Sunday School Teacher Training

Sunday School is a vital part of children's education at the POA, and Sunday School Teacher Training equips workers to be the best teachers possible by covering a wide variety of topics.  This mandatory, very intense nine-week training course for new workers is taught during the Sunday School hour.

The classes, which are taught by five specialists, are presented in the following format:

Methods (1 week):  A film is presented that shows interviews with education directors from various churches in America explaining their methods.  Then, course leaders explain the approach taken at the POA.

The Classroom (2 weeks):  Class arrangement, room decoration, bulletin boards, lesson preparation, teaching methods/strategies, activities (hands-on, how-tos, etc.), teacher responsibility, and more are explained during these two weeks.

Multi-Cultural Differences (1 week):  This week helps teachers understand multi-cultural differences and learn how to reach and teach the various backgrounds and cultures.

Burden and Commitment (4 weeks):  A straightforward approach to "weed out" those not yet prepared to get in the ring and fight for the salvation of children until they can fight for themselves is the focus of this segment of training.  Burden and Commitment training stresses the importance of commitment and attempts to "plant" a burden in each individual.  The philosophy behind this part of the course is that "a teacher properly trained and effectively committed can teach Jesus Christ and the cross while under a tree.  A ‘showpiece' classroom without qualified teachers is without value."

Legal Aspects (1 week):  An attorney explains the legal aspects of working with children and why a complete personal background check is mandatory

At the conclusion of the course, the Christian Education Director comes into the class and presents the areas needing help. Students give their preferences, and then they are matched as closely as possible to the age group(s) they chose.