Here are my top 3 ways to use questions effectively. These 3 ways work. Use them:

1. Frame each of your classes (and each of your units) around your Biblical perspective questions. For example, our English 10 course is framed around 4 questions: Who am I? Who is my neighbor? What’s wrong with the world? What is the significance of words?
   
2. Use Biblical perspective questions as the basis of unit and semester assessments. Be sure the assessments require your students to connect course content, their lives, and a Biblical perspective.
   
3. Post your questions on a bulletin board. This provides you and your students with an effective visual aid.

Here are 8 more ways:

1. When introducing your questions, help your students understand what each question means. For example, if I ask in science class “Why breathe?”, my students need to know that I am asking about why human beings need to breathe and about what the purpose of life is.
   
2. Prominently feature your questions on your course syllabi and Web site.
   
3. Invite parents to use your questions when talking to their child.
   
4. Have your students memorize your questions, give them a quiz on the questions, and grade the quiz. If your students have to memorize your questions, they will understand that you take your questions seriously. Even better, if your students memorize your questions, they can recall and use them.
   
5. Use one or more of your questions to start a unit.
   
6. During a unit, have your students journal on a question or complete a Venn diagram on a question.
   
7. Use questions as a springboard to having your students read the Bible and articles by Christians. For example, when considering “How should Christian respond to suffering?” ask your students to study Genesis 3:1-19. Have them read articles regarding Christian responses to poverty, discrimination, and exploitation.
   
8. Use your questions to review a unit. For example, at the end of a unit on Archibald MacLeish’s JB, an existentialist version of Job, make a web answer to “What’s wrong with the world?”

So, what’s the real question? Well, it’s not “How can I use my questions effectively?” It’s “How will I use questions effectively today to help my students apply a Biblical perspective?”

Remember: Success is your students increasing their application of a Biblical perspective as a result earnestly responding to a good question you ask. Success is not you knowing how to use questions effectively or even you using your questions effectively. But remember, using questions effectively helps your students earnestly respond to them.

*For a set of discussion questions you can use to further reflect on this blog entry, click here.