As Christian school teachers, we want to help our students develop a Christian worldview. An effective way to do that is using enduring understandings that help connect the part of God’s world that they study with God’s Word.
 
Here are 31 sample enduring understandings used in secondary English at Christian Academy in Japan:

1. A Christian speaker seeks to serve her neighbor/audience.
2. All truth is God's truth.
3. An author's personal values and ethical beliefs shape the worldview presented in his/her writing.
4. An identity rooted in God allows for the flexibility to listen carefully to others.
5. As God's creatures, we exist within nature in a special role as stewards; a role that is often neglected or distorted.
6. As image-bearers, we're responsible to seek out and listen to the stories of others so that we can better understand the world we live in, and better understand ourselves.
7. Because people are in the image of God, we are creative, communicative truth-seekers.
8. Being made in God's image means that we must learn to communicate to the best of our ability with a variety of audiences.
9. Belief systems set the precepts from which we live our daily lives and understand the world around us.
10. Christians must act whenever and wherever human dignity is disregarded.
11. Comparing motivations and actions of literary characters from different historical eras reveal man's sinful nature.
12. Creation was designed to function according to God's design and those patterns are still visible despite the fall.
13. Defects in society are directly related to the defects in human nature.
14. God created people to exist in shalom: flourishing in right relationship with God, others, creation, and ourselves.
15. Greed affects everyone, regardless of racial, gender or financial positions.
16. Humans long for restoration and search for transcendence.
17. Humans make sense of the world around them through various art forms, including narrative.
18. Knowing grammar helps us learn other languages, giving me opportunities to restore shalom by increasing understanding of, collaboration with, and responsibility for the neighbors I am to love, regarding both salvation and justice.
19. Knowledge implies responsibility. (If you know a biblical principle, it should make a difference in how you live.)
20. Leaders set the pattern for the whole group, leading to sin or to righteousness.
21. Nature is part of the created order, worth caring for but not worth our worship.
22. Personal belongings and riches do not bring satisfaction; satisfaction lies in being content with what one has.
23. Reading and talking about literature helps humanity understand how to restore what is broken in the world.
24. Romantic love is a good gift from the Creator that has been twisted by the Fall, but can be redeemed through Jesus and restored by his followers.
25. Seeking God's perspective in the midst of chaos brings cosmos and heals the human tendency to escape or blame God in the midst of chaos.
26. The same disregard for humanity that allows for slavery also allows for much more common-place problems like gossip & bullying.
27. Though fallen creatures, we're significant because we bear the image of God.
28. Truth is not relative; the basis for truth can only come from God and His Word.  
29. Understanding God's nature offers a healing response to the problem of evil and suffering.
30. We are called to care for and develop culture--Knowing how to engage information is part of this cultural mandate outlined in Gen. 1:26-28 and 2:15-25.
31. We are fallen and incapable of achieving God's standard of goodness (perfection) on our own. Our instinct itself has been corrupted, and our "natural" drive is to satisfy and serve ourselves.

Question: What’s 1 enduring understanding you can use to help your students connect God’s world and Word?

Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, reflects on changing her instructional plan.

She isn’t connecting what she studies and what the Bible teaches. Hiroko, a Japanese student from a Christian family, is talking with me about a book she has read.
 
I ask, “What is the theme of the book?” Hiroko says, “It’s about friendship and how giving your life for someone is the ultimate act of love.” I respond, “What’s a biblical perspective of the book?” And she says, “The book didn’t talk about God, so I don’t think there’s a biblical perspective.” Bummer.
 
Clearly, my instructional plan hadn’t worked for Hiroko. I had modeled making connections between what we read and the Bible. I had taught a biblical principle for every short story, novel, and play we studied—for example, that people’s desperate search for belonging can only be completely fulfilled in God. I had then required students to articulate each biblical principle and how it connected to the work we studied.
 
But I hadn’t actually taught them that God created everything with a purpose and for His glory. I hadn’t actually taught them that there is nothing to which God and His Word are irrelevant. Bummer.
 
My revised plan? To start by teaching a biblical principle about the possibility and necessity of seeing every piece of literature through the lenses of Scripture. And then to teach several broad scriptural themes to which every piece of literature could connect—creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.
 
The result? Book talks are now about the brokenness of the world and about the importance of pursuing biblical justice, reconciliation, faithfulness, and wholeness! And not a single student says, “The book didn’t talk about God, so I don’t think there’s a biblical perspective.” My revised plan is working!

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

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

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

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

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

---

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

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

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Questions for discussion:

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

Related resources you might want to explore:

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

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

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

I'm smiling. I'm reading an introductory paragraph of an essay written by an alum of Christian Academy in Japan (who is now in her senior year of college):

There are over 27 million image bearers of God enslaved today.1 Twenty-seven million men, women, and children whom Jesus died and rose again to save are trapped in an existence in which they are told that they are not human, that they have no worth, that they cannot escape, and that they do not even own themselves. This invisible population is woven into our global economy and touches most of the products we buy—"[h]uman trafficking tears apart the structure of local economies, adds to the bureaucratic and law enforcement burden at all levels of government, and destroys people's lives."2 And because of the complicated nature of supply chains in our world, casual consumption indirectly supports slavery by buying products that were in part made by slave labor. In order to faithfully live out our Christian call to justice in this new global society, it is necessary to carefully evaluate our consumption practices in order to be faithful stewards of our resources in the restoration and bring shalom. 

2 questions:

1. How can we more effectively prepare students to connect God's world and Word?
2. What can we do to make it possible for students to write essay introductions like this at an earlier age? Say, during their senior year of high school?

Related resources you might want to explore:

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

----
1 K. Bales. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), 8.
2 E. M. Wheaton, E. J. Schauer, and T. V. Galli. "Economics of Human Trafficking." International Migration 48.4 (2010): 114-141, esp. 132.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4

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Questions for discussion:

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

Related resources you might want to explore:

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

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

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

Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4

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Questions for discussion:

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

Related resources you might want to explore:

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

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

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

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s a good question. How do you usually measure if you’ve done a good job?
I make sure I’ve taught and assessed the appropriate learning targets. We’re using curriculum mapping software, so that’s easy to check. I also look at learning results.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you in a couple of weeks.

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

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Questions for discussion:

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

Related resources you might want to explore:

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

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

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

Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher, shares how she plans to incorporate creation-fall-redemption-restoration into her grammar unit.

What’s the focus of your grammar unit?
Kim: The content and skills focus of the unit is identifying the various parts of speech, parts of a sentence, phrases, and clauses. One of the unit’s essential questions I use to give a reason for learning the content and skills is “How does knowing grammar help me learn other languages?”

What led you to incorporate creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
Kim: One of my English periods is first period. We have an extra 5 minutes at the beginning of the period to allow for attendance and devotions. I do a 2 or 3 minute devotional every day that connects somehow to what we are studying.

As I came up with Bible passages that had to do with languages, I found that what was new and intriguing to my students was contrasting the 2 stories of Babel and Pentecost. At Babel, God made people unable to understand each other to separate them in order to prevent greater rebellion. At Pentecost, God made people able to understand each other to bring them together in order to hear His solution to separation and rebellion.

I thought, “That sounds like the core of a creation-fall-redemption-restoration pattern.” I also thought that I’d like to articulate that pattern clearly and concisely enough to be able to teach it in the other sections of my class that didn’t have the extra minutes at the beginning of the period.

What do you want your students to learn?
Kim: I want them to learn God’s purpose for languages, how sin impacted languages, the difference Jesus makes, and how we can use different languages to help restore God’s broken world.

Here are the specifics:

Creation: At creation, language was used to build shalom...

1. Between people and God: God used language to bless people and give them a job (Gen. 1.28-30), to give guidance (Gen. 2.16-17), and to supply people’s needs (Gen. 2.18)
2. Between people and other people: Adam used language to greet Eve (Gen. 2.23).
3. Between people and creation: Adam used language to carry out his God-given job of naming the animals (Gen. 2.19-30). 

Fall: At the fall (Gen. 3), language was used to break shalom...

1. Between people and God: Satan used language to twist God’s words (Gen. 3.1), contradict God’s words (Gen. 3.4), and question God’s good intent (Gen. 3.5). Eve used language to exaggerate God’s words (Gen. 3.3). Adam used language to equivocate and to blame God (Gen. 3.12). God used language to curse people and to make the job He had given them difficult (Gen. 3.16-19)
2. Between people and other people: Adam used it to shift blame to Eve (Gen. 3.12). Eventually, at Babel, God put a cap on united rebellion by creating language barriers and thus separating people (Gen. 11.1-9). 

Redemption: Jesus died to redeem us from the alienating force of which the diversity of languages is a sign. The Holy Spirit miraculously demonstrated this at Pentecost in order to proclaim Jesus’ redemptive work (Acts 2.5-12) and in the early church in order to demonstrate the unity that Jesus’ redemptive work makes possible (Acts 10.46 and 11.15-18, Acts 19.5-6, 1 Cor. 12.4-31).

Restoration: God’s ultimate plan is to restore shalom. Overcoming language barriers is both a sign of and a tool for doing this.

1. Both Old and New Testaments picture God’s ultimate plan for people of many different languages to worship him together (Zeph. 3.9, Rev. 5.9, 7.9). 
2. To join with God in bringing this plan into being, Christians are to go to people of all languages to proclaim the redemption from isolation from God and each other made possible by Jesus (Matt.28.19-20, Mark 16.15, Acts 1.8, Romans 14.11-12).
3. In the meantime, God also wants people to use gifts of different languages to serve Him and others, as many Bible characters did, including Joseph (Gen. 39-41), Moses (Acts 7.22), and Daniel (Dan.1.3-4).

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

• 2.2. Explain the creation-fall-redemption-fulfillment/restoration framework.
• 4.5. Articulate a Biblical perspective of the content and skills they teach.

At Christian Academy in Japan, we’re excited about using the Understanding by Design framework to foster student understanding of God’s world and Word. David Marshall, high school math/science teacher, reflects on using Understanding by Design:

I am a more enthusiastic teacher than I used to be. Mathematics and science are courses traditionally loaded with content and light on connection to anything. I have been increasingly dissatisfied with this. Understanding by Design has given me the tools I need to turn this situation around.

The six facets of understanding have helped me to see what I really want my mathematics and science students to "get" by the time they leave my class. I especially like the facet that looks for how the students gauge the relevance of what they are learning to the world in which they live.

Focusing on enduring understandings has helped to weed out some content that has been there just because it is in the textbook. I now deal with what is really important and do not get tripped by extraneous detail. For example, our geometry course has often dealt with some obscure properties of quadrilaterals. They are interesting to mathematicians, but not necessary in a 9th grade course. Once we understood that measurements with quadrilaterals were more important, we only did that material. This left us time to deal with proportions and trigonometry in more depth, something we knew was important but had consistently not managed to reach in one year.

Mathematics and science do not have great track records with Biblical connection either. Adding an enduring understanding about, for example, how the extreme order of the periodic table supports the existence of a Creator and Designer of the universe, makes me address this and similar issues. The students then have a real connection to what they learn in Bible.

The whole Understanding by Design process has also helped my partner teacher and me plan effectively together. We have common goals, we have common assessments, and we have 47 students who are much more engaged in science classes than I have seen for a long time! We are hopeful that some of them will take their interest in science, combine it with a solid Christian worldview and impact the world of science for Jesus.

At Christian Academy in Japan, we’re excited about using the Understanding by Design framework to foster student understanding of God’s world and Word. Kim Essenburg, high school English teacher, reflects on using Understanding by Design:

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. Understanding by Design has helped me focus more effectively on helping students actually attain those goals. 

In English 10, my students hone their thinking, writing, reading, and presenting skills as they grapple with world literature. I want them to connect this content with enduring understandings based on biblical principles they learn, for example:

1. Human search for belonging is ultimately fulfilled in God (Ps. 90.1; Phil. 3.20; Heb. 11.8-10, 13-16). —short story unit
2. 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

It is exciting to see students make real connections between the content we study and the Bible. Here’s an example of what I mean, taken from an essay on Camus’s short story “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.”

Articulating enduring understandings ensures that I’m focusing on what I really want students to know. Asking essential questions helps me engage the students with the enduring understanding. And as I use backward planning, I design the assessment and teach the content and skills that I know will enable students to perform well.

If you want to help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches, provide value-added content. How? By providing new Biblical teaching. And by providing new connections between what they study and what the Bible teaches.
 
Question: Why valued-added content? In other words, why “new” Biblical teaching? Why “new” connections?

• Because students attend Christian schools to learn new things.
• Because in my experience, students are more likely to get engaged when studying new Biblical teaching and are more likely to get turned off by going over the same Biblical teaching.
• Because students like learning about new connections, like making new connections, and dislike overusing the same connections.

Target Biblical perspective. Provide value-added content. Today.

You want to target Biblical perspective. You want to help your students apply a Biblical perspective to the course content they have mastered.
 
Question: To what extent do your unit plans and lesson plans target Biblical perspective?

1. Do your plans include essential questions that help students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches? Questions like the following: What’s God’s purpose for ___? What wrong? Who is your neighbor?
2. Do your plans include Biblical perspective enduring understandings?
3. Do your plans include assessments that require students to connect what they study and what the Bible teaches?
4. Do your plans include engaging instructional strategies that get your students connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches?

Target Biblical perspective. Make sure your unit plans and lesson plans demonstrate that you target Biblical perspective. Today.

You’re excited about teaching 7th grade social studies at Faithful Christian School. And you’re excited about helping your students learn about the world.
 
Question: What’s your target?

• Is your target for your students to master course content about the geography and history of Asia, North American, and South America?
• Or is your target for your students to apply a Biblical perspective to course content they have mastered?

I want to encourage you to target having your students apply a Biblical perspective to course content they have mastered. Why? Because targeting this provides rigorous, Christ-centered education. Because targeting this will help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. Because targeting this will help your students develop a Christ-centered worldview.
 
Target Biblical perspective. Today.

You want your students to connect the part of God’s world they study and biblical principles. This is a significant challenge. Want some help? Watch this video to learn about helping your students connect God's world and Word:




Want to work with your colleagues to better help your students connect God’s world and Word? If so, then purchase Help Your Students Connect God’s World and Word (US$25), a discussion-based kit with 7 sessions. As a result of working through the 7 discussion-based sessions, you will…

1. Evaluate and improve how you help your students connect God’s world and Word.
2. Analyze and explain the importance of helping students connect God’s world and Word.
3. Identify and explain what connecting what God’s world and Word looks like.
4. Document biblical principles you want your students to connect to the part of God’s world they are studying.
5. Get your students even more engaged in connecting God’s world and Word by having your students learn new biblical principles and/or helping your students make new connections between biblical principles they already know and the part of God’s world they study.
6. Prepare for and teach a lesson designed to help your students connect God’s world and Word.
7. Increase your commitment to helping your students connect God’s world and Word.

Download a sample session.

Purchase Help Your Students Connect God’s World and Word (US$25). This kit is 1 of a 4-part series:

1. Help Your Students Connect God’s World and Word
2. Use Assessment
3. Use Questions
4. Meet Student Learning Needs

To get an idea of how you can more effectively target Biblical perspective to help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches, complete the following self-assessment for 1 class you teach: ___________________ (name of class). Next, use your self-assessment data to develop action plans.
 

Rate each statement below. Use the following scale:
4: Strongly Agree • 3: Agree • 2: Disagree • 1: Strongly Disagree
 
___ My target is for students to apply a Biblical perspective to course content they have mastered (not to master course content).
___ My unit plans and lesson plans demonstrate that my target is for students to apply a Biblical perspective to course content they have mastered (not to master course content).
___ I provide value-added content by teaching students new Biblical perspective content and/or helping them make new connections between what they are studying and Bible knowledge they already have.
___ I am committed to targeting Biblical perspective.
 

Now, ask yourself 4 questions about the data: 

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. What excites/concerns me about the data?
3. What can I do to more effectively target Biblical perspective?
4. What will I do?

Target Biblical perspective. Today.
 

*Here are additional resources that can help you target Biblical perspective:

1. Tutorials
2. Videos
3. Self-assessments
4. Testimonials

You know good discussions help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. And you know that classroom guidelines can help create an environment that encourages good discussions.
 
Question: What 3 classroom guidelines will you use for discussions? 
 
Here are sample discussion guidelines: 

1. Work to understand what others are saying (before your critique what they’re saying).
2. Ask open-ended questions.
3. Once you’ve participated in a discussion, encourage others to participate.

Question: What other guidelines can you use?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Use classroom guidelines. Today.

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.

You’re ready. You’re ready to help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. To do this, you know you’re going to have to stay focused.
 
Question: What 3 things will you do to stay focused?
 
Here are sample things you can do to stay focused:

• Talk for 30+ minutes with a colleague 1 or more times each month.
• Read a book on a Biblical perspective of your subject area.
• Set a goal for the number of units in which you will prepare students for and give students an assessment that requires them to connect what they study and what the Bible teaches.

Question: What other things can you do to stay focused?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Stay focused. Today.

Here's a framework you can you to help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches.

You want to teach from a Biblical perspective. You know that your principal or colleagues can help you do this.
 
Question: What 3 things do you want from your principal or colleagues?
 
Here are sample things you might want to from your principal or colleagues:

• Support
• Encouragement
• Accountability
• Resources
• Training

Question: What other things do you want from your principal or colleagues?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Get 3 things from your principal or colleagues. Today.

Take steps to help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. Get started today.

You want your students to better apply a Biblical perspective. You think parents can help.
 
Question: What 3 ways will you involve parents?
 
Here are sample ways to involve parents:

• Invite parents to pray for their child.
• Invite parents to come to class to share how they apply a Biblical perspective.
• Encourage parents to ask their child questions like “What’s the Bible say about that?”

Question: What other ways can you involve parents?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Involve parents. Today.

You want your students to learn to better connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. You know that room decorations support learning. So, you decide change your room decorations.
 
Question: What 3 ways will you decorate your room?
 
Here are sample ways to decorate your room:

• A poster of a Bible verse (Micah 6.8).
• A banner with a key Biblical principle, for example, “Love your neighbor.”
• A list of key questions. Here are 4 key questions: Who is God? Who are you? What’s wrong with the world? What’s the solution?

Question: What other ways could you decorate your room?
 
Target Biblical perspective. Decorate your room. Today.

You want to more effectively help your students connect what they study and God's overarching story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration. So, you want to deepen your own understanding of the connections between what your students study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

Question: How can you do this?

Answer: By reflecting on what your students study and then identifying the connections between what your students study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

Question: Can you give an example of what this looks like?

Answer: Yes. Kim Essenburg (English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan) wrote out her reflections and connections for her introductory unit. Take a look.

What my students study:

1. Allende, Isabel. “Writing as an Act of Hope.” Contemporary Chilean author describes her vision for literature in South America to undermines totalitarian regimes, tell truth, and help people love each other better.
2. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. From “Nobel Lecture.” Winner of the 19XX Nobel Prize for literature, whose fictions depicting life in Soviet prison camps first raised the world’s awareness of human right’s abuses, describes his vision of how world literature promotes human understanding and undercuts lies and violence.
3. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” Well-known short story by the Colombian winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for literature. Using his signature magical realism style, Marquez critiques society by the various reactions to a storm-battered angel marooned in a small village.
4. Narayan, R.K. “Like the Sun.” Contemporary Indian writer explores in a short story form whether it is possible, or even good, to tell the whole truth all the time.
5. Confucius. From The Analects. These aphorisms have shaped Chinese culture for over 2000 years.
6. Hillary, Sir Edmund. “The Final Assault.” New Zealander conqueror of Everest describes the final ascent with great attention to detail, describing the difficulties of his assistant, and Hillary’s own arrival first at the peak.
7. Norgay, Tenzig. “The Dream Comes True.” Hillary’s guide and assistant describes the beauty of the mountains and asserts that he and Hillary were equal partners, helping each other, and arrived at the peak together.

Connections to creation-fall-redemption-restoration:

1. Creation: People, as God’s good creation in His good image, can use the good gift of language to reflect that image, create beauty, communicate truth, and shape culture as they participate with the Creator in unfolding the possibilities of the creation. Fiction writers like Marquez and Narayan mine the truths permeating creation, using creativity of subject and style; essayists like Allende and speakers like Solzhenitsyn note the role of literature in promoting truth, justice, and beauty; autobiographers like Hillary and Norgay describe the wonder of creation and of human achievement.
2. Fall: As a result of the Fall, God’s image in people is distorted. They refuse to acknowledge God and become blind to Him and His truth. They abuse each other and His gifts. Violence, lies, injustice, suffering, hypocrisy, power-mongering abound. Writers speak from a limited human and individual perspective, making truth sometimes difficult to discern for a reader (Hillary/Norgay).
3. Redemption: God has not left us without hope: He is the author and the ground of hope. Jesus’ death rescues people from hopelessness, reconciles us to God and empowers us to join him in restoring hope, truth, love. God’s word tells us how and why to live as beacons of hope, truth, and love. He is the one who has promised to complete the restoration.
4. Restoration: Because people retain a marred image of God, they can dimly sense that the way things are is not the way they are supposed to be, that there is a meaning which must be looked for, a standard of truth and justice and love and right that must be fought for. These writers deal a lot with truth: its power for overcoming lies, violence, and injustice (Solzhenitsyn, Allende); how we can tell what it is (Marquez), how we should wield it (Narayan), how we should live it (Confucius). As Christians, we rejoice in all efforts to restore creation, we search the scripture to affirm the truth authors have seen, and we rely on the Holy Spirit to make our efforts effective.

Your turn: Reflect on what your students study and then identify the connections between what your students study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

Target Biblical perspective. Deepen your understanding of the connections between what students study and God’s overarching story of creation-fall-redemption. Today.