These are the slides which helped to structure a day long faculty workshop on ensemble pedagogy in theological contexts.

1. Exploring ensemble
pedagogy
Phillips Theological Seminary
Tulsa, OK
5 March 2014
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prepared by Mary E. Hess

2. to begin
•
what great work you’re doing! it’s a privilege to be able to see
where you’re going, and what you’re seeking to do
•
you’re in the middle of a difficult transformation, but at the
growing edge of theological education
•
we’ve planned a combination of presentation and
collaborative learning to dig further into your work together,
and to help plan for what is next
•
in several instances we’ll be using techniques that are drawn
from some of this literature, so that my hope is that you’ll
come away with some additional pragmatic tools to use

3. Part one
Ensemble pedagogy

4. What is “ensemble pedagogy”?
•
more than parallel play, different from team teaching
•
a metaphor for attending anew to the teaching/learning
process in terms of integration, coherence and
resonance
•
a set of practices which draw their insight and inspiration
from musical performance and learning
•
still emerging!

5. elements of ensemble pedagogy
•
adult learning
•
shifting paradigms (epistemological, pedagogical)
•
learning vs. instruction
•
collaborative and integrative learning
•
reflection vs. transfer

6. adult learning

7. shifting paradigms

8. learning vs. instruction (or ‘uncoverage’ vs. ‘coverage’)

9. collaborative and integrative learning

10. reflectivity matrix

11. [break]

12. Part two
Phillips’ experience

13. Learning about Phillips’ experience with ensemble
pedagogy: questions to ponder and a process to
try out

14. a conversation process
•
core public agreement
•
one question in each of three rounds, the fourth round is
one of ‘genuine inquiry’
•
brief silence before each round, and between each
person
•
3 minutes per question, timed reciprocally

15. core public agreement
•
Speak for oneself; Use ‘I statements.’ Own and offer your thoughts and
feelings honestly; avoid grand pronouncements or stating positions of others
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Practice respect in speaking and listening; accept that others may have
different views, without needing to debate or set them straight
•
Be brief in comments; honor timeframes and refrain from interrupting
•
Listen carefully, especially when something is hard to accept; suspend
judgment
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Respect confidentiality: After the conversation, do not attach names to
comments made without permission
•
Allow people to pass, or pass for now, if they are not ready or willing to
respond to a question
Respectful Conversations project

16. (1) what in your experience as a teacher influences
your perspective on the topic of ensemble
pedagogy? (up to three minutes each)

17. (2) when you think about ensemble pedagogy,
what matters most to you? (up to three minutes
each)

18. (3) within your own perspective, what questions do
you still wrestle with? (up to three minutes each)

19. (4) what genuine questions emerge for you?

20. shared harvesting

21. [lunch]

22. Part three
Pedagogical practices

23. pedagogical practices
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animating/essential questions
•
differentiating circles of ideas and concepts
•
rubrics
•
managing your own emotions

24. (1) animating/essential questions
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cause genuine and relevant inquiry into the big ideas and core content
•
provoke deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, and new
understanding as well as more questions
•
require students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support their
ideas, and justify their answers
•
stimulate vital, on-going rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, and prior
lessons
•
spark meaningful connections with prior learning and personal experiences
•
naturally recur, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and
subjects
Wiggins and McTighe

25. some examples…
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does the Bible support slavery?
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how can we provide solace in the face of suffering?
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who is on the Lord’s side (Exodus 32:26)
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can even these bones live? (Ezekiel 37:3)
•
how shall this be? (Luke 1:34)
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where do you get that living water? (John 4:11)
•
has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1 Corinthians
1:20)

26. what essential questions are you asking in your
curriculum?

27. (2) differentiate
between…
•
ideas and concepts
central to
understanding
•
ideas and concepts
important to know and
to do
•
ideas and concepts
worth being familiar
with

28. what is the ‘enduring understanding’ or the ‘central
idea or concept’ that you want students to remember
10 years from now when they think about ‘vital
communities,’ ‘vital conversations,’ or the ‘public
good’?

29. (3) use rubrics for
clarity of expectation
•
rubric for ‘six facets of
understanding’
•
individual assignment
rubrics
•
critical incident
questionnaire

30. how do the rubrics you’re currently using support
your essential questions and enduring
understandings?

32. (4) emotions and tensions of learning
•
Kegan’s ‘4th order knowing’: internal languages and
social languages
•
Zanders' ‘art of possibility principles’
•
Brookfield’s Skillful Teacher : issues of ‘impostership’ and
the tensions of learning and resistance

33. Robert Kegan
•
from complaint to commitment
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from blame to personal responsibility
•
from ‘new year’s resolutions’ to ‘competing commitments’
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from ‘big assumptions that hold us’ to ‘assumptions we hold’
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from ‘prize and praising’ to ‘ongoing regard’
•
from rules and policies to public agreement
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from constructive to deconstructive criticism

34. Rosamund and Benjamin Zander
•
‘giving an A’
•
lighting a spark
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being a contribution
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being the board
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leading from any chair
•
•
rule number 6 (or, ‘Q-tip’)
creating frameworks for
possibility
•
telling the WE story
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the way things are
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giving way to passion

35. Stephen Brookfield
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ask what happened while you were away
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acknowledge the sacrifice and return the favor
•
affirm and then share
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ground disclosure in description of your own shortcomings
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use language that is familiar and congenial
•
wait to be asked
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find a group of peers with whom to practice reflectively

36. [break]

37. Part four
Structural support

38. structural support: what is the impact of ensemble
teaching on institutional life?

39. an appreciative inquiry process (first in silence, then
shared)

40. gathering insights via post-it notes

41. what markers emerge as evidence of ensemble
pedagogy becoming a shared practice?
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what structural support is necessary for the cultural
change of ensemble pedagogy?

42. [break]

43. Part five
What’s the next right question?

44. an exercise of harvesting…

45. a final CIQ

46. background resources
•
Adaptive Action, Eoyang and Holladay (Stanford University Press,
2013)
•
Art of Possibility, Zander (Penguin, 2002)
•
Art of Teaching Music, Jorgensen (Indiana University Press, 2006)
Teaching Alone, Teaching Together, Bess (Jossey-Bass, 2000)
•
How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work, Kegan and
Lahey (Jossey-Bass, 2002)
•
The Skillful Teacher, Brookfield (Jossey-Bass, 2006)
•
Understanding by Design, Wiggins and McTighe (Pearson, 2005)

47. citations
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illumination to John 1:1-14, St. John’s Bible (http://blog.seeingtheword.org/?tag=word-made-flesh)
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photo of the Crosswinds public school orchestra by Katherine Forss
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epistemological diagrams from The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer
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image of Phillips Seminary (http://www.ktul.com/story/17129628/labrynth-prayer-walk-celebrates-seminary)
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essential questions list (https://www.authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/article.lasso?artid=53)
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graphic of enduring understanding (http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/teaching-for-enduring-understanding/35243)
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complementary rules comic (taken from web 01/30/12: http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?
u=4d03b90f9fff26c211dc4eb54&id=77743fd6c4)
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For better or for worse comic (http://www.fborfw.com/)
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Bishop arrives for Pentecost comic (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=396796340435345&set=a.
301206246661022.68971.301201333328180&type=1&theater, 14 May 2013)
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Frazz education comic (taken off the web 050307, http://www.comics.com/webmail/ViewStrip?key=35221698cc6f2f56d7-FF)
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all other photos by Mary E. Hess (http://meh.religioused.org/web/Home.html)

48. more info:
mhess@luthersem.edu
http://meh.religioused.org/web/Home.html

49. today’s readings