Shaping Learners' Hearts

Psalms has become one of my favorite books of the Bible. I love the deep, personal emotions that the psalm writers freely express – that the Lord graciously receives. The book of Psalms is an example of heart-shaping, as the writers continually call their own attention, and ours, back to the sovereign King, Judge, and Creator who is worthy of full trust and abundant praise. The writers burst out in praise of God for His amazing works and they battle with a range of emotions: anger, despair, repentance, fear, complaints, settled trust in God, joy in expecting God’s answers, etc. Through refocusing their thoughts to the Lord who is sovereign over their problems, they shape their hearts to praise, trust, love, and follow Him – and guide us to do the same.

That’s all great for Bible study, but what does it have to do with shaping learners’ hearts in the classroom? It shows us that our hearts can be shaped and that there are things we can do to intentionally shape our students’ hearts. No, it doesn’t mean you have to have a Bible study of the Psalms – there are other practices we can implement in our classrooms to shape learners’ hearts toward the content and skills that we are teaching and to the Lord and His perspective on life.

Shaping Hearts through Habits
Roger Erdvig, in Beyond Biblical Integration, notes that “One of the chief ways of [shaping desires] is by exposing children to the thing or concept that we want them to desire. Mere exposure, though, is only the beginning. The exposure should be consistent over a long period of time and should be actively engaged and celebrated.”[1] He calls these moments of consistent exposure “habits” and points out that there are common habits that teachers already use that can be harnessed to shape students’ desires to be aligned with a biblical worldview. Intentional reading groups fostering a love for reading and biblical worldview formation or morning greeting times where students greet each other and express value for their classmates are two examples Erdvig gives. Other examples might include utilizing a response to discipline issues that asks students to reflect on their behavior in light of integrity,[2] incorporating service learning projects to foster a servant’s heart for others in students, carefully crafting journal prompts that stimulate deeper reflection and interaction (particularly on matters relating to values and biblical integration), review games that encourage peer support, whole class read alouds, and class discussions.

Shaping Hearts through Community
In their book, We Belong, Laurie Barron and Patti Kinney note that for students, “Impressions about the extent of their belongingness continue to pile up throughout the day, and these affect students’ comfort and enjoyment in school, as well as the ways in which they view themselves, one another, and their successes in and out of the classroom.”[3] The need for community and a sense of belonging is echoed throughout Scripture.[4] God designed us for community and belonging, ultimately with Himself, but also with others. The classroom is a beautiful place to cultivate this sense of community in a God-honoring way. Beginning of the year class bonding experiences, purposeful small group collaboration, class values and expectations that reinforce the importance of mutual support and encouragement, restorative discipline practices – all these are examples of ways the classroom can be leveraged to shape students’ hearts toward desiring, recognizing, and living out God-honoring community and relationships.

Shaping Hearts through Role Models
Erdvig also describes the importance of role models in shaping students’ desires, noting that in addition to the teacher as a role model, students’ hearts are also shaped through the models they are exposed to in movies they watch and literature they read. He suggests introducing students to individuals who provide positive examples of God-honoring values and a biblical worldview – and appropriately exposing students to those with differing worldview perspectives, making sure to have purposeful discussions around those worldview differences. He recommends doing this through movies, books, and even bringing in guest speakers to share with students.[5]

There is a saying that “more is caught than taught,” and many of us recognize that our students observe more of our idiosyncrasies than we would like them to. Our own modeling of Christ-like behavior (and of repentance and reconciliation when we make mistakes) is an important part of helping our students grow into all God intends and of shaping their hearts to desire to know Him more. Our responses to their behavior, to their needs, to their joys or frustrations help to shape their hearts positively or negatively. (Like the Psalmists, we can point our students, through the whole gamut of their emotions, to trust the Lord who deeply cares for them and is sovereign over all.)

Shaping Hearts through Engagement
Our hearts are often bent toward wanting more of things we have an interest in or had an enjoyable experience with (the opposite also being true). Unfortunately, it is not infrequent that young learners enter school with a hunger for learning only to lose that interest in the first years of school. Why? Often because they have not been engaged in meaningful ways that relate to their nature. Donovan Graham describes several aspects of the nature of learners as image bearers of God, and points out that “School life and teachers’ approaches can either enhance the development of these characteristics or hinder it.”[6] Thus as we let these characteristics influence our design of learning experiences that are engaging for students, we begin to shape learners’ hearts toward becoming all God intends and toward God-honoring desires and thoughts.

Graham explains that as active and purposeful beings, learners must not be just passive recipients of instruction; they must do something with what they’re learning – something meaningful and relevant.[7] Engaging students by making learning relevant to them could mean addressing community needs within the context of a topic they’re learning. For example, having a community cleanup day to pick up trash on the streets when studying pollution and sustainability can shape students’ hearts toward the need to steward well the creation God has given us. Creating resource guides for new immigrants when studying immigration or foreign languages encourages them to give help to those who are vulnerable in society, as God calls His people to do.

Learners are also creative (developing and assigning value to things and ideas), free (making their own choices), and responsible (experiencing the consequences of their choices) beings.[8] By providing opportunities for students to express their own creativity (expecting them to do so) and to choose how to express it, we pique their interest and motivation to learn more. Some examples include utilizing choice boards to provide assignment and project options, giving students freedom to suggest a different assignment option, valuing responses that demonstrate deep thinking, and using techniques for differentiated instruction such as tiered assignments.

Shaping Hearts through Reflection
Erdvig highlights the importance of reflection, or processing, noting that it “is vital to good learning”[9] and explaining that without it deep learning is hindered.[10] Reflection coincides with another image-bearing trait that Graham describes – that of learners as rational beings who think, make sense of their world, and evaluate. In fact, Graham points out that “We can no longer allow ourselves to complain that today’s students just do not know how to think. Thinking is woven into the fabric of our existence (Genesis 2:19).”[11] Throughout Scripture, we are admonished to watch over our thinking and our hearts.[12] Our minds, and those of our students are susceptible to wrong thinking; thus, shaping our students’ hearts through reflection, helping train them to think deeply and critically, is a crucial aspect of our role. Here are a few practical steps to stimulate and support students’ reflection:

• Review the Project Zero Thinking Routines[13] and choose relevant ones for your students to engage with. The more regularly these are incorporated into your teaching practices, the more effective they will be.
• Use an AI assistant to create meaningful discussion prompts for the topic of study. An example from Copilot is “What would happen if we ignored fractions in cooking?” This could easily be transferred to other aspects of math or other subject areas and can be adapted to prompt student reflection on what can happen when we ignore God’s design in other areas of life.
• Use the DEAL framework for journal prompts: Describe the learning experience, explain how it connects to previous learning, articulate steps for further learning.[14]

Yes, as the Psalm writers demonstrate for us, there are things we can do to intentionally shape the hearts of our learners. And, praise God that hearts can be shaped so that we and our students can come to look more like Jesus and live becoming all He intends.

Esther Burnham
Esther has taught at the elementary level in the United States, Central America, Central Asia, and the Caribbean, and served as Elementary Principal during her time in Central Asia. Currently, she coordinates various training opportunities, helps to develop resources to equip teachers, and conducts teacher-training workshops. Esther enjoys helping teachers develop their skills and confidence in teaching and seeing them gain a deeper understanding of how to teach from a biblical perspective.