You’re ready. You have 3 sample student essays that demonstrate effective application of a biblical perspective to course content. You’re ready to show the essay samples to your students. You’ve carefully planned your lesson. Your goal is to help your students increase their application of a biblical perspective by addressing 1 of their learning needs.

You’re feeling confident that showing your students sample essays will really help, in part because you used a good process. The IDEAL process:

1. Identify the problem and ask God for help.
   
2. Define the problem.
   
3. Explore ways to address the problem, pick one, and make a plan to address it.
   
4. Act.
   
5. Look at the results.

Here’s how you used the 5-step IDEAL process:

(1) Identify the problem and ask God for help: You noticed that your students were not doing as well as they should on applying a biblical perspective. You prayed about this.

(2) Define the problem: Rather that reading a book or going to workshop, you talked with your students and reviewed their work. As a result, you determined that they had 2 key learning needs:

• They didn’t sufficiently value applying a biblical perspective.
  
• They didn’t know what applying a biblical perspective in a classroom assessment looked like.

You thought about both needs, and you talked again with some of your students. During the conversation, Ryoko shared, “I don’t know what it looks like. I know what telling others about Jesus looks like—we read missionary biographies at school and I go on mission trips with my church. What does doing a good job on using a biblical perspective look like in an essay? And what does this look like in the computer world?”

Ryoko’s comment clinched it. You decided to help your students understand what applying a biblical perspective on a classroom assessment looked like.

(3) Explore ways to address the problem, pick one, and make a plan to address it: You brainstormed a total of 1 way to address the problem—show them samples of student work that demonstrate effective application of a biblical perspective. Show them samples of the type of assessment they are going to do. Show them sample essays, projects, presentations, and test answers. Show them samples of student work.

You decided to show your students samples of student work. And since your students were going to write an essay, you decided to show them 3 sample essays before assigning the essay.

(4) Act: You’re ready. You have your work samples. Your students are seated, the bell has rung, and you say, “Being able to apply a biblical perspective is really important. Today, I want to help you understand what using a biblical perspective in an essay looks like.”

(5) Look at the results: That’ll have to wait until you complete your lesson. Meanwhile, you’re hoping that, as a result of doing this lesson, your students will effectively apply a biblical perspective on the essay—and that you can use their work samples when you do this lesson again next year.

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Teachers, to what extent does the following describe your thinking? Principals, to what extent does the following describe your teachers’ thinking?

I’m not sure what applying a biblical perspective to course content looks like. I know what telling others about Jesus looks like—I read missionary biographies and I go on mission trips with my church. What does teaching a biblical perspective look like? How do you assess student understanding and use of a biblical perspective? And what does quality student work look like when students are applying a biblical perspective to course content?

If the above describes your thinking or the thinking of your staff, what are 5 things you could do? Pick one and implement it. Today.