Close the Gap Now Tutorials

To learn more about enhancing professional development, explore these 6 questions

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-08-14T16:24:41+09:00

You want to your organization to achieve its God-given mission. You know that enhancing your organization’s professional development can help. So, you want to learn more.

Question: How can you learn more about enhancing your organization’s professional development?

Answer: By exploring the following list of 6 questions:

What do you want to focus your organization’s professional development on?
What are the components of a professional development plan?
What do you believe about professional development?
How can you enhance your organization's professional development program?
How can you increase the impact of professional development?
What are your organization's professional development needs?

Pursue excellence. Enhance your organization’s professional development. Today.

How can you learn to nurture your students’ faith even more?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-08-14T08:35:33+09:00

As a Christian school teacher, you want to nurture your students’ faith. So, you want to help your students:

Understand a Biblical perspective of what they study.
Apply a Biblical perspective to what they study.

Question: How can you learn to nurture your students’ faith even more?

Answer: By reflecting on questions. By reflecting on questions about understanding and applying Biblical perspective. Here are 65 questions, divided into categories:

To learn more about meeting your students' learning needs, explore these 12 questions

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-08-06T07:11:33+09:00

You want your students to develop a Christ-centered worldview. So, you want your students to increase their understanding and application of a Biblical perspective. To help them, you know you’ll need to meet their learning needs.

Question: How can you learn more about meeting your students’ learning needs?

Answer: By exploring the following list of 12 questions.

To learn more about targeting Biblical perspective, explore these 12 questions

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-08-04T10:23:27+09:00

You want your students to understand and apply a Biblical perspective—to connect what they study, the Bible, and their lives. To help your students do this, you know you need to target Biblical perspective even more. So, you want to learn how to do this.

Question: How can you learn more about targeting Biblical perspective?

Answer: By exploring the following list of 12 questions

To learn more about achieving your mission, explore these 4 questions

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-08-04T07:30:11+09:00

You want to learn more about achieving your God-given mission. You want deepen your understanding of:

Your mission
What it takes to achieve your mission
How you’re doing on achieving your mission
How you can close the gap between the words of your mission and the reality of your situation

Question: How can you learn more about achieving your mission?

Answer: By exploring the following 4 questions.

How can you improve your planning?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-31T16:22:24+09:00

You want improve in planning. You know this is going to feel like climbing a steep set of steps, so you decide to take it 1 step at a time.

Question: How can you climb the next step?

To find out:

Read about the 5 developmental steps (below).
Then, use the reflection questions to identify what you will do to climb the next step.

Here are the 5 steps.

How can you pursue a growing relationship with God?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-30T07:19:19+09:00

You want to continue pursuing a growing relationship with God. You know this involves things like:

Understanding the Bible, God’s Word, and allowing it to guide your life
Loving God and others
Bearing the fruit of the Spirit
Practicing spiritual disciplines
Participating in Christ’s Body, the Church
Making Christian disciples of all nations
Caring for God’s creation

Question: How can you pursue a growing relationship with God?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 7 questions:

What can you do to understand and apply the Bible even more?
To love God and others even more, what do you need to KeepStartStop doing?
How can you bear the fruit of the Spirit even more?
How can you practice the spiritual disciplines even more?
How can you participate in Christ's Body, the Church, even more?
To make even more disciples, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
How can you care for God's creation even more?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

*To talk a self-assessment on your relationship with God, click here.

Explore the Biblical perspective teacher training standards

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-30T07:01:41+09:00

You want to train your teachers to help their students apply a Biblical perspective to course content. Your task is to provide teachers with challenging, coherent, relevant training. Not an easy task. Why? Because you don’t have curriculum. More specifically, you don’t have a set of curriculum/training standards for teachers.

The result? Well, it's the same as when you teach students using a curriculum that is not standards-based (or one that does not have department objectives)—the content is not sufficiently challenging, coherent, and relevant. Consequently, students don't learn as much as they could.

Question: Where can you get a set of teacher training standards for helping students apply a Biblical perspective to what they study?

Answer: Right here!

To learn more about developing student objectives, explore these 7 questions

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-29T14:16:51+09:00

You want your school to achieve its mission. You know you need to define what it takes to achieve your school’s mission. You’ve hear that developing student objectives (schoolwide learning outcomes) might help. So, you want to learn more. Good.

Question: How can you learn more about developing student objectives?

Answer: By exploring the following 7 questions:

How can you define what it takes to carry out your school's mission?
Are student objectives right for you and your school?
What's developing student objectives look like?
What questions should you consider before developing student objectives?
What makes good student objectives good?
What are some reasons for developing student objectives?
How are mission, student objectives, and curriculum connected?

Focus on your mission. Use student objectives to define the achievement of your mission. Today.

To learn more about using assessment, explore these 12 questions

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-28T11:54:07+09:00

You want your students to apply a Biblical perspective to what they study. You’ve heard that assessment can help. So, you want to learn more. Good.

Question: How can you learn more about using assessment?

Answer: By exploring the following list of 12 questions.

To learn more about using questions, explore these 11 questions

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-28T09:46:06+09:00

You want your students to connect what they study, the Bible, and their lives. You’ve heard that asking questions is an effective way to help students make connections. So, you want to learn more. Good.

Question: How can you learn more about using questions?

Answer: By exploring the following list of 11 questions.

What are your organization's professional development needs?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-06-24T08:45:00+09:00

To close the gap between the words of your mission statement and the reality of your current situation, do 4 things: focus on your mission, empower others, work smart, and pursue excellence.

To what extent do staff in your organization do these 4 things? To find out, take the following self-assessment.

Lead by asking questions

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-06-17T14:30:45+09:00

Leaders empower others. A key way leaders empower others is by asking questions.

To get an idea of how you can more effectively lead by asking questions, complete the following self-assessment.

Give your students a Biblical perspective assessment that SCOREs

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-08T07:52:19+09:00

Use assessment to help your students value and get proficient at connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches.

What type of Biblical perspective 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”?

Help your students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-05-30T15:00:00+09:00

Want to help your students to better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to God’s story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration? Good. Reflecting on a set of DRAW questions can help you determine what action steps to take. What does “DRAW” stand for?

Define the facts.
Respond to the facts in terms of feelings/experiences.
Analyze the facts, feelings, and experiences.
What’s next?: Consider next steps.

As a result of reflecting on the following set of DRAW questions, you will identify 1 or more SMART action steps you will take to help your students better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to God’s story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

Energize, focus, and unleash Christian school staff

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-06-19T08:15:29+09:00

As an administrator at an international Christian school, you know that staff play a vital role in carrying out the mission. Because your care about your staff, want to be good a steward of the staff God has provided, and want your school to carry out its God-given mission, you ask yourself, “How can we energize, focus, and unleash staff both personally and professionally?”

To find out, take the following self-assessment. Rate each item, using the following scale:
4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely

Empower others to strategically pursue God's calling

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-06-19T07:37:38+09:00

Your client wants to clarify and strategically pursue God’s calling. That’s great!

Question: How can you empower your client to do this?

Answer: By asking 10 questions:

How has God blessed you to pursue His calling?”
What problems and opportunities are you passionate about & blessed by God to address?
What’s your mission?
What’s it take to carry out your God-given mission?
What’s already been accomplished?
What helps/hinders you in achieving your goals?
What are your options for achieving your goals?
What will you do to achieve your goals?
What will you do this week?
How can you continue to make progress?

Your client will need multiple sessions to reflect on these 10 questions, and your client might benefit from using tools. This set of tools includes a self-assessment and addresses questions 1-7.

Develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-03-03T16:59:28+09:00

Want to use your curriculum to help students develop a Christ-centered worldview? Reflecting on the following 7 questions can help:

What’s the goal?
Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what are the opportunities/problems?
What’s your stakeholders’ perspective of a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?

Use the 1-2-3-2-1 lesson model

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-02-28T09:34:24+09:00

You want to help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. But you’re having difficulty developing an effective lesson plan.

Question: Is there a lesson model that can help?

Explore getting coaching

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-12-29T14:07:33+09:00

You want to pursue God’s calling. You’ve heard about coaching, and you want to explore getting coaching. Good. Start your exploration by watching this 1-minute video.

Does coaching help people pursue God’s calling? Yes.

As a result of getting coaching, I’ve clarified my ministry, better balanced home and work, and more effectively led change.
Those I coach consistently testify that coaching helps them achieve their goals.
And research indicates that coaching, for example, increases training impact by 300%.

To further explore coaching, focus on 4 questions:

What is coaching?
In coaching, who does what?
What could you work on with a coach?
Are you ready for coaching? (Download, print, and complete this self-assessment.)

Review: You’ve explored getting coaching by thinking about what coaching is, what the client and coach are responsible for, what you can work on with a coach, and how ready you are to be coached.

Question: What are you going to do?

Teach and assess Biblical perspective, then reflect

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-06-02T15:21:52+09:00

The challenge: At Christian schools, we want our students to develop a Christ-centered worldview, to see all of life through the lens of Scripture, to learn about God and His creation. This is a big challenge! One way we address this challenge is by having our students connect what they study with Biblical teaching.

Where can you get some help with this challenge?

Meet your students' learning needs

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-05-27T08:44:52+09:00

To help your students better connect what they study and what the Bible teaches, DEAL with your students’ learning needs:

Define your students’ learning needs.
Explore the how you can respond to your students’ learning needs.
Act.
Look at the results.

Take action: Take 4 steps to DEAL with your students’ learning needs.

Christian education involves worldview education

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-05-26T15:22:58+09:00

Christian education involves worldview education, education that helps students develop and apply a Christian worldview. Here's a 6-part tutorial you can use to explore Christian worldview education.

Use assessment to help students understand and apply a Biblical perspective

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-05-26T05:33:56+09:00

A key goal of Christian education is students increasing their understanding and application of a Biblical perspective. Assessment can help! Here's a 4-part tutorial on how you can use assessment. The tutorial address the vision for assessment, assessment for learning, goal setting, and rubric usage.

Use questions to help students understand and apply a Biblical perspective

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-04-18T14:31:36+09:00

You want your students to honor Christ and impact the world from Him. Consequently, you want to nurture faith in Christ. One way you do this is by helping your students understand and apply a Biblical perspective to what they study. You've heard that asking questions is a good way to do this.

You wonder, "Does asking questions help students understand and apply a Biblical perspective?"

Heidi Schaeffer, who teachers Science 5, says, "Questions helped my students see how creation points to God."
And in the following video, Michael Essenburg says that asking questions is a doable, effective way to help students understand and apply a Biblical perspective.

Target student application of a Biblical perspective to course content

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-04-18T14:26:48+09:00

As a Christian school teacher, you want your students to love God with their minds. So, you work to help your students apply a Biblical perspective to the course content you teach. This is a challenge. To meet this challenge, target student application of a Biblical perspective. This tutorial can help!