{"id":35274,"date":"2024-01-25T21:43:34","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T05:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35274"},"modified":"2024-01-25T21:43:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T05:43:34","slug":"the-land-of-not-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-land-of-not-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"The Land of “Not Yet”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have spent several years teaching middle school and high school students.\u00a0 Watching some some wrestle more than others over foundational concepts.\u00a0 Those kinds of concepts are that are absolutely crucial if one is to move forward to a deeper and more clear understanding.\u00a0 I can remember working to find ways for more students to \u201cget it.\u201d\u00a0 Even now, with a smile on my face, I remember fondly the \u201caha!\u201d moments expressed on the faces of many when it finally clicked. While reading this week, I said out loud many times, \u201cThat\u2019s what that\u2019s called!\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThreshold Concepts,\u201d \u201cTroublesome Knowledge,\u201d and \u201cLiminality\u201d are terms that have helped clarify what I had observed in students for years but did not know how to classify.\u00a0 This was a very cool week!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most helpful for me was thinking about threshold concepts as not crossing a line or the threshold of a doorway, but rather as entering into a portal (Land\/Meyer, Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding, p. 3).\u00a0 It helps give the perspective of a process or time of \u201cin-betweenness\u201d and the implication of emerging on the other side differently.\u00a0 \u201cA dynamic experience that moves a student from one state to another.\u201d(Land\/Meyers, Threshold Concepts in Practice, p. 5). Reference was made in both books read this week that threshold concepts and the associated liminality could be understood through the notion of a \u201cright of passage.\u201d\u00a0 This was a very helpful perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A few years ago, when leading a Bible Study with undergraduate students, I was first introduced to the idea of a \u201cright of passage.\u201d\u00a0 This particular group was composed of students from the U.S., China, Ethiopia, and Kenya.\u00a0 Somehow, we got onto the subject of manhood and how that is defined in each student\u2019s native culture.\u00a0 Kenny, from Kenya, his story of \u201cBecoming a Man\u201d with great detail and enthusiasm. In Kenya, his culture is shaped by many generations of tribal traditions, which involve a very clear transition to manhood.\u00a0 His story begins with the sound of drums pounding as the men of the tribe approach the homes of teenage boys on one particular night each year.\u00a0 When they arrive, they take the boy from his parent’s home to have him circumcised.\u00a0 This would be the last night the boy would be allowed to shelter under their parents’ roof.\u00a0 The boys were entering a portal of social and emotional change.\u00a0 In preparation for this right of passage, the families prepared a dwelling on their property a part from the main lodging.\u00a0 The separate dwelling would be where the boys would go after they were circumcised to stay for a period of a couple months.\u00a0 During which, they would be visited by circumcised men of the tribe who would bring them food and drink.\u00a0 Kenny described this period as confusing, disorienting, and very emotionally mixed.\u00a0 The men who visited would often sit with the boys to talk with them and answer questions they had.\u00a0 When their time in seclusion and healing was finished, they were brought out into the streets into a procession and celebrated.\u00a0 Recognized as men and no longer boys.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The notion of a right of passage resonates as I enter this doctoral program.\u00a0 I am already experiencing disorientation and levels of anxiety.\u00a0 But having navigated what I now know as threshold concepts before, I am hopeful and confident that God is faithful during the transforming process and that there is another side of the portal.\u00a0 I am also grateful for those who come alongside me during the seasons of liminality to encourage and help. Like the men of the tribe who visited Kenny during his season of isolation, are those doctoral mentors in the this program encouraging me to, \u201cTrust the process\u201d and \u201cStay the course.\u201d <\/span>As I continue on this journey, I definitely feel somewhere between \u201cNo longer\u201d and “Already” in the land of \u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0 appreciate Myers and Land’s portrayal of the impact resulting from the transformation initiated by threshold concepts. According to them, \u201cThe transformation can also entail a shift in the learner\u2019s identity. The result may be that students remain stuck in an \u2018in-between\u2019 state of liminality in which they oscillate between earlier, less sophisticated understandings and the fuller appreciation of a concept that their tutors require from them.\u201d(Land\/Meyer, Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding, p.196) Making the liminal journey is aided by a good teacher or even a good coach.\u00a0 \u00a0A coach helps to bring clarity during a period of disorientation, confusion, and anxiety, which may result in feeling \u201cStuck.\u201d\u00a0 Good coaches come alongside and help their coachees better understand their identity in Christ, their design to flourish, and the discovery of their \u201cSweet Spot.\u201d\u00a0 I see the coaching, described by Camacho in <\/span>Mining for Gold,<\/span><\/i> being of tremendous benefit during seasons of liminality.\u00a0 As I seek to add coaching to my leadership toolbox, it will certainly be strengthened by understanding threshold concepts and their effect on those navigating them.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have spent several years teaching middle school and high school students.\u00a0 Watching some some wrestle more than others over foundational concepts.\u00a0 Those kinds of concepts are that are absolutely crucial if one is to move forward to a deeper and more clear understanding.\u00a0 I can remember working to find ways for more students to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1555,2967,1429],"class_list":["post-35274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-camacho","tag-dlgp03","tag-meyer","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35280,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35274\/revisions\/35280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}