Disruptive Engagement

     The study of the life of Christ has brought me great joy and peace. However, I have noticed that every person he engaged with on this earth had a disruption to their life. It seems that being with Him brought opportunities for change. I call his teaching style "disruptive engagement", meaning an engagement between teacher and student which is honest, vulnerable, and possibly uncomfortable. My seminary students would like nothing better than to be allowed to sit back in a comfy chair and let me preach, but I make them sit in different places, move from room to room, and try new activities. Real learning and creativity are "inherently vulnerable". It takes courage to make a statement and weigh in with your own thoughts. The teacher could disregard your comment or other students could roll their eyes at your attempts. I remember one of my older students commenting under his breath to the new freshman, 'Why are you such an over-acheiver?" Should we have discomfort in our classroom? Perhaps we should normalize discomfort. Brene Brown says, "If leaders (teachers), expect real learning, critical thinking, and change, then discomfort should be normalized. We believe growth and learning are uncomfortable so it's going to happen here-you are going to feel that way. We want you to know that it's normal and it's an expectation here. You're not alone and we ask that you stay open and lean into it."

   That happened to me yesterday at a regional teacher training meeting. We were learning how to ask better questions. That is an art form, by the way. First we learned the difference between search, analysis, application questions. In smaller groups we discussed a new block of scripture and wrote down more questions. Then the teacher trainer asked for volunteers to practice in front of the class. No one jumped right up and I felt the heat rise in my body. Did I really believe in disruptive engagement? My hand shot up and I committed myself to learning by faith. What I did not remember was that I was volunteering my friend who was part of my group. I vaguely remember explaining the term disruptive engagement to all the sixty teachers in the audience and we launched in with our questions. Of course we had the best possible students, who wanted to participate. Did my volunteering reveal anything? Yes, it showed me that the search and analysis questions were easiest and finding room for the application questions took some time. I also learned that when we allow ourselves vulnerability we become more committed to changing. I am very motivated to teach tomorrow morning and continue my progress. I hope the teacher trainer reports back that the practice part of his class was highly effective because truth be told, we all really need the opportunity to participate in  disruptive engagement.