Develop a Biblical perspective standard (part 3 of 4)
15/08/11 10:05 Filed in: Christian Ed
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).
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:
Related resources you might want to explore:
This blog entry addresses the following Biblical perspective teacher training benchmarks:
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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- How could you get your department to consider adopting the Biblical perspective standard?
- What questions do you think department members might ask? How would you respond
- What’s next?
Related resources you might want to explore:
- Connect God's world, God's Word, and life
- Start small and get started
- What Biblical teaching connects to what students are studying?
- How can you more effectively target Biblical perspective?
- Help your students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration
- 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.
