As I sat on our football field during our school’s annual celebration of the Mass of the Holy Spirit yesterday, Fr. Burshek’, SJ, remarks competed with the sirens of a passing ambulance and fire truck, along with a helicopter overhead. We were staring up into a sun transformed by wildfires in the west and seated six feet apart from one another . . . masked. Who knew that evening we would receive the news of the death of Ruther Bader Ginsberg. As I remember our Mass and recall the deep and abiding friendship between Ginsberg and the late Scalia despite their opposing perspectives, all I can think of is, “The highest ideals of a Jesuit education are expressed so well by Jerónimo Nadal, one of Ignatius’s earliest companions: ‘We [Jesuits] are not monks . . . . The world is our house!’” (Hale). This could not be more true and lived than now. But how do we live in and respond to the world? I am a high school English teacher instructing in a phased, hybrid (in person and remote) schedule this fall. I am a high school administrator responsible for curriculum & instruction. I am a participant/observer in my son’s third grade remote learning experience. Every day I am pushed into the world, beyond my level of comfort and realizing that now perhaps more than ever education – experienced in person and remotely – is countercultural for five reasons. We Build Community During a time when the pandemic, social media, and politics aim to not only isolate us but also pit us against one another, education in person and remotely is important because this endeavor brings us together in a loving community. At De Smet Jesuit High School, we carefully plan and successfully pivoted to our phased, hybrid schedule, keeping in mind that not only does our academic curriculum look differently (we will not be able to cover as much of the same content and skills), but also we must take time to build community with students. That’s what’s most important right now. We do this with the presupposition of positive intent. Each day, we arrive at school to build something good and true by working alongside others and supposing the best in them. In our interactions, “teachers need to be true to themselves and also true to their students” (Mitchell). We share what’s going on in our lives and make sense of content and skills for students by seeing how the material connects with their lived experiences (Mitchell). We never shy away from our lived experiences. Instead, we embrace and integrate experiences into schoolwork. Of course, we know this as IPP experience. As Ignatian educators, we practice culturally responsive teaching by perhaps using student surveys or having meaningful conversations at the start of the school year, to collect and use student experiences to drive later conversations, content, and projects (Lee). Perhaps we begin each class with warm-up questions from students’ lives (Cooper), in an effort to connect and build community before jumping into material (Newhouse). IPP experience empowers students, and we know empowering students is a trauma-informed practice we need to employ today. Ideally, we provide authentic engagement and assignments that connect content and skills to the world and challenge students to think about the world (Newhouse). We Explore Truth through Current Events, To Imagine a Hopeful Future Have we lost our ability to imagine a hopeful future? During a time when the pandemic, social media, and politics attempt to avoid and manipulate truth, we seek truth by learning about events happening around us and in the world, to imagine a hopeful future. In our togetherness, and because the world is our house, we learn about the pandemic, who it affects, and how we can be safe. Perhaps we use these prompts to explore this topic from a variety of academic disciplines. During our onboarding process this fall, students learned about the mission of our school, the impact of the pandemic on us all and others, and our new way of proceeding to be safe during this pandemic. Students learned about and practiced having Ignatian Conversations, as well as learned about Formation Fridays that offer opportunities for non-academic curriculum and outside of class opportunities, in the context of classes and homerooms. Formation Fridays also offer students opportunities to meet and participate in clubs, co-curricular events, house events, faith formation, and service opportunities. Being together – in person and remotely – gives us opportunities to talk about the world in which we live, cultures, and specifically the racial unrest in our country. How do we explore this unrest through the lens of course curricula? We take action toward inclusiveness by dismantling policies and systems – from where we stand. I offer 10 factors to diversify curricula. Specifically, I changed the title and overarching theme of my (English) course to be more inclusive this year. I replaced “The American Dream” with “American Voices and Dreams.” This new title suggests a vision for my course that is not limiting or reductive. It is expansive. This new title reminds us how we should think about creating more inclusive experiences. During a summer review of my course curriculum, I removed literature and replaced the removed items with a more diverse selection of voices. In addition, I am cognizant of the times in which we live. To that end, I include immigrant narratives and contemporary black voices, while I integrate history lessons from diverse primary sources. In fact, this year, we will discover how the pandemic affects all types of people in this country. In addition, I develop specific action-experiences for students during units and lessons that help students “live” the lessons of the literature and challenge us to reflect on “How do we think and act in new and different ways after having read this material?” My course is not perfect but it’s relevant to 2020 and it’s hopeful, while exploring how we got here. I try to make change where I am. We Practice Meaningful Dialogue During a time when the pandemic, social media, and politics aim to shut down conversation, we learn frameworks for conversations and practice meaningful dialogue. Our director of diversity and inclusion and our school’s Jesuit chaplain recently introduced our school to Ignatian Conversations, a framework, with suggestions for listening and talking. This year, I will use this framework to model and practice conversations during class that assume Ignatius’s presupposition of positive intent and includes five attributes:
I also use specific phrases when practicing difficult conversations during class, and I teach students to use those phrases during conversations in and out of class. Here is a list of phrases we will practice this year during class:
These conversation attributes and specific phrases challenge us to a higher level of respect and understanding of one another, toward thinking and acting in new and different ways (IPP Action). As we practice dialogue with one another, and in particular are aware of attribute one, I am reminded that we are trying to model our behavior with that of St. Ignatius. That, “From the time he left Manresa, Ignatius, while seated at table with others, had made it a practice never to speak except to give a brief answer to questions. However, he heard all that was said, and took occasion after dinner to give the conversation a spiritual turn” (O’Connor, SJ, ed.). We Provide Predictability & Support During a time when the pandemic, social media, and politics force us toward chaos and self-reliance, our school provides predictability and support for students. Here are a few ways we do this:
We Introduce Skills for Success Finally, during a time when the pandemic, social media, and politics force us into new, and unfamiliar routines, we introduce important skill-sets for student success. In addition to helping students learn and practice specific executive functioning skills, we help them build digital capacity by practicing digital competency (Kitchen). We work with students to practice using our OnCampus and MSTeams platforms. Before we employ technology tools in remote learning, we introduce them, model them, and practice with them. Before we begin our work, we look at our courses and identify key digital skills our students will need to be successful. We communicate those skills and provide time in class to practice those skills with students.
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Pete MussoAssistant Principal, Curriculum & Instruction Archives
May 2022
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