Summer 2010/Pasadena
Two-week Intensive: June 21 - July 2
CF500
Gorman

CF500: TEACHING FOR CHRISTIAN FORMATION. Julie Gorman.


DESCRIPTION: So you want to teach! What's different if your purpose is to evoke change in life--not just conveying content? How do you carry out your role if God is the transforming agent? What concepts and communication help classroom learning carry out missional purposes as part of their outcomes? What enables believers to "grow up"--to become more mature developmentally and spiritually? How do we link God's story and our story? Why is knowing the truth actually not enough? This course deals with the realities of working in tandem with the Spirit and the learner so as to enable learning in a holistic way that makes a difference in the learner's world. How does this generation learn? And how does that awareness and the following questions challenge our teaching? Are we really teaching if persons aren't learning? If we learn best when we belong? If relationships are critical? If we believe God wants to change the world through people who are actually transformed themselves?

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: This course presents a philosophy of Christian formation through teaching that includes working with the Spirit in nurturing implications for implementation.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: As a result of this course students will become persons who in their own seminary lives are open to growing up in Christ and who focus on working with the Spirit through transforming and challenging discipleship. This means students will understand the biblical foundation for all believers to grow up in Christ, will become aware of theories that inform conceptually and will process teaching skills that enable change. They will recognize their role as choreographers working with the Spirit. Students will be challenged to move beyond just acquiring facts, to living and teaching the reality of those facts in life. All students will have opportunity to become aware of what it means to live out biblical truth that affects their own discipleship and their small group community, will demonstrate what they have learned by designing and teaching their peers through experiential learning and relational interaction.

COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet daily for two weeks, in four-hour sessions, including one hour actively involved in a permanent in-class small group. Class sessions will include demonstrations, interactive learning, student dialogs, media presentations, working in Scripture, trying out ideas in small groups, and experimenting with teaching processes.

REQUIRED READING:

Mulholland, M. Robert. Shaped by the Word. Upper Room, 1985.

Palmer, Parker J. To Know as We Are Known. HarperSanFrancisco, 1993.

Richards, Lawrence O., and Gary J. Bredfeldt. Creative Bible Teaching. Rev. ed. Moody Press, 1998.

Tackle, David. The Truth about Lies and Lies about Truth. Shepherd's House, Inc., 2008

Course Reader: Individual chapters and articles

RECOMMENDED READING:
Foster, Charles R. The Future of Christian Education: Educating Congregations. Abingdon, 1994.

Galindo, Israel. The Craft of Christian Teaching. Judson Press, 1998.

Miller, M. Rex. The Millennium Matrix. Jossey-Bass, 2004.

Smith, David I., and John Shortt. The Bible and the Task of Teaching. The Stapleford Centre, 2002.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT: Students will read and respond by designing two short learning plans, one book review with implications, and will participate in a daily in-class discussion group. Each member will respond to Mulholland via journaling and will create a group teaching demonstration that will be included in a final project, summarizing an understanding of elements in formation (due August 6).

PREREQUISITES: No audits.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets MDiv core requirement in Christian Formation and Discipleship (MIN 4) and the MA in Theology requirement in Spirituality (SPIR).

This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. (Posted April 21, 2010)