Banks, Robert. Reenvisioning Theological Education: Exploring a Missional Alternative to Current Models. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999. Paperback. 268 pp.
This book contributes a thoughtful, Evangelical voice to a twenty-year conversation on the theological foundations of ministry training. Banks reviews that conversation, critiques proposals previously offered, builds a biblical approach to ministry and ministry education, then proposes that biblical ministry education must be missional.
Brookfield, Stephen D. The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006. Hardcover. 297 pp.
In this book, Brookfield provides helpful perspectives and practical advice on the priorities and responsibilities of teachers. He emphasizes the importance of attending to learner responses as means of assuring that learning occurs and of adjusting instructional approaches to facilitate learning. Chapters on lecturing, leading discussions, and evaluation are especially helpful.
Daloz-Parks, Sharon. Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2005. Hardcover. 287 pp.
This book provides a very helpful case study of the teaching techniques used to teach “adaptive” leadership by Ron Heifetz at Harvard. Daloz-Parks provides a day-by-day account of Heifetz’s course Exercising Leadership: Mobilizing Group Resources. The student of interactive, participatory learning methods will find the book a rich resource of examples that illustrate how to effectively engage learners in leadership development. Additional insight into the leadership theories referenced in the book is provided in Heifetz’s books Leadership without Easy Answers (1994) and Leadership on the Line (2002).
Elmer, Duane, H. Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Paperback, 212 pp.
Doing what is servant-like in one’s own culture may not communicate servanthood or humility in another culture. Six important steps to serving in another culture are examined each forcing us to look through the eyes of the other cultural person. Leadership, power and mystery are also examined as pieces of the life of the servant.
Elmer, Duane H. Cross-Cultural Conflict: Building Bridges for Effective Ministry. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1993. Paperback, 189 pp.
Conflict happens to everyone; the difference is the cultural ways in which we handle the conflict. The book compares the ways Westerners handle conflict with the conflict strategies of Majority World peoples including the respective underlying cultural values. With strong biblical support, new insights help navigate these difficult places.
Ferris, Robert W. (ed.) Establishing Ministry Training: A Manual for Programme Developers. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1995. Paperback. 198 pp.
Written to guide development of missionary training schools in the Majority World, this book is a useful manual for all theological educators. The principles covered apply equally in school and nonformal education settings. The book includes basic steps in identifying program goals, curriculum design, and program development and evaluation.
Ferris, Robert W. Renewal in Theological Education: Strategies for Change. Wheaton, IL: The Billy Graham Center, 1990. Paperback. 234 pp.
Research on theological schools on five continents revealed that the values expressed in the “ICAA Manifesto on the Renewal of Theological Education” are widely affirmed but school leaders are dissatisfied with their implementation. Case studies of eight exemplary schools lead to recommendations for realizing those values in other schools.
Fink, L. Dee. Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003. Hardcover, 295 pp.
Fink focuses on what happens when good learning occurs. Seeing good learning we can then ask about the nature of the teaching producing that kind of learning. Using adult education practices, he leads the reader into designing the effective college level classroom utilizing both theory and practical insights.
McKeachie, Wilbert J. Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. (11th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001. Paperback, 371 pp.
Now in its 11th edition, this remains one of the most comprehensive and widely used textbooks and basic teaching-learning reference works on postsecondary teaching. International theological educators will benefit from this work but are advised to read with a biblically informed and critical eye for contextual adaptation and cultural application.
Palmer, Parker J. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life (Tenth anniversary edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007. Hardcover, 240 pp.
Palmer’s book refocuses the craft of teaching from technique to the teacher and from a singular focus on content to relationships that inhibit or empower learning in the classroom. Reading this book is a soul-searching and liberating exercise for any teacher. Palmer understands—and helps his readers understand—the teacher’s true calling.
Vella, Jane. Taking Learning to Task: Creative Strategies for Teaching Adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2001. Hard cover. 151 pp.
This book guides educators in an approach to educational planning that attends to learners and context and that weds learning and application. Vella holds that educational goals should be framed as “achievement objectives” realized through carefully designed “learning tasks.” Although simple in concept, implications for teaching and learning are immense. |
