I. Teaching Is a Vocation

 1. We see improvement in teaching as an important way to enhance the quality and satisfaction of one's vocational choice. "Teaching is not just an act, it is an investment of a life."-- Craig Dykstra

 2. Teaching is a craft developed over a lifetime of critically reflective practice.

 3. Workshops and colloquies seek to stimulate theological reflection on the foundations, personal commitments, and presuppositions of teaching and learning.

 4. Teaching benefits from increased awareness, intentionality, and commitment to student learning.

 5. New and emergent technologies have significant consequences for teaching religion but remain a tool for the benefit of learning and are not an end in themselves.

 6. Good teaching is grounded in good scholarship and nurtures an ongoing discussion about one’s subject area.

 II. Institutional Setting Matters

 1. Appreciation of the fundamental values that define the nature of an institution is key to understanding the dynamics of teaching and learning in a particular place.

 2.  Sustained conversation about teaching and learning is indispensable for transforming the culture of teaching in a school or department.

 3. Good teaching enhances the lives of students and teachers and strengthens the various academic sub-disciplines in theology and religion.

 4. Focusing on the daily work of teaching and learning transcends boundaries between different disciplines, ranks, and other academic divisions to create a safe space for intense, fruitful discussion.

 5. Teaching is integrally connected to the public interpretive role of the department, seminary or theological school.

 III. We Honor Teachers

 1. Workshops and colloquies honor the goals of those involved, focusing on participants' own teaching practices, contexts and experiences.

  2. When faculty members talk together about their craft, they discover a richness in teaching knowledge and experience that already exists among them. The role of the leadership team is to be facilitators and advisors rather than experts or visiting lecturers.

 3. The leadership team helps participants identify their individual and corporate strengths, claim their identity as teachers, and develop their ability to perform ongoing reflection on their teaching practice.

 4. There are many perspectives on teaching and learning, each having its particular strengths and weaknesses. This variety expands the range of faculty conversations and the options for effecting individual and institutional change.