In the academic tradition I was formed in, would-be dissertation writers have to propose, implement, and analyze a pilot study before launching their full project. Sometimes this project ends up being very closely connected to what their dissertation eventually becomes. For me, the connection was fairly loose, partly because while
In addition to helping us track how our people are learning, care helps them and us make choices that further benefit their learning. As I said yesterday, we first "read the room." And then we do our best to make adjustments accordingly. In some sense, then, this learner-centered
Why is care paramount in formative spaces? There are a lot of reasons. In some ways, I worry that in Christian education spaces we sort of overlook the concrete dynamics of what care makes possible, because it's just kind of "in the water" that love, regard,
Of course, there are plenty of cross-cutting big ideas that don't fit neatly into the categories we've been looking at this week: cognitive, social, and cultural. By way of a preview of upcoming weeks, let me share some quotes about two such big ideas: care and
During the first year of our eFormation initiative in the Center for the Ministry of Teaching, Lisa Kimball and I decided to spread the word of what we were up to by presenting at the Religious Education Association conference. I asked her what I should be reading to prepare to
As I said earlier in the week, your advisor can't help but shape your academic formation in a doctoral program. Which is part of why I read so widely in New Literacy Studies (NLS) during my first year or two at Teachers College. (I also initially thought I
(Late start today. But I am delighted to report that my daughter is back in preschool today for the first time since her tonsillectomy last Monday. There was much rejoicing. Shout out to Grandma and Oma for helping us get to the finish line.) For me, cognitive perspectives on learning
Sometime during my freshman year of college, before I'd joined the Engineering Physics department, I got a helpful piece of advice from a visiting industry mentor at a meeting of our student chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers: Decide whether you're a breadth person
Today's question isn't a "big" adaptive one. But I think it's an important follow-up to yesterday's question—and a fun way to end the week. I've been thinking about this question of making faith formation resilient to more
Even though I am all in for moving beyond a Sunday-school-centric model of Christian formation, I do have a significant reservation about one particular consequence of the shift. What's incredibly valuable about the Sunday school model is the ability to design in to an experience over time a
I was speaking with a bishop recently for my day job, and they talked a lot about the role partnerships play in making ministry sustainable—now and in the future. I think that's probably true quite generally from a ministry leadership perspective, but it feels especially important to
I have overseen exactly one online article that "went viral" in a reasonably rigorous understanding of that word. Stop me if you've heard this one. I was exhibiting on behalf of the CMT@VTS at the 2013 Forma Conference when our table got a visit from