Pedagogy

In its simple definition, teaching is a systematic process of knowledge exchange. However its significance can at once be realized if one links it with the developmental process of the civilization. From that perspective, teachers role and responsibility both appear multidimensional since they are assigned to create quality citizens to sustain and develop the society. This in turn points to the fact that teaching involves all what is needed to empower the students to follow the right path of life that ends at the door of God.

The above proposition raises several questions regarding the content and mode of teaching, besides questions like what should be the essential qualifications of the teachers, and how the teachers could effectively impart knowledge under the framework of Christian teaching.

Kevin Treston deals with all the above issues in his book, Five Dynamic Dimensions for Effective Teaching, and in the process, provides answers regarding the efficacy of Christian teaching and how its inherent values create desired impact on students. This reviewer thus explores the above book with the aim to frame its essence.

Organization of the Book
Treston divides his book into five chapters to separately deal with five topics that he found as deeply linked with Christian teaching, such as Integrity, Wisdom, Generativity, Learning, and Justice. The lucid style and the openness of Treston have added dimensions to this 136-page book of serious discussions and suggestions.

Chapter One Integrity
Treston points out that integrity provides the all-important alignment between human core values and human behavior. He resorts to a short, metaphorical story that eventually distinguishes between truth, untruth, and pure truth and shows that it takes courage to face the truth. Inner truthfulness is the affinity between our core values and our behavior, says Treston, and suggests that it enables the teachers to discern values and capture the real meaning of security and wisdom of principle-centered instruction required for all actions. According to him, ideological foundation and strong belief system enable the teachers to earn integrity, and without such qualities teaching is bound to relegate to the level of just any other jobs that humans do to earn their living.
Treston also draws the other scenario by suggesting that teachers with integrity share a vision of life that promotes a partnership with God and community, besides having behavioral qualities that promote goodwill among students. In such situations integrity appears as the fruit of fidelity to the inner life of the Spirit, and aligns all human actions with the mind of Christ.

The teachers with integrity create an encouraging educational ambience by infusing their core belief in others, which in turn makes everyone inspired to plant their faith in Christ and to develop the culture of willful learning, suggests Treston. Alongside, integrity in teachers also enhance the culture of building love for one another in the mold of what is there in Pauls epistle to the Ephesians. Treston observes that integrity moves us beyond outward appearances and acts as the savior of inner truth, which helps us removing the moats of illusions and reaching the inner castle of truth in ones self.

An explanation like above automatically invites the discussion regarding the correlation between integrity and self. According to Treston integrity plays a crucial role in protecting the teachers from being driven by self-promotion fueled by ego, money or economics, and instead, influences them to be driven by truth to serve the learner and the organization. According to him, consciousness, life-styles, and culture are instrumental in teaching, and therefore, the teachers should create personal space to build their integrity instead of responding to general cultural conditioning.

Treston brings in historical perspective of education to discuss the role of integrity in teaching. Presenting a collage of views of numerous philosophers ranging from Socrates to Dewey of modern times, he shows how the issue of integrity has all along been an important subject to the philosophers and researchers. Alongside, they also provide clues regarding the evolution of the concept of education over the years
Education dispels error and discovers truth (Socrates).
Education leads and guides for peace and unity with God (Froebel).
Education develops real wisdom (Erasmus).
Education increases social efficiency (Dewey).
Education develops morality (Herbart).

The above views can charge up the aspiring as well as the current teachers to meet the expectations of those philosophers and researchers. Before moving on to discuss the philosophies of education, Treston artfully reminds the teachers that they too are forever learners, as education happens to be a lifelong process.

Treston observes that five major philosophical concepts have shaped education through centuries, like idealism, pragmatism, existentialism, realism, and Marxism. Through crisp descriptions of the above concepts, Treston attempts to show the evolution of the concept of teaching and where the Christian virtues align with education, and where not. Alongside he also highlights the gaps in other philosophies. For example, when one sees the concept of realism is mostly based on the physical senses, or Marxism views education from the perspective of labor and its dividend, their shortcomings automatically comes to the fore.

After this Treston presents an explanation of the Christian vision of education. According to Treston, Christian teaching does not stem from any particular school of philosophy, and it is not confused in defining the nature and purpose of education. Accordingly he declares, Most education happens outside schools. Treston supports his view by saying, A Christian vision of education is founded on the absolute value of a human person, created in the image of God and redeemed by the saving mission of Christ.

The above definition prompts Treston to mention that Churchs mission is to teach (kerygma) the Good News of salvation, besides engaging all in friendly fellowship in Christ-like love (koinonia) and serving all openly and willingly (diakonia). Treston does not forget to mention that Jesus was particularly interested in the diakonia, i.e., service for the poor, where the connotation of poor also covers humans who are low in spirit and aptitude.

Treston incorporates the issue of successfully meeting the challenges by the emerging cultural movements and underpins four of them as the most important of the lot
Growing awareness of the feminine
Ecological concerns
The culture of technology
Enhanced understanding of human power.

Alongside he reminds that it is the Christian education with its 2000-year-long heritage that can enlighten and equip the teachers to successfully meet the above challenges. He says, the basic orientation of Christian spirituality is union with God that flows into action for justice, and Christ is both redeemer, to lead us to reconciliation, and reminder of who God is and who we might become.

The discussion on the role of integrity in teaching eventually reaches to the point of how to develop ones integrity as a Christian teacher. Here Treston provides simplest of suggestions, such as maintaining optimism, actively pursuing the spiritual life of prayer, devotion to God, Bible study, and meditation. These are the stepping stones towards attaining wisdom and enhancing accountability, besides converting one into a lifelong learner, suggests Treston, before moving on to discuss the correlation between wisdom and teaching in the chapter two.

Chapter Two Wisdom
Treston creates the momentum of this chapter by saying Wisdom is the essence of the art of discerning what is authentic in living a life in accord with Gods will and our human destiny. It clearly earmarks wisdom as an essential element for Christian teachers. Citing the instance of The blind man (John, chapter 9), he explains that enlightenment is an essential component of wisdom and it is a wonderful gift of Lord that helps to see all issues clearly by freeing them from illusions.

Gradually he makes inroads to the Biblical understanding of wisdom, describing how the Biblical word Hokmah in Hebrew emerged as Sophia in Greek before turning into Sapientia in Latin to define wisdom. He provides various Biblical definitions of wisdom as well as wise person. For example, Wisdom is the personification of Gods presence in His creation, sounds befitting to the context, because the gospel describes Jesus as the wise teacher (didaskalos), whose lifestyle and love for his disciples authenticates his wise teachings.

In this context Treston brings forth the six elements of teachings presented by Jesus under the theme of the reign of God, such as inclusion, priority, immediacy, hope, solidarity, and blessedness. It is interesting to note that all sub-elements under those themes are equally relevant under the modern context, which not only consolidate the views of Christian teaching, but also shows the time-winning quality of Jesus teachings.
For example, the following actions are considered as the integral part of modern day Christian teaching
Accommodating the outcast persons
Utilizing the stories and parables
Envisioning the ultimate destiny of humans
Applying sense of mercy
Applying sense of innovation
Meeting the needs of the student at the earliest
Earning power through prayer
Living a life of loving kindness
Enjoying the inner peace by following Jesus teachings.

However, Treston would have done better in this segment, had he linked some of them with modern day situations, which eventually he does while discussing the correlation between wisdom and cultural environment.

Treston identifies teachers as placed to help students evaluate cultural values, under the guiding light of the gospel messages. Such positioning appears justified because the current social situations like the state of elderly people, abortion, violence, diseases, natural calamities, relief projects, missions or doomsday fears, all have implications that are inherent to the values of Christianity.

Another important point emanates out of his discussion that there is a need to devise ways to assess the significance of the dramatic shift of human consciousness with the rise of digital communication that has wiped off regional boundaries. Treston rightly identifies that this apparent secular situation has started vitiating the much-needed guardianship of the teachings of Jesus (Ten Commandments), which is totally corroborated by innumerable instances of pre-marital, marital and post-marital crises in the Christian world. Thus, his observation that this New Age Wave does not have much to contribute to the Christian virtues seems logical, if the compactness of it has anything to go by. Accordingly, his call to Christian teachers to utilize their wisdom in becoming the catalyst of change also sounds appropriate to the situation.

Therefore, to become a positive catalyst in the situations like above, the teachers require the ability to distinguish between what is right and wrong, but for that matter the teachers need to know the process of discernment. Treston comes to their aid at this juncture by saying that the process of discernment is the faith stance of Christians that acknowledges the Spirit that becomes active when people gather in community. His 14 recommendations for developing a wisdom style of discernment for teachers appear logical under the present context of teaching that aims to make Christian teachers proactive, cognizant and prudent, which are the prime elements of wisdom. Wisdom teachers know the intrinsic value of all Gods creatures, and are faithful stewards in their community and their schools, observes Treston, before moving on to the third chapter, which highlights the need to realize the intrinsic mechanism of teaching.

Chapter Three Generativity
Generativity is about choosing life and assisting students to live creatively through a realization of their potential, says Treston at the outset of chapter four of this book, before highlighting the significance of putting insight into lifes journey. This chapter seems invaluable in the sense that it contains elements that are not easily available in other books on teaching. While the other books on teaching mostly limit the discussion within the duties and responsibilities, this chapter of Trestons book highlights the intrinsic part of teaching. It encourages the teachers by saying that they can earn the joy of gifting their knowledge to the students by lifting their own qualities (like acquiring more insight about life-journey) and imbibing the same in their students. Treston explains the issue by saying that insights into life journey helps to connect between outer world and inner world (which is also the spiritual center), besides helping in aligning the two journeys (inward and outward) of life. The better part of this chapter devotes in describing the qualities that enable the teachers to acquire the said insight, and from this perspective too, this chapter adds more dimension to the issue of Christian teaching.

Treston underpins seven qualities that together can produce generativity in teachers, such as service, proactive attitude, healing and reconciliation, spirituality, pastoral care, and stress management. Alongside, he identifies the significance of preserving and utilizing the quiet times of the teachers to align the energy of their tasks with their spiritual centers, i.e., with the core of their life.

There can be no argument on the fact that all of the above qualities appear as bare essentials for any Christian teacher, if anyone goes through their basic definitions provided by Treston
Jesus identified service as the symbols of generativity (diakonia, John 13)
Proactive attitude enables humans to control their lives, evoking the spirit of creativity, assertiveness, and leadership qualities that invigorates group synergy
Jesus was devoted to the ideals of koinonia or a way of partnership in community
Christian spirituality expresses our relationships with God in Christ through the power of the Spirit
Pastoral care teachers maximize every opportunity to impart values of impelling motivation for a sense of mission in ones life

If stressful events are handled wisely, they can generate new energy for the achievement of the tasks.
Treston provides a 14-point prescription to manage stress, which serves as an instance of how Christian teaching can be instrumental in stress management, since most of the 14 approaches can be linked with it. Treston amply describes the bottom line of generativity by saying that life is celebrated amid the diversity and possibilities of the quality gifts of generativity, before arriving at another important issue involved in teaching, i.e., learning, in chapter four.

Chapter Four Learning
In this chapter Treston focuses mainly on three topics under it, such as, correlation between technology and learning, the role of teacher as a facilitator of learning, and how to facilitate learning.

The first topic attempts to frame the increasing dialogue between digital technology and learning with an aim to find the role of Christian teaching in it, which is surely laudable for more than one reason. Firstly, the digital technology has brought in online study systems, where the teacher and student are not involved in face-to-face teaching. Secondly, it also provides a blended mode of learning that contains both online and offline sessions. Thirdly, the digital system also has its own culture. All of these are newer situations and thus there is a need for directives regarding how Christian teaching can effectively handle them. Treston rightfully advises the teachers in this regard by suggesting them to be vigilant in course formulation in the sense that they should be congruent with the Christian philosophy of learning.

Treston cites the difference of assumptions between the emerging alternative schools and traditional schools, which throws some light on what could be the role of the Christian teachers as the facilitator of learning under the present context. His advice to adopt the policy of formulating learning styles that would be most suitable for students also sounds appropriate, as he too believes in the fact that students learn best when they get engaged into learning.

Treston presents a 10-point solution to facilitate learning that includes the prime ingredients of Christian teaching, such as companionship, effort, appropriate ambience, opportunities, fairness, fellowship, creativity, joy, and studentship of teacher. He underpins arrogance as the bane to learning, besides emphasizing on the fact that any modification of teaching style should be related to more productivity. He demonstrates a strategy to facilitate learning by using elements like brainstorm, no repeats, and three-person teach, before moving on to the last chapter of his book that deals with justice, another integral part of Christian teaching.

Chapter Five Justice
At the outset of chapter five, Treston explains what justice looks like from the perspective of teaching, and how the absence of it can prove deadly to the self-esteem of students. He identifies many faces of justice in teaching, such as ethnic sensitivities, equal opportunities, skill development, communication with parents, and assessment and evaluation procedures. Alongside, he reminds the teachers that injustice appears in many guises, such as race, skin color, or religion, and teachers should transform such categories into fellowship, besides transforming other categories of injustice like intelligence, talent, gender, application and personality.
His lamentation, ideologies that reinforce inequality and injustice are endemic to our society, sounds as if an appeal to the teachers to work towards the elimination of such trait by providing maximum possible justice to their students. He advises the teachers to utilize the 3 Rs of justice in combating injustice, such as
Remuneration Deals with appropriate return against any work
Restoration Deals with supporting the deserving humans
Reconstruction Deals with rebuilding the society after eliminating the roots of oppression.
His presentation of the general and churchs worldviews of justice provides valuable insights. Worldviews like conservatism, liberal view, and radical stance that are prevalent in the schools, and the predominant worldviews of justice in the church, like liberal theology, feminist theology, and creation theology, all can be helpful for the Christian teachers.

The above discussion culminates into the issue of creating just teachers, and accordingly Treston presents a list of desirable qualities in a just teacher, where the teacher should be
A truthful person
A supporter of the movements for justice
Respectful to life and a carrier of hopeful presence
A practitioner of just processes.

Treston suggests the teachers to break down the process of becoming a just teacher into four phases. First, they should learn about the ongoing injustice. Second, they should critically assess its drivers. Third, they should identify its cause in an assertive manner. Finally they should join the movement of eliminating injustice in the fourth phase.

The movements against injustice should be relevant to the situation, cautions Treston by saying, Teachers may find it more meaningful for their students to address issues of justice that impact on students lives. Alongside, he advises them to refrain from irrelevant and depressing stories, besides resorting to the instance where Jesus selectively healed the people of Palestine, to explain the above point.

The correlation between relevance and justice appears even more significant under the context of curriculum formulation. Treston emphasizes the importance of aligning educational curricula with the needs of the state and school requirement, which, at the same time, would also meet the needs of student aspirations. In the process he offers three ideas towards promoting justice in school that would also make the learning experience relevant. The ideas can be exploited in three phases, suggests Treston. The first phase would involve development of consciousness to become aware of the dynamics of injustice, and the second phase would involve contact with groups that are involved in similar activities. Finally, the third phase would involve appropriate social action to alleviate the oppression.

In this regard, Treston also reminds the significance of the students ability to critically analyze the situations. For that matter he suggests teaching them the five basic ideas on the same, such as gathering topical information, evaluating the obtained data, generating techniques, discovering methods of change based on evaluation and adopted technique, and evaluating the final data. Empowerment of the students to discover the treasures of their own should be the motto, suggests Treston in the end.

Conclusion
Five major truths emerge from this book
Integrity forms the right foundation of Teachers
Wisdom enables the teachers to have a comprehensive view of any issue and to take appropriate actions against them
Generativity infuses the much-needed vitality in teaching that embraces creativity, perseverance and the quest for learning
Learning contents should be aligned with the greater interests of the society as well as the manifestation issue of the students
Sense of justice and its appropriate application are preconditions of quality education
Christian education guideline enables both the teachers and the students to exploit their potential to the maximum, besides enhancing fellowship and the joy of service.

This book shows that teaching is not only a bundle of instruction, but also is a service to enrich the Christian heritage of wisdom, which aims to empower the students to discover and utilize their inherent qualities to the maximum. Treston presents Christian teaching within a framework of reality that shows why the teachers need a regimented approach to teaching, and how Christian values can highly activate both students and teachers to achieve the main purpose of education. This book, therefore, should essentially be counted as an instrument to clear the confusion regarding why Jesus concept of teaching should be an integral part of the foundation of the teachers. Altogether this book presents a logical and passionate commentary of the Christian way of teaching. It shows how the sacred instructions of Bible can help teachers to acquire integrity and convert information into wisdom. It also shows how wisdom makes way for generativity and justice, which eventually propel the learners to take the desired course of life, at the end of which a divine union with God waits for them.