• Rev. Barber: We Will Take Back Our Country, by Moral Means | Diane Ravitch’s blog

    Diane Ravitch recently posted excerpts from an article Rev. Dr. William Barber wrote for Think Progress on December 15, 2016. If you do not know who Rev. Barber is, you should find out. He is the president of the NAACP in NC and a pastor of a church in Goldsboro, NC and wrote a book…

  • Creating a “Collaborative Syllabus” Using Trello

    I believe very strongly in creating a participatory learning environment for students but when it comes to creating a syllabus it seems like the only option is to use the standard “banking” model of education (Freire). As the instructor for a course, I lay out specific texts, assignments and themes for the students to digest in class…

  • Review: Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling and Community by Leah Kostamo

    If he wantonly crushes ants for the fun of it, odds are he won’t be too concerned about the suffering and demise of larger species, including, studies have show, his own. – Leah Kostamo I just finished the book “Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling and Community,” published by Cascade Books. What initially caught my…

  • The Possibilities and Challenges of Building a Participatory Church

    I love the word participation. It’s stem means “taking part” or to “partner.” The Quaker meeting of which I am the ‘released minister,’ Camas Friends, strives to be a participatory church. A partnering church. A church that welcomes the contributions, leadership, insights, resources, personalities and concerns of those who are in the meeting. As I…

  • OMG! A film on GMOs: Review of “GMO OMG”

    [vimeo https://vimeo.com/71035892 w=550&h=309] Monday evening, I had the opportunity to watch Jeremy Seifert’s new film GMO OMG. Jeremy and his family hold a special place in my heart because of our friendship that developed while he and I were in school together at Fuller Seminary. During the time that we were a part of a…