As a Christian school teacher, you want to nurture your students’ faith. So, you want to help your students:

• Understand a Biblical perspective of what they study.
• Apply a Biblical perspective to what they study.

Question: How can you learn to nurture your students’ faith even more?

Answer: By reflecting on questions. By reflecting on questions about targeting Biblical perspective. Here are 65 questions, divided into categories:


Target Biblical perspective:

1. What happens in Christ-centered education?
2. How can you help your students love Jesus and live for Him?
3. What’s your mission?
4. In Christian education, what’s success?
5. What does “application of a Biblical perspective to course content” mean and not mean?
6. What role do connections play in Christian education?
7. What Biblical teaching connects to what students are studying?
8. What 3 Biblical principles will you help your students understand?
9. What Biblical principles do you want your students to understand and apply?
10. What hinders you/your school from helping students increase application of a Biblical perspective?
11. How can you increasingly target Biblical perspective?

Use creation-fall-redemption-restoration to target Biblical perspective:

1. Creation: What’s God’s purpose?
2. Fall: What’s wrong?
3. Redemption: What difference does Jesus make?
4. Restoration: What will you do?

Use questions to target Biblical perspective:

1. Why use questions? (Read, Discuss)
2. Why does God ask questions? (Read, Discuss)
3. How valuable are questions? (Read, Discuss)
4. What does using questions look like? (Read)
5. What questions should your students respond to? (Read, Discuss)
6. What questions should your students ask? (Read, Discuss)
7. What makes a good question good? (Read, Discuss)
8. What question do you want to ask your students? (Read, Discuss)
9. What do you want your students to learn (when you ask a question)? (Read, Discuss)
10. How can you get your students to sincerely respond to questions? (Read, Discuss)
11. How can you use your questions effectively? (Read, Discuss)

Use assessment to target Biblical perspective:

1. How does assessment impact student learning?
2. What type of assessment can you use?
3. What makes a good assessment good?
4. How good is your assessment?
5. How can you make your assessment even better?
6. How proficiently do you want your students to use a Biblical perspective?
7. How much practice do your students need?
8. What makes a good rubric good?
9. How can you use a rubric?
10. How can you use assessment data?
11. What's your vision for using assessment?
12. How committed are you to having your students apply a Biblical perspective to what they learn?

Meet student learning needs to target Biblical perspective:

1. What are sample learning needs? (Read)
2. How can you meet your students’ learning needs? (Watch, Read, Discuss)
3. How can you help your students see the importance of Biblical perspective? (Read)
4. How can you help your students understand that a Biblical perspective can be applied to course content? (Read)
5. How can you show your students what applying a Biblical perspective looks like? (Read)
6. How can you help your students understand how you teach from a Biblical perspective? (Read)
7. What vocabulary words do your students need to learn? (Read, Discuss)
8. What engaging instructional strategies will help your students? (Read, Discuss 1, Discuss 2)
   
9. How can you give your students opportunities to think through answers for themselves? (Read)
10. How can you provide time during class for reflection? (Read, Discuss)
11. How can you design assessments so that your students connect a Biblical perspective with their lives? (Read, Discuss)
12. How can you give your students more practice? (Read)

What 3 things will you do to target Biblical perspective?

1. What 3 behaviors will you model?
2. What 3 questions will you train students to ask?
3. What 3 questions will you ask students?
4. What 3 Bible verses will you help students memorize, understand, and apply?
5. What 3 Biblical principles will you help students understand and apply?
6. What 3 skills will you help students improve?
7. What 3 types of assessment will you use?
8. What 3 engaging instructional strategies will you use?
9. What 3 student learning needs will you meet?
10. What 3 ways will you decorate your room?
11. What 3 things will you put on your course handouts?
12. What 3 classroom guidelines will you use?
13. What 3 ways will you involve parents?
14. What 3 things do you want from your principal or colleagues?
15. What 3 things will you do to stay focused?
    

Remember: The real question isn't "How can you learn to nurture your students’ faith even more?" The real question is, "What will you do to nurture your students’ faith even more?"


Now it’s time for action. To take action, answer 5 questions:

1. How do you currently nurture your students’ faith?
2. What excites/concerns you about nurturing your student’s faith?
3. How does targeting Biblical perspective help you nurture your students’ faith?
4. To nurture your students’ faith even more, which 3-5 questions do you really want to reflect on?
   5 What will you do?

Take action. Nurture your students’ faith by targeting Biblical perspective. Today.

*Additional resources:

• Videos
• Self-assessments: Target Biblical perspective • Use questions • Use assessment • Meet student learning needs
• Tutorials
• Downloadable resources (articles, tools)

You want your students to understand and apply a Biblical perspective—to connect what they study, the Bible, and their lives. To help your students do this, you know you need to target Biblical perspective even more. So, you want to learn how to do this.

Question: How can you learn more about targeting Biblical perspective?

Answer: By exploring the following list of 12 questions:

1. What happens in Christ-centered education?
2. How can you help your students love Jesus and live for Him?
3. What’s your mission?
4. In Christian education, what’s success?
5. What does “application of a Biblical perspective to course content” mean and not mean?
6. What role do connections play in Christian education?
7. What Biblical teaching connects to what students are studying?
8. What 3 Biblical principles will you help your students understand?
9. What Biblical principles do you want your students to understand and apply?
10. What hinders you/your school from helping students increase application of a Biblical perspective?
11. How can you increasingly target Biblical perspective?
12. What 3 things can you do to help your students?

Resources:

1. Videos
2. Self-assessments
3. Testimonials
4. Tutorials

You want your students to understand and apply a Biblical perspective—to connect what they study, the Bible, and their lives. So, you want to target Biblical perspective.

Question: How can you get started?

Answer: By taking the following self-assessment. Rate each item, using the following scale:

4: Strongly agree • 3: Agree • 2: Disagree • 1: Strongly disagree

___ I understand what happens in Christ-centered education.
___ My students love Jesus and live for Him.

___ I understand the mission of Christian education.
___ I understand what constitutes success in Christian education
___ I can clearly explain to a colleague what “application of a Biblical perspective to course content” means and doesn’t mean?

___ I can clearly explain to a colleague what role connections play in Christian education.
___ I have documented what Biblical teaching connects to what my students are studying.
___ I have documented the Biblical principles I want my students to understand and apply.

___ I am taking action to eliminate what hinders me from helping my students increase application of a Biblical perspective.
___ I am taking action to increasingly target Biblical perspective.


Now, ask yourself 4 questions about the data:

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. What excites/concerns me about the data?
3. Which items would it be helpful to learn more about?
4. What will I do?

Resources:

1. Videos
2. To learn more about targeting Biblical perspective, explore these 12 questions
3. Testimonials
4. Tutorials

You know that caring for God's creation is part of pursuing a growing relationship with God.

Question: How can you care for God's creation even more?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 7 questions:

1. What does the Bible say about caring for God's creation? (Gen. 1.28)
2. How do you care for God's creation?
3. What excites/frustrates you about caring for God's creation?
4. How does caring for God's creation help you have a growing relationship with Him?
5. What helps you care for God's creation? What hinders you?
6. How can you care for God's creation even more?
7. What will you do?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

You know that making disciples is part of pursuing a growing relationship with God.

Question: To make even more disciples, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 6 questions:

1. What does the Bible say about making disciples? (Matt. 28.18-20)
2. How do you currently make disciples?
3. What do you like/dislike about making disciples?
4. How does making disciples help you have a growing relationship with God?
5. To make even more disciples, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
6. What will you do?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

You know that participating in Christ's Body, the Church, is part of pursuing a growing relationship with God.

Question: How can you participate in Christ's Body, the Church, even more?

To find out, reflect on the following 7 questions:

1. What does the Bible say about participating in the Christ's Body, the Church? (1 Cor. 12.7, 12.12-13; Heb. 10.25)
2. How do you currently participate in Christ's Body?
3. What satisfies/concerns you about participating in Christ's Body?
4. How does participating in Christ's Body, the Church, help you have a growing relationship with God?
5. What helps you participate in Christ's Body? What hinders you?
6. How can you participate in Christ's Body even more?
7. What will you do?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

You know that practicing the spiritual disciplines can help you pursue a growing relationship with God.

Question: How can you practice the spiritual disciplines even more?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 7 questions:

1. Which spiritual disciplines do you currently practice (for example, meditation, prayer, fasting, Bible study, service, confession, and worship)?
2. What's satisfying/unsatisfying about practicing the spiritual disciplines?
3. How does practicing the spiritual disciplines help you have a growing relationship with God?
4. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high), to what extent do you practice the spiritual disciplines?
5. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high), to what extent do you want to practice the spiritual disciplines?
6. How can you practice the spiritual disciplines even more?
7. What will you do?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

You know bearing the fruit of the Spirit is part of pursuing a growing relationship with God.

Question: How can you bear the fruit of the Spirit even more?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 6 questions:

1. What are the fruit of the Spirit? (Gal. 5.22-23)
2. What do you like/dislike about your current level of fruit bearing?
3. How does bearing the fruit of the Spirit help you have a growing relationship with God?
4. What helps you better bear the fruit of the Spirit? What hinders you?
5. How can you bear the fruit of the Spirit even more? (2 Pet. 1.5-7)
6. What will you do?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

You know that loving God and others plays a key role in pursuing a growing relationship with God.

Question: To love God and others even more, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 5 questions:

1. What does the Bible say about loving God and others? (Matt. 22.37-39) 
2. What excites/frustrates you about loving God and others?
3. How does loving God and others help you have a growing relationship with God?
4. To love God and others even more, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
5. What will you do?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

You know that understanding and applying the Bible, God's Word, can help you pursue a growing relationship with God.

Question: What can you do to understand and apply the Bible even more?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 7 questions:

1. How do you learn about the Bible?
2. How do you use the Bible to guide your life? (2 Tim. 3.16)
3. What satisfies/concerns you about your understanding of the Bible? about your use of the Bible to guide your life?
4. What helps you better understand and apply the Bible? What hinders you?
5. How does understanding and applying the Bible help you have a growing relationship with God?
6. What can you do to understand and apply the Bible even more?
7. What will you do?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

You want to continue pursuing a growing relationship with God. You know this involves things like: 

• Understanding the Bible, God’s Word, and allowing it to guide your life 
• Loving God and others
• Bearing the fruit of the Spirit
• Practicing spiritual disciplines
• Participating in Christ’s Body, the Church
• Making Christian disciples of all nations
• Caring for God’s creation

Question: How can you pursue a growing relationship with God?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 7 questions:

1. What can you do to understand and apply the Bible even more?
2. To love God and others even more, what do you need to KeepStartStop doing?
3. How can you bear the fruit of the Spirit even more?
4. How can you practice the spiritual disciplines even more?
5. How can you participate in Christ's Body, the Church, even more?
6. To make even more disciples, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
7. How can you care for God's creation even more?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.


*To talk a self-assessment on your relationship with God, click here.

You’re a Christian serving in a school. In response to Christ’s love and as the foundation for your ministry at school, you want to have a growing relationship with God.

Question: How’s your relationship with God?

To find out, take the following self-assessment. Rate each item, using the following scale:

4: Strongly agree • 3: Agree • 2: Disagree • 1: Strongly disagree

___ I understand the Bible, God’s Word, and allow it to guide my life (2 Tim. 3:16).
___ I love for God and others (Matt. 22.37-39).
___ I bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5.22-23).

___ I practice spiritual disciplines (for example, meditation, prayer, fasting, Bible study, service, confession, and worship).
___ I participate in Christ’s Body, the Church (1 Cor. 12.7, 12.12-13; Heb. 10.25).
___ I make disciples (Matt. 28.18-20).
___ I care for God’s creation (Gen. 1.28).

___ My relationship with God is growing.


Now, ask yourself 4 questions about the data:

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. How do I feel about the data?
3. What helps me have a growing relationship with God? What hinders me?
4. Which item will I start with?

Take action. Make sure you relationship with God is growing. Today.


* To further explore how you can continue pursue a growing relationship with God, click here.

You’re working to help your students develop the mind of Christ. You want to help your students connect what they study and the Bible. You’ve helped your student connect what they study and specific Biblical principles. And you want to make sure that your students connect what they study with the big picture of what God is doing.

Question: What’s the big picture?

Answer: God’s story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

Here’s the short version of God’s story:

1. Creation: God created a good world (Gen. 1.31, Ps. 19.1-4).
2. Fall: Humans sinned, and our sin affected relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation (Gen. 3:1-19, Is. 53.6, Rom. 1.21-23, Rom. 1:28-32, Gal. 5.19-21).
3. Redemption: Jesus came, died for our sins, and rose from the dead (Gen. 3.15, Luke 1.31-35, John 1.1-14, John 3.16, Luke 4.18-19, Rom. 5.12-21, Matt. 28.1-10, 1 Cor. 15.20-28, 1 Tim. 2:5, Matt. 28.18).
4. Restoration: As redeemed people, we join God in His work of restoring all things (2 Cor. 5.15-17, Matt. 28.18-20, Gen. 1.28-31, Mic. 6.8, Matt. 5.9) and await Christ’s return (Rev. 22.7).

Here’s a "question” version of God’s story:

1. Creation: What’s God’s purpose?
2. Fall: What’s wrong?
3. Redemption: What difference does Jesus make?
4. Restoration: What will you do?

And here are 2 applications of creation-fall-redemption-restoration:

• Teacher
• Student

Want to learn more? If so, do some further reading (Our World Belongs to God and Christian Framework). You can also reflect on the questions below:

Creation

1. How does God relate to everything that exists?
2. Out of what did God creati everything that exists?
3. How does creation continue to relate to God now that it has been created?
4. For what purpose did God create everything that exists?
5. How does God want the different parts of creation to relate to each other?

Fall

1. How did the fall begin?
2. How does the fallen world compare to the originally created world?
3. What is the core of sin?
4. How does sin relate to us?
5. What are the effects of the fall?

Redemption

1. What is the situation that we need to be rescued/redeemed from?
2. What’s the solution to that situation?
3. How does God join us in our situation?
4. How does God defeat the force that’s holding us hostage?
5. How do we benefit from God’s victory?
6. How does God’s rescue of us matter for the rest of creation?

Restoration

1. What is God’s goal in restoring fallen creation?
2. How does God restore fallen creation?
3. How does the Holy Spirit make restoration happen?
4. What is the Church’s role in restoration?
5. What are the signs of restoration beginning?
6. When will restoration be complete?

*Additional resources:

1. Video: Have your students connect 3 things
2. Tutorial: Help your students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration
3. Blog entries: Target Biblical Perspective, Use Questions, Use Assessment, Meet Student Learning Needs
4. Visual Valet (or download)

Help your students connect God's world, God's Word, and their lives.

Smaller things fit into bigger things. For example, puzzle pieces fit into the overall puzzle picture.
 
In Christian education, smaller things fit into bigger things. For example, what students study (smaller picture) fits into God's overarching story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration (bigger picture).
 
Implication: Ask your students, "How does what you study fit into God's story?" Don't ask, "How can you add God's story to what you study?" 
 
Why? Because this question increases the tendency of students to "purify" their studies by sprinkling on Bible verses. Because this question is actually not an effective question—it asks, "How can you fit the bigger picture into the smaller picture?" Because this question doesn't help students get the "big picture" perspective of what they study.

Target Biblical perspective. Get your students to fit what they study into God's story.

To get an idea of how your teachers can more effectively help students what they study and what the Bible teaches, complete the following assessment (download). Next, use your assessment data to develop action plans. For each statement below, circle the appropriate rating. Use the following scale:

4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sometimes • 1: Rarely

Worldview: To help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches, my teachers…
___ Articulate Biblical answers to the big questions of life.
___ Explain the creation-fall-redemption-fulfillment/restoration framework.
___ Articulate a Christ-centered philosophy of education.
___ Articulate the implications of a Christ-centered philosophy of education.
___ Articulate that the target is students understanding and then applying a Biblical perspective to the course content and skills, and ultimately to their lives.
___ Articulate what student understanding and application of a Biblical perspective is/is not.
 
Department level: To help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches, my teachers…
___ Develop, document, and explain a Biblical perspective of their academic discipline(s).
___ Develop, document, and explain content and skill standards/benchmarks.
___ Articulate a Biblical perspective of the content and skills they teach.
___ Develop, document, and explain enduring Biblical perspective understandings.
 
Unit level: To help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches, my teachers…
___ Design and ask effective essential questions.
___ Document and teach students Biblical content.
___ Document and teach students skills.
___ Design and give a variety of quality formative and summative authentic assessments.
___ Use rubrics to clarify expectations, assess student learning, and provide feedback.
___ Give students specific, timely feedback.
___ Use assessment data to modify instruction.
 
Lesson level: To help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches, my teachers…
___ Use effective lesson plan models.
___ Use effective instructional strategies.
___ Identify and meet student learning needs.
 
Collaboration: To help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches, my teachers…
___ Participate in professional learning communities that set student learning goals.
___ Participate in professional learning communities that provide support, encouragement, and accountability for achieving student learning goals through mentoring, coaching, and group interaction.
___ Contribute to a bank of quality instructional materials.
___ Lead Biblical perspective workshops for other teachers.


Now, ask yourself 5 questions about the data:

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. What’s encouraging/discouraging about the data?
3. In terms of helping teachers help students make connections, how would I prioritize the 5 areas?
4. What can I do to address the area I ranked #1?
5. What will I do?

Target Biblical perspective. Help your teachers help your students connect what they study and with the Bible teaches. Today.


* This self-assessment is based on a set of Biblical perspective teacher training standards.

You want your students to develop a Christ-centered worldview. So, you decide to help your students deepen their Bible knowledge.
 
Question: What 3 Bible verses will you help your students memorize, understand, and apply?
 
Here are sample Bible verses:

• Gen. 1.1, 1.26-28, 8.22
• Lev. 19.18
• Ps. 19.1-6, 104.13-16, 147.4
• Isa. 1.17, 61.1
• Mic. 6.8
• Matt. 7.12
• Luke 10.27, 12.7
• Rom. 12.1-2
• Phil. 4.8, 4.12-13
• Col. 1.17

Question: What other Bible verses could you help your students memorize, understand, and apply?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Start with 1 verse. Today.

You’re a principal, and you’re excited that teachers have helped their students connect 2 things: course content and Biblical principles. Now you want teachers to help their students connect 3 things: course content, Biblical principles, and creation-fall-redemption-restoration. Good.
 
Question: What are you going to do?
 
Here’s how Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ) took action: In Bible 9, students studied creation-fall-redemption for 4 days and then completed an assessment in which they applied creation-fall-redemption-restoration to a topic of their choice. (Students used a set of creation-fall-redemption-restoration questions to guide their application.) The Bible teachers were excited about the student learning results, some of which were shared with the high school principal.
 
Meanwhile, other teachers were talking about wanting to learn more about creation-fall-redemption-restoration. And some high school teachers were saying it would be helpful to know what exactly students were learning about creation-fall-redemption-restoration.
 
In response to teachers, the K-12 principals asked the Bible teachers to present to K-12 teachers a compressed version of the Bible 9 unit and the student learning results. The Bible teachers gave their presentation and then had teachers gather in groups to discuss how they could help their students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration.
 
Here’s what CAJ teachers said when asked, “How did this presentation help?”

• Elementary: It helped me to better understand the big picture in terms of what we want students to learn.
• Middle school: I’m starting to think about math before the fall. I’m having thoughts I’ve never had before.
• High school: It really got me thinking about how I can do Biblical perspective throughout my class. In my health class, I can see how I can tie in creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

Want to know what was covered in Bible 9? Keep reading!
The Bible 9 teachers knew their students were studying a novel in English class. So, they asked the students about the themes in the novel. Then they asked the students what the themes of the Bible were, finally asking, “If you had to summarize the Bible in 1 sentence, what would you say?” Bible teachers followed up on this with instruction on each part of creation-fall-redemption-restoration, using the following questions as an outline:
 
Creation

1. How does God relate to everything that exists?
2. Out of what did God create everything that exists?
3. How does creation continue to relate to God now that it has been created?
4. For what purpose did God create everything that exists?
5. How does God want the different parts of creation to relate to each other?

Fall

1. How did the fall begin?
2. How does the fallen world compare to the originally created world?
3. What is the core of sin?
4. How does sin relate to us?
5. What are the effects of the fall?

Redemption

1. What is the situation that we need to be rescued/redeemed from?
2. What’s the solution to that situation?
3. How does God join us in our situation?
4. How does God defeat the force that’s holding us hostage?
5. How do we benefit from God’s victory?
6. How does God’s rescue of us matter for the rest of creation?

Restoration

1. What is God’s goal in restoring fallen creation?
2. How does God restore fallen creation?
3. How does the Holy Spirit make restoration happen?
4. What is the Church’s role in restoration?
5. What are the signs of restoration beginning?
6. When will restoration be complete?

*Here’s a tutorial designed to help you help your students connect 3 things: course content, Biblical principles, and creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

To help your students develop a Christ-centered worldview, have them connect course content, Biblical priniciples, and God's story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

Want to help your students to better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to God’s story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration? Good. Reflecting on a set of DRAW questions can help you determine what action steps to take. What does “DRAW” stand for?

• Define the facts.
• Respond to the facts in terms of feelings/experiences.
• Analyze the facts, feelings, and experiences.
• What’s next?: Consider next steps.

As a result of reflecting on the following set of DRAW questions, you will identify 1 or more SMART action steps you will take to help your students better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to God’s story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration:
 
Define the facts:

1. What class do you want to think about?
2. What do your students study in that class?
3. What connections do your students make between the course content and Biblical principles they study?
4. What’s creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
5. How are you students connecting the course content and Biblical principles they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration?

Respond to the facts in terms of feelings/experiences:
What excites/concerns you about helping your students better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
 
Analyze the facts, feelings, and experiences:

1. How do you address creation-fall-redemption-restoration in the class you’re thinking about?
2. What units address creation? fall? redemption? restoration?
3. What questions do you ask about creation? fall? redemption? restoration? (What does a set of creation-fall-redemption-restoration questions look like?)
4. What Biblical principles do you teach about creation? fall? redemption? restoration?
5. What assessments do you give about creation? fall? redemption? restoration?
6. What helps your students connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
7. What are your students’ learning needs regarding creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
8. What helps/hinders you in teaching your students about creation-fall-redemption-restoration?

What’s next?: Consider next steps:
To help your students better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to creation-fall-redemption-restoration:

1. What do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
2. What support, encouragement, and accountability do you need?
3. What 1 or more SMART action steps will you take?

You know that when you meet your students’ learning needs, they do better. Since you want your students to do better on connecting what they study and Biblical principles, you decide to meet specific learning needs.
 
Question: What 3 learning needs will you meet?
 
Here are sample student learning needs:

• Understanding the importance of connecting what they study and Biblical principles.
• Knowing what it looks like to connect what they study and Biblical principles.
• Understanding how you (or their other teachers) teach from a Biblical perspective.
• Understanding the vocabulary.
• Experiencing engaging instructional strategies.
• Time to think through the answers for themselves.
• Time to reflect.
• Connecting their lives, Biblical principles, and what they study.
• More practice in connecting Biblical principles and what they study.

Question: What other student learning needs can you address?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Meet 3 student learning needs. Today.

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Here's what one high school teacher is doing to meet her students’ learning needs:
I'm passionate about my students loving God with their minds. I really want them to develop a Christ-centered worldview. One way I help them do this is by helping them apply a Biblical perspective to what they study. This year I've been working to meet 3 of my students' learning needs:

(#5) Experiencing engaging instructional strategies: When my students are engaged, they learn better. A key instructional strategy I'm using is asking questions. Just this past week, I asked my students "What's the difference between infatuation and love?" They became quickly engaged, and their discussion resulted in them talking about the biblical concept of love.

(#6) Time to think through the answers for themselves: When kids have time to think, they are more likely to make connections. Since I want my students to connect learning and faith, I've been providing time for my students to think. For example, in my "Who Am I?" unit, I gave my students time to think about who they are spiritually, culturally, and personally.

(#8) Connecting their lives, Biblical principles, and what they study: My students do a better job of understanding and applying a biblical perspective when I incorporate their life experience. For example, my students all know that what the Nazis did to the Jews was horrible and that it violated the biblical teaching of respecting others as God's image bearers. But then they leave class and gossip. 

To help my students really get the implications of respecting others, I asked them to do a 2-part journal entry: (1) to list examples of respect and contempt for human dignity from a holocaust memoir  and (2) to list examples of respect and contempt for human dignity that they see at school. Then I had them discuss their entries in small groups. It worked!

Dan Beerens, vice president of learning services at Christian Schools International, focuses on Christian education in his blog Nurturing Faith. In this blog entry, he discusses why a Biblical worldview is critically important.

Ron Sider presents evidence in his disturbing book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World?, that evangelicals without a Biblical worldview are not living any differently (or in some cases demonstrating worse behavior) than the average non-evangelical. However, all is not gloom and despair! In the last part of his book he presents a strong argument that evangelicals with a Biblical worldview demonstrate different behavior – deeply committed Christians demonstrate more Godly behavior and spend significantly more time living out their faith. 

(For sake of clarity, he uses Barna’s definition of a Biblical worldview: the Bible is the moral standard, absolute moral truths exist and are conveyed through the Bible, God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator who still rules the universe; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; Satan is a real, living entity; salvation is a free gift, not something we can earn; every Christian has a personal responsibility to evangelize; and the Bible is totally accurate in all it teaches.) 

Knowing the Word and living it out (discipleship) is something home, church, and school desire for students – worldview development is a key task of the Christian school – it is the place where faith and learning intersect directly – again and again in planned ways over a course of years.

As a result of getting a Christ-centered education, we want our students to love God with their minds. So, we want our students to develop a Christ-centered worldview. One way to do to this is by having our students experience a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum:

• Guaranteed: All teachers at a given Christian school teach specified Bible content in each subject they teach.
• Viable: All teachers have sufficient instructional time to teach the specified Bible content.
• Biblical perspective: The specified Bible content is formatted as Biblical principles. Each Biblical principle is supported by at least 3 Bible passages.
• Curriculum: The specified Bible content is documented in the curriculum.

To move forward on developing a Biblical perspective curriculum, you’ve reflected on 5 key questions:

1. Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what are the opportunities/problems?
2. What’s your stakeholders’ perspective of a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?
3. Where are you/your school in terms of having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?
4. Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what’s your/your school’s level of motivation?
5. To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what do you/your school need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
6. Next question: How would you/your school develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?

 
Here are responses from Christian educators like you:
 
Teacher: Here are some thoughts on how I would develop a guaranteed, viable, Biblical perspective curriculum.
 
Step 1: Make sure all the teachers know how to accurately Biblically integrate. This may include teacher inservices to help teachers develop Biblical thinking regarding the subject areas. Sometimes Christian teachers do not have very developed Biblical perspectives on their subject areas. Workshops may include worldview training (perhaps a book study on James Sire's The Universe Next Door) as well as training on how to develop integrated unit and lesson plans. This should also include developing a list of key Biblical principles that should be covered somewhere within the school year, or going through a previously developed list of key Biblical principles.
 
Step 2: Have teachers develop curriculum guides with Biblical integration points that include identified Biblical principles for each unit.
 
Step 3: Have teachers make sure the assessments also assess for Biblical principle understanding.
 
Step 4: Develop a scope and sequence of Biblical integration principles to make sure that key principles are not left out or over instructed. Make adjustments in the curriculum guides where needed.
 
This is no short process, and I would imagine it would need to be structured into some kind of long-term planning. I think a key component in this is allowing sufficient time during working hours to develop this. That could include after school meetings, scheduled teacher work days, etc. The administration will really have to be on board and be passionate about this getting done. I imagine that once teachers get going, they will really enjoy teaching from a Biblical perspective. Developing a guaranteed, viable, Biblical perspective curriculum will really help teachers and students to see things the way God does. The ultimate goal being that people will live as man was designed to live, giving glory to God.
 

Curriculum coordinator: Here is what I see as a series of action steps that need to take place for us to establish a viable and replicable Biblical perspective curriculum:

1. Adopt the creation-fall-redemption-restoration motif as the framework for the Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks.
2. Develop departmental standards for implementing the creation-fall-redemption-restoration framework.
3. Use the department standards to develop Biblical perspective grade-level benchmarks.
4. Develop and implement assessments to determine student performance on Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks.
5. Analyze assessment data and use the findings to set goals for improving student performance on Biblical perspective standards.
6. By department (or other grouping that would make sense given the data), determine instructional strategies that would improve student learning on the Biblical perspective standards. Implement instructional strategies as a department.
7. Measure results over time, and make needed adjustments on a routine basis throughout the school year (at least the end of each semester).
8. Review curriculum on a 5-year plan for making major revisions to the curriculum and/or assessments used to measure the Biblical perspective standards.

Teacher: Our school has a culminating assessment for seniors where they research a global issue, articulate a Christian response to it, and engage in a project that addresses that issue. This is a great expression of what we hope our school's education has equipped kids to know, be, and do. 
 
To take this assessment to the next level, we need to make sure our curriculum in grades 9-11 systematically prepares students for this senior assessment. 
 
In terms of a Biblical perspective curriculum, we would need to develop and teach a scope and sequence of Biblical principles in all subjects in grades 9-11. To do this, teachers would need to:

• List issues addressed by senior assessments in the last couple of years and identify the Biblical principles that address those issues. (Students should not have to be originating these principles; they should have been taught them in a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum.) 
• Look at this list of Biblical principles, seeing which principles naturally fit in their courses or subject areas, and incorporate them into their courses.
• Teach these principles, give assessments, and use assessment results to further develop a scope and sequence.

In short, we would focus on our senior assessment in order to develop our "starter" Biblical perspective curriculum. Then, we would expand it.


Close the Gap Now: Developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum is an aggressive, yet achievable, goal. Just as there are different ways to do curriculum, there are different ways to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum. In other words, there’s no 1 right way to do it.
 
Here are 10 possible action steps:

1. Cast the vision for students developing a Christ-centered worldview through experiencing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum.
2. Set a schoolwide SMART goal regarding students connecting Biblical principles to what they study. For example: By June 2013, 90% of students will score at or above standard on connecting Biblical principles to what they study, scores being taken from classroom assessments.
3. Listen to stakeholders about what they think about developing a Biblical perspective curriculum. Then, address their concerns.
4. Make using the curriculum to help students develop a Christ-centered worldview an operational priority.
5. Define what having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum means for your school. For example, if your school uses standards and benchmarks, it means that all subjects would have Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks and that teachers would assess the Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks.
6. Do a needs analysis, for example, determine where your school is in terms of having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Determine what you need to keep doing, start doing, and stop doing. Determine the training your teachers need. (Reviewing Biblical perspective teacher training standards might be useful.) On a scale of 1-10 (10 being really motivated), rate your school’s level of motivation. If it is below an 8, take steps to raise it to an 8.
7. Collaboratively develop a schoolwide action plan regarding a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum.
8. Have teachers start small. For example, have teachers adding 1 Biblical principle to a unit map, designing an assessment for how well students can connect what they study and that Biblical principle, and teaching a lesson to prepare students for that assessment.
9. Over time, have teachers add Biblical principles to more units and subjects/classes. Then, use a framework (like creation-fall-redemption-restoration) to analyze all Biblical principles. This will help you find gaps, make revisions, and eventually develop a scope and sequence.
10. Ensure that all Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks are taught and assessed.

 
Again, there’s no 1 right way to do this. The point is to develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum and get students experiencing it—the point is not to write a plan for developing such a curriculum.


*This blog entry addresses Biblical perspective teacher training standard #4: To help students love God and impact the world for Him, teachers develop a curriculum that targets students understanding and then applying a Biblical perspective to course content and skills, and ultimately to their lives.

You want to more effectively help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. So, you’ve identified your goal: To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum:

• Guaranteed: All teachers at a given Christian school teach specified Bible content in each subject they teach.
• Viable: All teachers have sufficient instructional time to teach the specified Bible content.
• Biblical perspective: The specified Bible content is formatted as Biblical principles. Each Biblical principle is supported by at least 3 Bible passages.
• Curriculum: The specified Bible content is documented in the curriculum.

To move forward on your goal, you’ve reflected on 4 key questions:

1. Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what are the opportunities/problems?
2. What’s your stakeholders’ perspective of a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?
3. Where are you/your school in terms of having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?
4. Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what’s your/your school’s level of motivation?

Now, it’s time to consider your options for taking action on your goal.
 
Question: To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what do you/your school need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
 
Here are responses from Christian educators like you:
 
Teacher: This year, we worked on developing and implementing Biblical perspective lessons and assessments. We need to keep doing this. We need to keep getting training, and we need to keep talking about teaching from a Biblical perspective—in the staff lounge, in professional learning communities, in book discussions.
 
Developing a Biblical perspective curriculum involves intense effort. To be successful, we need school leaders to help us focus on and be accountable for this. Leaders can help by:

• Modeling teaching from a Biblical perspective during meetings.
• Providing time to talk about Biblical perspective during meetings—about lessons we’re teaching, about student learning results we’re getting, about the curriculum we’re developing.
• Turning this into a SMART goal.
• Providing time to work on curriculum.

To make room for these new things, we’re going to need to stop doing some things, for example, working on some school improvement plans.
 
Principal: We should continue to reflect on our Biblical perspective work and set new goals on what to do next. I think we should stop thinking of Biblical perspective as an isolated lesson and start using that lesson as a model to do in every unit. We need to keep doing Biblical perspective lessons, and we need to start doing more lessons and start thinking of Biblical perspective as what holds the curriculum together—so, we need stop thinking of Biblical perspective as something on a checklist.
 
Next question: How would you/your school develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Today.
 
*This blog entry addresses Biblical perspective teacher training standard #4: To help students love God and impact the world for Him, teachers develop a curriculum that targets students understanding and then applying a Biblical perspective to course content and skills, and ultimately to their lives.

You’re focused on helping your students develop a Christ-centered worldview. During class, you want to help your students connect Biblical principles and what they study.
 
Question: What 3 engaging instructional strategies will you use?
 
Here are 10 options:

1. Advance organizers
2. Case studies
3. Compare/contrast
4. Cooperative learning
5. Debate
6. Discussion
7. Open-ended questions
8. Reflective writing
9. Role play
10. Hypothesis testing

Question: What other engaging instructional strategies can you use?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Use 3 engaging instructional strategies. Today.

You're at school, and you want to help others grow. Instead of giving advice or suggestions, ask questions that fit the DRAW protocol:

• Define: Get the facts defined.
• Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.
• Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.
• What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

 
Here's a set of DRAW questions you can use for a faculty meeting conversation about a Biblical perspective of science-related issues:
 
Define: Get the facts defined.

1. What do the following 5 terms mean: creationism, theory of evolution, common ancestry, microevolution, and evolutionism?
2. What questions do students, parents, staff, and board members ask about these 5 terms?
3. What are your students taught about these 5 terms?
4. What’s the school’s position on these 5 terms?

Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.

1. What excites/frustrates you about these 5 terms?
2. What positive/negative experiences have you had related to these 5 terms?

Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.

1. Scale of 1-10 (10 being high), how important is it for your school to address these 5 terms?
2. What helps/hinders students as they work to learn about these 5 terms?
3. For your students to learn about these 5 terms, what do teachers need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?

What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

1. What action steps will you take?
2. What resources will you need?
3. Who’s responsible for what?
4. How will you hold each other accountable?

You want your students to connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. You’re clear on what your students are studying. You’re not as clear on what Biblical teaching connects to what your students are studying.
 
Question: How can you determine what Biblical teaching connects to what your students are studying?
 
Answer: By reflecting on 5 questions. As a result of reflecting on 5 questions, you’ll determine Biblical teaching that connects to what your students are studying.
 
Here are the 5 questions:

1. What are your students studying?
2. Which 1 or more items from the list below naturally connect to what your students are studying?: God, people, morality, death, history, creation, fall, redemption, restoration, loving God/neighbor, caring for creation, making disciples, being part of the Church, respect/disrespect of authority, sanctity of life/murder, sexual purity/promiscuity, private property/theft, truth telling/bearing false witness, contentment/covetousness, servanthood/selfishness
3. What does the Bible say about the 1 or more items that connects to what your students are studying?
4. So, what 1 or more Biblical principles connect to what your students are studying?
5. What 3 or more Bible verses support a given Biblical principle?

Question: What does using these questions look like?
 
Answer: Here are Kim Essenburg’s responses. Kim teaches English 10 at Christian Academy in Japan.
 
(1) What are your students studying?
Kim: They’re studying self-realization, human potential, and social obligations as depicted in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.
 
(2) Which items from the list below naturally connect to what your students are studying?
Kim: Well, self-realization, human potential, and social obligations fit in the category of “people.”
 
(3) What does the Bible say about “people” that connects to what your students are studying?
Kim: God made all people. All people have worth. He gave us gifts, and we should use these. We should work to understand what gifts God has given us, and we need to do this while maintaining our obligations to love and serve others.
 
(4) So, what 1 or more Biblical principles connect to what your students are studying?
Kim: Secure in her worth in God’s eyes, the Christian follows Jesus' example of service, humility, and submission.
 
(5) What 3 or more Bible verses support that Biblical principle?
Kim: I Corinthians 10:24 and 12:12-26, Mark 10:42-45, Philippians 2:1-11, and Ephesians 5:21.
 
Target Biblical perspective. Reflect on 5 questions. Help your students learn the Biblical principles that connect to what they study. Today.
 
*To learn more about identifying Biblical principles, click here.

Targeting Biblical perspective is vital. To get an idea of where your academic department is in terms of targeting Biblical perspective, reflect on 8 questions:

1. What’s God’s purpose? 
2. What’s wrong?
3. What difference does Jesus make? 
4. What will you do?
5. What does your department target?
6. Specifically, what does your department want students to connect?
7. To help students make connections, what essential questions does the your department ask?
8. To help students make connections, what assessments does your department give?

Below, Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, reflects on her academic department by responding to 8 these questions:

(1) What’s God’s purpose?
Kim: God made language so we could communicate with Him and with others. Language helps us love God, love our neighbor, and take care of God’s creation.
 
(2) What’s wrong?
Kim: Because of sin, we use language to exalt ourselves, harm others, and grab power. Because of sin, we miscommunicate.
 
(3) What difference does Jesus make?
Kim: Jesus, the Word, used words to proclaim God’s truth. He died and rose to free us from the power of sin. Because He redeemed us, we can use language as God intended.
 
(4) What will you do?
Kim: The English Dept. will equip students to honor Jesus and impact the world for Him. To do this, we will help students enjoy God’s gift of language and use language to learn about God and His creation, effectively communicate truth, and bring shalom.

(5) What does your department target?
Kim: We target students writing insightful essays, giving compelling presentations, grappling with challenging literature, engaging in lively discussion, listening respectfully to each other, and making creative projects. These are important things, but they are not our ultimate target. Our ultimate target is having our students connect these things with what the Bible teaches about creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

(6) Specifically, what does your department want students to connect?
Kim: We want students to connect the content and skills they study with what the Bible teaches. Here’s a sample of Biblical principles we teach at each level:

• Elementary: God created you (Gen. 1.27, Ps. 139.13). God loves you (John 3.16). God gives you talents (Rom. 12.6). God has made each people, country, and culture special and important (Gen. 11.1, 11.8a; John 3.16; Rev. 14.6).
• Middle: God cares how we spend our time (Ps. 118.24, 90.10a, 90.12; 2 Pet. 3.8; 1 Pet. 3.8-9).
• High: God is good (2 Chron. 7.3, Job 2.10, Ps. 34.8). Humans (made in the image of God) are responsible to take care of creation (Col. 1.16 – 20, Ps. 8.3-8, Heb. 2.5-9). God calls us to join Him in His work of restoration (Mic. 6.8, Isa. 1.17, Jer. 22.16, Hos. 6.6, Matt. 23.23). Human search for belonging is ultimately fulfilled in God (Ps. 90.1; Phil. 3.20; Heb. 11.8-10, 13-16).

(7) To help students make connections, what essential questions does your department ask?
Kim: We find students understand the connections better when asked open-ended questions. Here are some questions we ask them:

• Elementary: Why does God want you to learn how to read and write? How does reading help you understand God’s world? What should you read? What connections can you make to this story? to the Bible? to your life? Who are you? Who does God want you to be? How does God treat us? How can you encourage someone with your words?
• Middle: How do authors help you see truth? What makes a story “good?” How do good writers communicate effectively? Why do people have conflicts? How do/can/should you resolve conflicts? What does literature teach you about the need to “take a stand” despite opposition? How can you bridge cultural differences?
• High: How shall we then live? How does literature affect/reflect culture? Why read literature? Who are you? Who is your neighbor? What’s wrong with the world? How do you seek peace? How do you seek justice? How do you respond to man’s inhumanity to man? What is true? How do others help you see?

(8) To help students make connections, what assessments does your department give?
Kim: The primary assessments we give are writing, projects, presentations, and quizzes/tests. We give these assessments to see what connections students have made and to provide students with opportunities to make new connections. Here are some assessments we give:

• Elementary (essay): How can you connect the lesson from The Three Samurai Cats (“Draw strength from stillness”) to a story that you know from the Bible?
• Middle (presentation): Using a book that you’ve already read for independent reading this year, prepare a 2-to-3-minute presentation in which you give an exciting introduction to the plot, a brief explanation of the conflict and theme, a Biblical perspective of the conflict and theme (including how the book shows “taking a stand”), and a satisfying conclusion.
• High (essay): Using examples from various literature and from the Bible, explain the nature of evil, its relationship to suffering, and what you can do to respond Christianly to both. Incorporate 5 – 7 sources.

* Want to read additional reflections?

• Unit: Assessment helps students more deeply connect what they study, their lives, and a Biblical perspective
• Course: Use 9 questions to reflect on Biblical perspective in your course

You want develop a Biblical perspective of your subject area. Good.
 
Question: How can you do this?
 
Answer: By reflecting on creation-fall-redemption-restoration questions:
 
(1) Creation: What’s God’s purpose?

• What’s the Bible say?
• Why did God make this?
• What was ___ like when God created it?
• What’s true, good, or beautiful?
• What does ___ show you about God?
• How does ___ help you appreciate God?

(2) Fall: What’s wrong?

• What’s the Bible say?
• What’s the impact of sin on ___?
• What’s the impact of sin on my understanding of ___?
• What’s false, wrong, or ugly?

• How is ___ misused?
• How is God misunderstood because of ___?

(3) Redemption: What difference does Jesus make?

• What’s the Bible say?
• What’s the impact of Jesus’ life? death? resurrection?
• Why hope?

(4) Restoration: What will you do?

• What’s the Bible say?
• How can you join God in restoring ___?
• How can you use ___ to serve God and others?
• How can you show God’s truth using ___?
• How can you impact the world for Christ using ___?

 
Question: What does using these questions look like?
 
Answer: Here are Kim Essenburg’s responses. Kim teaches English 10 at Christian Academy in Japan.
 
(1) What’s God’s purpose? God made language so we could communicate with Him and with others. Language helps us love God, love our neighbor, and take care of God’s creation.
 
(2) What’s wrong? Because of sin, we use language to exalt ourselves, harm others, and grab power. Because of sin, we miscommunicate.
 
(3) What difference does Jesus make? Jesus, the Word, used words to proclaim God’s truth. He died and rose to free us from the power of sin. Because He redeemed us, we can use language as God intended.
 
(4) What will you do? The English Department will equip students to honor Jesus and impact the world for Him. To do this, we will help students enjoy God’s gift of language and use language to learn about God and His creation, effectively communicate truth, and bring shalom.

Your goal: To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum:

• Guaranteed: All teachers at a given Christian school teach specified Bible content in each subject they teach.
• Viable: All teachers have sufficient instructional time to teach the specified Bible content.
• Biblical perspective: The specified Bible content is formatted as Biblical principles. Each Biblical principle is supported by at least 3 Bible passages.
• Curriculum: The specified Bible content is documented in the curriculum. 

My question: Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what’s your/your school’s level of motivation?
 
Here are responses from Christian educators like you:
 
Teacher: Motivation is important. To develop this type of curriculum, all teachers would need to be motivated. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being really motivated), I’d say teachers would need to be at least at an 8. Right now, I think teachers are at a 3. We’re beginning to enjoy helping students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. We’re beginning to think beyond specific lesson plans and toward developing a curriculum that could help students make connections. And we’re beginning to find it satisfying to work on curriculum.
 
To maintain and increase the motivation of all teachers, key players, including department chairs, would need to be interested in and provide support for developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Key players are interested, are beginning to think about how to provide support, and have generated momentum. So, I think our social motivation is about a 6.
 
Given that organizations use rewards and accountability to maintain and increase motivation, I’d rate our organizational motivation at a 3. We don’t talk about developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. We’re beginning to hold teachers accountable to develop Biblical perspective lesson plans, and we don’t yet reward teachers for developing such plans.
 
Overall, I’d say my school’s level of motivation is a 4. And it needs to be at 8 or higher if we’re to pull this off.
 
Principal: Certain departments are further along and more willing to work on developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Everyone wants to integrate faith and learning, and having a Biblical perspective curriculum would help teachers move forward on this. Everyone is on board in concept, and we need to get everyone fully on board in practice.
 
If the administration announced to our teachers that our school was going to develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, I think overall teachers would be somewhat receptive. If I suggested developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum to fellow administrators, I think the idea would be well received, and I think they would be willing to look at this in the context of our improvement plans.
 
Given what we already have going right now, I’d say our administration has a mid-range level of motivation to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum. Biblical perspective is on our radar because Biblical perspective is at the core of who we are.
 
Consultant: Like with doing devotions, developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum can get crowded out. Teachers face urgent things every day, and these urgent things tend to take priority over what’s critically important. Consequently, teachers don’t get around to developing a Biblical perspective curriculum.
 
Administrators sense that teachers face a variety of unavoidable demands, including classes, co-curricular activities, and cross-cultural issues. So administrators are hesitant to add another demand—that of asking teachers to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum.
 
As Christian educators, we tend to do things that have a good chance of success, and we tend to put off things we aren’t sure will succeed. As we’re not sure how successful we’ll be at developing and implementing a Biblical perspective curriculum, we put it off. And to further complicate matters, there’s limited accountability from fellow teachers, administrators, and parents to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum—so teachers aren’t operationally motivated.
 
On a scale of 1-10, I’d say the average level of motivation in international Christian schools is a 3-4, the average level of motivation in new North American Christian schools is a 7, and the average level of motivation in established North American Christian schools is a 5 or lower.
 
Principal: Teachers want to teach from a Biblical perspective, and they are motivated to do this. Department chairs have bought into the importance of this, are starting to take ownership, and are looking for ways to lead teachers in teaching from a Biblical perspective. The administration thinks teaching from a Biblical perspective is vital.
 
The curriculum doesn’t change overnight, but this year we’ve started with 1 lesson plan and 1 unit plan. This is a manageable goal, and teachers are beginning to see how having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum would be helpful.
 
Teachers are more motivated to teach from a Biblical perspective than they are to develop Biblical perspective standards and benchmarks. I think the more teachers teach from a Biblical perspective, the more motivated they’ll be to infuse Biblical perspective into the curriculum.
 
 
Next question: To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what do you/your school need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Today.
 
*This blog entry addresses Biblical perspective teacher training standard #4: To help students love God and impact the world for Him, teachers develop a curriculum that targets students understanding and then applying a Biblical perspective to course content and skills, and ultimately to their lives.

Targeting Biblical perspective is vital. To get an idea of where you are in terms of targeting Biblical perspective, reflect on 9 questions:

1. What kind of people do you want your students to be?
2. What do you want your students to understand about God and His creation? 
3. What’s your vision? 
4. What do you target?
5. Specifically, what do you want your students to connect?
6. What kinds of connections do you want to see your kids making?
7. To help your students make connections, what essential questions do you ask?
8. To help your students make connections, what student learning needs do you meet?
9. To help your students make connections, what unit assessments do you give?

Below, Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, reflects on her course by responding to 9 these questions:

(1) What kind of people do you want your students to be? 
Kim: I want them to love Jesus. I want them to be joyful, inquisitive, thoughtful people who always connect what they learn with their lives.

(2) What do you want your students to understand about God and His creation? 
Kim: Through their study of English, I want my students to understand that God created a good world so that we could enjoy it and participate in developing its potential. I want my students to understand that in this fallen world, God calls us to join Him in working to restore peace and justice. Language helps us all understand God’s truth and communicate it to others.

(3) What’s your vision? 
Kim: To see students delighting in the creative beauty of language, checking the things that strike them as true with the Bible, reading fiction to vicariously understand the neighbor they are to love, and using language effectively to understand themselves and serve others.

(4) What do you target?
Kim: I want my students to understand that God created the world good, that sin has affected all of creation, that we as Christians have been redeemed by Christ, and that we should participate in restoring God’s creation. So, I target my students connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches.

(5) Specifically, what do you want your students to connect?
Kim: In English 10, my students hone their thinking, writing, reading, and presentation skills as they grapple with world literature, for example, The Analects by Confucius, Cry, the Beloved Country by Paton, “To My Brother Miguel” by Vallejo, Night by Wiesel, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream by Shakespeare. I want them to connect this content with the 11 Biblical principles they learn, for example:

1. Because people are made in the image of God (Gen. 1.27, 9.6; Jas. 3.9), we are creative (Gen. 2.19, 4.21-22; Exod. 35.30-36.1), communicative (Gen. 2.20-24, Exod. 4.10-12, Jer. 1.4-9) truth-seekers. —introductory unit
2. Because the Bible tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, we must seek the good of anyone it is within our power to help (Lev. 19.18, Matt. 22.39, Mark 12.31, Luke 10.27, Rom. 13.9, Gal. 5.14, Jas. 2.8). —Night unit
3. Human search for belonging is ultimately fulfilled in God (Psa. 90.1; Phil. 3.20; Heb. 11.8-10, 13-16). —short story unit
4. God calls us to join Him in His work of restoration (Mic. 6.8, Isa. 1.17, Jer. 22.16, Hos. 6.6 and note, Matt. 23.23). —Cry, the Beloved Country unit

(6) What kinds of connections do you want to see your kids making?
Kim: Authentic connections—not object lessons. Real connections—not allegories. Here’s an example of what I mean, taken from an essay on Camus’s “The Guest”:

“In contrast to what Camus and Daru experienced, there is inherent meaning and moral guidelines in life given by God—a conclusion based on a Biblical principle. Truth, which is God’s teaching, is apparent everywhere…(New International Version, Romans 1.20). In fact, the truth of the only God is accessible…(Acts 17.20). We must learn what God’s truth is and apply it to our lives because as Daru understood, human wisdom is faulty…. Humans must establish God’s truth as their anchor and base their decisions on his truth, which may not yield the obviously ‘good’ consequences in this life, but are right because they are part of God’s perfect will.”

(7) To help your students make connections, what essential questions do you ask?
Kim: My students say that thinking about open-ended questions really helps them make connections. So in English 10, I ask my students 4 questions: Who am I? Who is my neighbor? What’s wrong with the world? What is the significance of words?

(8) To help your students make connections, what student learning needs do you meet?
Kim: My 51 students come from 13 different countries, and from a variety of Christian and non-Christian backgrounds. Some have little or no Bible background; some are accustomed to connecting the Bible only with church, youth group, and personal holiness. To help my students make connections with what they’re learning and to prepare them for the assessments, I help them value connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches, see that it’s possible to make connections, and know what quality connections look like.

(9) To help your students make connections, what unit assessments do you give?
Kim: I give assessments to see how well my students are connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches—and I give assessments to give my students practice making connections. I give a total of 9 Biblical perspective assessments. I assess content/Bible connections in 5 of 8 essays, 2 of 4 presentations, and 2 of 9 unit tests with 1 or more Biblical perspective questions. Here’s a sample unit test question (worth 12/100 points):

Describe the existentialism of the author we read who wrote both essays and short stories on the topic. Be sure to include the definition, the juxtaposition that makes humanity’s situation absurd, the 2 things the author says give meaning, and illustrate those 2 things from the story. What of truth (from a Biblical perspective) has the author seen, and what has he missed?

* Want to read additional reflections?

• Unit: Assessment helps students more deeply connect what they study, their lives, and a Biblical perspective
• Subject: Use 8 questions to reflect on a subject area

Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, responds:

In English 10, my students hone their thinking, writing, reading, and presentation skills as they grapple with world literature, for example:

• The Analects by Confucius
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Paton
• “To My Brother Miguel” by Vallejo
• Night by Wiesel
• A Midsummer’s Night Dream by Shakespeare.

I want them to connect course content and skills with the 11 Biblical principles they learn:

1. Because people are made in the image of God (Gen. 1.27, 9.6; Jas. 3.9), we are creative (Gen. 2.19 and 4.21-22; Exod. 35.30-36.1), communicative (Gen. 2.20-24; Exod. 4.10-12; Jer. 1.4-9) truth-seekers. —introductory unit
2. God charges us with developing the potentials of creation, including language. This is called the Cultural Mandate (Gen. 1.26-28, Ps. 8.5-8, Heb. 2.5-9). —introductory unit
3. All truth is God’s truth: truth people can deduce from creation (Ps. 19.1-6; Rom. 1.19-20, 2.14-16) as well as truth God reveals in scripture (Ps. 19.7-11, 2 Tim. 4.16-17). —introductory unit
4. The Bible is the clearest revelation of God’s truth, the touchstone for all other truth claims (Isa. 8.20, Acts 17.11, 2 Tim. 3.16-17). —introductory unit
5. God calls us to join Him in His work of restoration (Mic. 6.8, Isa. 1.17, Jer. 22.16, Hos. 6.6 and note, Matt. 23.23). —Cry, the Beloved Country unit
6. We must acknowledge “the deepening possibilities of evil in the human heart” within our own hearts before we can repent and be purified and find union with God (Jer. 17.9, Rom. 7.14-25, I Tim. 1.15). —Dante’s Inferno unit
7. Because people are made in the image of God (Gen. 1.26-27), every human being is worthy of honor and respect; s/he should be neither murdered (Gen. 9.6) nor cursed (Jas. 3.9). —Night unit
8. Because the Bible tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, we must seek the good of anyone it is within our power to help (Lev. 19.18, Matt. 22.39, Mark 12.31, Luke 10.27, Rom. 13.9, Gal. 5.14, Jas. 2.8). —Night unit
9. Human search for belonging is ultimately fulfilled in God (Psa. 90.1; Phil. 3.20; Heb. 11.8-10, 13-16). —short story unit
10. Every individual value has worth (Gen. 1:27, Psa. 139, Matt. 10.31, Luke 12.7, Rom. 12.3-9). —A Doll’s House unit
11. Secure in her worth in God’s eyes, the Christian follows Jesus' example of service, humility, submission (I Cor. 10.24, 12.12-26; Mark 10.42-45; Phil. 2.1-11; Eph. 5.21). —A Doll's House unit
12. The love God intends for a man and woman is a lifetime determination of the will to seek the good of the other person (Gen. 2.20-25, Matt. 19.3-9, Mal. 2.13-16, Eph. 5.22-33, I Cor. 13) —A Midsummer Night's Dream unit