<img class="size-full wp-image-24557 alignleft lazyload" src="https://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/molleen_sm.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="250" />When religion teacher Molleen Dupree-Dominguez saw a call for teaching strategies in an e-newsletter published by The Wabash Center for Teaching Theology and Religion she was immediately intrigued.
“I thought I would submit one – even though their focus is undergraduate teaching and I teach high school,” she said. “The fact is, many students we serve at O’Dowd are operating at an undergraduate level. I think our teaching strategies could be appropriate for most undergrads throughout the country.”
Dupree-Dominguez learned in November that her lesson plan, “Teaching Theology and Religion,” was accepted and will be published in January in the Wabash Center Journal on Teaching.
“I’m thrilled to have my work published,” she said. “I have a goal of writing more as I move into the next phase of my career, and this is a great start in that direction.”
The lesson plan, “Social Location Project,” allows the class to build a sense of community by sharing about who each person is and where s/he comes from. It also makes identifying issues like race, class and gender a focal point of the class and begins a safe space for tough conversations.
“This project is the foundation upon which we build an analysis of privilege, stereotype, prejudice, racism, and sexism in all three courses that I teach,” Dupree-Dominguez explained. “It’ different from other lessons because it opens a unique space where the personal experience of the students intersect with the content of the courses. It takes a lot of class time, but I find the investment of time to be worth it.”
Associate Principal Colette Roche said Dominguez crafts engaging, innovative, and relevant lessons for her students at O’Dowd. “I’m delighted to see her contribution to the profession through sharing lessons with an undergraduate community,” she said.
Located at Wabash College in Indiana, the Wabash Center supports theology and religion faculty and doctoral students reflecting on their teaching practice – both in theological education and undergraduate education – in North America.
Dupree-Dominguez first learned about the Wabash Center while surfing the internet. “I was initially drawn to their blog because they address teaching strategies for teaching online, which is part of my teaching practice at O’Dowd,” she said.
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