Discussion Questions
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Explain, in your own words, Dr. Black’s visual of a book in the middle of two Bibles. What is she illustrating with this visual?
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The Word is our foundation, the beginning of all lessons and the end of all lessons. The curriculum is the middle of the “book”
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I think the visual is a good reminder. We start and end with God’s Word for all that we do. That fact doesn’t take away from the importance of creating/following a scope and sequence that has worthwhile formative and summative assessments. The visual simply reminds us that all of those components sit on God’s Word and God’s Word has the final say.
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As Christian educators, God’s Word needs to serve as the foundation of our teaching and planning- what we need to start with and end with (when we teach, plan, set goals for learning, assess etc).
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God’s word needs to be our foundation. We need to start with the word and end with the word. I thought of it like being the bread of our learning sandwich. The Bible needs to be part of every lesson that we teach.
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Christian teachers must use biblical teachings as the foundation for their lessons. The Bible is also used as the framework upon which each subject is built. For example, we can observe many different moral dilemmas depicted in works of literature and what a Christian response would be. In mathematics, there is order and logic and certainty, following natural laws established by the God of the Bible. Standards of beauty inspire those who admire works of art, representing our creative nature given by a creative God. And like Solomon determined at the end of Ecclesiastes, to “fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.” In other words, every lesson should reinforce this biblical mandate to revere our Creator and His purpose for our lives.
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What are some techniques you have used, or currently use, to encourage a growth mindset in yourself?
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I have always loved learning, I am constantly researching and reading books about various topics that interest me. I also teach new courses which forces me to dive deeper into the subjects in order to teach them. But this lesson challenged me to continue to grow in my knowledge of the Lord, because I do feel like sometimes I am drawing from past knowledge and it is not coming from a fresh revelation or exposure to the Scriptures. I need to do this on a daily basis.
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A technique that I naturally use is to ask the wisdom and advice of veteran teachers or godly teachers who I admire. Hearing the advice and wisdom from others of what they do in their own classrooms or situations they have had with students or what things have worked for them in the past encourages me to grow and continue bettering my methods in the classroom and approach to nurturing and guiding students.
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Encourage students to remember Dweck’s saying of “not yet”. Instead of a fixed mindset where they don’t see the possibilities, lead them to see that one day they can accomplish many things.
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I currently monitor my thoughts, words, and actions to make sure that they align with the word of God. I don’t always get it right but developing a growth mind set is important.
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I like to collaborate with colleagues and share techniques and activities as well as join online communities where ideas are shared. I keep myself open to change and trying new things in the classroom instead of doing the same things year after year.
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What do you hope to gain from this course?
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I want to fully understand how to integrate a Biblical Worldview into my daily teaching.
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I want to truly develop a growth mindset and integrate a Christian philosophy of education into my teaching and all of my life.
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I would like to learn more about Bible integration in some of my courses that are more difficult to accomplish this task in.
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What I would like to gain from this course is knowing the best practices in how to integrate God’s word throughout each subject taught.
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Sometimes I struggle without to integrate the word in to my lessons…such as math, so I hope to get some ideas on how to make that easier.