I am interested in helping students find things: a question they didn’t know they had; a key sacred narrative; a community of identification and support; a missing link; courage to resist; an experience that perfectly (or imperfectly) fits them; a moment where everything clicks; a vision of the future; hope for what comes next; a book or story that changes them; a pattern or connection they never realized before; their voice to articulate their curiosity and interests; courage to try something new; courage to not know the answer; inner strength and resilience; their anger over injustice; their creative confidence; empathy towards others.
I don’t always know exactly where these things are, but I’ll walk with them and help them look.
I am guided in my teaching by the commitments outlined in the ethical statement of Vanderbilt Divinity School, where I studied from 2008-2011:
Generosity--to give freely, based upon the trust that the value of education and wisdom is not diminished through sharing.
Hospitality--to welcome all at the table of learning, making a special effort to enlarge that table for people unlike ourselves and for those who are excluded from other tables.
Humility--to accept that others may know more about a given situation, to realize that one may know more through others, and to accept that no one is right about everything.
Imagination--to envision a world that is better than the one we have and to engage in learning so as to make that new world more manageable to others.
Patience--to pursue understanding with hope, even in the face of misunderstanding and disappointment.
Reflexivity--to cultivate awareness of one’s individual and institutional history, so as to overcome inherited practices.
Respect--to dignify the selfhood and tradition represented by each other member of the community, irrespective of the historical, theological, and embodied differences that person may represent to oneself.
My pedagogy is grounded in creative practices, critical thinking, and experiential learning. My hope is that our classroom is culturally attentive, prioritizes curiosity, questions assumptions, and that students feel comfortable with risk-taking. In this sense, I prioritize iteration and feedback as a strategy for growth. Process is as important as product in my classroom.
My scholarly interests are influenced by my experience with theological education, and are primarily focused on contextual education – that is, on preparing students for multi-dimensional learning experiences that integrate instruction and reflection with opportunities for service, professional development, and formation at organizational sites. Put simply, contextual education provides students with opportunities to construct meaning based on their own “real life” experiences.
As students participate in this community and organizationally-based work, they engage processes of collaborative learning; inquiry and engagement with problems; self-regulated learning; knowledge production; cultural sensitivity, and the development of reflexive practices that engage the self and the organizational context.
My methods of instruction support learning and the integration of knowledge within multiple contexts, and include lectures and discussions; role play and simulations; field conversations with professionals; novels and films for discussion; journal writing; interdisciplinary readings and creative content, and faculty engagement and guest speakers.