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: