Author Archives: Israel Galindo

About Israel Galindo

Israel Galindo is Coordinator of the Leadership in Ministry program at the Center for Lifelong Learning, Columbia Theological Seminary. Formerly he was Associate Dean for Lifelong Learning at Columbia Theological Seminary and Dean at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.

Leaders know how to listen

Posted on May 16, 2007 by Israel Galindo

One of the most important traits of an effective leader is his or her ability to listen. While hearing is a natural ability listening is an acquired skill. Listening involves more than just the capacity to understand what is said … Continue reading →

Posted in bowen family systems theory, second chair | Comments Off on Leaders know how to listen

I used to believe . . .

Posted on May 15, 2007 by Israel Galindo

I’ve always found it fascinating to see how difficult it is for adults to appreciate children’s cognition. It seems as if when the brain makes those leaps from one stage of cognition to another we develop a sort of cognitive … Continue reading →

Posted in children, Christian Education, teaching, world view | 1 Comment

Leadership lessons from the Dog Whisperer

Posted on May 14, 2007 by Israel Galindo

Full disclosure and legal disclaimer: I’m not a pet person. I’ve never been a dog owner, don’t have cats, and don’t understand what having pets around the house is all about. The most I’ve tolerated was allowing the kids to … Continue reading →

Posted in bowen family systems theory, handouts | 1 Comment

What Bruner said

Posted on May 11, 2007 by Israel Galindo

In 1966 Jerome Bruner, Harvard psychologist and educator, wrote: There is a dilemma in describing a course of study. One must begin by setting forth the intellectual substance of what is to be taught, else there can be no sense … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Education, philosophy, teaching | Comments Off on What Bruner said

You learn what you need at the time you need it and not before

Posted on May 10, 2007 by Israel Galindo

I often start my workshop presentations by saying, “Don’t take notes. It won’t help you.” (in fact, I start out most of my seminary class sessions that way). I tell the participants to trust themselves to learn what they need … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Education, teaching | Comments Off on You learn what you need at the time you need it and not before

Teaching concepts

Posted on May 9, 2007 by Israel Galindo

Concepts are some of the most powerful components of learning. In fact, concepts attainment is necessary for deep understanding—if you don’t grasp the concept, you don’t really understand. This is a challenge in teaching in part because most people don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in children, Christian Education, teaching | 1 Comment

How NOT to explain things

Posted on May 8, 2007 by Israel Galindo

In a previous post (“On metaphors, analogies, and rigid thinking”(April 20th, 2007) I wrote about the limitations inherent in metaphors. I stated that while metaphors can be helpful to introduce a concept we do people a disservice in leaving them … Continue reading →

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Putting the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble

Posted on May 7, 2007 by Israel Galindo

I had a conversation a few weeks ago with a couple of church leaders who wanted to “mobilize” their church members into ministry. They wanted to turn around the situation in their church (common to many congregations) where 20% of … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Education, theology | Comments Off on Putting the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble

How’s your focus?

Posted on May 5, 2007 by Israel Galindo

How good are you at multiple object tracking? Here’s an interesting little vision test from the University of Guelph website. This is from Dr. Lana Trick, Associate Professor of Psychology at Applied Cognitive Science department. See how well you can … Continue reading →

Posted in bowen family systems theory | 4 Comments

Critical?

Posted on May 4, 2007 by Israel Galindo

Someone asked me, “How do you know when you are being critical and when you are pointing out errors?” When I asked her to clarify what she was asking she thought for a moment and said, “I’m wondering about how … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments