2788 Carroll Creek Rd.
Johnson City, TN 37615
(423) 854-9819
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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16
Teaching World View at Providence Academy
(Updated 9/8/09)
 
Teachers:
  1. All teachers are given a copy of and are required to read The Lost Tools of Learning by Douglas Wilson. New faculty members are required to read and write a written critique as a part of the interview process. 
  2. All new secondary and elementary teachers are given personal copies of The Seven Laws of Teaching. Principals will use this tool for conducting faculty meetings, and the principles outlined in this book will provide the foundation for conducting faculty observations and evaluations. 
  3. All teachers have a copy of The Encyclopedia of Biblical Truths available in their teaching areas and are encouraged to use them in the development of their course world view goals and objectives.
  4. During the 2007-2008 school year Coach Sells led a workshop with humanities teachers in grades 8-12 on how they could build on the world view instruction students get in 8th grade Bible; individual departments followed up on this.
  5. We have started the process of taking all faculty, administration and Board through The Truth Project worldview video series. The Board, administration and half of faculty completed this by fall of ’09. 
  6. Faculty and administration attend various classical Christian education conferences in the summer. New faculty members are especially encouraged to attend their first year.
  7. Faculty and administration also attend a variety of conference and instructional sessions during the school year, including the annual ACSI Conference. 
Students:
  1. Every course is to begin the school year with foundations of a biblical world view relative to that course and reflected in the first goals and objectives of the course. This is included in each course curriculum map and varies from taking part of the first day of class up to a full week.
  2. All secondary Bible courses are beginning class with five minutes of sustained Bible reading by teacher and students, following a 7-12 schedule to read through much of the Bible in six years, emphasizing the Bible is the foundation and Truth for all of knowledge.
  3. Elementary Bible teachers define worldview for grade level understanding.
  4. Opportunities for elementary students to identify Biblical and contrasting worldviews. Examples may come through history, science, literature, etc.
  5. Secondary teachers are encouraged to allow “rabbit trails” to develop naturally when worldview issues present opportunities for discussion / exploration. These discussions, though informal, form a vital component of both gauging how our students think and how they apply their knowledge of worldview topics. 
Course specific:
  1. Bible 8 is a study of world views.
  2. English 7-9 do a lot with what makes good literature, with the Bible the model of great literature–permanence, universality, artistry, emotional appeal, and individual style. English 9 introduces Truth and Beauty, and English 10 builds on that for analysis of literature for world view.
  3. Rhetoric I - study of Sire’s Universe Next Door, general evaluation of works relative to world view.
  4. Rhetoric II - approaching all written and oral communication, including the senior thesis from a biblical world view.
  5. Philosophy of Lit–whole course is based on evaluating works from a biblical world view, building to a personal biblically based world view of literature and culture; Sire’s How to Read Slowly is a textbook, but we may move some of that to 10th grade next year.
  6. Teacher Intern–major focus is how a biblical world view makes PA and true Christian education unique.
  7. Mr. Prior does a lot with videos and discussion of a biblical world view of the sciences with his upper level classes.
  8. 6th Grade BJU History study introduces major world religions and compares worldview themes.
  9. Other courses that we have worked on and are working on for fuller integration of a world view (evaluation at a rhetoric level) with individual teachers and curriculum work: Apologetics, World History II, US History (next year), and Comparative Government.
  10. Current project–to build on the science department’s emphasis on creation vs. evolution to an understanding of the destructiveness of the whole evolutionary, naturalistic, and post-modern contemporary world views on society.
  11.  PA partnered with the Worldview team from Bryan College in the fall of ’08 to have a secondary Worldview Day. We are partnering with Bryan College again this year (fall of ’09) to add a worldview component to our 9th grade servant leadership retreat at Camp Bethel in Wise, VA.
  12. We are making plans to send our SGA leaders to an annual ACSI Student Leadership Conference each year beginning in 2010-11. 
  13. Our bi-weekly chapel services often have a worldview theme associated with them.  
      Parents:
  1. Each parent is asked to read Doug Wilson’s Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning in order to get a better grasp of PA’s worldview emphasis.
  2. During the parent interview process the school administration emphasizes the importance of teaching Christian worldview and gives multiple explanations of what this will look like in the classroom.
  3. At our annual Parent Orientation (fall) and Associational Meeting (spring) parent meetings, we have begun the process of adding in a parent instruction component, specifically related to the teaching of Christian worldview.
  4. Beginning this year, 2009-10, we will begin to take parents through The Truth Project video series. Our hope would be that in time all parents would go through this series, either through PA or through their church. 
  5. This year we partnered with three other churches to present a parenting seminar with author and speaker Paul Tripp. We will look for similar opportunities in the future. 
  6. Guest speakers Peter Marshall and Gary Demar have recently been brought in to do parents workshops. Both specialize in teaching Christian worldview.
  7. Our annual Christian Storytelling Festival always has a Christian worldview theme associated with it. 
  8. In our quarterly development newsletter entitled Developing Providence articles are written for the sole purpose of teaching our parents elements of Christian worldview, specifically as it relates to issues surrounding the Christian education.
  9.  We continue to enhance our web-site listing resources for parents to read on the subject of Christian worldview and Christian education in general. 
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