During the elementary school years children soak up knowledge like sponges. They naturally desire to learn basic facts and rules. A student at this stage also poses an elevated capacity to remember information. We accommodate these tendencies by focusing our instruction on providing a solid foundation of factual knowledge and basic rules in a way that they can most readily remember it. Packaging the information in rhymes, jingles, songs, and chants helps us to enhance their active memories.
During junior high years students seek to better understand the world around them. Purely factual information no longer satisfies them. They tend to be very interested in knowing how or why we can know something is true. Questioning their parents and teachers becomes more common, and occasionally they are known to challenge authority. These characteristics are not necessarily negative. Instead of resisting these natural inclinations in teenagers, we harness them by helping students to learn how to ask good questions and discern good answers. All teaching during these years is integrated with an emphasis on critical thinking and supplemented by formal instruction in argument and reasoning. It is our desire that students at this stage learn to think through problems reasonably and clearly.
Finally, during the senior high years, as students become preoccupied with social concerns, we design our instruction around teaching them to present themselves articulately. The focus is to teach them to effectively communicate the knowledge they have acquired to date. Now, it is their turn to provide good answers to our questions. We accomplish this by emphasizing oral and written communication across the subject matter in the form of discussion, debate, drama, essay writing, public speaking, and instruction in persuasion. This approach fosters confidence, poise, and leadership ability. It also bolsters our students’ communication skills.
By partnering with dedicated parents who share our vision and values, SCA determines to dynamically educate students according to these lofty principles. We are thankful for the opportunity to partner with you in this adventure as we disciple the next generation of Christian leaders with and thinkers with discerning minds, articulate tongues and a heart to serve others.
During junior high years students seek to better understand the world around them. Purely factual information no longer satisfies them. They tend to be very interested in knowing how or why we can know something is true. Questioning their parents and teachers becomes more common, and occasionally they are known to challenge authority. These characteristics are not necessarily negative. Instead of resisting these natural inclinations in teenagers, we harness them by helping students to learn how to ask good questions and discern good answers. All teaching during these years is integrated with an emphasis on critical thinking and supplemented by formal instruction in argument and reasoning. It is our desire that students at this stage learn to think through problems reasonably and clearly.
Finally, during the senior high years, as students become preoccupied with social concerns, we design our instruction around teaching them to present themselves articulately. The focus is to teach them to effectively communicate the knowledge they have acquired to date. Now, it is their turn to provide good answers to our questions. We accomplish this by emphasizing oral and written communication across the subject matter in the form of discussion, debate, drama, essay writing, public speaking, and instruction in persuasion. This approach fosters confidence, poise, and leadership ability. It also bolsters our students’ communication skills.
By partnering with dedicated parents who share our vision and values, SCA determines to dynamically educate students according to these lofty principles. We are thankful for the opportunity to partner with you in this adventure as we disciple the next generation of Christian leaders with and thinkers with discerning minds, articulate tongues and a heart to serve others.
