Core Practice: Storyline
“And once you live a good story, you get a taste for that kind of meaning in life, and you can’t go back to being normal; you can’t go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time. The more practiced stories I lived, the more I wanted an epic to climb inside of and see to its end.”- Donald Miller
We believe every unit and every learning experience tells a story, so we aim to create a powerful and compelling image of God’s story as a lens and framework for every unit of study. The TfT program invites students to imagine their place in God’s grand narrative, by connecting the story of each unit with opportunities to tangibly practice living in God’s Kingdom story. Each student and teacher will begin to create a storyline to articulate and practice how they see themselves living in God’s epic drama.
Students in 4th grade explore God’s Kingdom story in four acts: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration, then spend their school year unpacking what it means to live as peculiar people within the restoration. In this 4th grade class, peculiar means bold, and students look for ways to be bold for God’s Kingdom. Whenever they practice being bold, they capture the experience as part of their storyline.
In their English class, seventh grade students explore their purpose in God’s Kingdom story. Students begin by identifying what they believe are their purposes, gifts, and talents, and then approach their learning as ways they can learn more to find their purpose and practice living out their purposes, for God’s glory and Kingdom.
First graders explore the many ways they can grow deep roots in their faith. As they have different experiences as a class, they add more roots to their boards. And, as they learn to live as deeply rooted disciples, they begin practicing growing beautiful fruit. They reflect and celebrate their growing roots and fruit by adding to their storyline.