Here's a set of DRAW questions you can use for a discussion of “How can you give your students opportunities to think through answers for themselves?”
 
Define: Get the facts defined.
During the last week or unit, what opportunities did students have to think through answers for themselves?
 
Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.

1. When you were a student, what excited/concerned you about thinking through answers for yourself?
2. What excites/concerns your students about thinking through answers for themselves?
3. What excites/concerns you about your students thinking through answers for themselves?

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

1. How does thinking through answers for yourself impact your learning?
2. How does thinking through answers for themselves impact students’ learning?
3. How does thinking through answers for themselves impact students connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches?

What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

1. How can you provide opportunities for your students to think through answers for themselves?
2. How will you provide opportunities for your students to think through answers for themselves?

Your students’ objective is to better connect what they study and God’s story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration. You want to help your students achieve their objective. Good.

Now what? Help your students achieve their objective by meeting 1 of their learning needs.

Question: What are you students’ learning needs? To identify your students’ learning needs, review the list of 10 questions below. Note which questions you think you need to answer in order to meet your students’ learning needs:

1. How can you help your students see the importance of creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
2. How can you help your students understand that creation-fall-redemption-restoration can be connected to course content?
3. How can you show your students what connecting course content and creation-fall-redemption-restoration looks like?
4. How can you help your students understand how you teach using creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
5. What vocabulary words do your students need to learn?
6. What engaging instructional strategies will help your students?
   
7. How can you give your students opportunities to think through answers for themselves?
8. How can you provide time during class for reflection?
9. How can you design assessments so that your students connect creation-fall-redemption-restoration with their lives?
10. How can you give your students more practice?

Take action: Answer 1 of the questions you noted. Then use your answer. You might be tempted to answer more than 1 question. Don’t. Keep it simple and doable. Just answer 1 question—then use your 1 answer.

Remember, the goal is not to have an answer. The goal is to use your answer to help your students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration. Today.

Dan Beerens, vice president of learning services at Christian Schools International, focuses on Christian education in his blog Nurturing Faith. In this blog entry, he writes about helping students address difficulties and dilemmas.

Powerful opportunities – teachable moments – as teachers and administrators we crave these times when it seems every student’s eye, ear, and heart is hyper tuned to the subject at hand. However, sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances we would never hope for, yet provide teachable moments that will never be forgotten…. 

I will never forget the response of prayer by my teachers in my childhood days following the assassination of national leaders and the sudden tragic death of a fellow student’s father in an accident. These are times when our words and actions are extraordinarily important in terms of how we reveal our own faith and shape the faith of those for whom we are responsible. It is our responsibility to make sure that we are equipped and ready for these situations of life difficulty whenever they may emerge with students….
 
Dilemmas are more problematic because we are making choices between potentially unpleasant outcomes. Dilemmas also reveal our character and belief systems, leaving us open to criticism by those who judge our decisions and actions. We need to teach students how to make tough decisions when faced with dilemmas – what will be the guiding principles for them on which to base their decision? As Christians we believe the Bible is that source of truth for discernment.

Dan Beerens, vice president of learning services at Christian Schools International, focuses on Christian education in his blog Nurturing Faith. In this blog entry, he writes about reflective writing, an instructional strategy you can use to help your students connect what they study and Biblical teaching.

One of the best and most popular practices that teachers can use to encourage student faith development is the strategy of reflective writing. Reflective writing assignments help students to think more deeply about life and to make sense of it. As Thackeray said, “There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes.”

The writing process helps connect the writer to their inner life – to their own emotions, beliefs, and forces them to make thoughts and ideas concrete. When we write something we are forced to try to articulate what it is we want to convey. This practice is an opportunity to connect a student’s head with their heart, to ask them to bring expression to what they understand and what they believe. It is one of the better ways for teachers to understand a student’s thinking and thought process – their mind and heart….

Reflective writing is a very significant tool for Christian educators to connect head and heart. When this practice is used over time it can demonstrate to students their journey of spiritual growth.

You hear a student say: I need to think through answers for myself. I listen to teachers talk. They give good answers. But to really understand the answers, I need to think them through for myself. Maybe the teachers could ask more questions. Questions that have more than one right answer. One of my teachers asks us “Where do you belong?” all the time.

You think: She’s right. To really understand a Biblical perspective, students need to think through the answers.

You ask: How can I give my students opportunities?

Answer: Here are 10 things you can use to give your students opportunities to think through Biblical perspective answers for themselves:

1. Case studies
   
2. Discussions
   
3. Document-based questions
   
4. Field trips
   
5. Generating and testing hypotheses
   
6. Guest speakers students can interact with
   
7. Journaling, essay writing
   
8. Presentations
   
9. Projects
   
10. Open-ended questions

Which one will you use today?