Beyond Academics

Dr. Sandra Jenkins Cook

• Verlag: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Jahr: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781639616770
• Thema: Education
• Thema: Vocational Education

Could you use a handbook explaining every aspect of creating Christian vocational educational choices for students in your school or ministry? You will find this book an invaluable source of guidance to attain this goal.

Christian school leaders are encouraged to reassess traditional course offerings of solely academics to discover how vocational educational options can be offered to their students. This book will not only challenge Christian school administrators and ministry leaders to explore vocational career and technical training programs, but also guide them in all aspects of the addition and development of the programs, including academic and biblical integration.

Uniquely talented vocational students have been overlooked and abandoned in Christian education for far too long. The vocational educational field is white unto harvest!

Think about it: If access to discipleship had been limited to only the academically inclined, the fishermen, the tentmakers, and the carpenters would have been excluded!

7

Curriculum Development

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

—2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

Vocational instructors are hired as professionals in their vocational areas. It is, therefore, expected that the vocational instructor will have the background, experience, and knowledge in their trade area to be able to create and plan activities, demonstrations, training materials, and presentations that will guide students along a learning path from introduction to the accomplishment of hands-on tasks.

Training must incorporate an opportunity for students to prepare for and successfully pass trade certification examinations. Ongoing training must ultimately prepare the students to be employable and successful in their particular vocational trade area.

Instructors should follow a preestablished text curriculum, requiring the instructors to follow the scope and sequence of that curriculum in order to cover all required objectives. Instructors should also be responsible to research, develop, and write additional materials, integrating biblical principles as appropriate for the program.

The course syllabi, lesson plans, testing materials, handouts, and skill development checklists must be created and/or updated by each instructor for the vocational program they are instructing and must be based on standards recognized by specific academic and workforce guidelines.

Student Learning Styles

Every teacher will, no doubt, recall the collective deep sighs and eye rolls of Jack and Jill in response to the request to “take out your notebooks.” Likewise, most teachers joyfully recall the aha moment in which a struggling student connected to an educational concept in perhaps an unusual way.

Just as we are created uniquely in terms of appearance, gifts, and talents, we are created differently in terms of learning styles. While the primary learning style may not be the only means by which the student can learn, it is a preferred method based on natural inclination. What must be considered is that the style in which a person best learns does not change when that individual graduates from school; and, as such, these learning styles usually draw them toward specific career paths.

Educational experts debate the number of learning styles, ranging from three to eight. While there are many learning style evaluations online, it is easy to identify a student’s primary learning style through careful classroom observation.

Auditory learners easily grasp the concepts of information presented in a lecture format. They often have a high aptitude for music and speech. Auditory learners often hum, sing, or talk to themselves. While these habits may be distracting to other students, auditory learners remain engaged through sound.

Visual and spatial learners gravitate to drawings, diagrams, and comparative charts. Key aspects to observe in visual and spatial learners are that they are detail-oriented and not easily distracted. For many visual and spatial learners, they doodle, sketch, and draw rather than take notes in a typical manner. They respond well to charts, photographs, and PowerPoint presentations.

Verbal learners respond well to both written and spoken lessons. They have a great affinity for reading, writing, storytelling, and continuing education. Verbal learners often have an advanced vocabulary for their age. Like auditory learners, verbal learners are talkative and can be distracting to other students.

Logical and mathematical learners are naturally drawn to number patterns, groupings, systems, values, logic, and functions. Mathematical learners often present as mixed learning-style learners; that is, mathematical learning is one of several styles that they possess.

Physical, tactile, or kinesthetic learners prefer to be physically engaged in the lesson topic. These types of learners are perhaps the easiest to identify in a classroom. Many teachers refer to them as fidgety students. They are the students who tap their feet, bounce their legs, drum their fingers, or twirl their pencils. They tend to be outgoing students who are action-oriented. They enjoy doing, but not necessarily reading or writing. Physical, tactile, or kinesthetic learners are often referred to as hands-on learners.

Social and interpersonal learners have a preference for group interaction and collaborative learning. They are often empathetic and natural mentors within a group. Despite their preference for working in a group setting, not all social and interpersonal learners are vocal. Their specific learning style is associated with the dynamic of a group presentation.

Solitary and intrapersonal learners also fall into auditory, visual, verbal, or logical learning styles. In terms of the key aspects of a solitary and intrapersonal learner, they are independent, private, and deep thinkers, who prefer to tackle tasks on their own.

Education experts agree that in a typical classroom of students approximately 30 percent identify as visual learners, 30 percent identify as auditory learners, and 37 percent identify as physical/tactile/kinesthetic learners. While many may be mixed learning style students, these three categories emerge as the most common.

During the 1960s, American educator Edgar Dale theorized that students retain more information through participative education. What they do has a greater impact on learning than what they have heard, read, or observed. His Cone of Experience chart demonstrates that hands-on education has a significantly higher learning outcome. This is in line with the presentation methodology of vocational education. Students learn through skill-based lessons that prepare them for their chosen professions.

Academic Integration

In recent years, the goals of vocational education have expanded to include preparing students not only for entry-level work but also for career advancement through higher education and training. Educators have been challenged to integrate academics with vocational education to address these goals.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Guidelines for Vocational-Technical Education, vocational-technical education programs must consist of a series of planned academic and vocational-technical education courses that are articulated with one another so that knowledge and skills are taught in a systematic manner. When appropriate, vocational-technical education programs must adopt, in program areas for which they are available, industry-recognized skills standards. They may also include cooperative vocational-technical education and participation in vocational student organizations to develop leadership skills.

Academic integration, therefore, refers to the process of seamlessly combining technical skill development based on industry standards with content knowledge from related academic subjects. English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies are the most common academic subjects integrated into career and technical education curricula.

For many students and teachers alike, academic integration into a CTE program is a natural process. For instance, the Building Construction & Maintenance program integrates the construction measurement aspects of mathematics—in particular, geometry, algebra, and trigonometry—into the industry-based skills of the trade. Likewise, English language arts becomes an essential part of any social-based program such as Audio/Video & Media Arts. Science and health are central in programs such as Medical Assistant and Culinary Arts.

The key difference that this integration presents for students is relevancy. No longer do they question, “Why do I need to know this?” Students are engaged in academically-integrated assignments knowing that the manner in which the academics are presented will have a direct impact on their career development.

Preparing Jill and Jack for success should not be a choice between academic knowledge or acquiring technical skills but rather the combination and integration of both.

Biblical Integration

Ministry requirements of the Christian vocational instructor position include Chape...