March 14, 2016—Throwing out some old files and materials, I stumbled across an old final exam from a course I offered over two decades ago when I was teaching adjunctively. Reviewing the course material I was struck at how clunky the course was. Whoever let me loose on those poor graduate students during those years will be doing hard time in Purgatory. Being young and foolish is one thing; young, foolish, and passionate is a deadly combination. It seems I had yet a lot to learn about pedagogy and course design.
Looking over the material I see that I was operating under that poor habit of teaching the way I’d been taught. I’d not yet learned enough to not perpetuate poor practices; I did not have the experience, nor had I developed the discernment, to realize that I was doing so.
The course wasn’t a total disaster, it had it’s redeeming points in terms of coverage (if not delivery, much of which I’ve forgotten, which I can only hope is true also of whatever poor souls sat through that semester). Several of the concepts in the final exam, however, are ones I still stress today for students, albeit more focused in scope.
Here is the final exam, unaltered. See if you have an answer to these questions from your ministry context and practice:
Israel Galindo is Associate Dean for Lifelong Learning and Director of Online Education at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Formerly, he was Dean at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. He is the author of the bestseller, The Hidden Lives of Congregations (Alban), Perspectives on Congregational Leadership (Educational Consultants), and A Family Genogram Workbook (Educational Consultants), with Elaine Boomer and Don Reagan.
His books on Christian education include Mastering the Art of Instruction,The Craft of Christian Teaching (Judson), How to be the Best Christian Study Group Leader (Judson), Planning for Christian Education Formation (Chalice), and A Christian Educator’s Book of Lists (S&H), and Theories of Learning for Christian Educators and Theological Faculty.
Galindo contributes to the Wabash Center’s blog for theological school deans and to the Digital Flipchart blog.