1/2 Credit Reflections

I'll be turning in my final project for my Education 1 class tomorrow. It's a three-ring binder that will function as a "learning portfolio" for many of the materials, readings, and educational resources I'll be collecting while here at Luther over the coming semesters and years. Included in the portfolio will be a copy of all the blog posting that I've done for this class including this final reflection.

The assigned readings for this class included a variety of sources and subject matters. Asked to select the one book that added the most value to the course, I'd have to lift up The Church as Learning Community: A Comprehensive Guide to Christian Education by Norma Cook Everist. As I had no prior formal background in the science of education, I was grateful for this book's seemingly comprehensive review of Christian educational theory. Structured around a church-related rhythm of gathering, growing and sending, this guide is a helpful tool that I am certain I'll return to in the future.

It has been interesting for this education theory novice to take into consideration the principles presented in this class when evaluating this and my other courses this semester. Apparently, I picked up enough knowledge to be dangerous when it comes to critiquing the teaching styles and lesson planning of the faculty with whom I have come in contact. While I'm sure my course evaluations will certainly be filled with greater commentary, I have to hope that I'll also have more empathy for the teachers that are working so hard to perform this incredible task. God bless them.

I'm glad that I decided to take this class so early in my time here at Luther; many of the ideas explored should prove to be integral to much of what comes my way. Indeed, some of it already has. I thought my instructor performed admirably and I would look forward to taking additional courses from her in the future. The only major negative is that I felt this 1/2 credit course was at least as content-rich and expectation-filled as most of my full credit courses. I'm not sure what material I would have left out, but perhaps limiting the readings somewhat would have allowed for a little more depth and a little less breadth. All in all, I have to admit that the return on my invested time and effort was quite high.

Learning in Paradox

"My vocation (to use the poet's term) is the spiritual life, the quest for God, which relies on the eye of the heart. My avocation is education, the quest for knowledge, which relies on the eye of the mind. I have seen life through both these eyes as long as I can remember - but the two images have not always coincided... I have been forced to find ways for my eyes to work together, to find a common focus for my spirit-seeking heart and my knowledge-seeking mind that embraces reality in all its amazing dimensions." - Parker J. Palmer

Here are a few of my reflections on Parker Palmer’s Six Paradoxical Tensions* when considering teaching/learning spaces:

1. The space should be bounded and open. I have seen how important it is for teachers to create learning environments (literally and figuratively) that are big enough to allow for and encourage exploration. At the time, learning needs focus and establishing boundaries remains a critical piece of the teaching/learning dynamic. In written assignments for my Old Testament class, for example, we are free to write on any topic or question that comes to mind in relation to a chosen set of verses. Yet we are confined to use the Bible as the only reference point and encouraged to exclude any outside sources. In this way, we are being trained into careful scriptural study and yet remain open to the depth and range of how the scriptures can speak to us.

2. The space should be hospitable and charged. I can say with certainty that most of the teaching/learning environments I’ve experienced since coming to campus this fall have created safe, nurturing settings. In addition, there is no sitting back as I am continually challenged to perform at a deeper level. I appreciate this juxtaposition of comfort and stress and how it seems to be pushing me to engage the work at hand in a more compelling fashion.

3. The space should invite the voice of the individual and the voice of the group. While a lot of attention is given to this tension here at Luther, I can tell that this is one of the harder paradoxes within which to maintain balance. Given the amount of lecturing that goes on here, you can imagine that certain voices reign supreme. In addition, during the group discussion times of my courses with fairly large class sizes, only a few voices seem to be heard. No significant efforts are placed into drawing out the quieter voices or toward group consensus-building. While I see this as a necessary evil of this academic setting, and perhaps more unique to these larger “survey” courses, I look forward to watching this dynamic change in the coming semesters and certainly within the educational aspects of my own ministry down the road.

4. The space should honor the “little” stories of the students and the “big” stories of disciplines and tradition. Here too, I am experiencing a stronger presence of the “big” stories during this first semester at Luther. While I am valuing greatly the learning of foundational elements of theological education, I look forward to the times when the stories of the individuals break through. For example, when we get opportunities to connect with people who are actively engaged in the life of the church in the world, I feel that learning seems to come full circle.

5. The space should support solitude and surround it with the resources of community. I feel like I am sitting comfortably within the tension of this paradox. Since my time during the First Week Orientation and up until today, I am impressed at how this seminary has worked to create a rich learning community. At the same time, I am pleased to have found great benefit in the times spent alone. This has given me the freedom to pay attention to the specifics of my work and yet supported me with tremendous resources, some tangible and others spiritual.

6. The space should welcome both silence and speech. I am a reminded of a practice that was included in the daily rhythms of Christikon Lutheran Bible Camp, where I worked as a staff person during my undergraduate college years. At one point during the day, the whole camp engaged in “quiet time” when everyone was instructed to go off by themselves and use the time for personal reflection, reading, journaling or the like. Most of all, there was no talking permitted with any other camper or staff person. As you can imagine, this silence was easy for some and nearly impossible for others. I rode both ends of that spectrum during my time at Christikon. Now, I have come to value the importance of this practice. I have found that when I can be intentional with times of silence then I am able to more deeply appreciate the times when I am engaged in conversation. I look forward to seeing how this rhythm will develop during my time here at Luther.

Another paradox? If I were to make an argument for a seventh paradox, I would give some thought to learning environments that are at times casual and at other times professional. In creating spaces for learning to take place, benefit can be gained from casual settings that encourage relaxed conversation and lowered inhibitions. At the same time, there are times when the subject matter or the learning style may profit from a more professional approach. A more structured environment may lend certain credibility to the topic at hand.

* Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 1998), pages 73 – 77.

A walk through the Eight Facets of Learning*

This is a reflection on how my ideas of learning in the church have been transformed through the work experienced in my Education 1 class this past semester.

Community
The role of community in the learning and teaching process is integral to my developing Trinitarian understanding of the purpose of the church. To be a Christian means to be in community. Therefore if we are going to teach about Christianity, then it needs to be done in community.
In my own experience, I struggled with the decision to begin my studies as a “distance learner” or become a “residential student.” While I decided that I would be too distracted in my home surroundings and thus would need to remove myself from those distractions in order to focus on learning, I was also pleased to benefit from a number of the characteristics of learning in the community located here at Luther. In particular, ... continue reading

Presentation
This facet of learning is demonstrated by the majority of teaching I have experienced here at Luther. The variety of presentation methods and styles has spanned a broad spectrum. At times I have found presentations to have been highly effective in my learning and at other times I’ve questioned the value of having invested the time to even listen. I would like to contrast two recent presentations that describe some of what I have experienced:
The first presentation employed the use of power point, a technology that is widely used but when not employed properly can actually become a hindrance to carrying the message being presented. In this case, ... continue reading

Discussion
As we are called to be in a dialogical relationship with God, it only makes sense that we employ good use of a discussion technique when focusing on Christian education. Important when considering discussion is to recognize that good listening creates as much value as does good talking. A number of my courses this semester have employed discussion times to provide opportunity for greater learning and I have gained a few insights along the way.
Group size may have more to do with the quality of the discussion more than any other factor. It’s no surprise that the larger the group, the less effective the discussion becomes. In a number of my ... continue reading

Study
It seems that much of what I dedicate my time to when outside of the classroom is study. This study is taking on a variety of forms. Much of the work I am doing is in reaction to class presentations and assigned readings. For example, while my Greek professor presents concepts and briefly demonstrates the basics of the language in class, it remains for me to spend time memorizing vocabulary, practicing verb conjugations, and translating verses. It’s through this work that the bulk of my understanding of Greek is occurring. In addition to performing rote memorization, a number of my other classes are requiring me to put in significant time studying in preparation for analytical writings and exams. Depending on my interest level in the topic, this effort has yielded varying results.
The effectiveness of my studies seems to be linked to a number of factors. First, the quality of the resources available in my study has much to do with my ability to engage the topics at hand. Next, when I am given ... continue reading

Individual
One of the major teaching techniques employed here at Luther is to assign significant volumes of reading, a key element of the individual learning facet. In fact, I believe that I have read more words and pages in the past six weeks then I’ve read in the past six years. While I believe the quality of the readings is high, the value of them has been compromised by their sheer volume. One of my classes, for example, would be better served to use just one of the assigned textbooks and discard the other two. I believe more would have been gained if we could have drilled down into the one text rather than just glancing off the surface in order to skim the material presented in the other two.
It’s important to note that ... continue reading

Confrontation
I can appreciate that the goal of confrontational learning relates to the church’s missional identity by demonstrating “that the Christian learner is now alive and thinking, making choices and acting in the world. Unfortunately, I just haven’t had much opportunity to engage in this type of learning in the past six weeks. It’s just not a technique that has been employed by any of the courses I am enrolled in. On a personal level, I do feel like my developing faith has made itself known within the conversations I’m having around the coming regional and national elections. I suppose it’s a bit like the early confessors of the church, who in the course of public discourse, were forced into formalizing statements of their beliefs and then watching as those statements become the foundation for debate, disagreement and discord. Over time, hopefully, the truth seems to rise to the surface and we should give thanks to those on both sides of the arguments for sticking their necks out to engage in the debate.

Experience
In a previous piece, I stated how much I value experiential learning. Yet only a few of my classes this semester seem to be offering me this type of opportunity. Employing case studies, role playing, simulations, expeditionary learning and the like, I find to be incredibly helpful in my learning process. When I find the need to access the information later, I always appreciate being able to tell a story of my own experience with the topic at hand. With respect to this education class, I certainly have appreciated all of its experiential elements and can imagine that the topics of the class that I was able to experience first-hand, like preparing the Advent/Intelligence Model presentation, will remain in the forefront of my memory. A case study being developed ... continue reading

Reflection
The last of these facets of learning is probably the one I had the least exposure to prior to coming to Luther this fall. Not unaware of its value, however, I decided to begin this blog in order to provide a medium for me to process my journey and open up my story to those who may be on this journey (literally and in spirit) with me. Perhaps it’s serendipity, but the reflective writing assignments for this class have created great content for me to share on my blog. In addition, the experience of preparing these writings has given me valuable coaching in continuing to use this technique to the benefit of my learning while here at Luther. This journaling exercise has created a greater emotional buy-in of the material being presented and discussed. It has also provided ... continue reading

*Norma Cook Everist, The Church as Learning Community: A Comprehensive Guide to Christian Education, Abington Press, 2002

Get ready for Reformation Sunday

Here are the lyrics.

My favorite:

I warned y'all that Rome best agree to the terms.
If not, then you can eat my Diet of Worms!
You think you done something spectacular?
I wrote the Bible in the vernacular!
A heretic! [What?] Someone throw me a bone.
You forgot salvation comes through faith alone.

Enjoy!

Let Me Rise

When I rise up
let me rise up joyful
like a bird

When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf.

-Wendell Berry

In the morning...

In the morning, as soon as you get out of bed, you are to make the sign of the holy cross and say:

“God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit watch over me. Amen.”

Then, kneeling or standing, say the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. If you wish, you may in addition recite this little prayer as well:

“I give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected me through the night from all harm and danger. I ask that you would also protect me today from sin and all evil, so that my life and actions may please you. Into your hands I commend myself: my body, my soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel be with me, so that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen.”

After singing a hymn perhaps (for example, one on the Ten Commandments) or whatever else may serve your devotion, you are to go to your work joyfully.

- Martin Luther, The Small Catechism

Creative Maladjustment

This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed non-conformists. The saving of our world from pending doom will come not from the actions of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a dedicated minority.

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I'm ready to join the maladjusted minority. Where do I sign up?

An Efficient Marketplace

This hit me right between the eyes:

I have a friend who is an attorney with a deep knowledge of the national economic crisis. He made two interesting comments:

He first said that “liquidity” is not the real problem in the market right now—it is that no one knows what anything is worth. So much stuff of questionable value is hidden on balance sheets that buyers no longer know if something is worth what it is trading for, less, or more. So no one really knows how bad things are and cannot put an efficient, valid price on things. In other words, blindness about value. That destroys the logic of the “free market” because efficiency is based on “transparency” of value.

Second, he said that as a result of the first problem of blindness about value, it is difficult to know if persons you are selling to can meet their commitments to you. In other words—blindness about the solvency of parties in the market. That also kills an “efficient” market because it destroys the needed trust that makes the market work.

In spiritual traditions of all kinds, blindness is an old theme—-people who corruptly set out to blind others end up blind themselves. We ignore that wisdom at our peril. Morality, once again, is proven to be fundamental to an efficient marketplace.

Source: N. Gordon Cosby, Conversation with a friend, September 28, 2008

Am I learning?

Experiencing the other presentations in my Education class last week as a learner taught me a lot, not only about the material presented, but perhaps more importantly about the various teaching styles at my disposal in the future. It's clear that the other groups in the class experienced some of the same challenges (i.e. too much material, not enough time) and some more unique (i.e. getting graduate students to act like junior high kids).

From a content perspective, I was most drawn to the three Bible stories explored during the Epiphany presentation. I was happy to be reminded of the richness of the lectionary during this time just following Christmas. I thought the skit development was a great way to approach the elements of interpersonal learning, but it's important to remember the need to follow up one learning method with another. Even in my small group, it was clear that not everyone was easily engaged into this type of activity. Further, while I may have learned much about the topic of our skit, the nuances of the other skits may have been lost on me. The post-skit debriefing is a critical component to this type of learning, and that debriefing could take multiple forms.

The single most enlightening idea presented for me had to be, however, the concept surrounding the "Easter Garden." This one idea has the potential to engage many a congregation on multiple levels and in multiple ways. I am especially struck with how involving an entire congregation in the details of creating a garden could present a wonderful opportunity to turn learning into "meaning making," as suggested by Joyce Mercer in her book Welcoming Children: A Practical Theology of Childhood. Even in the case of the Easter presentation, the teachers group could have taken just this one idea and rallied all of their efforts in one place. Doing so would have allowed more time for more participatory and social learning. I know the idea of an Easter Garden is one that I'll endeavor to find an opportunity to explore deeper.

With respect to the writing pieces that were submitted by the various presenters, there was a broad range of styles exhibited. One overarching takeaway is that the pieces that appear to say the least, with respect to word count, actually said the most. That is, I think a good piece of public writing drills down to the fundamentally critical information that needs to be communicated and excises the remainder. I would have to lift up the "Easter church newsletter" and the "Teaching Ideas for the Lenten Lectionary" as particularly well written. A number of the other pieces attempted to convey too much content and ultimately, that may be their communication downfall. One thing that was lacking from all of the groups' written communication however, was a coordinated look & style. While I'm sure it fell victim of the time pressure and work dynamics of this group project, in the future I would try harder to create a common presentational form that furthers the key themes of the work being done.

When I grow up, I want to be an adventor!

Last week in our Education class, we spent most of the time participating in 20-minute presentations by each one of four small groups. Each group had been assigned a season of the church year (Advent, Epiphany, Lent or Easter; Christmas & Pentecost were set aside) to research and the goal of the presentations were three-fold. First to share faith-forming ideas around these seasons. Next, to gain further insight into small-group dynamics. And lastly, to experience teaching and learning first-hand in four of seven ways of learning. These ways (based on Dr. Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences) include: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal.

My small group was assigned the season of Advent and our intelligence was logical-mathematical. As our group went first (only fitting as Advent is the first season of the church year), I'd like to reflect a bit on my experience in the small group and as a teacher/presenter. I must begin by saying that I have had more than my share of small group dynamics study and practice over the years and this group proved to be no different in both its predictability of characteristics and its expected uniqueness.

The ultimate take-away from this experience is that I wish we had been able to dedicate more time into the project. Our group was pretty interested in discovering that which was unique to Advent. Our conversations were rich when trying to get at the heart of this season's meanings surrounding the preparation for the coming of Christ into the world, both the newborn Christ and the returning Messiah. The conversations were so rich that we struggled to quickly develop a thematic structure within which to build the presentation. Once the theme statement of "Advent: a time for preparing..." was developed, we were able to start producing the work for the the teaching/learning task. Fortunately, the group was equally invested in a positive outcome and I'm fairly pleased with the results.

As for the presentation itself, I question how much learning actually occurred. While I'm confident that the material was presented in a logical-mathematical way, I think the volume of information presented was far too great for a 20 minute presentation. Much of this was the result of feeling the need for each member of the group to demonstrate (for the purposes of the class) that they had indeed prepared a breadth of content that was pertinent to the topic at hand. In their book Teaching the Bible in Church, authors John Bracke & Karen Tye express the need of teachers to possess a "knowledge of space" and that includes recognizing more than just the physical constraints placed in the teaching moment. The space created and constrained by time is of critical importance in any teaching-learning paradigm. Quite honestly, you can expect to cover only so much material in 20 minutes, regardless of how well prepared you are. We might have been better served to have just focused on our key theme statement, explored its basis and then briefly introduced all of the supporting materials available.

With respect to our audience of supposed logical-mathematical learners, I think we offered up one approach to engaging this particular learning intelligence and there certainly are many more to be considered. I do think we missed out a little by not having prepared a concise agenda for the presentation. The agenda could have had bullet points addressing the key takeaways that were revealed over the course of the presentation. In addition (excuse the pun), we were fundamentally lacking in any sort of mathematical challenge to the presentation. I would like to give this some more thought in the future but I'm not sure the topic lent itself to much in this context.

Overall this was an enjoyable and beneficial exercise and although I groaned a bit (see post from 9/14/08) when initially engaging in the small group nature of the project, there were more than enough take aways for me to value greatly my and my group mate's efforts.

An Economy of Enough

This morning's chapel service here at Luther was led by ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson. This was a treat. Even if you're not a "church geek" like Anne or me, I would encourage you to take a few minutes to watch/or listen to his sermon. It was thought provoking, convicting and inspirational. I am grateful that God has provided the catholic church with leaders such as Bishop Hanson.

Following worship, Bishop Hanson further addressed the gathered faculty, staff, students and community members about the role of the church in public life. At the conclusion of his talk, he took a few questions and one retired pastor stood up and asked about the church's response to the current fiscal crisis and proposed $700 billion bailout being debated in congress. I think Bishop Hanson stumbled a bit. He complained about the lack of an "economist's perspective" on the situation. It made me wonder why he wasn't prepared to address this question with a specific response.

After spending the rest of the afternoon studying Greek and the Pentateuch, I found my way home to my computer and, as I'm prone to do of late, checked my facebook account. My good friend Becca is involved with the Church of the Saviour in Washington D.C. and just this morning she posted a white paper published by Ulrich Duchrow, a systematic theologian from Germany who has ties to her church. Professor Duchrow makes a very strong argument for an appropriately biblical reaction to the current economic crisis. I would commend his comments to anyone that cares to give it a few moments of thought.

The Financial Crisis in Biblical and Theological Perspective
By Ulrich Duchrow

This was the reaction I shared with Becca:

Now I know what I want to be when I grow up - a theological economist!

I especially appreciated Duchrow's reference of the Exodus/Manna story. I think it is a wonderful reference for how we are to live in communion with God and with each other. I think the traditional interpretation of this text is that God will always give us enough to sustain us. I appreciate the perspective that no matter how much we receive, God will somehow level the playing field so that what we receive is no greater than what our neighbor receives. For me, economic theory revolves around equilibrium and economic forces will endeavor to seek such balance at all times. Unfortunately, equilibrium does not necessarily mean equality. The current fiscal crisis is case in point.

I had occasion to listen to ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson address the Luther Seminary community this morning. When asked directly about his response to the current fiscal crisis and proposed $700 billion bailout, he stumbled citing the lack of an “economist’s perspective” on the situation. It appears that Bishop Hanson would be well served to consult the work of Professor Duchrow and his proposed strategies for establishing an “economy of enough.” I think I’ll forward this to him.

I did.