Purpose
The purpose of the NOBS Academy for Biblical Storytelling is to provide a process of support and training in both performance and teaching, helping students to achieve a significant degree of skill and experience in each, ultimately allowing participants to function as certified biblical storytellers and, consequently, commended resource persons able to offer services on behalf of the Network of Biblical Storytellers.

Structure
The Academy of Biblical Storytellers will be a "school without walls" under the direction of a Dean and staffed by a faculty of Mentors from within the NOBS community -- those who have undertaken advanced degrees, evidenced a depth of knowledge from training and independent study, demonstrated significant experience in teaching and leading workshops, distinguished themselves as performers, and shown themselves to have attained a level of spiritual awareness through the discipline of biblical storytelling.

Two face-to-face meetings are also required: the summer Festival Gathering (as well as the immediate 2.5 days afterwards), and a late-fall, two-night meeting TBD according to the geographic location of that year's students.

Process
The Academy offers two levels of certification: a one-year (January to December of even-numbered years) program culminating with the granting of a Biblical Storytelling Certificate (BSC), and a second-year program (January to December of odd-numbered years) concluding with a Master of Biblical Storytelling Certificate (MBSC). Candidates in each program commit to a process of reading, course work, coaching, reflection, repertoire development, and training in pedagogy.

Candidates, and subsequent graduates, of both programs will be expected to be members of the Network of Biblical Storytellers and to participate in, and contribute to, the NOBS community and attend the annual Festival Gatherings. Both the BSC and the MBSC will require annual certification renewal which will be based on review of continued demonstrations of documented experience in the public telling of biblical stories, narrative teaching opportunities, and evidence of further educational development.

The BSC requirements include:

• previous attendance at an approved NOBS-sponsored/related event

• a one-year course of study consisting of assigned readings and written reflection (in areas such as biblical studies, theology, performance theory and practice, communications in digital, etc.)

• attendance at, and full participation in, two consecutive Festival Gatherings (the year of your course of study and the following for graduation), the first of which includes a 2.5-day post-FG Academy intensive.

• maintaining accountability to a Mentor over the course of study

• demonstrated mastery of storytelling and teaching skills through a rigorous coaching/critiquing process that involves videotaped sessions sent to a Mentor for evaluation (you will need access to a video camera w/ VHS or mini-DV tapes)

• building of a storytelling repertoire

• competence in biblical content as demonstrated by a written exam

• design, presentation, and recording of a story-learning workshop, including evaluations from workshop participants

• the maintenance of a spiritual journal throughout the process

• design, presentation, and recording of participation in two additional storytelling events at times other than the Festival Gatherings

• an oral examination/evaluation by a panel including the Dean (this will require a two-night meeting in late fall).

• the successful completion of the BSC requirements

• an additional year's course of study consisting of assigned readings and written reflection

• attendance at, and full participation in, two Academy seminars and three consecutive Festival Gatherings with their 2.5-day post-FG Academy intensives (this includes the attendance requirements from the BSC)

• maintaining accountability to a Mentor over the course of study

• demonstrated mastery of coaching skills

• design, presentation, and recording of a non-story-learning, but narrative-based, workshop with evaluations from workshop participants

• design, presentation, and recording of a digital storytelling performance

• design, presentation, and recording of a storytelling performance that includes 30% non-biblical narratives

• design, presentation, and recording of an assigned preaching text

• competence in biblical geography as demonstrated by a written exam

• continued repertoire development

• design, development, and completion of an approved practical research project or educational resource

• an oral examination/evaluation by a panel including the Dean (this will require a two-night meeting in late fall)

Download and print an application form

Apply Online

2008 Syllabus

Please contact the Dean of the Academy, Dr. Tracy Radosevic for more information:

Dr. Tracy Radosevic, Dean
Academy for Biblical Storytelling
3025 N. Calvert St. #E5
Baltimore, MD 21218
(410) 467-2996
tracy@tracyrad.com