Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Tom, who teaches 7th grade English, wants to more effectively help his students develop a Christ-centered worldview. He walks down the halls and see his instructional coach.

How are you doing, Tom?
Long day—grading essays. My students are doing better on their thesis statements, which is good, since that’s what we worked on. But I wanted to tell you that our department adopted a Biblical perspective standard!

---

Students connect God's world (standards 1-9) with God's Word (creation-fall-redemption-restoration).

1. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of creation—God’s creational purposes and what creation reveals about God.
2. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of the fall—the impact of sin on God's creation and how we misuse God's creation.
3. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of redemption—Jesus' work and its impact on God's creation.
4. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of restoration—how we can apply God's Word to restore His broken creation.

---

That’s great! So, I take it that your presentation to your department about this went well. Good for you.
And good for our students. Having this standard will focus us more on helping our students connect God’s world and Word. I think we’ve started something. A couple of teachers in other departments have talked to me about this. They want to learn more about how and why we developed our Biblical perspective standard.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

---

Questions for discussion:

1. Do you want your students to connect God’s world and Word?
2. What can you do to help your students better connect God’s world and Word?
3. How can you help your colleagues help their students make connections?

Related resources you might want to explore:

1. Connect God's world, God's Word, and life
2. Start small and get started
3. What Biblical teaching connects to what students are studying?
4. How can you more effectively target Biblical perspective?
5. Help your students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration
6. Develop a guaranteed, viable, Biblical perspective curriculum

This blog entry addresses the following Biblical perspective teacher training benchmarks:

• 2.2. Explain the creation-fall-redemption-fulfillment/restoration framework.
• 4.4. Develop, document, and explain content and skill standards/benchmarks. 
• 4.6. Develop, document, and explain enduring Biblical perspective understandings. 

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4

Tom, who teaches 7th grade English, wants to more effectively help his students develop a Christ-centered worldview. He schedules a coaching session every 2 weeks to help himself make progress.

Tom, good to see you again!
Good to see you, too. Sorry I had to cancel a couple of weeks ago. Glad my flu wasn’t too bad—I only missed 2 days of school.

How’s it going?
I’m still focusing on helping my students better connect God’s world and Word. Last time we talked, I said I’d teach my students a Biblical principle related to creation and to speaking. I taught them that we should use speech to love God and our neighbors. We discussed the principle, including how we can use presentations to serve those around us. Went pretty well.

I also talked with Mark and Judy. I shared how I used the Biblical perspective standard to crosscheck my 4 Biblical principles and what I learned from doing that.

---

Students connect God's world (standards 1-9) with God's Word (creation-fall-redemption-restoration).

1. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of creation—God’s creational purposes and what creation reveals about God.
2. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of the fall—the impact of sin on God's creation and how we misuse God's creation.
3. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of redemption—Jesus' work and its impact on God's creation.
4. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of restoration—how we can apply God's Word to restore His broken creation.

---

They responded by asking for help in crosschecking their principles. Mark had principles that addressed creation and the fall, while Judy had principles that addressed the fall and restoration. Like me, neither of them had principles for redemption and neither of them had principles that addressed the majority of the standards. We all agreed that having the Biblical perspective standard was helpful, and we talked a little about next steps.

Like what?
Like how to move the discussion to the department level. That’s what I want to think about today. We think it would be good to get our department to consider adopting the Biblical perspective standard. Before doing so, I want to think about how we can do that effectively.

OK. What would help you do a good job of getting your department to consider adopting the standard?
Well, the process I used with Judy and Mark seemed to work well—talking about how to help kids better connect God’s world and Word, then having them use the standard to crosscheck their Biblical principles.

Sounds good. What else?
I probably need to be prepared to answer some of their questions.

What questions do you think they’ll ask?
Maybe why we’re proposing this. I know of at least one person who’s concerned about turning off kids by pushing creation-fall-redemption-restoration too much.

What else?
Well, how much work this is going to involve. I probably should think about my responses to those questions.

Would you like to do that now?
Yes. Could you ask me those questions so I can think through my responses?

OK—why, turning kids off, and amount of work, right?
Right.

So, why make this proposal?
We need to treat connecting God’s world and Word like we treat the other parts of the curriculum—by having a standard for it.

Won’t pushing creation-fall-redemption-restoration too much turn kids off?
It might. But using this standard won’t necessarily result in overkill. We’re not suggesting that we talk about creation-fall-redemption-restoration every time we teach a Biblical principle.

How much work is this going to be?
We’re not sure. But we think it’s worth it for the kids. Doing this will help us help them develop a Christ-centered worldview.

How do you feel about your responses?
Pretty good. Before our next session, I’ll talk with Mark and Judy about how we can do a good job of getting our department to consider adopting the Biblical perspective standard. Once we settle on an approach, I’ll ask them about scheduling a date to present this to our department.

Highlights or insights?
When I take action, things happen. When I work on helping my students, they make better connections That’s encouraging, and it’s scary—it means when I don’t work at helping my students, they don’t make better connections.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4

---

Questions for discussion:

1. How could you get your department to consider adopting the Biblical perspective standard?
2. What questions do you think department members might ask? How would you respond
3. What’s next?

Related resources you might want to explore:

1. Connect God's world, God's Word, and life
2. Start small and get started
3. What Biblical teaching connects to what students are studying?
4. How can you more effectively target Biblical perspective?
5. Help your students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration
6. Develop a guaranteed, viable, Biblical perspective curriculum

This blog entry addresses the following Biblical perspective teacher training benchmarks:

• 2.2. Explain the creation-fall-redemption-fulfillment/restoration framework.
• 4.4. Develop, document, and explain content and skill standards/benchmarks. 
• 4.6. Develop, document, and explain enduring Biblical perspective understandings. 

Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4

Tom, who teaches 7th grade English, wants to more effectively equip his students to impact the world for Christ. To move forward, he schedules a coaching session every 2 weeks on Tuesday afternoon.

How are you, Tom?
I’m doing OK. My students wrote good essays on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. A lot of them addressed the question “What’s wrong?” And I’m excited about the progress I made on my 2 action steps.

Good!
Since our last session a couple of weeks ago, I talked with Judy and Mark. It was kind of exciting to talk with them about helping kids connect God’s world and Word. I got an idea from Judy—when teaching a Biblical principle, start by having kids get into small groups to read and discuss at least 3 supporting Bible verses. Then state the Biblical principle and have them discuss the connections between the verses and the principle.

I also got an idea from Mark—have my students ask all 4 of my bulletin board questions when discussing something, not just 1 or 2 of them. Using 4 of them at once will help them get the creation-fall-redemption-restoration framework.

Both Judy and Mark were excited about the idea of developing a Biblical perspective standard. Excited enough to schedule a lunch meeting so we could continue the discussion. Things just seemed to come together. Before I could suggest it, Judy said we should try using the creation-fall-redemption-restoration framework. Mark liked that idea, and we generated an initial draft on a napkin! I agreed to type it up on a Google Doc, and we all agreed to get feedback from at least one other person and use the feedback to make revisions. We actually made quite a few revisions. I’m really excited about the progress we made!

We wrote it so that it connected our standards with the Biblical perspective standard. Here’s what it looks like:

Students connect God's world (standards 1-9) with God's Word (creation-fall-redemption-restoration).

1. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of creation—God’s creational purposes and what creation reveals about God.
2. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of the fall—the impact of sin on God's creation and how we misuse God's creation.
3. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of redemption—Jesus' work and its impact on God's creation.
4. Students connect God’s world (standards 1-9) with God’s Word in terms of restoration—how we can apply God's Word to restore His broken creation.

You really made a lot of progress. How can you leverage your progress?
I want to use the ideas I got from Judy and Mark. But I want to think about those at a later date because I want to build on the momentum we have for a Biblical perspective standard. And I want to see how a standard could help me know what, if anything, I need to do to more effectively help my students make connections.

For example, I could check which parts of creation-fall-redemption-restoration my Biblical principles address. And I could check which standards my Biblical principles address. That might help me know if I’m missing something. I teach 4 Biblical principles—you can see them on the bulletin board over there.

What would you like to think about now?
I think I’d like to go ahead and check my principles against creation-fall-redemption-restoration and against the other English standards.

OK. Which parts of creation-fall-redemption-restoration do your 4 Biblical principles address?
Let me see. The fall has 2 principles, and restoration has 2 principles.

Implications?
I’m addressing the fall and restoration. I’m not addressing creation and redemption.

Which standards do your 4 Biblical principles address?
Let me pull up my standards online. Just give me a second. OK.

There are 9 English standards—3 for reading, 2 for writing, 1 for listening, 1 for speaking, 1 for research, and 1 for media analysis. Looks like my principles address standards 1 and 2 on reading and standard 5 on writing.

Implications?
My Biblical principles address standards 1, 2, and 5. They don’t address standards 3, 4, and 6-9. They don’t address listening, speaking, research, and media analysis.

So, to what extent does your Biblical perspective standard help you know how you’re doing?
It provides me with helpful information. Looks like I need to add Biblical principles that address redemption, restoration, listening, speaking, research, and media analysis—you know, standards 3, 4, and 6-9.

To be honest, I’m not sure I wanted that much helpful information. And on the other hand, the standard does give me a way to measure if I’ve done a good job.

What’s next?
I’ll commit to adding 1 Biblical principle that addresses creation or redemption and that addresses something related to listening or speaking.

Can you make that more specific?
That’s a good idea. In the next unit, my students will be giving a presentation. I’ll commit to adding a Biblical principle that addresses speaking and that addresses creation in terms of God’s purposes for speaking.

What else would you like to commit to?
I’ll commit to talking with Judy and Mark about how I used the Biblical perspective standard to crosscheck the 4 Biblical principles I teach. Maybe they’ll want to give it a try.

Highlights or insights for today?
Another blinding flash of the obvious—having a Biblical perspective standard actually does help me know how I’m doing and what I need to do.

Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4

---

Questions for discussion:

1. In one of your classes, what Biblical principles do you teach your students?
2. What’s satisfying about teaching those principles? What’s unsatisfying?
3. Which parts of creation-fall-redemption-restoration do your Biblical principles address? Implications?
4. Which standards do your Biblical principles address? Implications?
5. To what extent does your Biblical perspective standard help you know how you’re doing?
6. What’s next?

Related resources you might want to explore:

1. Connect God's world, God's Word, and life
2. Start small and get started
3. What Biblical teaching connects to what students are studying?
4. How can you more effectively target Biblical perspective?
5. Help your students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration
6. Develop a guaranteed, viable, Biblical perspective curriculum

This blog entry addresses the following Biblical perspective teacher training benchmarks:

• 2.2. Explain the creation-fall-redemption-fulfillment/restoration framework.
• 4.4. Develop, document, and explain content and skill standards/benchmarks. 
• 4.6. Develop, document, and explain enduring Biblical perspective understandings. 

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Tom, who teaches 7th grade English, wants to more effectively equip his students to impact the world for Christ. To do this, Tom knows he needs to do some careful thinking. So, he schedules a coaching session every 2 weeks on Tuesdays at 4:00pm.

Hi, Tom. How’d your classes go today?
Pretty well. We discussed the ending of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. My students were really into it, especially in 4th period. And at the end of 6th period, Kento asked for help on his writing—a real breakthrough. He’s new this year. He hasn’t been happy, and he hasn’t taken me up on my offers to help. I told Kento I’d talk with him tomorrow before school!

Sounds like you had a good day. It’s been 2 weeks since we talked last. How about sharing progress you made on your action steps?
OK. My goal is to help my students better connect God’s world and Word. My first action step was to make a bulletin board featuring 4 questions I want my students to think about—What’s God’s purpose? What’s wrong? What difference does Jesus make? How can you join God in restoring His broken creation? I made the bulletin board. I used school colors—blue and gold. I used large lettering so it’s easy to read the questions from any part of the room.

My second action step was to ask my students my 4 questions at least once. Well, seeing the 4 questions on the bulletin board reminded me to ask my students those questions—which I did twice as we discussed Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Glad you made progress. It must have felt good to see your students responding to your questions. What do you want to accomplish as a result of our conversation today?
Well, based on the training I got on teaching from a Biblical perspective, I think I’m doing what I know how to do to help my students make better connections. I’d like to do more, so today I want to find another way to more effectively help my students connect God’s world and Word.

OK. How are you currently helping your students connect God’s world and Word?
I’m teaching my students Biblical principles and helping them connect those principles to the part of God’s world they study—language, literature, stuff like that. I’m giving my students assessments that require them to connect God’s world and Word. And to prepare my students for those assessments, I’m asking questions—like the ones on my bulletin board—and meeting student learning needs.

How do you feel about the student learning results you’re getting?
Actually, I’m feeling good about the learning results—kids are making connections in discussions, journal entries, and essays. The connections they’re making are for the most part heartfelt—not fake or shallow or because I assigned it. I’m looking forward to reading their essays on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. In the essay, they have to apply 2 Biblical principles we studied and answer 1 or more of the questions on the bulletin board.

Seems like you’re doing quite a bit and you’re feeling good about your learning results. What’s causing you to want to find more ways to help your students connect God’s world and Word?
I do feel pretty good about what I’m doing and about the learning results. But then I get these thoughts in the back of my mind: Maybe they should be learning more Biblical principles. Maybe I should be giving a Biblical perspective assessment in every unit. Maybe I should do more.

How do I measure if I’ve done a good job?

That’s a good question. How do you usually measure if you’ve done a good job?

I make sure I’ve taught and assessed the appropriate learning targets. We’re using curriculum mapping software, so that’s easy to check. I also look at learning results.

How do your usual ways of measuring compare with how you’re measuring connecting God’s world and Word?
I’m looking at learning results, but I can’t check on the learning targets. We don’t have a standard and learning targets on students connecting God’s world and Word. Hard to believe I missed that. I mean, we have standards and learning targets for other parts of the curriculum, so why not this part?

So, what can you do to help your students connect God’s world and Word?
I could talk with other English teachers to see what they think about how to better help students connect God’s world and Word. And when we’re talking, I could see what they think about developing a Biblical perspective standard. To develop a standard, I think we’d need to settle on a framework.

What do you mean by “framework”?
A way to frame the standard. For example, I could use worldview categories—God, people, morality, death, and history. I could use a basic set of Biblical principles like loving God/neighbor, caring for creation, making disciples, and being part of the Church. I guess I could also use the 10 Commandments or the Beatitudes.

But come to think of it, the framework I’ve been using most often is creation-fall-redemption-restoration. So have my colleagues. We got that training last year, and I think our department statement is based on that. My bulletin board questions fit creation-fall-redemption-restoration, and I saw a 9th grader give a good presentation at a PTA meeting in which she connected creation-fall-redemption-restoration to plants.

OK. What else can you do regarding developing a Biblical perspective standard?
The only other thing that comes to mind is actually developing a draft of a standard and learning targets.

What will you do?
I think I’ll talk with 2 other teachers (probably Judy and Mark) to get ideas about how I can help my students make connections. And I’ll see what they think of developing a Biblical perspective standard. Given my schedule, I don’t think I want to commit to developing a draft of a standard.

Sounds good. Highlights or insights for today?
I kind of had a blinding flash of the obvious—to develop a Biblical perspective standard. I can’t understand why I didn’t think of it before. Having a standard will help me measure my efforts.

See you in a couple of weeks.

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

---

Questions for discussion:

1. How are you currently helping your students connect God’s world and Word?
2. How do you feel about the student learning results you’re getting?
3. What excites/concerns you about developing a Biblical perspective standard?
4. If you were to develop a Biblical perspective standard, what framework would you use?
5. What’s next?

Related resources you might want to explore:

1. Connect God's world, God's Word, and life
2. Start small and get started
3. What Biblical teaching connects to what students are studying?
4. How can you more effectively target Biblical perspective?
5. Help your students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration
6. Develop a guaranteed, viable, Biblical perspective curriculum

This blog entry addresses the following Biblical perspective teacher training benchmarks:

• 2.2. Explain the creation-fall-redemption-fulfillment/restoration framework.
• 4.3. Develop, document, and explain a Biblical perspective of their academic discipline(s). 
• 4.4. Develop, document, and explain content and skill standards/benchmarks. 
• 4.5. Articulate a Biblical perspective of the content and skills they teach. 
• 4.6. Develop, document, and explain enduring Biblical perspective understandings. 

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

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.

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?

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 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?

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

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.

You want to help your students develop a Christ-centered worldview. So, you want to help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. You think that having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum will help you:

• 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.

 Question: What’s a next step?
 
Answer: Determine where you/your school are in terms of having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Be brutally honest.
 
Here are responses from Christian school educators like you:

1. Teacher: I think we’re motivated to develop a Biblical perspective curriculum—I say this because I’m part of many conversations about teaching students a Biblical perspective. I think we sort of are at the beginning stage, though. While we have a Biblical perspective standard for each subject (as in, make sure kids can apply a Biblical perspective), we don't have benchmarks, a scope/sequence, or documentation regarding what our students are supposed learn in our classes—only 29 of 1077 unit maps have a Biblical perspective enduring understanding identified in them. While I know our students don’t experience a guaranteed Biblical perspective curriculum, I’m encouraged with the progress my school is making.
2. Professor: I’m not aware of a K-12 Christian school that has Biblical perspective scope and sequence in all subject areas.
3. Teacher: Last year, the staff was really hit-and-miss about integrating. Most of the staff didn’t really have a strong understanding of what Biblical integration really looked like. Last year, we did several workshops, and now we all have a common language and understanding. We now know how and feel comfortable with integrating—teachers feel competent. But we are at the beginning stages of writing curriculum and putting in the Biblical integration points. We don’t have standards and benchmarks, we don’t have a scope and sequence, but we do have a general set of Biblical principles that we should be implementing. Teachers are documenting Biblical principles in unit plans.
4. Trainer: There isn’t very much in place. I talked with teachers about this, and they said they were so busy they didn’t have time to develop a Biblical perspective scope and sequence. Teachers work on Biblical perspective in terms of teachable moments, not intentionally through the curriculum.
5. Curriculum coordinator: We’ve made a good start—we now have the expectation that Biblical principles will be embedded in our curriculum. We’re not ready to talk about standards and benchmarks. In curriculum development, you need to start by developing shared understanding about worldview and a Christian philosophy of education. For example, we need to define what we mean by Christian worldview, what our mission means in terms of educating our children, and what we believe about teaching children. Once we’ve developed more shared understanding, we’ll be able to move forward on developing standards/benchmarks and scope/sequence.

Remember: Be brutally honest about where you/your school are. Next, consider you/your school’s level of motivation and training.
 
Question: Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what’s your/your school’s level of motivation?

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.

Christian school communities are composed of stakeholder groups, including staff, parents, students, alumni, donors, and the board. These groups have a stake in students developing a Christ-centered worldview.
 
Question: What’s your stakeholders’ perspective of 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.

Here are responses from Christian educators like you:
 
Teacher: Our stakeholders probably haven’t thought about a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. Our board and parents would be supportive of developing one and would think having one is a nice idea. I think teachers might look at this in terms of how hard it would be to develop and implement. I think our administrator would think it would be great to have one and would be concerned about the amount of work it would take staff to develop one.
 
Principal: The mission and vision of our school imply that a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum is important to us. Parents would have some degree of expectation that this would be in place. Most of our teachers would place a high value on it, but not know what it takes to develop it. Having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum is a very high value for the administration, and we’re talking about getting one in place. Our board wants us to have a one and would expect us to develop one.
 
Consultant: Most people I’ve interacted with have not considered having a  guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. When I made a presentation about such matters at a Christian school board, the board was more concerned about students getting into high-powered universities. I said doing Biblical perspective would not detract from this, but they continued to feel it would. They felt that spiritual matters were the province of the church. Another time I visited a school that wanted to offer a distinctively Christian education—this school would welcome having a guaranteed, viable, Biblical perspective curriculum..
 
Teacher: Our board, administration, staff, and parents all want to help our students develop a Christ-centered worldview. The board has policies about our program fostering a Biblical worldview and about teachers teaching from a Biblical perspective. The administration carries out these policies. Practically speaking, what this looks like is teachers modeling Christ-like behavior, doing devotions and chapel, and using teachable moments to help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches.
 
Everyone, including parents and students, seems to be satisfied with this—because they assume what we’re doing is the best that can be done. I don’t think our stakeholders are aware of the possibility of having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum. I think if they were, all stakeholder groups would want to have one. I think if they were and they found out we don’t have one, they’d wonder why.
 
Consultant: I find several perspectives about a Biblically oriented or foundational curriculum to be in play with stakeholders of Christian educational programs:
 
One group seems to have no clue what that is nor do they typically care as long as their children are safe (from whatever they might be concerned about) and the educational program seems to be sound. These folks do not seem to be deeply motivated for or convicted about the need for a curriculum that has strong roots in Biblical truth, which may be a reflection of their own spiritual life (or lack thereof) or a lack of awareness of the concept.
 
They will typically wonder what all the fuss is about concerning the Bible, why the school commits to what they perceive as “Sunday school activities”—chapel, mission trips, spiritual activities, and constant Bible references in documents and the classroom. Typically, it is their sense that the school is a “private” school rather than a Christian school.
 
A second group of stakeholders knows that being a Christian organization and having the Bible central is important, but they think a separate chapel time, mission trips, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines and references are fine as long as they don’t intrude into the academic and instructional day. They see the two as distinctive and compartmentalized, having little to no influence on each other.
 
They seem happy to have “spiritual instruction” and yet are disinclined to commit to the scriptures as the definitive tome on truth and so see its influence in all of the instructional program. Their preference is that the school be a “preparatory” school that has Christian values, but just not too many of them.
 
A third group emerges as those who understand the need for all truth to be placed in the sieve of the scriptures and so expect all instruction and curriculum to be both guided and shaped by a Biblical perspective on all disciplines and subjects. These individuals are deeply committed to the need for a completely Biblically integrated instructional program and will identify those areas that veer too far from their perception of that truth.
 
This group can overdrive this conviction with strong opinions about what the Bible says about key contents (especially history and science) and can impose a personal belief on the broader educational system, but they are generally able to be wooed into meaningful negotiations about their concerns. They have very high expectations for the curriculum to be both guaranteed and viable in terms of its Biblical perspective, and know the school would not be a “Christian” school otherwise.
 
Next question: Where are you/your school in terms of having 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.

Christian schools can take fuller advantage of a key opportunity—to help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. One way to move forward on this is 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.

Question: Regarding a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what are the opportunities/problems?
 
Here are responses from Christian school educators like you:
 
Opportunities:

1. Teacher: If we had a documented scope and sequence of the Biblical principles we want our students to learn, our students would more likely have a Christian perspective of each subject. We could be more certain that we are carrying out our mission in terms of helping students develop a Christ-centered worldview. It would make it easier for new staff to get a feel for Biblical integration.
2. Curriculum coordinator: Having standards/benchmarks connected to enduring understandings would help us define our learning targets. We would be clear on what we want our students to know. We would be more clear in terms of direction.
3. Consultant: It would bring an expected and consistent content and reference point across the entire curriculum, independent of teacher experience and preferences. It would create a smoother flow across the content and prevent popular or well-known topic and emphasis from being over taught or repeated while not excluding other, lesser known Biblical issues or references. A well documented integrative reference point could assist novice faculty or those with limited Bible knowledge in the integrative process while ensuring their connection with the school’s overall integrative goals.
4. Teacher: Having a documented Biblical perspective curriculum would help teachers get a better handle on what students have already been taught and what they need to teach their students. All students would systematically be taught Biblical principles during class. Students would experientially understand that the Bible has something to say about all areas of life.
5. Principal: It would help new teachers who are not familiar with Christian worldview thinking. We could use our documented Biblical perspective curriculum to help them see how we apply the Bible across the curriculum. Administrators could use the documented curriculum as a platform for talking with teachers about how they’re helping students develop a Christian worldview. And having a documented Biblical perspective curriculum would result in kids making more connections between what they study and the Bible.

 See also teacher testimonials
 
Problems:

1. Teacher: Our existing curriculum documents are not sufficiently developed. In order to develop a Biblical perspective scope and sequence of our curriculum, we need to more fully develop our scope and sequence of our curriculum. We need to be really clear about what we teach, about what students are supposed to have a Biblical perspective of.
2. Curriculum coordinator: We have insufficient shared understanding for moving forward on this. We need to tap into the passion of teachers so that they will be fully committed to this.
3. Consultant: Basic lack of Bible knowledge will hinder some from contributing to the development process. The natural tendency of teachers to focus only on their grade or discipline will hinder their ability to move into a “big picture” view of the curriculum encompassing an entire department, school unit, or the entire school program for integrative development. And general unawareness of curriculum development, design, and formulation in most teachers will slow the process as they learn the verbiage, see the vision, and get an attainable goal in mind for the potential outcome.
4. Teacher: Developing a Biblical perspective curriculum can take a long time. Teachers are already busy, so a good process and a good set of tools will need to be developed. And there’s staff turnover—new staff will have to be brought up to speed on developing a Biblical perspective curriculum.
5. Principal: Teachers feel that instructional time is already tight—so if we ask them to implement a Biblical perspective curriculum, they’ll want to know how to fit it in. This concern would need to be talked through, for example, during a meeting. It’d be helpful to remind teachers that Christian schools are about more than just covering secular academic standards.
6. Teacher: Teachers don’t have sufficient experience with connecting content/skills and Biblical principles. Teachers didn’t receive this kind of education—it’s difficult to teach what you weren’t taught. Teachers need to experience Biblical perspective lessons and need to see Biblical perspective curriculum documents.
7. Consultant: An unwillingness to be a team player; unwillingness to commit to one view or Biblical perspective; forwarding personal preferences or agenda in the document rather than a balanced, evangelical position.
8. Teacher: Is increasing student understanding and use of a Biblical perspective of course content a real priority? I’m not asked to grade my students on this. It’s not part of ITBS, PSAT, SAT, or AP tests. It’s not on college applications. If I my students don’t master a certain skill, parents are concerned—no parent has ever talked to me about how well their child understands a Biblical perspective of my course content. When my students don’t master certain content or skills, I hear about it from the teacher above me—I don’t think I teach a Biblical perspective of my subject, and no teacher above has talked to me about this.

See also roadblocks
 
The point: To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, we need to focus on the opportunities and solve the problems. And as a next step, we need to consider how stakeholders view a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum.
 
Question: What’s your stakeholders’ perspective of a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective 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.

As a result of Christian education, we want our students to love Jesus and live for Him. So, we help our students develop a Christ-centered worldview by:

1. Modeling Christ-like behavior.
2. Providing devotions, chapel, and Bible class.
3. Giving opportunities for service.
4. Helping students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches.

In terms of worldview formation, each of the 4 things listed above are vital. We know this. None of us want to work at or send our children to a Christian school where:

1. Teachers model behavior that isn’t Christ-like
2. Devotions, chapel, and Bible class aren’t provided.
3. There are no opportunities to serve.
4. Students are encouraged to separate what they study and what the Bible teaches.

Analysis: In terms of worldview development, Christian schools do a better job of modeling, providing devotions and Bible class, and giving service opportunities than Christian schools do with helping students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches.
 
Opportunity: Christian schools can take fuller advantage of a key opportunity—to help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches.
 
Recommendation: That Christian schools 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 3 at least Bible passages.
• Curriculum: The specified Bible content is documented in the curriculum.

Question: Regarding a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what are the opportunities/problems?
 
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.

Want to use your curriculum to help students develop a Christ-centered worldview? Reflecting on the following 7 questions can help:

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

Reflect with others on these questions. Then, develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum—and get your students to experience it!

Target Biblical perspective. Today.

*These 7 questions address 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.