Repairing the Ruins: A Personal Teaching Statement

MICHAEL A. MILTON (Ph.D., Wales; M.Div., Knox Seminary; M.P.A., UNC-Chapel Hill)

The following is an edited version of a statement crafted for the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University (Certification in Higher Education Teaching), 2019.

One of the most significant things that I do is to communicate the truth claims of the Christian faith to others. This is my vocation. From time to time, then, I like to sharpen my thoughts on this primary occupation. I trust this statement is more than a display of my own credo on teaching (an otherwise narcissistic act redeemed when it is prepared to support for students taking my courses, or parishioners hearing my preaching). At its best, it is an exercise of continual improvement as an educator and Christian preacher.

Introduction

Following John Milton (1608-1674), we propose that teaching and learning are “to repair the ruines [sic] of our first Parents” (Of Education, 1644). Five core commitments support my philosophy of teaching.

Teaching as One Sacred Moment 

Education is a sacred moment that unlocks and unleashes the heart and mind for the glory of God and the blessing of humanity.

The process and dynamic of educating a person are far more than a mere act of transfer of information. Education is a metaphysical event that can transform teacher and student, and others, unto generations that follow. Teaching and learning ignite at a nexus in which the spirit of the educator moves past the boundaries of self-protection and self-interest to touch the soul of the student, and bring about an expansion of each other’s humanity. 

Teaching as Dialogue

Teaching that leads to such a sacred moment of education is a dialogue; a respectful exchange between the professor and the student. The Socratic method of teaching—guiding a student to self-discovery through questioning assumptions and challenging propositions—facilitates dialogue. This dialogue happens formally and informally but always intentionally.

The dialogical method occurs in the classroom which may be residential, or like St. Paul teaching Timothy, by distance, but with no less heart. The conversation happens when teachers and learners move with intellectual choreography, from problem to testing, from testing to conclusions, from conclusions to meanings. The dialogical approach also occurs as the student begins to “follow the footnote trail.” The dialogue is no less real when the voice of the teacher becomes conscience, or the voice of the student becomes conviction. Nor does this dialogue happen hurriedly. The interchange that leads to self-revelation happens across a plain of time. A fruitful discussion that leads to learning is not restricted to any particular modality or setting but rather to a growing relationship between teacher and student. Nor is dialogue always conducted with words. Silence is a powerful resource in teaching and learning. Thus, I seek “cultivating students’ comfort with silence and reflective listening” (Contemplative Approach, Lobely, 2019).

Teaching as Incarnation

The means of instruction for such an educational philosophy begins and ends with the essential material: a dedicated, inspiring professor of knowledge who desires to guide students to not only acquire that knowledge but in some way to experience that knowledge themselves. 

Incarnational teaching requires intentional cultivation of empathy, understanding, and authentic presence; in short, a commitment to “I and Thou” (Buber, 1958) as a framework for teaching and learning. 

Teaching with Goals

I am committed to the goal of “deep learning.” Deep learning happens when the teacher’s guidance leads to the student’s self-discovery. The student begins with an assignment, for instance. She, then, “follows the footnote trail” and through theological reflection, meditation, inquiry and insight, arrives at a new place in life. This place is characterized by the synthesis of ideas (Bloom’s Taxonomy, 1956). And synthesis unleashes creativity.

I am committed to the goal of teaching that imparts a license to learn. I hope to teach so that students receive knowledge, not as a commodity, but as a gift: an inestimable seed that produces endless cycles of fruitful harvests.

Teaching with Clarity

Teaching happens within the context of well-articulated parameters. The parameters are mutual commitments between teachers and students that are often called learning contracts. A learning contract is needed to ensure that both teachers and students understand the parameters that will bring about success. I am committed to teaching as a process of providing students with expectations, outcomes, and learning resources (e.g., readings, assignments) that are clear. To these ends, I provide rubrics, prompts for self-reflection, and weekly encouragement to the student, allowing—encouraging—further clarity. Examinations are not tests to challenge the student, but rather instruments to evaluate retention, understanding, and examples of higher thought (Bloom, 1956).

Clarity is measurable. Thus, a course must be reviewed and possibly amended as students provide an appraisal of their learning experience. 

Conclusion

In summary, I have advocated for a philosophy of education that is devoted to a deeply spiritual moment in which teachers and students meet at the intersection of common humanity to know God, themselves, and our common need for redemption. Things are broken. The remedy is needed. Learning to apply redemptive truth to the wounded places in our lives is a sacred process; a process that can lead to repair. In a word, education that is framed by the creation-fall-redemption-consummation motif brings shalom.

As educators and students experience the “I and Thou” at the quay of common poverty, the act of teaching occurs and does so with its most fecund results. This organizing vision provides the student the best opportunity for synthesis (through critical thinking, i.e., moving mindfully from often-discordant variables to a denouement signaling a coherent, controlling vision); and the thoughtful application to self and others. I hold that such a coda of learning—from discord to Truth, and from Truth to personal synthesis and application to one’s relationship to God, self, others, and Creation—is realized when I teach in dialogue, through the incarnational method, with goals, and with clarity, to seek to “repair the ruins.”

Worldview

It only remains to say that I hold that the Truth is this: that God created humankind, male and female, Adam and Eve; that Adam and Eve fell, with their progeny, infecting you and me, and all of Creation; and that redemption of humanity and creation cannot be found but in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the crucified, resurrected, reigning, and returning Christ; whose merits and sacrifice is received, personally, by repentance and faith. Being justified by faith in Christ, born again unto a new life, brings the harmony we intuitively seek with God, self, others, and Creation. All realms are under the sovereign rule of Jesus Christ. Therefore, no subject of study is exempt from His Lordship.

This teaching and learning statement is my own. The statement is not intended to reflect the positions of others.

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