Setting the Context
As I exited a keynote presentation on The Science and Profession of Teaching (Daniel), at the annual winter Learning & The Brain: Teaching Engaged Brains Conference (San Francisco, CA), a participant asked: How can administrators help teachers apply an “evidence-generated” model within the context of a school’s existing teacher evaluation system? And while there was no clear response by any of the 90 people in the room, my mind immediately began wandering – and soon arriving at a feeling of consolation. With two minor tweaks, creating an evidence-generating culture among educators in our school – instead of living out evidence-based teaching – is doable within the context of our existing process for teacher Growth, Renewal, & Evaluation (GRE). What is an Evidence-Generating Culture, As Opposed to an Evidence-Based Culture? Daniel alluded to the fact that a major conundrum teachers have when we attend conferences where research-based best-practices are presented is that such theories about practices are (externally) evidence-based, rather than (internally) evidence-generated. Based on brain science and educational studies, “if a teacher does this . . . this will happen . . . now, go forth and set the world on fire.” And while evidence-based research is helpful, often times it is not easy to practically apply and often unsustainable in lived classrooms with real teachers and students. It also does little to invite teachers themselves to become researchers on the science of education. However, an evidence-generating culture is created when school leadership encourages teachers to identify their own class-based areas for growth and use a simple framework to develop a plan to address the areas for growth, test, collect evidence to hopefully show how they have improved their practices, and reflect on those experiences. This evidence-gathering culture is important because it:
Essential Question How do we invite teachers into the growth mind-set, where they are researchers in their own classrooms – generating their own evidence that they are being successful with their own students? Growth, Renewal, & Evaluation Process Our current teacher evaluation process is called Growth, Renewal, & Evaluation (GRE). It is a framework that, by nature, is comprehensive and evidence-gathering, with components that invite teachers to reflect on their classroom practices. But, it is not currently evidence-generating – it doesn’t necessarily invite teachers to identify areas for growth and then use a process for developing strategies to address those areas, test, and generate (collect) evidence of growth (or not). It doesn’t necessarily encourage teachers to be engaged in their own classroom-based research on the science of their own classroom-based teaching. Here are our GRE components:
And while this is a reflective, teacher-centered process, it is perhaps shy of going steps further to invite teachers to become researchers in their own classes. There is an easy fix, but first a few centering questions from the Daniel keynote that left me in consolation:
Two Quick GRE Process Tweaks By improving two teacher-centered reflection pieces in our GRE, we can invite teachers into an evidence-generating culture. GRE Reflecting Conversations Class visits are the impetus for the most important part of our GRE process, the Reflecting Conversation. This 20-minute conversation that follows each class visit invites the teacher to:
A simple tweak to these prompts of the Reflecting Conversation is adding these questions that serve as the start to an evidence-generating framework (notably, also similar to the Problem-Resolving Conversation in Cognitive Coaching):
Providing these additional prompts to our traditional Reflecting Conversation invites the teacher to be an evidence-generating researcher in the classroom. GRE Principal Evaluation Conversation During the GRE process, teachers complete a prompt-based written reflection before meeting for the Principal Evaluation Conversation (mid-year or at the end of the third quarter, typically). Here are the current prompts teachers reflect on before that conversation with the principal:
These prompts already invite the teacher to think about a lot, including areas for growth. And, a simple tweak to these prompts is to add questions that serve as a follow-up to previous Reflecting Conversations that they have already had (notably, also similar to the Problem-Resolving Conversation in Cognitive Coaching):
Adding these questions to the existing self-reflection prompts for the GRE Principal Evaluation Conversation invites teachers to identify areas for growth from their classroom and school experiences, work on a process for becoming researchers who generate evidence of that growth, and hopefully form habits for creating an evidence-generating culture in the context of the school. Resources
0 Comments
Students in my junior English class, American Dreams and Voices, recently submitted essays about their analyses of The Great Gatsby. 21/25 student essays submitted had no red flags for use of Chabots. 3/25 did. Here’s what I noticed and here are important take-aways that will lead me to ongoing conversations with students. Writing Abilities I work to see patterns of writing and abilities for each student in my class, from the start of our year, through to its finish. Each student’s writing progresses at its own pace; therefore, as we advance throughout the year, foci change, and priorities shift and evolve. So, what looks like an A for one student might not necessarily look like an A for another, and so on. And, what looks like an A at the beginning of the year for one student, might not look like an A for that same student, as the year progresses, and so on. We grow. We change. And writing expectations increase. Once we understand the basics, we progress to more advanced writing. Therefore, it’s important to notice and track student patterns for writing and abilities. Even though grading and student evaluation of essays is objective and rubric-based (content, organization, mechanics), student essay evaluations also consider where each student has been and how much that student has or has not improved based upon his previous work, current abilities, and course goals. However, when I read and evaluate individual student essays that (1) overwhelmingly exceed student writing abilities, (2) greatly surpass student content knowledge, (3) extend far beyond student ability to analyze based upon previous work or class discussions, and/or (4) are structured in ways that imply organizational discrepancies from assignments, those are red flags – and cause for a conversation. These circumstances are outside the realm of the norm and deserve deeper dives with students. I always keep these ideas in balance as I evaluate individual student essays. And here examples of comments I make on student papers that I red flag:
My comments on student papers invite us to have reflecting conversations about the work. Three weeks prior to assigning this essay, I asked students to write a simple, in-class paragraph about The Great Gatsby. It was a prelection to their major essay. The paragraph content and structure requirements were discussed, and they completed the paragraph assignment during our block class. As they wrote during class, I monitored their progress during class using Dyknow – a tech-based, class management tool. Writers turned in their assignments through OnCampus, using our Turnitin.com filter, and I graded the paragraphs. Simple enough. I used the graded paragraphs as baseline data for comparing to and contrasting with future student writings – especially as the data relates to essay grammar and mechanics. All three of the red-flagged essays overwhelmingly exceeded students’ prior writing abilities based not only on previous essays but also on the most recent baseline data from the paragraphs they composed during class under my supervision. And all three of the red-flagged essays included well thought through ideas, with quotes, that we had not previously talked about or alluded to in class. Take-Away: when evaluating student essays and considering the possibility of Chatbots, keep in mind previous student writing and class conversations about content. Use prior student artifacts as baseline data for comparing and contrasting. Smaller Assignments that Support the Larger Essay Major essays for my class are supported by sequentially chunked, smaller assignments. I structure class time to provide opportunities for writing input and practice, helping students build skills and complete the essay assignment. I offer students practical resources: outlines, references, time to draft, my writing, peer-exemplars, pair/share opportunities, and conversations. After I assigned this essay, students completed and turned in the following assignments, which helped them with their final essay:
Sequential assignments are small, manageable, and start in class. They build on previous work. They require writers to focus on specific components of their essays. And, finally, these assignments eventually serve as concrete (or not) evidence of student work building toward a final product. Therefore, when I evaluate final essays, I should be able to reference prior student work to see how they arrived at their end products. I should see commonalities among the smaller assignments and the final essay. The three student essays I red-flagged were alike, as they related to the prior student assignments. Students who authored these red-flagged essays:
Again, assignments that lead to the major essay help students practice. They also serve as evidence of student work that leads to the final product. When students fail to do this work or turn it in, or when the work they turn it does not match the final essay, those are red flags – and cause for a conversation. Take-Away: design large writing essays around smaller, chunked-out assignments that invite students to practice skills and allow teachers to make connections between what they see in the small assignments and the final essay. Personal Experiences A large part of essay assignments for my class involves personal experience examples. Students are invited to reflect on and write about how the content we discuss – how the material they write about – somehow relates to their own personal experiences or to the experiences in the world they know about. This is complex and cannot be easily replicated through a Chatbot. This exercise of integrating personal experience into essays is a stretch for high school students, but it is an important component of our class – where students perhaps for the first time in their lives are challenged to reflect on how the content we discuss impacts them or those they know. In doing so, students reflect on and write about how they will think or act in new and different ways as a direct result of our class content. Red-flag essays are those that (1) do not include personal experience examples when they are required and/or (2) show great grammatical and mechanical disparity between their personal experience example paragraphs and the other paragraphs they write. Let me provide an example of what I’m talking about. The following two sentences are from a personal experience example paragraph by a student writer:
These two sentences, within the context of the writer’s personal experience example, attempt to draw connections between the intent of Kanye’s lyrics and Gatsby, which is terrific. The two sentences show the following grammatical and mechanical errors, though: comma usage, spacing issues, informal language, and sentence issues. It’s a lot, frankly. Here is a sentence from the same writer’s other body paragraph, which is not his personal experience body paragraph, where he discusses the Buchanans from The Great Gatsby:
This example, by contrast, has no grammatical or major mechanical errors and uses words and ideas (aristocracy, privileged) that go well beyond what we discussed during class. So, while this writer uses personal experience examples, there are grammatical and mechanical errors in his examples and the sentences seem out of place with the with the rest of the essay – therefore becoming red-flags and causes for a conversation about his work. Take-Away: require students to write about how their personal experiences relate to the essay content and notice the consistency of grammar and mechanics in the paragraphs within the essay. After I red flag an essay, I do not put a grade on the essay. Instead, I put a “N/G” on it, denoting No Grade. And I might offer the following comments: Can we have a conversation about this paper?
Through my written comments and our resulting conversations, students can begin to understand how their final essays might be perceived from an evaluator – how these red-flags are occasions for conversations to raise awareness about their work and are invitations to them to do better. Setting the Context
The reality of the possibility of student use of A.I. Chatbots to write high school essays hit me a few weeks ago after a department chair meeting. After the meeting, our school’s English department chair opened his computer while asking me to verbalize a hypothetical student essay topic. As I said, “write about class structure, the American Dream, and The Great Gatsby,” the English department chair typed my prompt into an A.I. Chatbot program on his computer - and together we watched as the essay was quickly written. Shift happens. My immediate response was awe, followed by pragmatic reflection and some consolation. Even though high school English composition and writing is a complex, individual process, it can be effectively taught and practiced in the context of our classrooms – to ward off student temptations to use A.I. Here are a few suggestions for getting started: Set & Communicate Expectations When it comes to teaching and learning about writing, be clear in setting and communicating expectations and reference A.I. in the class plagiarism statement. Tackle the topic head-on. Talk about it with students by showing them the capabilities of Chatbots – including why they are not effective tools to help with critical thinking. Invite the class to reflect on its uses. Just as our English department chair did with me - make A.I. Chatbots real for students in class. Tools & Frameworks Provide students writing tools and essay frameworks. Help students practice in class. My syllabus has the specific parameters of the recursive writing process (that includes prewriting, writing, and revision) and essay frameworks and parameters (that include how to compose introductions, body paragraphs, and concluding techniques). I expect students to learn, practice, and adhere to these tools and frameworks throughout the year. During the first two weeks of class I spend time taking students though the tools and frameworks: the recursive writing process and a general essay paradigm. I also spend time reviewing specific expectations. The Values of Skills Teach the value of critically reading & thinking, annotating, and organization; then, practice these skills in the context of class. In the world in which we live and to honor the gifts students already possess, it is important to critically think and develop clear arguments. I expect to see student writing results as students practice during class. For example, when we talk about how closed thesis statements are important because they govern a paper, we write a closed thesis statement together during class. Then, students individually compose thesis statements, and we critique them in class. I am consoled that the work is theirs and ours. This foundational work is intended to help students frame logical arguments – an important skill. Connections Help students make connections during class. Content we critically read and annotate during class and at home should be reflected in essays students write. Students should see connections. For example, the specific quotes we identify in The Scarlet Letter or in The Great Gatsby - the quotes we underline and that we talk about – should be integrated into future papers. It’s our job to show that class is not a guessing game; rather, it’s a logical puzzle where all the parts fit together to create a beautiful, cohesive whole. Everything we do has a purpose and is connected. This requires that students are meaningfully engaged. They cannot “prefer not to,” by ceding control to passivity and perhaps the indifferent act of using A.I. Essay Handout How we set the parameters for writing assignments is important. Here are a few strategies I keep in mind when creating writing assignments. Clarity, Choice, Interaction Create a clear handout with assignment choices and parameters. While we review the essay handout in class, students interact with it by annotating it and choosing an essay topic. They engage with the handout. Prompt Parameters
Practicing a Process After students understand the parameters of the assignment, we practice prewriting in class. During one full class, we brainstorm and group, map, and free write – together as a class. We talk and interview one another. From our work, we begin to understand the value of generating ideas from our thoughts - a challenging task. Students leave class having a treasure trove of information relative to the essay assignment. Students earn homework and participation points during this step of the process – for their work in class and their continued work at home. After generating a wide variety of ideas, we narrow our focus and “group like items.” We revisit the essay assignment and write open and closed thesis statements. We examine thesis exemplars - from students and from me. We even grade thesis statement exemplars and talk about why we assign specific grades. This narrowing of focus and thesis writing takes about 30-40 minutes during a class. Students leave with (a) a specific list of their own reflections that serve as the foundations for their papers and (b) drafts of their thesis statements. Students earn homework and participation points for these steps. Based on our pre-writing, we complete outlines using frameworks I provide. I usually assign outlining as homework and invite students to use their previous pre-writing work and closed thesis statements to govern their outlines. Students earn homework and participation points for these steps. They also understand that everything we do comes from previous work we have done. Finally, we begin writing our essay drafts by using class to talk about our writing and to get started. During these steps, I ask students to provide their draft paragraphs, and I write draft paragraphs. We share them during class, critique them, and revise them. I expect that the work we start during class is finished at home – to be turned in during the next class. Students earn homework and participation points for this work. Here is what we do with each essay part:
Rough Draft Workshop Finally, students earn points for completing a draft of their essay one week prior to its due date. They realize that a draft consists of putting all the pieces they worked on together in essay form. Once they submit their rough drafts on the day of the rough draft workshop, they earn points for participating in an in-class rough draft workshop, where they exchange hard copies of their rough drafts with one another (assigned editors) and reflect on prompts that lead editors through the editing process. Below are some general expectations editors review on their peers’ papers:
Perhaps setting class time aside for working with students during the writing process, to help them with their essays, can alleviate pressure they feel to seek help from A.I. bots. For more information, contact me at [email protected]. For teachers to continuously improve, we must have healthy levels of trust in the institution where we teach, along with a strong sense of mission and vision and a deep desire to be effective with students. In addition, we must be engaged in a culture of continuous quality improvement that includes a commitment of money, appropriate resources, time, and personnel. There should be a robust school PD budget, a specific yearly plan for professional development days tied to the school’s improvement plan where teachers are resourced to “practice” PD in classes with students, availability and resources to attend outside PD professional conferences and join organizations, paid in-house PD opportunities during the summer for topics such as innovative education and curriculum development, time in the school schedule to collaborate with colleagues, along with a systemic program for administrative class visits and Reflecting Conversations (based on the Cognitive Coaching model), tied to teacher renewal, growth, and evaluation – that help teachers reflect on and improve their practices. Class visits and targeted conversations are foundational components for building a school culture for continuous quality improvement, while helping teachers build habits toward being reflective practitioners. However, not every teacher enters into being visited and having conversations with the same level of comfort. Herein lies a few opportunities for growth. Ideally, before the start of the school year, the principal’s team establishes a schedule for (walk-through) class visits – unique to each teacher. New teachers are visited more frequently per semester than well-established, higher-functioning educators. Teachers who are on corrective action plans from the previous year are visited more frequently than those who are not. Teachers who struggled in the previous year are visited more frequently than those who did not. Reflecting Conversations happen typically within 48 hours of the class visit. The intent of class visits and Reflecting Conversations is to provide teachers time to build reflective habits when it comes to their professional practices. During the fall semester, I visited 43 classes that led to 45 Reflecting Conversations (using the model). Class visits are brief (10-20 minutes), where immediate, objective, rubric-based observations and questions are given to help teachers reflect on their practices – feedback primarily focused on what students are doing in classes. What I observe is limited because my class visit does not encompass an entire 70-minute period; but, my visits are foundational for having Reflecting Conversations with teachers, that are typically scheduled within 48 hours after the visit and grounded in a Cognitive Coaching framework that includes the following prompts that are the same for each conversation and are given to each teacher, in advance (these questions are embedded into the email that teachers receive immediately after the class visit):
What is perhaps most important during post-class visit Reflecting Conversations that last about 20 minutes is that we talk about what happened in the class (which is the point) or that the teacher perhaps generates an ideal picture of what could happen during class, that teachers take with them into the future – to think about and act upon. Based upon my experiences, Reflecting Conversation participants generally fall into three categories. And for each category, I use specific strategies to help build reflecting habits. Expert Reflective Practitioners Expert Reflective Practitioners are high functioning. They successfully navigate PD to increase student learning. When these teachers experience PD days during the academic year, when they attend PD conferences, when they take advantage of professional organizations or summer opportunities, they concretize specific, doable, action steps (take-aways) and implement and track success in their classes, with students. They don’t do everything. Instead, they focus on a particular narrowed goal tied to practicing the PD. They aren’t perfect; the PD they learn is usable. These Expert Reflective Practitioners attend post-class visit Reflecting Conversations prepared: they have looked at class visit observations and notes from the visit rubric, and they are eager to engage in conversations about the feedback and about their work with students. Some have even looked at the conversation prompts in advance. And a few even write written reflections ahead of the Conversation, in response to the prompts. These teachers reflect about their experiences and our profession of secondary education. During Reflecting Conversations, these educators easily discuss classroom dynamics, their curriculum, what students do during class, and what they (the teachers) do to improve student learning. During a recent Reflecting Conversation, one teacher talked, with ease, about his class, from start to finish: We talk informally before the bell rings. We get down to business with a quiz. I take time to read students’ notes during one-on-one conversations at the podium up front: what did they write and not write. I correct notes and offer suggestions. Students do a partnering activity to discuss and review. We have a brief class discussion about the results of the quiz. We have a “big event” input session that lasts about 15 minutes. After that, we have a session where students “do something and use” the input session information – practice. We end class with “take-aways.” Toward the end of Reflecting Conversations, Expert Reflective Practitioners reflect on their own reflections from the Conversation, to identify concrete actions to think about and do, when they go back into their classrooms. Here are a few examples:
These next steps generated from teachers toward the end of Reflecting Conversations are specific and doable. During these Reflecting Conversations, I continue to affirm and encourage. I note-take and immediately provide teachers with their self-reflections and take-aways as reminders of what they said. I also connect teachers to professional organizations and other colleagues who affirm and encourage them. Finally, I invite these Expert Reflective Practitioners to serve as teaching models for our learning community. I refer other educators to them – to visit their classes and observe best practices. Emerging Reflective Practitioners Emerging Reflective Practitioners respond well to observations from class visits and Reflecting Conversations, because they feel a high level of trust in the process and are open to developing their own reflective skills based upon outside input. Often, though, their classes are not as high functioning because specific problems exist that hinder the learning process during the class. These problems are clearly identified through class visit observations. Here are a few examples:
When these problems are clearly identified through class visit objective observations, teachers have an opportunity to read about the problem on the visit rubric and they begin to talk through the problem during Reflection Conversations, with the potential of developing strategies and solutions. During Reflecting Conversations, these Emerging Reflective Practitioners typically have read the rubric feedback. This Conversation is often an opportunity to problem-solve. During these Conversations, I employ elements from an additional Cognitive Coaching framework, the Problem-Solving Conversation. If a problem noted in the observation feedback is identified and acknowledged by the teacher, there are a few questions I use to help the teacher problem solve:
Through Problem-Solving Conversations, Emerging Reflective Practitioners begin to not only understand classroom problems, but also strategies to solve the problems. However, when it comes to solutions and strategies, these teachers may not have the resources. By stepping out of this conversation, I often ask “Can I provide you with some strategies?” These concrete strategies then become the “take-aways” that teachers use when heading back into their classrooms to solve their problems. Often, teachers are relieved and grateful for new tools, and they are eager to use them in the classroom. Future class visits and Cognitive Coaching Conversations become real consolations when there is evidence that specific and identified problems are solvable with specific strategies. Hesitant Reflective Practitioners Teachers who are Hesitant Reflective Practitioners rarely provide evidence of reviewing class visit feedback and usually don’t attend the originally scheduled post-visit Reflecting Conversations without multiple reminders or reschedules. Though they ae a small minority of educators in the building, these educators may find themselves disorganized, too busy to acknowledge the post-visit email, and they don’t create time for Reflecting Conversations. Perhaps, because of competing responsibilities, they don’t value time for this self-reflective practice. Often, they are not highly engaged in the school’s process for growth and renewal. There are excuses Hesitant Reflective Practitioners use for missing post-visit Reflecting Conversations, even when they know they have the option to set a new date and time: they forgot to read the post-class visit email and rubric feedback, they are busy doing many things at the school and don’t have time, or they have scheduling conflicts. Even though they receive written feedback, they may not review and use the feedback in meaningful ways that they communicate or that is visible (played out with students) in their classrooms. Perhaps they prefer a different type or mode for feedback than observations and through writing and talking. Perhaps such teachers see class visits and Reflecting Conversations as merely “jumping through hoops”. Therefore, these vehicles for the delivery of reflective PD are not useful to them. When Reflective Conversations happen with these teachers, they show a high level of discomfort, even though the conversation prompts are given to them in advance. During the initial part of the conversation, these teachers are anxious, unprepared, nervous, and agitated. The general feel at the start of these Conversation is uncomfortable. These teachers do not easily communicate what they do in the classroom, have limited responses to how their classes unfold from the start to the finish, cannot verbally communicate what students are doing in their classrooms, and are often unsure about what they do to impact student learning – because either they do not know research-based, best practices or they have not received and implemented effective teaching and learning resources. Often, during Reflecting Conversations where educators are invited to focus on themselves, Hesitant Reflective Practitioners avoid being on task by complaining about structures and policies within the school and its leadership and talk about factors in the building that they have little or no control over. Even though there are clear prompts to help teachers move through these Reflecting Conversations, these teachers take the conversation in other directions, by not addressing the prompts. Sometimes, they voice sarcasm in their responses to questions. These are avoidant strategies. When such conversations are intended to help teachers self-reflection, these educators often see Reflecting Conversations as threats: to autonomy in their classes, to their employment, or to a spirit of entitlement they may have developed over time. Ultimately, such teachers also tend to place the blame for their discomfort, their challenges, and their feelings and actions upon others. These are challenging conversations. With Hesitant Reflective Practitioners, I often abandon the Reflecting Conversation framework, replacing it with listening sessions, whereby we build trust, so teachers begin to feel heard. However, once I can resume helping them think through their practices, here are a few strategies I use:
Building reflective practitioners relies on research-based conversation frameworks. It also depends upon being able to meet teachers where they are by pivoting during conversations, using effective strategies that challenge educators to stretch and grow. Happy New Year! For additional articles, take a look at my education blog. On more than a few occasions over the years I have had conversations with my high school English department colleagues, lamenting about the future of our academic discipline of high school English and often questioning if high school students see values in reading, literature, composition, and logical argumentation. I often leave such conversations glum – not because I feel as though I’ve made a professional mistake by participating in this life-long endeavor that I love, but because my colleagues feel desolate. Too, I sometimes see signs among some of my students that our livelihood of English competes with other encroaching, self-centered interests. As we finish the semester, though, I have three hopeful take-aways from my junior English class: American Dreams and Voices. All are gifts for which I am grateful this year. Literature Helps Us Connect When I first began teaching high school literature, I was a pluralist. Borrowing heavily from ideas outlined in Critical Theory Since Plato (Adams), I ardently introduced students to lenses of feminism (Showalter), reader-response criticism (Fish), Colonialist criticism (Achebe), as well as archetypal & psychological frameworks. My approach? Academic and philosophical. As I continue teaching, these theories slowly fade to the edges of the classroom page, whose center now more prominently includes student experiences and the value of social justice in our world. Perhaps this shift is a direct result of teaching in a Jesuit high school, where caring for the whole student (cura personalis) and walking with the marginalized are foundational. Today, as we recover from the isolation and trauma because of Covid and living in a country bitterly divided socially, economically, and politically, literature – now more than ever – is our connector. Authors are humanists & social critics. When we have conversations around topics and themes of books we read and lives of literary characters in novels, novellas, and short stories, when we identify universal characteristics, flaws, consolations, and opportunities for growth, when students begin to see themselves in stories . . . these are a few of the values of literature that students begin to live – and hopefully they are hooks, encouraging students to continue to read. The habit of taking time to physically pick up a book and find a comfortable spot to critically read hopefully leads students to discover more about themselves and the complex world in which we live. What glorious gifts! Here are a few quotes from a recent batch of The Scarlet Letter essays, where students “got it,” where students made authentic and detailed connections between what they read and the important lives they lead. And where students began to reveal the importance of social justice.
In English class, literature is the vehicle for self-discovery and for the exploration of important issues of social justice. High School Essay Writing is Critical Thinking, Argumentation, & Communication During a recent conversation I had with students about our English class, one mentioned he thought our class focused heavily on the writing process. During high school, it is imperative that we learn and practice difficult skills: clarity and organization of our thoughts to uncover truths and clear, written composition.
This is tough stuff. We learn and practice writing in a rigorous and supportive English class environment that encourages a growth mindset. During the same conversation, another student complained, “You are too difficult of a grader.” But, despite the difficulty, students often rise to the occasion. For example, on this last batch of papers, 4 students earned “A paper status” – difficult to achieve. And it’s two more A’s than the previous essays. Growth! “A paper status” is the equivalent of being able to succeed in a college composition 101 and 102 class. That’s one of our goals in this class. Papers of students who earn A’s have specific qualities, as defined on my essay rubric:
I am consoled by students who work hard to earn A’s, but perhaps even more delighted with students who fall below satisfactory (C-level) – but who come to my office, unhappy with their essay grades. Uncomfortable. Recently, a few students having read my comments and having discussed their paper grades with me, were invited to (and accepted my invitation to) improve their essays for a replacement grade – invited into opportunities to practice grit and determination. On one student’s paper, I wrote, “Your quote must directly support what you assert in your topic sentence . . . and, your second quote must be explained thoroughly.” During such conversations about my written comments on their essays, students begin to understand the difficulty of writing and at the same time are invited to continue to practice these skills and get better – continuous quality improvement. Using the Skills We Learn, In Other Classes? The other day a student came into my office asking if I could help him with a paper . . . for his other class – Social Justice. His other class! After I paused because my heart jumped a few beats from excitement, we talked about his paper topic, his paper structure, and his closed thesis – all skills he is learning and practicing in English class. We also talked about the components of a coherent essay, including an effective introduction and quoting that supports the body paragraph topic sentences. Below is his thesis for the paper:
During the conversation, I reminded the student, “You have the content and skills to do this paper. We have practiced this in English class, remember? Now, just apply your skills to this other class.” When students see how the content and skills they use in our English class are applicable to other classes and the world, that’s a gift. #gratitude Each school year we begin again. And when we do, The First Principle & Foundation reminds us to consider our gifts, remain open to where the spirit might be calling us, and be grateful, “For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God” (Fleming, SJ). Everything. Hopefully, when we consider the Ignatian concept of the presupposition of positive intent, we find the tensions and contradictions in our world complementary to our educational vocations. Existing as rigorous college preparatory institutions whose aim is to help students be at home with God. Working with curriculum content and skills while being present to one another as we move through trauma caused by the global pandemic. Using social media while realizing that it unhealthily shapes realities that are not truthful. Building community at school by using conversation frameworks while being aware that in the world outside school, businesses profit by dividing us. A few years ago, as I sat in a school leadership meeting where we were developing a response to our school closures because of the global pandemic, a well-intentioned colleague reflected, “We have pivoted so well to remote learning, this should forever be an option for our students – learning at home.” The comment invited me to reflect on the design and intent of our school. We help students come together, build and practice habits of being good citizens with one another, and create a loving community. Like our democracy, school is an experiment. And while remote learning is a gift we have used to help students learn during times when it is not possible to safely gather, that gift belongs in its proper place. In schools, we are at our best when we are together, collaborating, and learning – especially during times which cause us significant trauma. To do this, our school uses many frameworks, one of which is the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP). Created in 1993, this framework “was a timely response to numerous requests for help on how educators could teach in a more distinctly Ignatian manner and in the process, impart to their students the Ignatian world view and values discussed in an earlier seminal document called The Characteristics of Jesuit Education”(1986) (Go, SJ and Atienza 1) . Created out of the spirit the Exercises, the components of the IPP have come to mirror the qualities of the ideal relationship between a retreat director and a retreatant during the Spiritual Exercises. The IPP framework for teaching and learning invites teachers and students to be in relationship with one another. And now, more than ever, as we continue to move through trauma caused by the global pandemic and socio-political and economic forces that divide us, it is important that we practice being in relationship. Consistently using the components of the IPP framework is predictable and supportive – trauma-informed – and helps us be in relationship with one another. How are you? Setting the Context Relationships require time for meaningful encounters to develop. And every meaningful encounter surely begins with a story. Someone sharing and someone listening. I remember when doing the Spiritual Exercises, my retreat director, John Craig, SJ, would begin our weekly meetings by storytelling. He would either talk with me about what was most immediately happening in his life, or he would ask, “How are you?” We shared with and listened to one another. How are you? This question opens the door to storytelling and it is an invitation for cura personalis. While it’s a question we often times answer quickly with “fine” or “good, you?” the question invites us into something deeper: to pause, reflect, and respond with a story or two about our lives – what’s really going on? The question also invites the asker to practice radical listening. At the beginning of a school year, storytelling is important. During our new Ignatian educator and mentor onboarding retreat and in monthly meetings, we schedule time to prioritize storytelling, and we use prompts to help us tell our stories. We ask things like:
Often times, I begin colleague meetings by asking, “What’s on your plate today?” This question is the invitation for participants to pause, reflect, voice priorities and events we are leaving behind . . . to be wholistically present with one another. Participants’ responses give me insight into what’s going on in their personal and professional lives – insight I may use in future conversations or encounters. And these insights allow me to develop empathy with the busy-ness of peoples’ lives – again, cura personalis. We continue storytelling by using imagination to consider the students we gratefully serve in school. We put students at the center of our work when we consider:
The resulting student composite is our gateway for storytelling, now and throughout the year. During the first days of school, we hopefully tell stories with students. I begin English class by inviting students to reflect on their own lives. We don’t jump right into content. Instead, students share about their experiences: in their previous English classes, their favorite books, summer adventures, hobbies, fears, and goals for class. We practice having conversations by being slow to speak, listening attentively, and seeking the truth in others’ stories. When we build habits through storytelling and story listening early in the year, we develop empathy. “Empathy entails personally getting to know the students and taking time to listen to their stories. Empathy also entails constantly exerting the effort to accept the students with all their strengths and weaknesses, and recognizing the promise in each one” (Go, SJ, Atienza 59). We recognize the promise of a new year and in each student, when we continue to set the context at the beginning of our academic year, especially with students. We practice trauma-informed predictability and support when we set and communicate clear expectations, post our syllabi that includes curriculum content and skills, provide daily agendas for students, and create and communicate clear student learning outcomes. At the beginning of class, we context-set by praying, breathing, or practicing centering prayer or similar meditative exercises. These trauma-informed strategies help students. In addition, students access knowledge from the previous class. Students consider what they already know about content or skills. During a unit on indigenous peoples, after reading introductory articles and listening to a podcast, students imagine they are indigenous peoples. I ask, “Stepping into their shoes, how do you feel?” This imaginative exercise leads students to express feelings of frustration, excitement, worry, marginalization, and confusion. Next, I ask, “Now, as a high school junior, when have you ever felt frustrated, excited, worried, marginalized, or confused?” Students begin to realize they have similar feelings they imagined about indigenous peoples and a spirit of empathy develops. We know, “it is rare that a student experiences something new in studies without referring to it what he or she already knows” (Go, SJ, Atienza 62). Taking time to set the context is essential. And most times it starts with an invitation to use our experiences and reflection. The Experience & Reflection Dance After my spiritual director and I set the context at our weekly conversations during the Spiritual Exercises, he would invite me to talk about my experiences with prayer that week, by asking, “What struck you during prayer and why?” Most times there would be a long pause – time for me to reflect and respond, referencing notes from my experiences that week. Most times my responses would be followed by his offering his own experiences with the material and his interpretation of the biblical passages that we read over and prayed about the previous week. We practiced the IPP experience and reflection dance by toggling back and forth between our experiences and reflections – components of the IPP – to come to clarity on response. I recall one exchange my retreat director and I had, when he asked me, “Pete, how’s your prayer life and meditation going?” Frustrated, I replied, “I can’t meditate every day for twenty minutes, it takes way too much time!” Calmly, he smiled and invited me to, “Talk about the routine of your regular day.” As I reflected on my daily routine, one item caught his attention. He replied, “In the very early morning you walk your dog for ten minutes. Then, very late at night after dinner, you said you also walk your dog for ten minutes.” After listening to my routine, he challenged, “Pete, how about you mediate while you walk your dog?” His suggestion came directly from listening to my reflections and my concrete experiences. And it worked! Both my retreat director and I used experience and reflection successfully, to help me grow as a retreatant. Growth led to action. These two IPP components – experience and reflection – are predicated upon the notion of cura personalis – a genuine care for the whole person. “During the Spiritual Exercises, the retreatant comes to understand that his or her experiences are what give one’s spiritual life texture and meaning. The time, place, events and people that constitute our experience generate the content of prayer because it is where God is encountered. The retreatant comes to realize that God moves within the circumstances of one’s life” (Londsdale qtd in Gallagher, Musso). And, literally, God was with me as I moved during my walks. Similarly, as teachers and students building community in our schools, we understand that the content and skills of our classes are never meant to be experienced in just our classrooms. Rather, course curriculum becomes illuminated and more relevant when we offer our own insights, perspectives, opinions, and personal experiences – when we interact with the content and practice skills. IPP experience invites us into this task. As Ignatian educators we use IPP experience in a wide variety of ways – with one another and with students. This past summer, a group of 17 school colleagues attended the JSN Colloquium on Jesuit Secondary and Pre-Secondary Education (Los Angeles, CA). We learned about and practiced Spiritual Conversations, where there was time for silence, noting, prayer, sharing, responding, and discernment. This framework continuously invited us to reflect on our experiences. As teachers, we understand, “Teaching is an intrinsically personal task . . . . The person of the teacher makes all the difference. Just as students cannot help but bring their context into the classroom, likewise teachers cannot help but bring their own worlds into the teaching-learning situation” (Go, SJ, Atienza, 71). Often, we enter into a new piece of literature in English class by addressing reflection questions that invite us to think about our experiences. These are effective activities that emphasize the important interplay between experience & reflection. For example, before reading Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, I offer reflection prompts for us to consider:
These reflective prompts prelect the material we will explore and invite us to consider our personal experiences. Later, we return to our reflection prompt responses to discover how we are similar to and different from the characters in the novels we read: how the content we discuss in class is made richer by our personal experiences. Perhaps the most foundational IPP component is reflection. Allowing time to reflect is a trauma-informed best practice. During our work with others and students, in the spirit of continuous improvement, we ask questions that invite us into thinking about and acting in new and different ways. During class, I provide time and prompts for students to think, write, and share. When we write essays, I also write and share my experience of writing with students. I invite students to reflect on my essays: noticing important elements of writing, commenting on where I can improve, and suggesting macro and micro revisions. Ultimately, these reflective conversations lead me to think and act in a new way: I improve my existing essay. Because I model this behavior of the interplay between experience and reflection, students feel efficacious when they write. A common reflective practice with students is using student writing exemplars. I randomly and anonymously choose and copy student essay drafts for the class to read and review together, during class. We grade them, too. This activity necessarily involves student experiences and reflection, to produce something new: improved exemplars, a list of writing suggestions for the class, and (hopefully) improved essays for each person in the class. Grading the essays in class, we visually see similarities and disparities of our expectations as graders. Here, we use our experiences and reflection to think and act in new and different ways. What’s Next? An Invitation to Think and Act in New & Different Ways “The Spiritual Exercises brings one to experience profoundly the steadfast love of God residing at the center of all reality and in the center one’s life. In grateful response the retreatant experiences a deepening desire to help souls as ‘Love ought to manifest itself more in deeds than by words’(Exx230). The retreatant has an understanding of self that includes the other . . . . Just as faith is never merely private, Jesuit education is never meant to end in mere personal satisfaction for academic achievement. It is presumed that the dynamic that has occurred in the education process has propelled intellectual growth and has brought insight and personal appropriation of the meaning and value of what has been learned. But still, this is not the end of the process. The goal of Jesuit education is to move the student to act” (Gallagher, Musso 6). IPP action challenges students and teachers to apply our learning, all the time. In trauma-informed schools, when people are invited to act and given choices to make decisions about how to act, it is empowering. It is for this IPP action component, that we purposefully design activities intentionally with “action plans”. For example, toward the end of a paid Summer Seminar for teachers, we spend time with an action plan template that includes writing a commitment: “Finally, reviewing your Collaborative Group Project, the Loving theme, your individual curriculum, along with your Thought Partners, commit to do three things within the next few months.” After each PD day this year, we have PD Practices, inviting teachers to action, as they practically apply new knowledge in their classrooms with students. At the conclusion of our JSN Ignatian Global Engagement Mentors training this past summer (Washington, DC), we develop individual action plans for the next few months. After we finish books in English class, we consider how we think or act in new and different ways. IPP action that gives participants voice and choice is trauma-informed and invites us not only to think more deeply about the results of our work, but also to inform what we do next. By deliberately embedding action into design, we “coach for action, offering students (and colleagues) opportunities to apply what they have learned . . . (Go, SJ, Atienza, 99). Evaluation: Past, Present, Future What have we done? What are we doing? What will we do? “Ignatian pedagogy aims at formation, which includes but goes beyond academic mastery. Here we are concerned about students' well-rounded growth as persons for others. Traditional ongoing academic evaluation can alert faculty to possible needs for use of alternative methods of teaching; it also offers special opportunities to individualize encouragement and advice for academic improvement for each student. On the other hand, periodic evaluation of the student's growth in attitudes, priorities, and actions consistent with being a person for others is essential. Faculty should foster relationships of mutual trust and respect which set a climate for discussion and growth. Useful evaluative processes include mentoring and reviews of student journals, as well as student self-evaluation in light of personal growth profiles . . .” (Korth). Schools use evaluation and collect assessment data to inform how we proceed. Formative and summative assessment practices in classes invite us to gauge student growth and revise classroom instructional strategies, to help students. We devote time during PD days to reflect on our evaluation and assessment practices and learn about how we can target our assessment to student learning outcomes. Teachers access and use a variety of student evaluation data from outside the immediate classroom, such as:
We require that students take end of course perception surveys, and we facilitate students ongoing use of self-assessment to help inform their personal growth, through:
Evaluation, through assessment, is a reflective habit toward individual student growth, teacher growth, and school growth. It’s great to be back in school, where despite the trauma we experience, there is hope among students and in the community. And, frameworks such as the IPP invite us to build relationships that are necessary for continuous quality improvement that leads us to meaningful action and evaluation. Works Cited Cura Personalis. www.IgnatianSpirituality.com Eidum, Jennifer. Embracing Disruption: A Framework for Trauma-informed Reflective Pedagogy 16 February 2022 Field, Miranda. Empowering Students in the Trauma-Informed Classroom Through Expressive Arts Therapy. University of Regina Fleming, SJ, David. The First Principal and Foundation. Gallagher, Marianne and Pete Musso. Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm. JSEA: Washington, DC, 2006. Go, Johnny C, SJ and Rita J. Atienza. Learning by Refractions: A Practitioners Guide to 21st Century Ignatian Pedagogy. Ateneo De Manila University Press: Manila, 2019. Ignatian Conversations. De Smet Jesuit High School. 2019. Ignatian Imagination: Contemplative Prayer. www.IgnatianSpirituality.com Ignatian Pedagogy: A Practical Approach. Korth, Sharon. Xavier University. An Inside Look at Trauma-Informed Practices | Edutopia Positive Intent. www.IgnatianSpirituality.com Principles for Trauma Informed Teaching and Learning Setting Priorities in Trauma-Informed Education | Edutopia Spiritual Conversations. JSN Colloquium, Los Angeles, CA. June 2022. High School Student Planning Strategies In a World that has Us Continuously Responding & Reacting5/23/2022 A mass shooting in Buffalo. Another Covid variant. Flawed political rhetoric. Cable commentary. A shortage of baby formula. The on-going war in Ukraine. A possible recession. We are in a continuous loop of exhaustive responding and reacting to difficult situations where it’s easy to get spun up. High school should be an oasis – a set of experiences where students learn and plan for life projects, spending less time responding and reacting. Perhaps, then, it is our responsibility as secondary educators to model essential practices and habits for planning, and teach/practice those with students, helping them build healthy habits toward something Greater. A Model for Meaningful Conversations An essential life-practice is interacting with others in the world. Our society is divided on everything from social and political issues to education. Division is exacerbated by ego-driven politicians, money-making social media outlets, and one-sided cable shows limited in perspective and profiting from targeting and alienating us. Current and past politicians routinely use division to drive agendas, stay in power, and take advantage of others. How do we combat division and divide in strategic and thoughtful ways? We learn, once again, to talk with and listen to one another – to be companions for and with one another. At De Smet Jesuit High School (St. Louis, MO) we introduced a model for practicing meaningful conversations based on St. Ignatius Loyola’s spiritual insights. One of his gifts to our world is a way of engaging in conversation with another person. For St. Ignatius, the other person (and every person) is a child of God and a person deserving respect and consideration, no matter what opinion the person holds or the history of the relationship with this person. At the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius lays out the “Presupposition” for the entire retreat and for (what we call) Ignatian Conversations. In it each person “presupposes” the good in the other and the “goodness” of the statement being made. When one believes the statement is not correct, with love one seeks to correct or work to understand the statement so that “it may be saved” or understood correctly. At De Smet Jesuit, we strive to engage in honest, brave, and fruitful conversations, which have the following attributes:
A Paradigm for Logical Argumentation An essential life-practice is seeking what is good and true in the world. We live in a fast-paced world where reality is presented via phones and screens in (often-times) skewed, bite-sized Tweets. Information comes to us after data-mining – when the received message both supports and shapes our thoughts. How, then, do we determine what is real and true? In my English classes, I use Steven Toulmin’s paradigm for rhetoric & argumentation with students, because it helps us become familiar with seeking the truth and it is easy to understand and learn. With students, I focus on three, simple components that invite students to think about how arguments are constructed and how information is presented:
This paradigm is an essential knowledge/content/skill set for students in my English classes because it is a tool that helps us discover the truth. Therefore, we learn about it and practice using it, with oral arguments and in our writing. Reflective Practitioners An essential life-practice is using reflection in our lives. One result of the current world that has yielded much trauma is anxiety. One of the foundational components of our educational pedagogy at De Smet Jesuit High School that helps us unpack anxiety is frequent reflection, because it leads to personal freedom. The practice of reflection is an effective means toward an increase in personal freedom. Through reflection, one learns to recognize the movement of God in one’s life; learns to interpret, evaluate and assign meaning to significant experiences; and thus, learns to give direction to one’s life. The habit of reflection can empower and enable one to consciously act rather than unknowingly react to and within the circumstances of one’s life (Gallagher, Musso). Practicing reflection in our classes requires that we:
Practicing reflection, then, is central to developing constructive responses to fear and anxiety. A World View An essential life-practice is developing perspectives that are expansive, not restrictive. Nationalism and extremist political tendencies are restrictive and on the rise in our country and in many other countries around the globe. Those in power or vying for power often invite us into a “me first” world view, which is the antithesis of an expansive global view, in an Ignatian context. We see the value of nation-building through alliances and how the war in Ukraine impacts global resources, such as grain and oil. It is not hard, then, to realize that the USA is inextricably globally connected. In fact, the USA is a leader, driving a global economy – and by being so, we often reap the benefits of such a drive. Yet, how do we understand how our decisions – individually, nationally, and globally – both positively and negatively impact others? We challenge students to engage in a larger context than just our school, that includes our city, our region, our country, and our world. This is essential. We believe that global citizens are those who continuously seek to deepen their awareness of their place and responsibility in an increasingly interconnected world, both locally and globally; those who stand in solidarity with others in the pursuit of a sustainable earth and a more humane world as true companions in the mission of reconciliation and justice (JSN). To this end, De Smet Jesuit High School partners with other Jesuit high schools in North America and participates in the JSN Ignatian Global Scholars Certificate Pilot Program. Students enter the De Smet Jesuit High School Ignatian Global Scholars Certificate Program during their sophomore or junior years. This program promotes interconnected learning experiences in the classroom and beyond, to help students become more globally minded. This program and certificate provide a framework for student experiences through a variety of requirements in the school’s curriculum, language study, local & regional networking events, intercultural experiences of immersion, engagement and service, co-curricular involvement, ongoing and culminating reflection, and a capstone project. Mission-Based Faith-Filled Living An essential life-practice is striving to live by standards and ideals. We live in an increasingly diverse world which affords us a wide variety of options for the way we see and act. This is the beauty of living in the USA. As a parent of an 4th grader at a local public school, I am grateful that my son can readily recite the school’s “Avery Way.” It is a clear set of standards that every student is taught in kindergarten and recites daily until they move to the next level. While I’m on the periphery of some of the district’s initiatives, one recently came across my computer that surprised me. The local public high school is developing their profile of a high school graduate. I was surprised when I received the document draft recently, not because it was bad or ineffective – I think it is, in fact, terrific; but because the district was just now developing this important standard. At De Smet Jesuit High School, we are grounded in the Jesuit Schools Network’s The Profile of the Graduate at Graduation. It is a foundational, mission document, guiding students and faculty during all four years, toward graduation. The Profile of the Graduate at Graduation includes 6 components:
We provide indicators under each component, and we consider this a threshold document that forms students in high school and beyond. It provides us with standards and ideals to strive toward. Not only do we introduce these to our students in their first year and talk about them every year, but also, we integrate them into action in three concrete ways.
This past year has been my most difficult year in secondary education. And I know it has been tough for many other teachers in my school and beyond. Many of us are leaving the profession, out of frustration and because of a felt sense of loss – of efficacy. And while I see my colleagues struggle and some leave this profession, I find consolations in what we practice and how we build habits with students – while they begin to work on their life projects in our building, each year. We remain counter-cultural, holding the line. As we end this academic year, I look with hope next year, because I know we will continue to practice building habits around how to talk with one another, strive toward what is good and true, use reflection to increase personal freedom, as well as encourage one another and students to be worldly, mission-based, and faith-filled. These are counter-cultural practices that support students at De Smet Jesuit High School, as we continue to create safe spaces for students exploring who they are and potential life projects, accept others, and learn to live in community. As we begin our second semester and continue to experience the impact of this ongoing pandemic, there is perhaps no better time for reflection, self-evaluation, and potential revision and action. We continue to educate ourselves to become more aware and to be more trauma-informed. We understand students cannot learn unless they feel safe, are seen, and are known. We know that brains are shaped by environments and experiences. We also know brains can be rewired . . . to see and be positive, while being more engaged and achieving at higher levels – by simply changing variables in environments and experiences. We understand the importance of practicing and teaching executive functioning skills, as well as being predictable and supportive when we manage class and implement the school’s discipline procedures. We can even look to St. Ignatius for clues about how to proceed with students in school. This audit explores what students do in classrooms relative to:
The audit is limited in scope to those factors. Sections correlate to our own Characteristics of Professional Excellence components. And, when relevant, comparisons are made to St. Ignatius. Throughout the audit, examples are provided to clarify statements and are not intended to be exhaustive. Perhaps you and your school community can use this audit for continuous quality improvement. A SUGGESTION ABOUT YOUR AUDIT LENS: Please move through the audit swiftly, using as your lens your experiences with one specific class that you have taught this past semester. Lastly, keep the final four questions at the end of the audit in mind, as you work:
Click Here for the Classroom Practices Audit. Note, there is also a counseling version available: [email protected]. [This year, during the ongoing global pandemic, professional development for our high school teaching faculty & staff is centered on the continuation of discussions about trauma and executive functioning skills – because these two areas have the potential of impacting students. How can we helps students move through trauma, caused by terrible experiences?] While perhaps only some of us have been diagnosed with Covid since the pandemic began, we all know people who have contracted Covid. In a recent conversation with my dad, who was recovering from a breakthrough Covid contraction, he said, “This was the worst experience of my entire life.” Disbelief, shame, and loneliness characterized his experience. He has been hesitant to even talk about contracting Covid or be around others, post-Covid. Our collective experiences over the past few years are marred by isolation and quarantine. Death rates from Covid are high, and some of us who have had Covid are still living with its side effects. As mindful people, we strive to grow in our understanding of both uncertainly and entitlement. And, we continuously adapt to changing and challenging contexts, especially as the Delta Variant wreaks havoc on predictability and support in our lives. We grapple with socio-political and racial disparities of health and well-being in our country and in the world. When will this end? In isolation, some of us work from home. And, those who return to the workplace find it irrevocably altered. Fighting about masks continues, boiling over into school board and educator attacks, school picketing, and gentle classroom reminders. Some of us have lost jobs, while some of us have seriously considered why we do what we do, in light of this ongoing pandemic. Some of us are perhaps food-, financially-, and housing-challenged. And, nearly every one of us is exhausted, planning for and adjusting to a future that changes daily. Our faith is challenged and the way in which we practice our faith changes. Some of us adapt easily, quickly, and well. Others, not so much. We all have unique Covid baggage – individual wounds – which we carry with us into every situation, every day. This global pandemic is our common life event, producing unique trauma for each of us. While some trauma is visible, some is hidden. Ironically, in An Ignatian Year, perhaps we can look to St. Ignatius – his trauma, reactions, and responses – as an appropriate model for a way forward not only in acceptance, but also in growth through Grace.
Experience & Reaction Trauma is “an emotional response to a terrible event. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer-term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. While these feelings are normal, some people have difficulty moving on with their lives” (APA). During a quick read of A Pilgrim’s Testament: The Memoirs of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (Geger, SJ, Ed.), I noted well over 50 occasions where Ignatius experiences terrible events that cause him trauma, where he reacts in particular ways. Ignatius is a soldier during the Battle of Pamplona, who suffers life-changing injuries. “After the bombardment had lasted a good while, a shot struck him on one leg, shattering it completely. And because the cannon ball passed between both legs, the other one was badly injured” (Geger 26). His body is broken. As a direct result of his battle wounds, Ignatius is thrusted into new, uncomfortable practices. Perhaps as an indirect result of his battle wounds, Ignatius contracts scrupulosity, and “While he had these thoughts, the temptation often came over him with great force to throw himself from a large balcony in his room” (Geger 38). Clearly, Ignatius has signs of depression and contemplates suicide. Throughout his life, Ignatius has many bouts with illness, sickness, and life-threatening fevers. When he is not experiencing events that cause him trauma, Ignatius sees terrible events happening around him. On his way to Jerusalem, in the Gaeta region, “there was also fear of the plague” (Geger 46). Along his journey, Ignatius finds “the mother and her daughter in the courtyard below, wailing and complaining that there was an attempt to rape them” (Geger 46). From Cyprus, Ignatius boards a ship bound for Venice, with a fleet of ships: However, a storm came upon them, separating the ships one from the other. The big ship wrecked near those same islands of Cyprus, and only the passengers were saved. In the same storm, the Turkish ship sank, and all its passengers lost. The small vessel had great trouble, but in the end, they reached land somewhere is Apulia. This was the depth of winter, and it was very cold and snowing. The pilgrim had no clothing other than some breeches of course cloth. (Geger 53) In addition, authorities frequently investigate Ignatius. Arrested, put on trial, and held in captivity, Ignatius finds himself in prison. No doubt, Ignatius experiences terrible events, which cause him trauma – and as a result, he reacts in certain ways. Here are some questions for us to consider:
Responses to Trauma Ignatius sometimes reacts to his experiences erratically and drastically. Often, his reactions are not helpful. However, Ignatius also develops positive responses and uses specific strategies to move through terrible events, to heal & reconcile. Self-Care and Reflection After his battle injuries, Ignatius is “obliged to stay in bed” and forced into a different way of living (Geger 27). In lieu of his active life, he spends time reading and reflecting – but not by choice. Even during his convalescence, Ignatius is not given the books he prefers to read. Instead, he reads “A Life of Christ and a book of the lives of the saints in Castilian” (Geger 27). During his convalescence, Ignatius is a critical thinker, reflecting on how the readings make him feel. “But interrupting his reading, he sometimes stopped to think about the things that he had read. At other times, he thought about the things of the world, about which he had been in the habit of musing earlier” (Geger 28). His reading and self-reflection are cornerstone practices and habits, allowing Ignatius to identify key feelings as part of the Spiritual Exercises he writes – those of consolation and desolation. Ultimately, reading and self-reflection lead Ignatius to make a decision to change his life.
Imagination As part of his self-reflection, Ignatius uses imagination. “For in reading the life of Our Lord, and of the saints, he stopped to think, reasoning with himself: ‘What if I do this which St. Francis did? And this which St. Dominic did?’” (Geger 28). Ignatius’s imagination takes him into the lives of saints. It challenges him to think and act in new and different ways. Imagination allows Ignatius to wonder about and create new possibilities toward living a new life. We know that Ignatius’s imagination led him to do great things.
Noting & Writing Ignatius does not just critically read, reflect, and imagine a new way forward for his life. He is an organized note-taker and writer. In fact, what today are identified as executive functioning skills, Ignatius uses during his life. In Manresa, “he planned to stay in a hospice a few days, as well as to note some things in his book. This he carried around very carefully and it consoled him greatly” (Geger 34). Ignatius values writing and continuously integrates reflections and experiences into solutions for his life and the lives of others. His reflective noting and writing has a purpose. “As he very much liked those books, the idea came to him to note down briefly some of the more essential things from the life of Christ and the saints. So he set himself very diligently to write a book . . . with red ink for the words of Christ, and the blue ink for those our Our Lady. He did it on polished and lined paper, and with good handwriting, because he was a very fine penman” (Geger 30). Therefore, “Into this potting soil of Manresa were planted the first, the primordial seeds that sprang to life in his notebook and that eventually flowered in the Spiritual Exercises” (Idigoras 202). Writing is therapeutic. The practice of composition helps us move through trauma – mentally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically. A certain kind of guided, detailed writing can not only help us process what we’ve been through and assist us as we envision a path forward; it can lower our blood pressure, strengthen our immune systems, and increase our general well-being. Expressive writing can result in a reduction in stress, anxiety, and depression; improve our sleep and performance; and bring us greater focus and clarity. (Siegel-Acevedo) Noting and writing can be simplistic or complex. It can be task-oriented, professional, reflective, or artful.
For Others Writing the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius “wants to give to others what he has found” (Idigoras 202). Ignatius continuously finds reconciliation with trauma by serving others. For example, he empties himself by giving away his ducats, “spontaneously to anyone who approached him, who usually were beggars” (Geger 47). Ignatius “busied himself helping certain souls” (Geger 39). While at Alcala, he is engaged in giving spiritual exercises and teaching Christian doctrine” (Geger 57). Ignatius is “teaching and giving exercises” (Geger 59). “He gave exercises almost simultaneously to three persons” (Geger 69). In St. Ignatius’s early life, he is self-centered and vain. Nevertheless, as he grows, he serves for and with others, to discover his purpose.
Companionship, Community, & Dependence on God Ignatius recognizes the value of companionship and community rooted in a mission of service to God. “So he embarked, having been in Barcelona a little more than twenty days. Before embarking, while he was still in Barcelona, he sought out, as was his practice, all spiritual persons, even though they lived in hermitages far from the city, to converse with him” (Geger 45). And, “Ever since Manresa, the pilgrim had the habit, whenever he ate with anyone, never to speak at table, except to answer briefly. Instead, he listened to what people were saying, and noted somethings that he could use as opportunities to speak about God. When the meal was finished, he did so” (Geger 48). As Ignatius seeks help from others and friendship, the notion of companionship is deeply rooted in faith and a dependence upon God, as “he wanted to place that trust, attachment, and expectation in God . . .” (Geger 44). In most things, Ignatius would “commend the matter to God,” as “he imagined that the master would be Christ” (Geger 68). The foundation of response to terrible experiences, for Ignatius, is to surround himself with companions and community, to serve, and to allow himself to be led by God, in all things.
As we continue to move through these uncertain Covid times, An Ignatian Year challenges us to re-discover more deeply the authentic life of St. Ignatius. By doing so, perhaps this year, too, we are invited to use Ignatius’s strategies to be better, so we can continue to orient ourselves toward service and grow in our relationship with God who loves us all unconditionally. ____________________________________________ Works Cited American Psychological Association. Trauma. https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma Geger, Barton, SJ. Ed. A Pilgrim’s Testament: The Memoirs of Saint Ignatius. Jesuit Conference, 2020. Idigoras, Jose Ignacio Tellechea. Ignatius of Loyola The Pilgrim Saint. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1994. Siegel-Acevedo, Deborah. Writing Can Help us Heal From Trauma. https://hbr.org/2021/07/writing-can-help-us-heal-from-trauma This summer we offered numerous professional development opportunities for teachers. Most were paid and voluntary. Our administrative team planned some, and faculty themselves planned and directed some, based upon their specific needs. Below are a few summer activities:
Fading is the notion that during summer the school building closes entirely and formal adult professional development pauses. Instead, despite an arduous and stressful previous school year, many teachers found consolation and institutional support as they engaged in meaningful work that helped them continue to build community, improve as professional teachers and ultimately increase student achievement. Perhaps there are four main reasons why this work works. Mission We always tie our PD work to mission, that challenges us to something greater than ourselves. This summer, during our four day Summer Seminar, we introduced faculty to a design-thinking model, ADDIE, to help us with our ongoing Curriculum Design and Review Process (CDRP). As a means of continuing to challenge faculty to re-imagine their curriculum and work collaboratively with others across disciplines, we continuously compared ADDIE to the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm – an Ignatian teaching framework whose components of Context, Experience, Reflection, Action, and Evaluation come directly from the qualities of the relationship between the retreatant and the retreat director in the Spiritual Exercises. Some additional mission-based components of the Summer Seminar included:
We situation all things in our greater mission. Specific, Relevant, & Timely PD work challenges faculty to specificity. Not only do we provide meaningfully designed opportunities, but also we challenge teachers to develop specific plans and concrete projects during PD, to embed into existing or new curriculum and use with students in the coming year. To that end, we provide resources, tools, and frameworks for teachers, when getting specific and concrete. Our Spanish teachers met for approximately 40 hours during one week this summer. During that time, their work was specific, relevant, & timely, proposing to:
During the Summer Seminar, our eighteen participants completed a design thinking hands-on experience of re-visioning our school’s second floor. The project was specific, timely, and relevant – familiarizing teachers with ADDIE by having them practice as they entered into a “real world” issue that had relevance to them and to the school. Toward the end of the week, teams presented their concrete plans to an authentic audience “panel” including the school’s president, director of advancement, and director of admissions. These presentations will be sent to the director of advancement, as he continues to form the school team and inform architects – in the school’s planning. Finally, that same eighteen Summer Seminar faculty also developed concrete, cross-curriculum projects for students in the coming year. Some examples of those projects included specific student reflection pieces used in all courses throughout the year, a lesson exploring great books and films, and common assessment rubrics. During the week, we used frameworks to get specific, as well as be relevant and timely. Summer PD work is relevant and timely when it connects to larger school initiatives and world issues. As the school continues to engage in our Curriculum Design and Review Process (CDRP), Spanish teachers voiced a need for planning time to overhaul curriculum. Summer provided the time they needed. The freshmen teacher cohorts that focused on computer/tech integration, along with the Summer Seminar crew, did so as direct offshoots of relevant and timely changes happening within our overall curriculum. The four day Summer Seminar was the launch for something greater: the Curriculum Writing & Action Project (a four year initiative), which challenges teachers to examine and improve their individual curriculum, collaborate across academic disciplines, and frame what they do using components of The Profile of the Graduate at Graduation. The Curriculum Writing and Action Project is situated in an even greater school-wide mission-based curriculum initiative that is one of three spheres in our on-going Curriculum Design and Review Process:
Finally, one Summer Seminar collaborative group project addressed a question students might ask, “Why are we learning this?” by creating a theme-based unit, “A Call for Justice in Cuba,” whereby Spanish and theology work collaboratively by having students learn about culture, speak Spanish in relevant conversations, and tackle contemporary issues through the Catholic Social Justice lens. PD work that is specific, relevant, and timely – embedded into class with students – is successful. Intentional Design Our processes for designing PD opportunities are thoughtful and intentional. For example, a team of four curriculum leaders began the Summer Seminar design process in January 2021. We set aside time each week to come together and design. We intentionally choose ADDIE as an instructional design framework to introduce during the Seminar, because it connects our previous curriculum work and initiatives, while it also complements the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm. Our design includes seven essential qualities:
We use meta-cognitive reflection to challenge teachers to see that implemented design can be replicated (through their own curricula and design) and that during the Summer Seminar we model behaviors (and tools) that can be used in classrooms with students. These types of experiences are paramount in raising educator awareness about practices and strategies. Intentional design is important. Post-PD Support Finally, even though PD happens outside of the traditional school year, it does not exist in a vacuum. Throughout the coming academic year, we provide embedded support and resources in three concrete ways:
For additional information or to connect: [email protected] or on Twitter @petemusso. |
Pete MussoAssistant Principal, Curriculum & Instruction Archives
May 2022
Categories |