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?