You know that asking questions helps your students reflect. You know that reflection helps your students apply a Biblical perspective. And you want your students to get better at applying a Biblical perspective.
 
Question: What 3 questions will you ask your students?
 
Here are sample questions: 

1. What is God’s purpose for ___?
2. What’s wrong?
3. How can you care for God’s creation?

Question: What other questions could you ask your students?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Ask questions. Today.

You want your students to apply a Biblical perspective during class and outside of class. You know that this is a challenge for your students. And you know that training your students to ask key questions can help them apply a Biblical perspective.
 
Question: What 3 questions will you train them to ask?
 
Here are sample questions: 

1. What do you mean by…?
2. How do you know?
3. How does the Bible help?

Question: What other questions could your train your students to ask? 
 
Target Biblical perspective. Train your students to ask questions. Today.

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)

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.

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'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.

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:
 
What energizes me when I'm wondering whether teaching is worth the effort? Finding out that students are learning significant things in my class. So, I arrange to get a big dose of encouragement every time I give a test.
 
The last question on every test is "What is something significant you learned this unit that you have not yet had an opportunity to show on this test?" It's worth 1-3 points, whatever I need to round out the score. I actually look forward with great anticipation to grading tests just to be able to read answers to this question! 
 
And, asking this question is a pedagogically sound practice. By asking this question, I help my students understand that there are important things to learn in class that won't necessarily be on the test. By asking this question, I challenge them to make their own connections, applications, explorations even beyond what we talk about in class.
 
I celebrate this learning with students and with colleagues when I pass back the tests. How? By collecting some of the most insightful, articulate, original answers and sharing them--reading them aloud in class, and distributing them to colleagues by email or hard copy. Here's some of the learning I'm celebrating from my last test on the novel Cry, the Beloved Country:

1. “I learned that there are so many things in the world that can easily break shalom (=love, truth, loyalty, grace, justice, righteousness)… it is very important to make and be willing to make shalom happen, instead of being ignorant about it.”
2. “Learning a new language or speaking a language you’re not that good at shows that you’d rather risk humiliation than avoid communicating and making unity.”
3. “There is no peace when there is fear. Fear can only be conquered by love, the one thing that has absolute power. Therefore, love brings peace.”
4. “Msimangu and James Jarvis both said that they were not saintly, God just used them.”
5. “...we need to help people because we really, actually WANT to help them, not because we pity them, think we should help them…. Because there is love, there is help among the people. Because there is help, there is change, so that the world (community) will be one."
6. “Shalom is an ideal, and our group concluded that since humans have an ideal, there is a God. If there was no God, we wouldn’t know or have an ideal.”
7. “I learned from Msimangu that love is the only thing that has ultimate power. I learned from Kumalo and Father Vincent that being positive and trusting God while there’s suffering is really important.”
8. “I learned that God gives hope to those who have none. Because of the hope, some broken things can become new.”

Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, uses 5 questions to reflect on connecting a Christian philosophy of education with classroom practice.
 
(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) Broadly speaking, what do you want your students to understand about God and His creation through one of the subjects they study?

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) In one of your subjects, what are some of the Biblical principles you want your students to be grounded in?
 
Kim: Language is a good gift from God. Because people are in God’s image, they are creative, communicative truth-seekers. All truth is God’s truth. The Bible is God’s Word and is the filter we use to analyze all truth claims. Because people are in God’s image, they are to be respected and honored. The neighbor whom I am to love is anyone I am in a position to help.
 
(4) In terms of your students applying a Biblical perspective to what they study, what’s your vision?
 
Kim: 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.
 
(5) Helping your students learn course content is a big challenge. Christian education targets a bigger challenge—helping students apply a Biblical perspective to the course content they have learned. Is the “Christian education challenge” worth it?
 
Kim: Definitely. If we don’t teach students that the Bible connects to what they study and to their lives, we by default are teaching them that the Bible doesn’t connect. We simply can’t afford to be teaching that to our children, to the next generation of the Church. 

You’ve designed and taught your Biblical perspective lesson, a lesson that prepared your students to demonstrate their understanding/application of a Biblical perspective. You've also given your students the Biblical perspective assessment. Good!
 
Now, leverage your work by reflecting on it. Use the following 8 questions to talk with a partner:

1. What was the assessment? (What type of assessment did you use? What was the prompt?)
2. How’d your students do on demonstrating their understanding/application of a Biblical perspective?
3. How’d you prepare your students to demonstrate Biblical perspective on your assessment?
4. What satisfies/concerns you about how you prepared your students?
5. What excites/challenges you about the assessment results on Biblical perspective?
6. To maintain and/or increase student learning about Biblical perspective, what 2-3 things do you want to keep doing/start doing?
7. Other insights?
8. What 2-3 SMART actions steps will you take to modify instruction (lesson plans, assessment prompt, unit map)?

Christian education involves worldview education, education that helps students develop and apply a Christian worldview.

Here are 6 questions you can use to explore Christian worldview education:

1. Regarding providing worldview education, what helps/hinders you?
2. Everyone has a worldview. What helps students understand this?
3. You can help your students develop a Christian worldview by asking questions. What key questions do you want your students to consider?
4. A person’s worldview is connected to how s/he answers questions. How can you help your students understand this?
5. Worldview affects educational practice. How does your Christian worldview affect your educational practice?
6. Everyone lives out his/her worldview. You live out your worldview in your classroom. As a Christian teacher, how can you increasingly target students understanding and then applying a Biblical perspective to course content and skills?

Worldview affects educational practice. How does your Christian worldview affect your educational practice? When responding to this question, teachers at Christian Academy in Japan indicated that their Christian worldview affects:

• The essential questions they ask.
• The content and skills they teach.
• The assessments they give.
• The instructional strategies they use.
• The way they manage their classrooms.
  

Real question: The real question isn’t “How does your Christian worldview affect your educational practice?" The real question is “How will you help your students develop a Christian worldview?"

Take action. Today.

---

Here’s are the responses of CAJ teachers:

1. The Bible is at the center of the curriculum. All subjects…are taught on the basis of the truth of the Word of God
2. Knowing that God has given us the ability to reason, I must be intentional in emphasizing questions that give students more opportunities to think critically. The questions I've used in the past few weeks have stretched the 8th graders in ways that were sometimes uncomfortable. For example, when I asked them to write the last chapter rough draft of their autobiographies, entitled “Who am I now?”, many struggled with writing what they believed when they know that they act one way but say they believe the opposite.
3. I have students ponder higher-level questions such as “Is there such a thing as a just war?” or “Should Christians support research on genetic engineering?” or “What is my calling in life?"
4. Questions – these should ask things that matter to God; should be core to a better understanding of the nature of God and humanity. Content/skills – should teach process over content (which is the great luxury of English classes) in that we need to know how to apply and understand worldview rather than just what it is.
5. In my curriculum I need to look for the larger principles or topics and not just the details of the unit. What are the life skills and issues I want students to learn and think about? Examples: How do I solve problems with friends? How do I get along with people? How do I serve others? How do I serve God?
6. I teach them to recognize numbers in God’s creation, giving them more appreciation. We look at social issues with the perspective of numbers, giving them another viewpoint to draw upon.
7. What I test, I value. I have to be careful about what I test. Does it really help students to articulate a Biblical worldview? Does it help them answer the core questions? For instructional strategies, I focus heavily on collaboration. I used to have my proof text for collaboration up in my room: Proverbs 27:17. I guess I’ve internalized that and seen the value over and over again of students working together…. As for classroom management, my worldview of people being made in the image of God comes out in this area. Students working together in a class will respect each other, listen to each other, and value each other as God’s creations.
8. Because I believe that my students are made in the breathtaking image of the invisible, triune God, each of them an active meaning maker with significant contributions to give and receive in the classroom community, I have them do many group activities, I challenge them with tough questions and/or choice, and I model, encourage, and require them to connect subject matter, faith, and life. Because I also believe that image is heartbreakingly defaced and distorted by the Fall, I realize the carrot method won’t always work. I try to make expectations clear and enforce them firmly—expectations regarding behavior, due dates, prompts for unit assessments, and school policies like dress code and late work.
9. My Christian worldview affects how I respond to students and how I teach them to respond to others. I put a lot of emphasis on teaching about treating each other fairly and that each person is talented in their own way.  I spend time teaching about right ways to speak to others, what it means to be uplifting, and what respect looks like. Part of this focus comes from personal hard experiences growing up with peers. My biggest reason for this emphasis is how often it is talked about or shown in stories in the Bible, especially in Jesus’ life. Loving your neighbor as yourself is the second greatest commandment, and Jesus showed so often that He cared about those others overlooked. He placed a huge emphasis on relationships, and that has been something I have always wanted to focus on – valuing relationships and keeping them healthy.
10. I value students learning to be responsible for themselves. This affects the way I teach the students to care for the classroom including materials, clean up procedures, desk organization. I value a variety of ways for students to show their understanding and so I do not give a lot of tests. I like to give students opportunities to apply their learning and so projects and process oriented ways to assess are used. I value and appreciate that all learners learn differently and so I use a variety of instructional strategies. I use a variety of groupings (whole group, small group, and individual conferences) and an approach that scaffolds the learning where needed.
11. As a Christian, I believe that every child has been created in the image of God, the Creator. This means that every child is creative in some way. In the art curriculum, I want to provide a wide variety of projects and assignments that give each child a chance to express themselves creatively. I want my questions to trigger thought and discussion that would help students learn more about God and His character and their relationship to Him. (What can we learn about God and his character from studying art? What is Christian Art? What does studying the principles of art tell us about God?)
12. I try to take every available opportunity to get my students to see a question from a perspective they have never experienced before. I do this because I believe that people are naturally (fallenly) bent in on themselves, preferring to see only themselves and the world as it appears and applies to them. By broadening their horizons, then, I can encourage them to take their attention away from themselves and be truly e-ducated (Latin: led out). I don’t do this because I believe that all perspectives are equally valid (they aren’t), but because resistance to seeing other perspectives is a symptom of selfishness.

You can help your students develop a Christian worldview by asking questions. What key questions do you want your students to consider?

Here are some of the questions teachers at Christian Academy in Japan want to ask their students:

1. What’s true?
   
2. What's real?
   
3. What is best?
   
4. Who are you?
   
5. Where are we going?
   
6. What’s wrong with the world?
   
7. What do you believe in?
   
8. What basic assumptions about life do you have?
   
9. How does learning a new language change your worldview and your relationship with God?
   
10. What difference does Jesus make?
    
11. How do math truths reflect God's character?
    
12. What patterns from math can be found in creation?
    
13. How do authors help you see truth?
    
14. How do you make a difference?
    
15. What is the connection?
    
16. How should you use you words?
    
17. Why do we study math?

Real question: The real question isn’t “What key questions do you want your students to consider?” The real question is “What questions will you ask your students?”

Ask your students a question. Today.

*To take an online tutorial on using questions, click here.

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Why do CAJ teachers want to ask their students questions?

1. The supreme value of almost any question is that it invites a person to think, especially about eternal things. How do we invite our students to think about God and what matters to Him? By asking them the sort of question that will invite them to think.
   
2. Asking questions helps students to focus and make connections…. Questions encourage the students to do some reflection and articulate what they are thinking. I want the students to think beyond themselves and consider others. I want students to begin to develop a Christian worldview that they will continue to refine and articulate as they grow and mature.
   
3. The big questions for World Literature are “Who am I?”, “Who is my neighbor?”, “What’s wrong with the world?”, and “What is the significance of words?” I want my students to answer these because I believe nearly everything ever written has been, to a certain extent, in response to one of these questions, especially one of the first 3. I want them to see by this that humans are at root spiritual beings, seeking meaning.
   
4. I would want my students to reflect on how they are changing and how they are being influenced when learning a new language. I want the learning to be intentional and I want them to see the difference between who they were and who they have become as they are learning a new language.
   
5. I want my students to consider the question, “What difference does Jesus make?” This question provides a window into both theology proper (thinking about who God is as He has revealed Himself to us in Christ) and into our ways of relating to everything else (e.g., because of Christ, we are not responsible for fashioning and accomplishing our own salvation; we do not need to seek vengeance; loving enemies can be more than a nice idea, etc.).
   
6. In order to broaden students' perspectives about different worldviews and to articulate their own, they need to understand which truths are the basis for their own worldview. One question I've been asking, and will continue to ask, is "What is truth?" followed by "How do authors help me see truth?" These questions not only got my students talking more, but also got my students thinking about how literature relates to them directly.
   
7. I use questions to open a dialogue. Some questions are pretty closed: What's 2 + 2? Others are open: What's real? So the questions I ask will range from simple closed questions (or even more complex closed questions) to open-ended questions that get at a worldview. A question for tomorrow: How does the study of shapes in geometry inform you about the world?

Everyone has a worldview. What helps students understand this? According to teachers at Christian Academy in Japan, what helps their students includes:

1. Connecting course content and life
   
2. Questions
   
3. Literature
   
4. Discussion/debate
   
5. Clarifying what a worldview is
   
6. Experiential learning

Real question: The real question isn’t “What helps your students understand that everyone has a worldview?" The real question is “How will you help your students today understand that everyone has a worldview?”

Take action. Today.

---

Here are the responses of teachers at Christian Academy in Japan:

(1) Connecting course content and life:

• Math seems a little cut-and-dried, but it's possible to examine mathematical assumptions to see where they begin, or on what basis they are made…. I think starting with topics or characters that touch students' lives is a good place to begin, and then moving from there to more complex connections and implications.
  
• Exposing students to things that seem nonsensical to them and then helping them come to understand those things by understanding a new worldview helps students to understand that everyone has a worldview. For example, in my Bible 9 unit on Hinduism, students choose a news article from the BBC related to Hinduism and explain how the things we have learned in class help them make sense of the event. One student selected a story about a man who married his dog. He did this to try to create good karma after being cruel to several other dogs. What we had learned about the Hindu worldview helped the student understand this bizarre event.
  
• For one project, I have them look at a social issue and then relate it to math. I can see them putting together ideas from their beliefs (I ask them for their Bible references) as well as what they have learned from their project in their conclusion. In this project and in others (i.e., Planet Project in 6th grade), we apply math to real life situations, which in turn will affect their worldview. Often applying math can change the way they look at an issue or a topic.

(2) Questions:

• Questions about issues…challenge my students to think about their own worldviews….
  
• My students are the elementary teachers…. Helping them to understand they have a “view” on the classroom environment could look like this: I could ask them: What does the ideal classroom look like? Make a list. Which items on your list are based on your assumptions and your beliefs?

(3) Literature:

• Studying literature…helps my students see more of what a worldview is and means.
  
• This week we will be reading Where’s the Big Bad Wolf? by Eileen Christelow….. We will be reading and discussing the motivation and misunderstanding of actions…in regards to various versions of the Three Little Pigs.
  
• The 10th grade literature book has 2 companion pieces showing 2 different views of the same event—reaching Everest’s peak—one by Edmund Hillary and the other by Tenzig Norgay…. Not only does Hillary’s focus on facts and Norgay’s on the emotion of the experience, but also there are flat out factual discrepancies: Hillary’s account sounds like he pulled Norgay up, and Norgay’s sounds like they were equal partners. In the future, I want to not just make the point that all writing has bias, but why—all people have a worldview.

(4) Discussion/debate:

• Showing students artwork from various time periods and various countries and cultures clearly can show various worldviews…. Discussion of worldviews represented in the art can help students understand that everyone has a worldview.
  
• In Bible, we assume one worldview. The OT is full of idols and asherah poles and pagan kings. What was their worldview? I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it before. We should talk in class about the worldview of the pagan kings. And we should talk about what it is in the Israelites worldview that causes them to be disobedient to God so often.
  
• …ethical choices/issues, case studies, and environmental studies.

(5) Clarifying what a worldview is: It is important to help students clearly understand what a worldview consists of—defining what makes up such a worldview will help to diminish confusion.

(6) Experiential learning: Experience helps. I’ve tried out various activities, getting students into other shoes. I wonder what would happen if we took this literally? Switch shoes, swap iPods, change grades or essays? I might actually try this—what would it literally look like to embrace the customs of another, to get a glimpse of his worldview?

We want our students to honor Christ and impact the world from Him. Consequently, we want to nurture faith in Christ. One way we do this in Christian schools is by helping our students connect what they study with what the Bible teaches.

To help students make connections, what are the vital teacher behaviors? Below are 4 options. What 2 options do you think are vital?

1. Ask students good questions.
   
2. Teach lessons that result in students connecting what they study with what the Bible teaches.
   
3. Having students complete assessments requiring them to connect what they study with what the Bible teaches.
   
4. Using assessment data to modify instruction.

Reflection can help you target Biblical perspective. After teaching a Biblical perspective unit, use these 5 questions to reflect:

1. What student learning results excited about?
2. What were your students studying?
3. What was the assessment prompt?
4. How did you prepare your students for it?
5. What did you learn from teaching your unit?
   

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 student learning results are you excited about?

Kim: I’m excited that 1 of my English 10 students wrote, “I have no right to choose whether I should help or not; the day I chose to follow my consistent and loving God, I threw away the option of apathy.”

(2) What were your students studying?

Kim: Elie Wiesel’s Night, a Holocaust memoir. During their study, they focused on 2 essential questions: “What’s wrong with the world?” and “Who is my neighbor?”

At the end of the 3-week unit, my students wrote essays. I’m excited that their writing is improving, and I’m excited that they applied a Biblical perspective to a theme of Night, the mistreatment of others.

(3) What was the essay prompt?

Kim: My students wrote 750-word essays on the following: How significant a part of what’s wrong with the world is the tendency to disregard the human dignity of others, and how should a Christian respond? Illustrate your answer from literature, history, current events, and your own experience. Be sure to address the relevance of the Biblical concepts of the image of God and the second greatest commandment.

(4) How did you prepare your students for it?

Kim: Before they started reading Night, my students considered 2 essential questions (“What’s wrong with the world?” and “Who is my neighbor?”) and discussed “Justice in an Unjust World,” a 5-page article by Gary Haugen, president of International Justice Mission.

Then as they read Night, they discussed racism, discrimination, human dignity, and the basis of human dignity, being created in God’s image. They also increased their awareness of recent events by watching clips from Hotel Rwanda and jig-sawing 4 articles:

1. “Being Muslim in a Mad, Sad, World”—an August 3, 2005, editorial in The Yomiuri Shimbun (which was reposting the article from The Washington Post).
   
2. “Keep Crying Out”—a 1-page description of Darfur from the December 9, 2006, edition of The Economist.
   
3. “A Responsibility to Protect”—a 2-page article from the December 2006 edition of Sojourners that considers the question, “‘Is military intervention the only way?’”
   
4. “Alien Nation”—an article by Isaac Canales from the fall 2007 edition of Leadership that discusses illegal aliens in California.

After reading Night, they discussed Wiesel’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, which asserts that apathy helps the oppressor. They also worked in groups of 4 to study Leviticus 19:18 (which talks about loving our neighbor) and the 7 Bible passages mentioned in the NIV study note. For each of the 8 passages, they identified the speaker, occasion, audience, and purpose.

(5) What did you learn from teaching your Night unit?

Kim: Well, I have a deeper appreciation for the power of preparing students for an assessment before, during, and after the study of a piece of literature. And I realize that providing students with additional articles is helpful—last year they discussed 2 articles and this year they discussed 5. The additional articles helped my students get a better understanding of sin and its implications for how people treat each other.

Teaching can be discouraging at times, and reading essays in which students apply a Biblical perspective is encouraging! I was encouraged, for example, when I read, “Our voices can be heard. We just need to speak up loud enough for the world to hear; there are many ways to do this…[not] telling racist jokes is how I plan to do my part.”

Writing this essay helped my students more deeply connect what they study, their lives, and a Biblical perspective.


* Want to read additional reflections?

• Course: Use 9 questions to reflect on Biblical perspective in your course
• Subject: Use 8 questions to reflect on a subject area

Tom Postema and Michael Essenburg, missionaries with Christian Reformed World Missions, serve at the Christian Academy in Japan. During their 9:30 meeting today, they talked about helping students understand and apply a Biblical perspective. Then Michael started asking Tom questions. (“As he usually does,” says Tom.)

Michael: God provides for us, so I think you have what you need to help your students understand and apply a Biblical perspective. I’m going to ask you some yes-no questions to verify this, OK?

Tom: OK.

Michael: Does God, your school board, principal, and colleagues support your students understanding and applying a Biblical perspective?

Tom: Yes.

Michael: As a Christian math teacher, can you think one thing that you want your 10th graders to see from a Biblical perspective?

Tom: Yes.

Michael: Can you ask questions?

Tom: Yes.

Michael: Can you identify content?

Tom: Yes.

Michael: Can you identify skills?

Tom: Yes.

Michael: Can you make assessments?

Tom: Yes.

Michael: Can you identify and meet student learning needs?

Tom: Yes.

Michael: You answered “yes” to all the questions. I think there were 7, right? What do you think?

Tom: Those weren’t hard questions. I could easily answer “yes” to all of them. That’s all there’s to it?

Michael: Yes. But let me ask these questions another way, just to double-check that you have all you need.

Tom: Sure.

Michael: How does God, your school board, principal, and colleagues support your students understanding and applying a Biblical perspective?

Tom: God wants people to view the world as God’s world. The school board has policy that supports this. My principal wants students to apply a Biblical perspective. My colleagues and I talk about this.

Michael: As a Christian math teacher, what’s one thing that you want your 10th graders to see from a Biblical perspective?

Tom: The universe. That God made it to work well.

Michael: Can you think of a question about that?

Tom: Yes. How well does the universe work?

Michael: Can you think of course content and Bible content that you can teach your students to help them answer your question?

Tom: Dimensions, vanishing point, perspective in art, and Bible verses about God making the universe and the universe working well.

Michael: Can you think of i or more skills that students need to answer your question and apply a Biblical perspective?

Tom: Drawing, writing, and discussion.

Michael: Can you make an assessment that requires students to respond to your question?

Tom: Yes. I could have kids make a perspective drawing and have them connect the information on perspective in art to what the Bible teaches.

Michael: Can you identify and meet one of your students’ learning needs regarding understanding and applying Biblical perspective?

Tom: My students need practice in intentionally connecting course content and Bible content through writing.

Michael: You responded positively to all 7 questions. What do you think now?

Tom: Well, the questions covered support, unit plans, and lessons plans. That’s what I need. That’s what I already have. I guess helping kids with Biblical perspective is not as hard as I thought it’d be.

You want your students to impact the world for Christ. To carry out this vital task, you know your students will need to apply a Biblical perspective to all of life—including the course content they are studying in your class right now.

How can you help your students increasingly apply a Biblical perspective to course content? Here are 4 things you can do:

1. Target this. You can shift your target from students learning course content to students applying a Biblical perspective to the course content they have learned.
   
2. Ask your students Biblical perspective questions like “What’s wrong with the world?”
   
3. Design assessments that require students to demonstrate their learning regarding the Biblical perspective questions you asked.
   
4. Meet your students’ learning needs regarding applying a Biblical perspective on classroom assessments. For example, your students may not know what applying a Biblical perspective to course content looks like. Meet this learning need by showing them student work samples.

Target Biblical perspective. Today.

As a result of you asking a Biblical perspective question, your students need to learn 3 things:

1. What the question means
   
2. A Biblical answer that adds value
   
3. How to use the question to further understand and use a Biblical perspective

Thing 1:
As a result of you asking a Biblical perspective question, your students need to learn what the question means. When using a question to help your students increase their understanding and use of a Biblical perspective, make sure they understand what the question means. Make sure your students understand:

• What each word in the question means
  
• What Biblical truth(s) you are targeting
  
• What related questions you are asking.

For example, when I ask 12th graders “What’s wrong with the world?”:

• I know they understand what each word in the question mean.
  
• I share what truth(s) I’m targeting: the impact of the fall and sin on each person and on all of creation.
  
• I share the related questions I am asking: What’s the conflict? How are we alienated from God, ourselves, each other, and creation? Why do we suffer?

No 2 teachers use a given question exactly the same way. So, make sure each of your students understand what each question means within the context of your class.

Thing 1 Practice: Choose 1 of the following 10 questions. Next, define the meaning of each word (as appropriate), identify the truth(s) you are focusing on, and identify 3 related questions you are asking. Do this right now.

Here’s the list of 10 questions:

1. What’s wrong?
   
2. What’s the solution?
   
3. How can you be a wise steward?
   
4. How does learning this help you?
   
5. How can you use my learning to serve?
   
6. How does belief affect design?
   
7. How do authors help me see truth?
   
8. How should Christians apply mercy and justice?
   
9. How will you achieve the “good”?
   
10. How can you communicate truth?

Now that you have defined the words, identified the Biblical truths, and identified the related questions, keep reading.

Thing 2:
As a result of you asking a Biblical perspective question, your students need to learn Biblical answer that adds value. Your goal is to help students increase their understanding of a Biblical perspective. You’re a teacher, you’re asking a Biblical perspective question, and you should provide a Biblical answer.

Make sure your answer adds value. Meaning, your answer should provide new content and/or should result in your students making new connections between a Biblical perspective, course content, and life.

To add value in terms of content, provide a Biblical answer that includes at least 1 verse, 1 principle, and 1 concept. What does this look like? Check out the following:

(1) What’s wrong with the world? (English on racism)

• Verse(s): Genesis 3, Romans 7
  
• Principle(s): As a result of sin, we are alienated from God, ourselves, each other, and creation.
  
• Concept(s): The fall

(2) What’s the solution? (social studies on perjury)

• Verse(s): Exodus 20:16
  
• Principle(s): Tell the truth.
  
• Concept(s): Honesty

(3) How can I be a wise steward? (PE on substance abuse)

• Verse(s): I Corinthians 6:19
  
• Principle(s): Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.
  
• Concept(s): Stewardship

(4) How does learning this help me? (science on creation)

• Verse(s): Psalm 19:1-4
  
• Principle(s): God reveals Himself in creation.
  
• Concept(s): Revelation

Once you have asked your question, provided your students with a value-added Biblical answer, and asked your students to find additional Biblical answers, you’re ready to add even more value. How? By asking your students to connect a Biblical perspective to course content and to their lives. Here’s what it might look like:

• What’s wrong with the world? (English on racism): Alienation of people groups in South Africa is a result of the fall. -->I need to eat lunch with people who are culturally different from me.
  
• What’s the solution? (social studies on perjury): Perjury is sinful and harms both perjurer and intended victim. Successful perjury results in unBiblical oppression.-->I need to tell the truth, even when it means I can get into trouble.
  
• How can I be a wise steward? (PE on substance abuse): Drug addiction is unBiblical and hinders me from following hard after God.-->I won’t do drugs.
  
• How does learning this help me? (science on creation): God displays His power through photosynthesis.-->I will marvel at God’s creative power in the trees I see when I go jogging.

Thing 2 Practice: Use your question from “Thing 1 Practice.” Define a Biblical answer for your question by identifying 1 verse, 1 principle, and 1 concept that you’ll teach your students. Next, identify a connection between a Biblical perspective and your course content, and between a Biblical perspective and your life.

Need tools to develop your Biblical answer? For verses and concepts, use a concordance or an online Bible. For principles, use Ruth Haycock’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Truths (published by the Association of Christian Schools International).


Thing 3:
As a result of you asking a Biblical perspective question, your students need to learn how to use the question to further understand and use a Biblical perspective. Questions are useful tools. Your students can use questions to increase their understanding and use of a Biblical perspective in class and throughout their lives. Each generation of Christians is called to apply God’s timeless truth to the current situation. Under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, questions can help your students do this.

Thing 3 Practice: Help your students understand and use a Biblical perspective by asking students to identify which of your course questions would be helpful to ask in a given situation. Try this out yourself. Imagine that you’re a student in a class that has the following 5 Biblical perspective questions:

1. What’s wrong with the world?
   
2. What’s the solution?
   
3. How can I be a wise steward?
   
4. How does learning this help me?
   
5. How can I use my learning to serve?

Which question(s) would be helpful for you to ask if the situation is _____?

• Seeing favoritism in the workplace
  
• Personally experiencing culture shock
  
• Learning that mom has cancer
  
• Advertisements targeting young children

Review: As a result of you asking a Biblical perspective question, make sure your students learn 3 things:

1. What the question means
   
2. A Biblical answer that adds value
   
3. How to use the question to further understand and use a Biblical perspective

Remember to use classtime to help students increase their understanding and use of a Biblical perspective. Yes, doing this means I have a little less time to cover course content, but that’s OK. The goal isn’t to cover content. The goal is to help your students apply a Biblical perspective to course content.

Also remember, if you don’t help your students learn a Biblical perspective…

• They won’t increasingly look to God and His Word for answers. Instead, they’ll increasingly look to themselves for answers. Human beings are wired to look for answers. Your students are looking for answers. Help them develop a habit of looking first to God and His Word, second to Biblical answers developed by mature Christians, and third to themselves.
  
• They won’t grasp how the Bible applies to all areas of life, including art, technology, language, business, athletics, history, science, law, music, relationships, government, ecology, and war. Church and home do help your students gain Biblical understanding, but schools can address topics that are not regularly addressed at church and/or home.

So, what’s the real question? Well, it’s not “What do I want my students to learn?” It’s “What will my students learn today about a Biblical perspective?”

Remember, success is your students increasing their understanding and use of a Biblical perspective by responding genuinely to a good question you ask and by learning one or more Biblical answers that add value. Success is not you identifying what you want students to learn. But remember, you have to identify what you want students to learn for them to learn a Biblical answer that adds value.

Apply your learning. Ask your students one question and explain what the question means by defining the meaning of the words (as appropriate), identifying the truth(s) you are focusing on, and identifying 3 related questions you are asking. Next, teach one Biblical answer that adds values and that includes at least 1 verse, 1 principle, and 1 concept. Do this during this unit or during the next unit.

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If you don’t want your students to increase their understanding of a Biblical perspective, here’s are 4 things you can do:

1. Don’t explain your question. Teach on the assumption that your students already understand your question or at least that they should already understand you question. Doing this gives you the appearance of having high standards while discouraging your students from deepening their understanding and use of a Biblical perspective. Most students won’t risk asking what a question means. If 1 of your students does ask what a question means, answer by saying, “I want you to discover the meaning of the question on your own, OK?”
   
   
2. Use questions to teach the idea that all answers are acceptable. When using you question in class, follow-up by asking your students “What do you think?” and not “How does the Bible help?” This will encourage students to say “I think” and not “God says.” Finally, emphasize that we need to love our neighbors by accepting them and their answers. Doing this will look Biblical and encourage students to equate love with tolerance.
   
   
3. Don’t teach Biblical answers that Christians have developed throughout history. Instead, encourage your students to recall what they already know. This will validate what they know without adding value in terms of content. And, this will result in your students generating simple (and hopefully simplistic) answers, because they don’t have core knowledge, for example, regarding Biblical positions on war and genetic engineering. As an added bonus, when your students use their limited Bible knowledge on complex issues, they will learn that the real goal is simple answers, or better yet, that the Christian faith has nothing to say about complex issues.
   
   
4. Don’t make understanding and using a Biblical perspective a matter of learning and faith; instead, make this exclusively a matter of faith. Be sure to emphasize the mysteriousness of faith—that way, you won’t have to teach a Biblical answer. And that way, you’ll discourage non-Christian students who feel that matters of faith don’t apply to them or that they can’t learn a Biblical perspective because the content comes from some mysterious place outside the classroom (which is true, provided you are careful not to teach any answers).