CPA 101 CPA 101_17-18_online | Page 12

PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY OF LEARNING Teaching is the art and science of empowering students with not Learning is a skill honed by experience, encouraged by an atmosphere only knowledge but a life-long love of learning. Our teachers seek to unthreatened by failure, and infused with healthy risk-taking. Learning cultivate growth mindsets and offer experiences that inspire students happens most fluidly when students meet novel challenges with to acquire the wisdom, skill, attitude, and faith needed to effectively curiosity and self-direction, trusting that errors are an integral part pursue and embrace opportunities that bring glory to God. of the learning process. Whether through purposefully orchestrated Teaching empowers students to learn at high levels when instructors: • View the learning process as inherently valuable and ultimately transferable in multiple contexts. • Offer varied circumstances and complexities to refine decision- making in an environment where success and failure are viewed as equal opportunities to learn. • Establish a teacher-student relationship that is marked by high expectations, mutual respect, and trust. • Utilize technology for learning and the production of work, not simply for consumption and entertainment. • Challenge the student to use knowledge and skill acquisition to benefit others. • Value diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and frameworks of thought as great assets to learning. 10 | C PA L I O N S . O R G | C PA 1 0 1 • Persistently collaborate with colleagues on best practices and student learning, seeking excellence as the standard. • Strategically utilize a consistent and viable curriculum to help students meet learning goals. experiences or by the natural occurrences of the day, learning happens constantly and is a skill for life. The ability to learn is a gift of the Creator and should be treated with respect and stewarded. Learning occurs when students: • Believe all mistakes are vehicles for learning. • Constantly and frequently adjust their teaching in response to how students are progressing toward learning goals. • Are appropriately challenged by high standards of learning that are meaningful and applicable. • Require students to grapple with opposing viewpoints, novel ideas, and deeper thinking. • Have opportunity to apply their learning to novel situations that simulate problems they may be asked to solve in their everyday lives. • Center experiences on problems and situations that develop critical analysis and move students towards action and resolution. • Give students clarity and enlightenment to the biblical truths found in the subject matter to encourage the pursuit of wisdom over knowledge. • Interact in widening circles of experience that extend beyond self, peers, socioeconomic group, ethnic group, and religious familiarity. • Recognize the relevance of what they are learning and its potential to help them contribute to their communities and the world. • Choose opportunities to naturally and fluidly incorporate character traits of curiosity, gratitude, self-control, empathy, social intelligence, passion, perseverance, and resilience into their daily lives. • Have authentic relationships with each other and with their teachers. • Read regularly and for pleasure, pursuing personal interests and exploring new ideas. • Seek God’s truth and recognize the instruction of the Holy Spirit as an integral factor in all knowledge acquisition and wisdom.