Intersection

Intersection by Rick Upchurch

I have a confession to make:  I have a Christian worldview (CWV).  I see the world, and life in general, through the lens of faith in Jesus Christ and the life changing work of God in my life.  In fact, I have been a follower of Jesus Christ for so long that it is hard for me to see the world in any way except through the lens of that worldview.  Further, this CWV has been strengthened and deepened in my life due to the influences I have chosen to, and NOT to, allow in my life.  I have intentionally cultivated a CWV based upon my faith and hope in Jesus.

I recognize a CWV in and of itself isn't the standard of faith.  Merit is not awarded to me in heaven for having a CWV, nor does it make a significant difference in my life unless I allow my CWV to affect HOW I live.  My CWV provides the foundation for living in such a way that honors Jesus.

In Ephesians 3:17, 18 Paul talks about being rooted and grounded in love.  This is Belhaven’s verse of the year.  It reads:

Be rooted and grounded in love, that you may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Christ’s love.

Paul’s reference is to the love of Christ which caused Him to make the ultimate sacrifice for our salvation.  He says we should be rooted and grounded in love.  That makes me think of trees, stumps and roots.  I've worked with my Dad to remove large tree stumps with extensive root systems and I've watched videos of individuals using all kinds of heavy equipment to do the same thing.  I’ve seen and tried a lot of different methods for removing stumps.  The bottom line is: the longer the tree grows, the deeper and broader the root system. The only really effective way to remove a stump is to dig it out and even then it leaves a lot of roots behind.   I see this as a metaphor for the CWV.  While there are a lot of ways to expand this metaphor between the root system of a tree and the CWV, I want to focus on the depth and width of those roots, the root ball. A sapling will have a small root ball with a nascent root system.  However, that changes the more the tree is supplied sunshine, water and other nutrients. The root ball expands with the roots stretching out into the dirt to draw nutrients up into the tree.  The point I'm trying to make is that our CWV has its source in the power of God displayed "through His Spirit in your inner being." (v.16) and that the more we cultivate a CWV, the broader and deeper our rootedness becomes and the more it changes us into a reflection of Jesus.

I want to expand on this. Let me draw your attention to Romans 13:8.  Paul says in this passage, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law."  In the Ephesians passage, Love is a state, a perspective; it is the foundation of the CWV.  Here in Romans, Paul has changed the focus.  Love now becomes a debt, something that is owed. This is uncomfortable language for most of us.  We don’t like owing anyone anything and will generally do all we can to avoid being in anyone’s debt.  Just think about this, if you go out to lunch with someone and they buy, who is it that pays the bill the next time you go out to lunch? That’s right in most cases it is us, because we don’t want to be in anyone’s debt.  Yet, here Paul is saying that we have a continuing debt to love one another.  It is a debt incurred through the sacrifice which Jesus made for us. It is not a debt which can be paid off.  Loving one another is how that debt is paid.  Love is a natural outflow, or should be, of a CWV. 

My concern is that we make the connection between the CWV and this debt to love one another. John 3:18 says "Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."  This same admonition is repeated throughout the Bible precisely because, we are inclined to drift into a CWV which has much good will but little active love.  I see John's comment and the others like it as a call to Purposeful Acts Of Love (PAOL) because we have a CWV.  This brings me to the title of this post: "Intersection."  I see the intersection of CWV with PAOL as the heart of what it means to be fully Christian.  In my own life, I want to be more cognizant of opportunities to express PAOL and I want to recognize it in others when I see it.  

Action has always been a part of the CWV, for instance, there are behaviors, disciplines, and practices which I, and you, consciously do to reinforce this CWV.  To use the root metaphor, there are things we do which cultivate and nurture the tree which expands the root system.  Some of those things include prayer, reading the Bible, attending church, treating others with respect, performing acts of compassion, etc.  I want to ask that you join me in making this intersection come into focus for our students; in effect to unleash the power mentioned in Ephesians 3:16-18 upon the world around us.  I also want to ask that you take this focus on Purposeful Acts of Love into your classroom, both in action and instruction to help your students see the intersection between the CWV and PAOL and the continuing debt to love one another.

To help keep this in focus I’ll be tweeting regularly using #PAOL regarding Purposeful Acts Of Love, as well as when I see examples of PAOL.  I’ve placed a feed for this hashtag in your campus faculty Canvas course for those who don’t have twitter accounts and for those of you who do, I encourage you to join me in using this hashtag to reinforce this Intersection.

Let’s not allow our focus on a CWV to become taken for granted.  Let’s nurture it with a passion that comes from being rooted and grounded in Christ.  Let’s be as passionate about paying this debt as we are about paying our other debts by Purposefully acting in Love.

How to Treat Each Other

“Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father.  Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” I Timothy 5:1-2

I read this the other day in my devotions and it struck me how much this resonates with Adult Degree Completion and working with staff, students, and faculty.  This resonates with the ramifications of being created in the image of God and of understanding that everything can be reduced to relationships.  Our interactions with our all our constituencies, when we follow this guide, reflects our love for God and appreciation for his grace and mercy toward us. 

But I also know from personal experience and failure, that it isn’t always easy to do this.  When I’m are tired, or feeling unappreciated, or dealing with a myriad of heavy issues I sometimes forget to think about the person I’m talking to in favor of the task; to be oblivious to feelings in favor of MY agenda.

Probably no one is perfect in this regard, but I believe God is honored when we make the effort to follow Paul’s admonition to Timothy.  Hopefully we’ll all have this cross our minds throughout this season.

Collaboration is NOT Busywork

I know there are some who are reading this whose opinion of collaborative exercises is low, that is assuming they read this at all!  I have to confess that I have seen some collaborative exercises/assignments that really were nothing more than busywork, or worse.  It is a fact that any collaborative exercise or assignment that doesn’t have clear learning outcomes probably fits that description.

However, I’m glad to say, that is not the norm.  When well designed and thought through, collaborative exercises/assignments are powerful tools to achieve student learning, particularly with adults.  There are quite a few posts in this category already here on the faculty blog (simply click on the Collaborative Teaching Ideas link under Categories to the right) and many more examples of excellent activities can be found by searching the web.

But I want to reinforce the importance of having clear learning outcomes before adding these activities.  I’ve said this before and I truly believe it, collaborative teaching can feel like controlled chaos, and sometimes only marginally controlled!  Without the boundaries of clear learning outcomes, the can quickly activities deteriorate into a waste of classroom time.

It takes some time to effective plan and implement these activities – which is one of the reasons I think many Instructors eschew them entirely or find them ineffective when they do try them.  Planning the outcomes, and then designing the activity so that it achieves the outcomes, including the debriefing which is a big part of the learning, can make connections for adult learners that just don’t happen through lecture.

So here is the process I use:

1. What is the subject or topic that I want to reinforce/teach?
2. What do I want the student to walk away knowing? This is the learning outcome and I put this down in a clearly written sentence.
3. Think about what learning activity can I use which will get the students to engage the topic or subject.  Sometimes it is a hands on experience, other times it requires movement, other times it can be problem based or through role playing or debates.  There really are so many options that it is hard to list them all.  I have included a longer list under Faculty Resources/White Papers titled Collaborative Teaching Options.
4. Work out the plan for implementing the exercise in class including resources you need to bring with you and how much time it will take.  It usually takes a few times to get the time figured out correctly.
5. Conduct the exercise, being cognizant that things can drift out of control and you need to stay engaged and provide direction.  It is not “Practice that makes Perfect,” but “Guided practice that makes perfect.”
6. Debrief the exercise and hone in on the learning outcome by asking questions that direct the students to think about the exercise in relationship to what you wanted them to come away with.  You may want to plan your debrief questions ahead of time.
7. Refine the exercise for the next time you use it.

I hope you’ll give it a try.  It can be amazingly rewarding to see the light come on in a student’s eyes as they engage in the debrief and make a crucial connection to their life.

Mel Brooks, Ben Stein, Andragogy, and Principles of Facilitative Teaching

Connecting Followership and Transformational Leadership

Creating Engagement - Lessons from The Trust Edge, by David Horsager

I recently started The Trust Edge, by David Horsager and have found the book to be a good read with a lot of useful information.

Here are four things I’ve learned/been reminded of in the first third of this book along with an application for the classroom – either the physical classroom or online:

1. “You are trusted to the degree that people believe in your ability, your consistency, your integrity, and your commitment to deliver.” (p.9)  As you read through this list it is obvious that these things don’t happen immediately.  They are developed over time and in relationship.  Teaching application: Your relationship with your students and their perception of “your ability, your consistency, your integrity, and your commitment to deliver” will build trust or erode it.  Building trust will result in greater student engagement as they discover you are worth trusting.
2. “People do small, even menial tasks differently when they catch a great vision.  If you are a leader in your organization, share your vision consistently.  If you are not sharing your vision at least every thirty days, your team doesn’t know it. A clear vision inspires, unifies and gives powerful focus.” (p. 50)  While this is written toward an organization I can see clear application for the adult classroom.  Teaching application: A major point of adult learning theory has to do with sharing the relevancy of the subject with the students; not just why it is important, but what the cost could be in NOT knowing the information.  So, for the classroom, sharing vision should equate to making sure there is a clear connection of relevancy every week.  When you do this engagement increases.
3. “Expect and even appreciate conflict.  The old notion rings true: if we are all exactly the same, we are not all needed. Conflict can be a source of growth, creativity, and, in the end, greater unity.” (p.64)  I know many Instructors will go to almost any lengths to avoid even the hint of conflict in the classroom.  This might seem desirable, and certainly is easier, but avoiding conflict doesn’t foster learning and engagement at the higher levels.  Teaching application: Engaged adult learners will challenge the Instructor from time to time.  This is because what you are teaching seems to run crosswise to their experience.  If you squash this freedom to raise these challenges, you will effectively reduce or eliminate engagement.  If, on the other hand, you encourage students to respond, use the challenges to gather information, attempt to understand where the challenge is coming from, and respond with empathy, engagement will blossom.
4. “No matter what your profession is, challenge yourself to start thinking like the customer, patient, client, congregation member, or student.  Think of these people’s needs and challenges.  Care aboutthem. Give them a great experience.  Make them feel valued.” (p.74) Teaching application:  Adults respond better and are more engaged when they feel respected and valued.  The role of the Instructor in creating this kind of environment cannot be overstated.  In fact, the best Instructors will go beyond this to taking personal responsibility for doing everything they can to “give them a great experience.”

I’m definitely enjoying the book and will share some more thoughts as I get deeper into it.  May God richly bless and guide your day!

The Creator

A recent scholarly article included that word, "Creator."  You would have thought the world was coming to the end in academic circles by the outcry.  The article was immediately retracted and excuses were offered up inferring poor translation and an imperfect review process.  The whole story was carried in the Chronicle of Higher Education with many weighing in on the inappropriate use of any term which would suggest the existence of a creator, intelligent design, or heaven forbid, God.

Such is the state of affairs in America.

But, that is all the reason for each one to intentionally stand up to be counted; to be light in the darkness.  The naysayers ( in popular parlance "haters") may bash a belief in God and ridicule those who hold such faith.  However, those who live by that very faith know a different truth.  Not only the reality of God, but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who purchased our salvation and the daily presence of the Holy Spirit.  We can bring light to our circle of influence by simply showing love to those around us.  As in Elijah's day, there are far more people of faith in our world than we know or are being told.  Hold fast, hold up the Light, trust the Creator.