resources, data, the mission, decision makers, and stakeholders within and outside the school. An evaluation will chart and identify the curriculum

According to Squires’ (2005), there are ten criteria for useful and usable curriculum (p. 111). Our curriculum does not meet many of the criteria. We have one document that indicates how the Archdiocese of Omaha standards are supported by our textbook lessons. We also have a weekly curriculum map indicating which chapter/topic we are teaching each week. There is however, great discrepancy in the usefulness of these documents. Some teachers include standards, some topics, and some just indicate chapters on their maps. The lack of uniformity in these documents creates a situation where, in some subjects, identifying what to teach is very difficult and can vary from teacher to teacher.