Greenscreen teaching: Institutional instability and classroom innovation

Abstract

Abstract"Greenscreen Teaching" explores how the stresses of institutional and social change impact teaching and learning, and the creative resourcefulness born out of instability. In precarious institutions and social contexts, relevant outcomes for theological learning include developing attentiveness, robust moral discernment, and courageous speech seasoned by maturing convictions and pastoral sensitivities. I utilize greenscreen acting as a suggestive metaphor for describing four creative teaching strategies targeting these outcomes. Subsections gather insights from:• Etymology of disaster-related words: Capitalize on the moment and "go big."• Creative method: Improvise and keep it sharp.• Ritual theory: Creatively repurpose familiar but underutilized traditions.• Service learning: Widen the networks of community connection.Each subsection also revisits moments and learning activities from a graduate course in feminist theology. Navigating constant transition impacts every aspect of the classroom. Nevertheless, a teaching scholar can resource this precariousness as creative agency for voice, solidarity, and mutual learning.

How programs in prisons are challenging the who, where, how, and what of theological education

“…Catastrophe “means an upset of what is expected and was originally used to mean a plot twist. To emerge into the unexpected is not always terrible, though these words have evolved to imply ill fortune (Solnit, 2009, 10)” (, 347). Similarly, the word “emergency comes from emerge, to rise out of,” and Perkins challenges educators to imagine how new possibilities and new pedagogies can emerge from individually and institutionally precarious situations (Perkins, , 346–349).…”

“…To emerge into the unexpected is not always terrible, though these words have evolved to imply ill fortune (Solnit, 2009, 10)” (, 347). Similarly, the word “emergency comes from emerge, to rise out of,” and Perkins challenges educators to imagine how new possibilities and new pedagogies can emerge from individually and institutionally precarious situations (Perkins, , 346–349). Precarious situations, emergency, and catastrophe are immediately and visibly present in prison education and often prompt prison educators to re‐vision their role in creating the conditions necessary for a community of learning to form in each classroom.…”

“…Theological reflection that prioritizes experience is sometimes dismissed as “not‐quite‐standard” by being labeled feminist, womanist, or having some other adjective of identity politics appended to them. This sort of naming discourages experiential theology from becoming the backbone or foundation of a theological curriculum while encouraging a sparse selection of such texts as addendums to texts that might be considered more “standard.” Miriam Perkins, () shares a powerful story about how she rethought one of her course reading lists in an attempt to honor classroom diversity but realized quickly that she had an internal impulse to add no more than one womanist thinker to any given “standard” syllabus. She writes, “it was a challenging moment of self‐awareness as a theologian and educator: a moment to recognize an inertia toward moderation instilled by white privilege and its resultant subtle resistance to visionary change” (2017, 346).…”

“…Writing about the use of ritual in the classroom, Miriam Perkins explains, “rituals of worship, prayer, and liturgy are meant to help carry communities together through the vulnerabilities of life. Rituals can bring a sense of order, familiarity, and perspective to life” (, 351). Classrooms are inherently vulnerable spaces.…”

“…While ritual might be used throughout the semester, I am particularly drawn to the use of ritual at the end of the semester. Perkins, () writes, “rituals also serve to sustain communities through situations of abrupt change. They guide communities through ‘liminality’ (neither here nor there, but betwixt and between), and often can generate powerful moments of ‘communitas’ as connection and solidarity (Turner, 1969; Grimes, 2000)” (, 351).…”