What’s your/your school’s level of motivation?
Your goal: To develop a guaranteed,
viable Biblical perspective curriculum:
Here are responses from Christian educators like you:
Teacher: Motivation is important. To develop this type of curriculum, all teachers would need to be motivated. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being really motivated), I’d say teachers would need to be at least at an 8. Right now, I think teachers are at a 3. We’re beginning to enjoy helping students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. We’re beginning to think beyond specific lesson plans and toward developing a curriculum that could help students make connections. And we’re beginning to find it satisfying to work on curriculum.
To maintain and increase the motivation of all teachers, key players, including department chairs, would need to be interested in and provide support for developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Key players are interested, are beginning to think about how to provide support, and have generated momentum. So, I think our social motivation is about a 6.
Given that organizations use rewards and accountability to maintain and increase motivation, I’d rate our organizational motivation at a 3. We don’t talk about developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. We’re beginning to hold teachers accountable to develop Biblical perspective lesson plans, and we don’t yet reward teachers for developing such plans.
Overall, I’d say my school’s level of motivation is a 4. And it needs to be at 8 or higher if we’re to pull this off.
Principal: Certain departments are further along and more willing to work on developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Everyone wants to integrate faith and learning, and having a Biblical perspective curriculum would help teachers move forward on this. Everyone is on board in concept, and we need to get everyone fully on board in practice.
If the administration announced to our teachers that our school was going to develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, I think overall teachers would be somewhat receptive. If I suggested developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum to fellow administrators, I think the idea would be well received, and I think they would be willing to look at this in the context of our improvement plans.
Given what we already have going right now, I’d say our administration has a mid-range level of motivation to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum. Biblical perspective is on our radar because Biblical perspective is at the core of who we are.
Consultant: Like with doing devotions, developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum can get crowded out. Teachers face urgent things every day, and these urgent things tend to take priority over what’s critically important. Consequently, teachers don’t get around to developing a Biblical perspective curriculum.
Administrators sense that teachers face a variety of unavoidable demands, including classes, co-curricular activities, and cross-cultural issues. So administrators are hesitant to add another demand—that of asking teachers to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum.
As Christian educators, we tend to do things that have a good chance of success, and we tend to put off things we aren’t sure will succeed. As we’re not sure how successful we’ll be at developing and implementing a Biblical perspective curriculum, we put it off. And to further complicate matters, there’s limited accountability from fellow teachers, administrators, and parents to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum—so teachers aren’t operationally motivated.
On a scale of 1-10, I’d say the average level of motivation in international Christian schools is a 3-4, the average level of motivation in new North American Christian schools is a 7, and the average level of motivation in established North American Christian schools is a 5 or lower.
Principal: Teachers want to teach from a Biblical perspective, and they are motivated to do this. Department chairs have bought into the importance of this, are starting to take ownership, and are looking for ways to lead teachers in teaching from a Biblical perspective. The administration thinks teaching from a Biblical perspective is vital.
The curriculum doesn’t change overnight, but this year we’ve started with 1 lesson plan and 1 unit plan. This is a manageable goal, and teachers are beginning to see how having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum would be helpful.
Teachers are more motivated to teach from a Biblical perspective than they are to develop Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks. I think the more teachers teach from a Biblical perspective, the more motivated they’ll be to infuse Biblical perspective into the curriculum.
Next question: To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what do you/your school need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
Target Biblical perspective. Today.
*This blog entry addresses Biblical perspective teacher training standard #4: To help students love God and impact the world for Him, teachers develop a curriculum that targets students understanding and then applying a Biblical perspective to course content and skills, and ultimately to their lives.
- Guaranteed: All teachers at a given Christian school teach specified Bible content in each subject they teach.
- Viable: All teachers have sufficient instructional time to teach the specified Bible content.
- Biblical perspective: The specified Bible content is formatted as Biblical principles. Each Biblical principle is supported by at least 3 Bible passages.
- Curriculum: The specified Bible content is documented in the curriculum.
Here are responses from Christian educators like you:
Teacher: Motivation is important. To develop this type of curriculum, all teachers would need to be motivated. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being really motivated), I’d say teachers would need to be at least at an 8. Right now, I think teachers are at a 3. We’re beginning to enjoy helping students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. We’re beginning to think beyond specific lesson plans and toward developing a curriculum that could help students make connections. And we’re beginning to find it satisfying to work on curriculum.
To maintain and increase the motivation of all teachers, key players, including department chairs, would need to be interested in and provide support for developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Key players are interested, are beginning to think about how to provide support, and have generated momentum. So, I think our social motivation is about a 6.
Given that organizations use rewards and accountability to maintain and increase motivation, I’d rate our organizational motivation at a 3. We don’t talk about developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. We’re beginning to hold teachers accountable to develop Biblical perspective lesson plans, and we don’t yet reward teachers for developing such plans.
Overall, I’d say my school’s level of motivation is a 4. And it needs to be at 8 or higher if we’re to pull this off.
Principal: Certain departments are further along and more willing to work on developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Everyone wants to integrate faith and learning, and having a Biblical perspective curriculum would help teachers move forward on this. Everyone is on board in concept, and we need to get everyone fully on board in practice.
If the administration announced to our teachers that our school was going to develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, I think overall teachers would be somewhat receptive. If I suggested developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum to fellow administrators, I think the idea would be well received, and I think they would be willing to look at this in the context of our improvement plans.
Given what we already have going right now, I’d say our administration has a mid-range level of motivation to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum. Biblical perspective is on our radar because Biblical perspective is at the core of who we are.
Consultant: Like with doing devotions, developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum can get crowded out. Teachers face urgent things every day, and these urgent things tend to take priority over what’s critically important. Consequently, teachers don’t get around to developing a Biblical perspective curriculum.
Administrators sense that teachers face a variety of unavoidable demands, including classes, co-curricular activities, and cross-cultural issues. So administrators are hesitant to add another demand—that of asking teachers to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum.
As Christian educators, we tend to do things that have a good chance of success, and we tend to put off things we aren’t sure will succeed. As we’re not sure how successful we’ll be at developing and implementing a Biblical perspective curriculum, we put it off. And to further complicate matters, there’s limited accountability from fellow teachers, administrators, and parents to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum—so teachers aren’t operationally motivated.
On a scale of 1-10, I’d say the average level of motivation in international Christian schools is a 3-4, the average level of motivation in new North American Christian schools is a 7, and the average level of motivation in established North American Christian schools is a 5 or lower.
Principal: Teachers want to teach from a Biblical perspective, and they are motivated to do this. Department chairs have bought into the importance of this, are starting to take ownership, and are looking for ways to lead teachers in teaching from a Biblical perspective. The administration thinks teaching from a Biblical perspective is vital.
The curriculum doesn’t change overnight, but this year we’ve started with 1 lesson plan and 1 unit plan. This is a manageable goal, and teachers are beginning to see how having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum would be helpful.
Teachers are more motivated to teach from a Biblical perspective than they are to develop Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks. I think the more teachers teach from a Biblical perspective, the more motivated they’ll be to infuse Biblical perspective into the curriculum.
Next question: To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what do you/your school need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
Target Biblical perspective. Today.
*This blog entry addresses Biblical perspective teacher training standard #4: To help students love God and impact the world for Him, teachers develop a curriculum that targets students understanding and then applying a Biblical perspective to course content and skills, and ultimately to their lives.