One of the classes I’m taking this quarter is “The Congregation as Learning Community” where we discuss issues related to education in Christian congregations (as you might expect). In this past week, our primary assignment was to present on a book in small groups. Each group was given not only a book (ours was Practicing Our Faith edited by Dorothy C. Bass), but also a learning method to drive our presentation (ours was “intrapersonal”). This presented a challenge: how does one “present” anything conducive to intrapersonal learning. Should we integrate intrapersonal reflection within the classroom setting itself?

Fortunately, my partner and I had a topic that worked well here. The idea of Bass’ book is that we need to “practice our faith” in tangible ways in everyday activities. So, we started our 20 minute presentation with a meditation exercise where people found another place in the room (“body” learning) to pray and reflect on the calm images of nature that we were projecting on the screen (“visual” learning). After a couple minutes, we asked them to slowly and quietly return to their seats (“body” again).

Then we asked them to consider the shift in imagery when we showed them video of busy images taken from the streets of Tokyo (“visual” again). The point was: this book helps us to unite our intrapersonal reflections and experiences with our interpersonal practices and activities. I think the reflection time in that moment was appropriate and, as parenthetically mentioned, was appropriately combined with other learning methods (body and visual).

The issue for me is the fact that “intrapersonal” reflection is directly related to the topic here. My question is how easily one might allow for intrapersonal moments within other class settings. This course is intended for congregational learning, where times of prayer and meditation may be more appropriate than a college classroom. I’m not sure I will use similar techniques when I teach Christian origins.

The exercise is nevertheless a reminder that educators should move beyond the old standard lecture style and consider new ways of reaching multiple learning modes within a single classroom session. How do we impart information while also promoting critical engagement with the course materials?