Do you want to help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches? To value those connections? And to get feedback you can use to modify instruction? If so, give your students a Biblical perspective assessment.

Kim Essenburg serves with Christian Reformed World Missions by teaching English 10 at Christian Academy in Japan. Kim shares student responses to a 1-point, open-ended test question on Elie Wiesel’s Night.

Question: What is one other significant thing you learned or thought about this unit that you have not yet had an opportunity to show on this test?
 
Student responses:

• I learned how because we are made in God’s image, we should not hurt ourselves or others, because we are hurting God and His wonderful creation.
• We read and see cruel events through newspaper or TV or in our daily life. When we see such things, we begin to feel sorry for the people who are suffering and try to become compassionate. However, we only keep that feeling for a moment and go back to our usual life. Therefore, I learned that in order to show a real compassion like God does to us, we need to take action and try to make a change.
• It’s so true how we see something as terrible, but we don’t do anything. We say, “That’s somebody else’s problem,” but really, as God’s people, we should do something.
• I learned clearly why this world can’t survive without God. Without God, there would be no equality among peoples, and nobody would have value. And if this were the case, there would be no reason for any of us to regard any other human with any kind of respect or dignity. Everything would be equally meaningless, wars and chaos would ensue, people would be killing each other, and no one could survive. But God gives us meaning, purpose, and a reason to live.

At Christian schools, we want our students connecting:

1. Content/skills and life. We want students connecting ecology with how they dispose of trash.
2. Content/skills and Biblical principles. We want students connecting decisions made by government with Biblical principles regarding justice and peace.
3. Biblical principles and life. We want students connecting Biblical principles regarding wealth, love, and the sanctity of life with the movies they watch.

Question: How can you help your students make connections?
 
Answer: By giving assessments that require your students to connect content/skills and Biblical principles or content/skills, Biblical principles, and life.
 
In other words, don't give an assessment that leaves things disconnected. That’s like putting café latte ingredients (coffee, water, and milk) in separate containers—then eating the coffee, drinking the water, and then drinking the milk. Which would you rather have: a real café latte or the ingredients of a café latte?
 
Question: Got any sample assessments that require students make connections?
 
Answer: Check out the assessment prompts below.
 
Bottom line: Require your students to make connections. Today.

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Here are some sample assessments that require students to make connections:

English

1. 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? Support your answer with (1) examples from literature, history/current events, and your own experience, and (2) the Biblical principles of respecting God’s image bearers and loving our neighbors.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Math

1. Construct a model of the solar system that accurately represents planet size and planet distance from the sun. Next, write a paragraph in response to the following question: What does math have to do with God’s world? In your paragraph, make three connections between the Biblical truths we studied in class and the model you made. Include quotations from two Bible passages.
2. Mr. Hall wants to buy an Apple computer and doesn’t have enough money to pay up front. As Mr. Hall’s financial advisor, use a spreadsheet analysis to explain the credit-card payment plan, the Apple credit-account plan, and the Apple education lease plan. Next, advise Mr. Hall on which payment plan he should choose, basing your recommendation on a Biblical perspective of wealth and material goods that was studied in class.

Science

1. Write a two-paragraph report about a dinosaur of your choice. Include where the dinosaur lived, when it lived, what it ate, what it looked like, its size, how it got its name, who found it, and any other interesting facts you found. Give three examples of how your dinosaur shows God’s creativity and power.
2. Give a 5-minute presentation on a piece of electricity-related technology in which you present the electrical device, the science of how it works, and a response to the following questions: How has this device impacted society? What’s a Biblical perspective of that impact?
3. Use three carbon footprint calculators to estimate your family’s and your greenhouse gas emissions. Compare your results with national averages. In the context of using your learning to care for God’s creation, identify three ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Next, make a poster that shows what you learned, including your calculations, a graph of your personal footprint, a Biblical perspective of carbon footprints, and three steps you could take to reduce your carbon footprint.

Social Studies

1. Write a one-page essay about the following: Based on what the Bible teaches about war, would you have fought in the Revolutionary War on the side of the colonists? In your answer, explain what the Bible teaches (cite two Bible verses). Next, use what the Bible teaches to evaluate reasons colonists fought in the war. Conclude with what you would do and why.
2. Teach your classmates about the aspect of ancient Egyptian culture/history you researched. Show what the Bible teaches about it and how it connects to you.

Kim Essenburg serves with Christian Reformed World Missions by teaching English 10 at Christian Academy in Japan. Kim shares about a recent prompt and her student learning results.

The prompt? Compare/contrast how 2 characters from Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country illuminate the Biblical concept of shalom and apply that to a current event or personal situation.

The student learning results?

1. Forgiveness is ceasing to feel resentment against those who deserve it….
2. One speech, one sentence, one word, can change the world. It can either corrupt or rebuild.
3. Scripture refers to this peace in an analogy—“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat…for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord” (New Internatioal Version, Isa. 11.6, 9). Without complete shalom in the world presently, we as God’s creations are “subjected to frustration” and we “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for…the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8.20, 23). In order for us to attain this ideal, we must “act justly,” “Love mercy,” and “walk humbly with [our] God” (Mic. 6.8). Shalom is peace in every aspect of creation, and it is the full restoration of God, so people have an obligation to join God to work towards this ultimate goal as God does so, too.
4. God has given everyone many different gifts and talents, and none of them is any more important than the others. As Paul says to the Romans, “we have different gifts, according to the grace given us…. If [one’s gift] is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously” (Romans 12.6-8). It is our duty as servants of God to work to build shalom into this world, to build unity and loving relationships through whatever gifts we have.
5. Once we comprehend what shalom is, we are all responsible for using our gifts to work toward it. This leaves two problems: first, that people may not know that the world is lacking shalom, and second, that they may not bother to make any difference. This is what is so necessary about stories like Cry, the Beloved Country: they help us understand shalom and show the results of either using your gift to help bring shalom to our world or just using it for yourself. How will you now live?
6. …although I did not generate gossip about this person myself, to my shame, I did not stand up against it. Regrettably, I even laughed along occasionally, graduating from tacit agreement to a deepening evil…. Whether this girl had heard the bad things said about her or not, churning rumors or gossip about anyone or secretly taking pleasure in someone else’s dismay, is against what God created us to do.
7. I have been challenged to think how I could bring shalom in my community. Contributing in bringing shalom is a very difficult thing to do, but I came up with a tiny action toward it. That is to help my mom wash dishes. Her fingers suffer from bone deformation. They can suddenly start hurting, and she often has a hard time washing dishes. By helping my mom, I would be able to bring shalom in my house because my mom will suffer less. In shalom, love sweeps away suffering and pain. I would be part of it if I could wash the dishes and make her suffer less.

Question: Who is the audience of an assessment prompt?
 
Answer: Your students. So, keep your audience in mind when writing your assessment prompt. Be sure to:

• Use developmentally appropriate vocabulary. For example, you can use “disregard” with 10th graders, but not with 6th graders.
• Keep your assessment prompt to 75 words or less. That’s right, 75 words or less. Meaning, 75 words for high schoolers and less for lower grades.

Question: Who is not the audience of an assessment prompt?
 
Answer: You, the teacher. You are the author of the assessment prompt, not the audience. Implications?

• The assessment prompt doesn’t need to be teacher-friendly. For example, the assessment prompt doesn’t need to be written using vocabulary words that are developmentally appropriate for you.
• The goal is not to have an assessment prompt that makes sense to you, the teacher. The goal is to have an assessment prompt that makes sense to your students.

Question: What does a student-friendly assessment prompt look like?
 
Answer: The following 3 assessment prompts use developmentally appropriate vocabulary and are 28-56 words in length.

• Grade 6: Presentation (5-7 minutes)—Teach your classmates about the aspect of ancient Egyptian culture/history you researched. Show what the Bible teaches about it and how it connects to you.
• Grade 8: Presentation—Give a 5-minute presentation on a piece of electricity-related technology in which you present the electrical device, the science of how it works, and a response to the following questions: How has this device impacted society? What’s a Biblical perspective of that impact?
• Grade 10: Essay (750 words)—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? Support your answer with (1) examples from literature, history/current events, and your own experience, and (2) the Biblical principles of respecting God’s image bearers and loving our neighbors.

Bottom line: Make you assessment prompt student-friendly in terms of vocabulary and length (75 words or less). Today.

Heidi Schaeffer, who teaches grade 5 at Christian Academy in Japan, reflects on a recent unit.

What are you excited about?
Heidi: I’m excited that my 5th grade science students can connect course content to Biblical teaching, resulting in them making healthy choices. In an essay at the end of a recent health unit, students wrote things like:

• “I learned that...if you're not spiritually healthy, it will affect your physical health.”
• “I have learned that you need to be with God. God will help you make decisions. If the answer doesn't come right away, you have to wait. He will help me.”
• “The first step in being healthy is to have a good relationship with God. I will put God first and trust Him that He can help me with my health.”

What were your students studying?
Heidi: They studied human growth and change in terms of 4 aspects of health: physical, mental, social, and spiritual. For physical health, students learned about family life, the respiratory system, and nutrition. For mental health, they studied about expressing their feelings appropriately. For social health, we learned about wise ways to respond to others. And for spiritual health, students studied how our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and, consequently, how spiritual health is the foundation of all health.

What was the essay prompt?
Heidi: In a 4-paragraph essay, respond to the following question: How can I make healthy choices? Be sure to address each of the 4 aspects of health.

How did you prepare your students for writing the essay?
Heidi: After studying an aspect of health, we talked about good choices and bad choices. For example, for physical and spiritual health, we discussed how to have a healthy respiratory system and a healthy spiritual life. During the discussion, students referred to information from the text, including Biblical teaching on taking care of our bodies. They also looked up verses on being the temple of the Holy Spirit, like I Corinthians 3:16-17 and 6:19-20. Students then used being the temple of the Holy Spirit as the basis of decision-making.

For social health, students read about and discussed 3 ways they could handle emotions and respond to others. Then, they studied verses from Proverbs (11:13, 15:9, 17:9, 17:17, 21:33) regarding how to respond to others in specific situations—when others gossip, for example.
To further prepare to write the essay, my students reviewed each aspect of health, the impact it has on growth and change, and what types of choices they should make, given that they are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Then, I introduced the essay prompt. To get started on writing an organized essay, my students brainstormed content for each of the paragraphs—what they learned about a given aspect of health and how to connect the content to making a healthy choice. Students used their brainstorming to write their 4-paragraph essays.

What did you learn from teaching your unit on health?
Heidi: I learned that because my students are growing and changing, their views on health are also growing and changing. They are taking responsibility for themselves and their choices. I learned that students can connect course content and Biblical teaching, provided they are given frequent opportunities and time to make the connection. My students are familiar with Bible content, and giving them opportunities to connect it to a choice helps them deepen their understanding of how God wants them to live.

What modifications will you make to your unit?
Heidi: My students have different levels of Bible knowledge. Some are new to the Bible and making connections; some understand the Bible and readily make connections. Having these types of students work together, especially when brainstorming for the essay, would help.

Help your students develop a Christ-centered worldview during class by teaching Biblical perspective lessons and giving Biblical perspective assessments.

Like you, I want students to develop a Christ-centered worldview. Like you, I want students to understand the importance of connecting what they study and Biblical principles, and I want students to proficiently connect what they study and Biblical principles.
 
How can you help your students understand the importance of connecting what they study and Biblical principles?
Use the same strategy you use for helping your students know what course content is important—give an assessment. That’s right. Give a Biblical perspective assessment.
 
This is reasonable. After all, you’ve taught your students a Biblical perspective of what they’re studying. You’re doing the same thing you do with other material you deem important.
 
By assessing Biblical perspective, you demonstrate that you think it’s important, and you help students think it’s important. Trust me—students correlate what’s assessed with what’s important. (If you don’t assess Biblical perspective, your students will probably conclude that Biblical perspective is as important as other things that come up in class that you don’t assess. Not good.)
 
How can you help your students proficiently connect what they study and Biblical teaching?
Use the same strategy you use for helping your students get proficient—give your students practice. You know practice helps:

• Writing essays helps your students improve their writing.
• Singing in concerts helps your students improve their singing.
• Giving speeches helps your students improve their speaking skills.

 
Why am I telling you this? Here’s why: Essays, concerts, and presentations help your students improve. Essays, concerts, and speeches are forms of assessment. Assessment helps your students improve.
 
What's the connection? Assessment helps your students connect what they study and Biblical principles. That’s right. Your students will improve their connections as they complete assessments.
 
What type of assessment can you give your students?
Any type—provided the assessment prompt SCOREs.
 
What do I mean by “any type”? I mean you can give more than just tests. For example, you can ask your students to write essays, do projects, and give presentations.
 
What do I mean by “provided the assessment prompt SCOREs”? I mean that the assessment prompt needs to:

• Be Student-friendly in terms of vocabulary and length (75 words or less). That’s right. The assessment needs to be student-friendly because students are taking the assessment. The assessment doesn’t need to be teacher-friendly because the teacher isn’t taking the assessment. What do I mean by teacher friendly? I mean the prompt is written for the teacher. I’ve seen prompts only the teacher could really understand—500 words with no clear point.
• Require students to Connect content/skills, Biblical principle(s), and life. Don't give an assessment that leaves things disconnected. That’s like putting chocolate chip cookie ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and chocolate chips) in a bowl, but not stirring them together to make dough. Which would you rather eat: chocolate chip cookie dough or unmixed ingredients?
• Give Opportunities for student choice, as appropriate. Giving students the opportunity to make choices unleashes student learning and potential. I’ve seen this repeatedly. So have you.
• Be Rigorous. A rigorous assessment inspires student learning. In my experience, students enjoy challenging assessments and don’t enjoy easy assessments.
• Be Even worthy of being taught to. Prepare your students by teaching to the assessment. Just make sure your assessment is actually worthy of being taught to!

 
What’s an effective Biblical perspective assessment look like?
Here’s a prompt for a 750-word essay: 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? Support your answer with (1) examples from literature, history/current events, and your own experience, and (2) the Biblical principles of respecting God’s image bearers and loving our neighbors. (54 words)
 
Bottom line: Assessment help students to understand the importance of connecting what they study and Biblical principles and to proficiently connect what they study and Biblical principles.
 
Action step: Develop a Biblical perspective assessment that SCOREs. Prepare your students for this assessment and then have them take it.

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)?

Kim Essenburg serves with Christian Reformed World Missions by teaching English 10 at Christian Academy in Japan. Kim shares about how assessment helps students apply a Biblical perspective to what they study.

What student learning results are you excited about?

Kim: At the end of a recent short story unit, I had students apply a Biblical perspective to 1 of the short stories we studied. Here are 3 excerpts from student essays:

1. “The Guest” by Albert Camus: 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.
   
   
2. “The Bucket Rider” by Franz Kafka: We…have…hope that Nihilism doesn’t know of: all our suffering is going to end. Revelation describes the coming of heaven in chapter 21, verse 3b and 4: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tea from there eyes. There will be no more death or morning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” What a comforting thought!
   
   
3. “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy: The Bible is clear about what fostering such desires does to people. Jesus said in Luke 12.15 that people have the wrong idea about what it is to truly live when they look for fulfillment in things…. And Paul commands the rich to put their hopes in God, rather than in their wealth “so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life” (I Tim. 6.17-19). But what could be greater than having substantial wealth? Hebrews sheds some light on this question: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13.5).

What was the assessment prompt?

Kim: My students wrote a 500-word persuasive essay on the following: Identify the theme of a short story, analyze how the author uses literary conventions to communicate the theme, and evaluate the theme from a Biblical perspective.

• The main part of this essay will be about the theme.
  
• For your thesis and preview of points, state the theme and the main literary conventions the author uses to communicate the theme (setting, characterization, plot, imagery, symbol, irony, diction…).
  
• In the body paragraphs, use support from the story, including at least 3 quotations.
  
• For your conclusion, write a Biblical perspective paragraph. Pick 1 Biblical principle related to the theme and cite at least 3 Bible passages and 1 example from your own life/observation to support the Biblical principle.

What are you learning about helping students apply a Biblical perspective to what they study in class?

Kim: Assessment helps. The more Biblical perspective assessments I give, the better my students get at applying a Biblical perspective. The more practice I give them, the better they get. Repeatedly giving Biblical perspective assessments really does help my students apply a Biblical perspective!

Kim and Michael Essenburg, missionaries with Christian Reformed World Missions, serve at Christian Academy in Japan. Here they discuss students applying a Biblical perspective.

Michael: What 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.”

Michael: I can see why you’re excited. 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.

Michael: 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.

Michael: That’s a challenging essay prompt. 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.

Michael: Your students did significant preparation for the essay. Sounds like they learned a lot. 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