Victor Lynde

Professor Sara Leo

Education 302-303
Statement of Faith
Statement of Faith-based Teaching and Learning

At the core of my identity, before anything else, is my identity as a child

of God. I have been blessed with a difficult spiritual journey, one that has

been filled with doubt, arrogance, and ultimately repentance. As time has

progressed, I've met more and more people, each of whom comes from a

diverse and complex background, often times from a background with which

Im not familiar; I have been challenged by these and my paradigm has as

well. Time and time again I've found everything I believe and hold dear

tested, questioned, and critiqued. Through many conversations, encounters,

and discourses I have found some of my preconceived notions and

underlying assumptions change or collapse under scrutiny, but the thing that

has held firm, remained steadfast, and grown even stronger is my faith in the

saving death of Christ and preserving power of His almighty hand. As

questions of science, philosophy, and politics bear down around me in an

ever changing world, I have found much comfort in the faith that has been

my ship in stormy seas. As a result of the last several years outside of my

comfort zone, encountering beliefs and experiences very different from my

own, I have begun to try to view the world through the eyes of my savior

rather than through the eyes of the sinful, privileged, and prejudiced person I

was born as. Because of my journey, because of the promises Christ has

made to me, and because of my passionate desire to see my fellow humans

flourish, I have been drawn to teaching. As a Christian I am called to be an

agent of renewal, and in the classroom this means fostering an environment

where students can grow on their own accord. I hope to be the facilitator in

their growth, gently offering them the opportunity to learn and blossom

without force feeding them religion as many have in the past. I believe God

has called each of us to a role, though I do not believe that role is static, but

rather it is ever changing and an evolving vocation. At this time God has

called me to help creating a setting for self-directed flourishing.

When I think specifically about the Unit that I am developing for my

learners this semester, I cant help but have my worldview inform and relate

to my content area. For this Unit were honing in on the Legislative Branch of

the United States, which is the Congress, and examining more closely the

nuts and bolts of how it operates from its structure, to its leadership, to its

committees, and to its factions. As a Christian I believe that two parts of my

faith relate to this. First, we live in a world, despite the sinfulness of man,

where government can even exist! God gave us the free will and the ability

to organize and govern ourselves in a way that no other species has been

enabled. Practically this means that when Im teaching this Unit it is vital to

consider the nature of man. Are humans basically good? Or are they touched

by darkness and deeply flawed? How we answer this question will affect how

we approach governments and the powers we give them for this Unit we

recognize that the Congress in the most powerful branch; so how should

think Biblically about the amount of power we give to other humans? Second,
I believe God created us as beings deep empathy and a moral code. He also

created us as beings of action, change, and justice. When a moral code and a

call to action are combined, where do we land? A Biblical call to social

justice; if we have such a calling it is necessary for us to understand how to

cause change for the better in the contexts where God has placed us.

Practically for this Unit, this means helping students understand as best as

possible what options they have to enact change. This means exposing the

sometime corrupt, complicated, and frustrating system within Congress and

encouraging students to consider the possibility of future public office or

social activism.

I believe in an open classroom which will absolutely cover the

fundamentals of required Civics and Government curricula, but I also want a

classroom which branches out into other systems of government throughout

time in an attempt to consider it from every perspective. The truth is that our

way of enacting change in the legislative branch is one born out of a long

history in the United States which cannot be ignored. It was a system

claiming equality while holding down the African American under the thumb

of slavery and the white male landowner. Yes I want to inform my students

and allow them to inform themselves about the importance and role of the

separation of powers in the Constitution, but I also want to probe my

students minds about the potential dangers and downsides. Both teachers

and students contribute to a positive learning environment by not seeing

themselves in the roles of holder of knowledge and receiver of

knowledge, but as learners being facilitated towards deeper more critical

thinking. Humans are ultimately social creatures and so I believe that we

learn best through interaction with others. I believe that learning which is

self-directed will help students care more about what they are learning and

explore it more thoroughly. I do understand, however, that not every student

learns exactly the same way or at the same pace. As a result it is important

that Im deeply invested in each of students individually so that I know

exactly where they are.