D306 FIELD EDUCATION

Three Summer Format

Summer 2007 (May 21-July 31, 2007)

Roslyn A. Karaban, Ph.D., Director of Field Education

Enrollment: no limit

Pre-Requisites: students are eligible for field education in this format after completing at least three courses in their program.

Course Content

This three-summer, supervised experience introduces students to particular pastoral settings in order to provide them with an opportunity to reflect critically on the minister they are becoming.  The experience consists of three components: participation in ministry, theological reflection and evaluation.

(1) PARTICIPATION IN MINISTRY: the student is placed in a pastoral setting with a competent supervisor and a Learning Agreement for ministerial involvement is drawn up between the student and supervisor.  Eight hours per week is committed to field education related work.  Ordinarily participation in ministry occurs in different settings over the three summers: agency (direct care), health care or prison ministry, and parish ministry.  The specific setting is a decision made between the student and the Director of Field Education.

(2) THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION: this occurs in two ways.  The student meets for one hour weekly with the supervisor to reflect on ministerial experience in light of the learning agreement.  In addition, all students in field education meet four times during the summer with the Director of Field Education to converse together around the theological dimensions and implications of field work, using a model of theological reflection.  All summer field ed students will meet together Monday. May 21 from 6:00 – 9:00 pm; three additional meetings in small groups will occur on Monday and Tuesday evenings:  June 4 or 5, June 25 or 26, and July 16 or 17, 6:00 – 10:00 pm.

(3) EVALUATION: the ministerial student and the supervisor each prepare evaluations in writing at the end of the summer, according to the criteria provided.

Grading: pass/fail

PLEASE NOTE: for a full description of Field Education, see Appendix A of the Student Handbook

Required Reading: Roslyn A. Karaban.  Crisis Caring.  San Jose, CA.: Resource Pub., Inc., 2005.