Practice (+ Context) Makes Perfect
Helping your brain make dense, relevant connections
Kyle M Oliver
Taking the Show on the Road
Join us at General Convention on Saturday (6/22) at 1 Eastern
Survey Says ...
A few notes on your fantastic feedback
Friday Feedback: Very brief reader survey
I hope you enjoyed my first dip into the play literature. Much more of that to come. But for today's post, I'd like to try to get a little feedback from y'all. I had a conversation with a subscriber earlier in the week whose
PLAY-Book: Play histories and 'the big question'
One of the things I appreciate about Brown's methodology is the qualitative, almost ethnographic nature of the play histories from which he often shares emblematic examples. He'll frequently tell the story of a famous scientist, or an anonymous patient or colleague, and the ways that their
PLAY-Book: An interlude about surfing
Note: This is a reflection I wrote in 2019 about how God changed my life through surfing. Needless to say, the meaning of that experience has continued to open up for me as I've gotten more interested in the power of play as it relates to formation. Enjoy!
PLAY-Book: Warning, stage theory ahead!
If you've studied education / formation, psychology, practical theology, or an untold number of other fields, there's a good chance you've encountered some stage theories. In my little corner of the church and academy, perhaps the most in/famous is James Fowler's Stages
PLAY-Book: A fascinating likely benefit of play
This week will be a bit of a read-long week, and I think an important one. As I believe I've signaled, I called this project "A (Christian) Formation Playbook" in part because the importance of play is part of my (not-quite-yet-a) thesis. 💡I am convinced that
Training Spaces: Friday (Over)Flow
Even without the holiday, I wouldn't have been able to share all my favorite training spaces this week. What I decided to do was save for this final post several I recommend but that I'm also entangled with in various ways from past and present work.
Training Spaces: Priya Parker
The first thing I'll say about Priya Parker's website is that it's a joy to explore. Beautiful colors. Smart featured posts. A variety of ways to connect and learn from her work (free newsletter, book, online course, etc.). The second thing I'll
Training Spaces: Nonprofit Tech for Good
Another oldie but goodie today. This site was recommended to me by an experienced church comms pro when I started in this work twelve years ago. I recently re-activated my free subscription to Nonprofit Tech for Good, and I've found it to be as useful as ever. Don&
Training Spaces: Faith & Leadership
This week I'm going to keep things brief so I can skill up for a new format I'd like to try. I'm going to be sharing spaces / communities / repositories / publications where you can get strong, often free or low-cost ideas and training in formation,