Integrate Faith and Virtues Into Your Subject

Course Outline

The course outline is the teacher’s plan for the school year. It outlines the subjects and chapters of the textbook that will be studied each week. It is often dated so the teacher will be reminded of what he/she plans to teach during each week of the school year. It helps the teacher pace the class so that all the topics are covered with the proper time allotment. A sample course outline is included in this section. It includes some examples of how to record your plans for teaching faith and virtues throughout the school year.

The course outline is essential when planning Christian values education and integration of faith and learning. To be effective in this work, you need to plan and schedule value and faith education in the course outline just as you do with the other subject content.

The handbook you hold in your hand is made to assist you in integrating your course outline with the plans of how you will teach values and faith. This should be done at the start of the school year when you organize your teaching plans for the year.

If you have not prepared a course outline for this subject, do it now before proceeding to plan your integration. Take your subject textbook and the course outline that you have prepared and lay them out on your desk or work area. Take the 8 approaches to values education, that were explained in Step 2, and put them before you on the desk. After asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, look at each lesson and ask yourself the following questions that correspond with 8 approaches. Answering these questions will help you make your lesson plans rich in Adventist and Christian content. Flip back through the approach section and REBIRTH materials to help you find ideas. As you consider each topic and find an approach you think will be good for that topic, record your idea in the course outline next to the topic as you see illustrated in the sample outline.

Here are the questions:
How and when should I:
Explain the Adventist Philosophy and Rationale for this subject
Create a spiritual atmosphere
Prepare students to fulfill the mission of the church
Feature model Christian contributors
Use REBIRTH to teach virtues
Add essential Adventist content
Link topics to faith and virtues
Use supporting resources

Try to include each of the 8 approaches somewhere in your course outline to help balance your integration. Work to match the approach and depth of presentation with the developmental level of the student.