Because of the pandemic, remote learning is our new way forward in the Jesuit high school where I teach. Initially this change produced fear and was disappointing. Almost immediately, we replaced our frameworks for creating and future thinking with mechanisms to sustain us during this crisis. We immediately postponed our professional development day that would have challenged us to create new curriculum possibilities and dream about future facilities. We replaced it with a remote learning PD day. We immediately postponed community faith-building activities and other school committees/teams that focused on the future, allowing all of our resources and teachers to be present in the moment for the new reality of remote learning. Although obviously the remote learning framework was a reactionary build and looks different from our “at school” model, I have feelings of consolation as we continue with a new rhythm and momentum today. We problem solve and literally forge a new path in education. Remote learning allows us to reimagine school and in doing so approach conversations, decisions, actions, and relationships through a distinctly reflective Ignatian lens and way of proceeding we call the magis. As Marc Andresseen suggests, in It’s Time to Build, perhaps our challenge at this time is in our failure to imagine. But, this pandemic has forced De Smet Jesuit High School faculty and staff to concretely practice what we theoretically know: students’ and their families’ experiences are more important than teaching content and skills. And, while doing so, live in the magis. For me, Magis means living in an ongoing process of continuous quality improvement – building . . . working to be in better friendship with Jesus on the path toward knowing we are loved unconditionally by God – always being a reflective practitioner, being flexible and fluid, to be better. Bart Geger, SJ, suggests, the magis is “the more universal good.” And Andy Otto, Ignatian blogger and spiritual director, weighs in on defining magis, when he writes: Magis is this desire to do more for Christ, more for the glory of God, more to grow into ourselves. The future for many of us can be daunting and frightening. It’s unknown and uncertain. But when you look at your future in the spirit of magis it becomes exciting. Magis carries with it the spirit of restless desire for greater things, a deeper attentiveness, a deeper spiritual life, and more meaningful relations. Sure, my future may be uncertain, but knowing that I have the chance to shape it in relation to my desires for greater things brings God into the picture. Otto’s magis reflection, set in the context of today, is exciting. Today, we live even more in the magis – perhaps by necessity – and we are better for it. Our remote learning framework is the thoughtful reaction to a world that has changed and will continue to change. Gone are the days of assumptions about where we learn and teach; replaced with days of meaningful conversations, thoughtful reflections, creativity, and teamwork – all done in the spirit of the magis – continuous quality improvement. Here are concrete ways in which we are thoughtfully and faithfully responding and changing to be better at De Smet Jesuit High School (St. Louis, MO):
During productive and supportive Microsoft Team Meetings, Zoom Meetings, email exchanges, and brainstorming sessions, I have often found myself returning to The First Principle and Foundation, as a centering reflection almost daily. In particular, I use as a guide, “For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.” Everything. As we consider continuous quality improvement into an unknown future, here are some reflections for remote learning that will guide us toward continuous quality improvement. Teaching & Instruction
Curriculum
PD & Faith Formation
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As we enter into the Triduum during this pandemic, what is the role of art and faith in our ever-changing world? I have found myself reflecting on three questions this week: When have I shared a (sacred) meal with my family & friends? What crosses do I bear or do others around me carry? How are our crosses ladders (West)? Below is one of three poems I have written to observe the events of this Holy Week. More to come. Enjoy. Sacred Suppers Sacred Suppers in Intimate spaces Isolated places For companions Gathered at Common Tables We prepare Love share Fully present we see Uncertainty And tomorrow’s crosses We all carry but Tonight we are one With He who dies alone Yesterday’s Sacramental Altars Today are Home Where is God Today? God is found today in adaptation and in noticing what’s around us amidst all the changes, challenges, and profound loss. Fr. Pedro Arrupe, the twenty-eighth Superior General of the Society of Jesus, in his Personal Prayer, invites us all “to see everything now with new eyes” so that’s how we do this . . . Through frequent online meetings with teachers in our school’s academic departments, we are moving out of our comfort zones, to find new ways to engage students in learning. God is in the struggle, the newness, the flexibility. One department chair reflected, “How can we examine our current remote learning practices and to be consoled that some practices and learning are even better than what they were?” What a profoundly forward looking and positive challenge. God, indeed. God is present during online interviews with future Alum Service Corps volunteers - seniors in college who are not only learning to learn remotely themselves as they think about graduating, but also are excited to serve as teachers and mentors in our school next year – to give back in gratitude for their Jesuit education. God is present in experiences of administrators and teachers during those interviews, as they reflect on our loving learning community and our commitment to their faith, our students and their families. Finally, and most importantly, God is present in our students who are adapting to new ways of doing things, forming new habits, succeeding in their learning, and teaching us about hope, cadence, and resilience. God, indeed. What Have We, as Teachers, Learned After Week One? Online Expectations As teachers, we set and reinforce clear expectations for when we are going to be online to help address student questions about content, skills, and assignments. It is reasonable to expect that we are interacting with students during class. Perhaps this is during a 10-15 minute video and response or chat. It is not reasonable to expect that we respond to students at all hours of the day and night. As teachers, we need to set expectations verbally and in writing, and students need to be aware of those expectations, with opportunities to ask questions and help shape those expectations. We remember that we are helping students to form and build new remote learning habits. So, when students know that they will be actively participating during the first part of class, they log in and get to work. We help them build these habits. Online Etiquette Now is the best time to talk with our students about what they are experiencing online and to share with them best practices as they relate to online etiquette: presenting themselves online, doing work online, listening, and positively contributing. Some of our teachers are using the article below as a nice starting place for conversations. Teachers who modeling behavior helps students. Every day we take our students where they are and bring them along . . . today is no exception. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238902 Classroom Expectation Reminders We review classroom expectations with students every day. Whether it’s reminding students to re-read the expectations we set at the start of remote learning or directing students to a video about our expectations, we continuously return to remind students each day. We try to remember, students take 6-7 classes. Anything we can do to remind students about our expectations is helpful. Attendance and Class Participation We take attendance during class. This attendance is part of the student’s grade. Students must check in at the start of their classes – not before, not after. Attendance is taken by providing students with a contextual prompt or reflection question that they respond to online. Teachers mark attendance using our online educational platform, and give students points for attending. We remember that we are helping students build habits when we use attendance to help students with executive functioning skills. During class, students are doing something interactive and interacting with the teacher and with one another. Assignments and Work We are scaling back workload and expectations, to be sustainable. We strive to make directions clear and simple – written and/or verbal (audio). And we know that when students experience directions online, it is different than when they experience directions during class in school. We use online time to review directions, model what we are asking, and check for understanding before students get started. We provide students daily opportunities to show what they know and turn that in online through our online educational platform or through email. Larger assignments are okay when they are broken into smaller, more easily digestible chunks. Is what we ask students to do clear and doable during the 75-minute block class? What can students turn in and get feedback on? We are considering this question after week one: Is own behavior and preparation – our own workload – sustainable for a longer period of time? Sustainable for teachers and for students, over the longer-haul? And how are we reflective practitioners, continuously reviewing and revising? We know that we have a solid remote learning model to follow. We also know that we can and will make changes to that model – so that it works for students. Assessment In this new remote learning model, assessment looks different. We are a supportive community. We encourage one another to find new and effective ways of assessing student learning. We share those ideas with one another in our Microsoft Teams online support communities. Gradebook The first few weeks is about getting a feel for what works and building a routine that is predictable and supportive for our students. We do not shy away from trying new things. We do not shy away from failure. At the same time, teacher flexibility and humor – with ourselves and with our students – is becoming the norm. As remote learning continues, we will continue to post attendance, participation, homework, and project grades in online gradebooks. As we settle more and more into this remote learning routine, the student’s online gradebook is one tool where students and parents can go to see progress. It is one tool where students are held accountable for what they do. It is important that grades are posted and the gradebooks are updated. Weekend We made it! We are using the weekend as a time for much needed rest and relaxation. We all need the time and space to step away from our work with remote learning to engage with our families, the outdoors, a hobby, or a favorite past-time. Perhaps we take time for prayer and meditation. While our community steps up to make learning easier and routine during a very uncertain and scary time for our students and families, we know that we also need to care for ourselves and our families and friends. Our community is simply the best. We all cannot wait until the day we are all again together in person, but until then we will keep learning & teaching remotely in a very Jesuit and Ignatian way. Finally, we find consolation in the Personal Prayer of Fr. Pedro Arrupe: Grant me, O Lord, to see everything now with new eyes, to discern and test the spirits that help me read the signs of the times, to relish the things that are yours, and to communicate them to others. Give me the clarity of understanding that you gave Ignatius. Just because our kids are at home with us, doesn’t mean they need to sacrifice an educational routine that is fun and challenging. Even when working, as parents, we can set up structures for positive student learning experiences. Over the past two days, I’ve spent two hours thinking about and designing a learning plan for my second-grade son. Qualities of Remote Learning Use Home Supplies We Already Have What does remote learning look like at our house? I began thinking about possible teaching tools that we already have at home, that our son, Gus, could use for his learning. I have to admit, this first started with a quick playroom clean-up which revealed many unused and underused resources including worksheets from last summer’s skills workbook (buried below a mound of toys), school-made word lists (thanks Mrs. Decker) (that I turned into flashcards), pre-fabricated flashcards, various books (science, cursive writing, various topics, maps, etc.), stickers, toys, and lined paper – along with markers, crayons, and pencils. As I collected these things, I laid them out and began to categorize them by general subject/activity. I also included Gus’s iPad. Develop a System with Choices With all my tools laid out on the dining room table, categorized by general subject/activity, I began to think about all the choices in each category. How can each subject/activity be a specific choice for my second-grader? Make a Visual of the System After categorizing, I realized that my son would have 12 possible choices. I made a simple and colorful chart, briefly identifying his choices. This visual is similar to a system that his current second-grade teacher uses with her students – hopefully my son will take comfort in the similarity of the visual. In that visual, I also included values for each choice. For us, each choice/task is worth a certain star value. When Gus earns a given number of stars, he also earns levels of surprises (small and large). When Gus earns 18 stars (for completing tasks he chooses), he receives 1 small surprise (yet to be determined). When he earns 36 stars, he receives 1 large surprise. Variety – by Subject and Activity The learning plan should have different subjects and different activities, some of which are driven by student interest. For example, my son and I created the art project choices together. In my son’s learning plan, he also has choices for learning in different subjects: language arts, math, science, social studies, fine arts, P.E., and religion. As the plan unfolds, it is my responsibility to make sure he approaches all these subjects. Finally, Gus can choose from a variety of types of activities for learning: worksheets (practicing skills), flashcards (three different types, repetition and practicing skills), science experiments, handwriting, cursive writing, reading and comprehension, reading summary work, presentation creation, use of technology, art creation, and physical movement. Again, as he works his plan and earns his stars toward surprises, it is my responsibility to ensure he is engaged in a variety of activities for his learning. Here is a recap of the 12 choices in his plan:
Earning Surprises I have assigned each choice completion in the learning plan a value (star). When Gus earns a given number of stars, there is a surprise – yet to be determined. For him, a small surprise might be a Beyblade or Matchbox car. A larger suprise could be a remote control car. The rewards students earn could be dependent upon their level of achievement and could be tied to their interests. When I introduced the idea of a “small” and “large” surprise, my son’s face lit up immediately. Perhaps this is a motivator for him. How to Get Started & Why Preview A day or two before the learning plan began, I sat down with Gus to review the plan and I asked for his input. Together, we developed a list of his possible art projects, and I clarified questions. Time & Place Gus has a worktable in his playroom, where he will work independently after deciding about choices. Together, we agreed that he would do a total of two choices per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. What’s a reasonable amount of time? Each project should take Gus between 5-10 minutes of independent time, along with help from me – another 20 minutes. The Results I hope this learning plan will help Gus to continue to build healthy learning habits during this school interruption. The new home learning plan encourages that learning can happen, even at home, and he has choices based upon is interests and preferences. Hopefully, during this time, Gus is practicing skills he already knows and learning new skills. Finally, the daily experiences should help Gus feel accountable, creative, successful, and supported. A few years ago we started the new school year focusing on Our Why. We challenged one another during our day of recollection to reflect on this question: “Why do I do what I do?” Two years later, it seems as though we are continuously returning to Our Why. Stopping by one of our fine arts teacher’s freshmen Studio Art I class, I glanced at the whiteboard, only to find the teacher’s why: to encourage and inspire young people to create and recognize God’s beauty in nature and humanity.” What a clear phrase, that centers her, our students, and me. At our faculty meeting four days ago, our principal revisited this notion of Our Why and it later surfaced in an email he recently sent to parents. . . but this time relative to learning changes as a direct result of the corona virus. When we move to remote learning, why? He writes: These challenging times provide opportunities to live out our mission as men and women for and with others. By making sacrifices like moving to remote learning, postponing events, and suspending athletics and activities, we are doing our part as a school community to:
As we move from being a loving and supportive community we have built in school to being a dynamic and supportive remote learning community, I am grateful that we are prepared.
Here are some qualities of our remote learning plan for students:
We have worked tirelessly to create a vibrant learning community during the school year; however, during remote learning, this community feeling will not be present. In its place, we can create a supportive and collaborative remote learning community. We will work with students as we enter into this remote learning model and we will be flexible. We can do this. Last Friday, as our faculty and staff met in our Innovation Center for one final check-in before spring break, most seemed to have a sense that our students would be moving to remote learning. After a final blessing by our Jesuit chaplain, we were each left to our own final preparations or to enjoy one final meal together. . . most a bit sad at this prospect but clearly understanding Our Why and perhaps challenged a bit more toward a new way of proceeding. Teacher Growth & Renewal | Building Rapport & Trust While Providing Feedback through Class Visits10/11/2019 It is great to be back working with faculty at De Smet Jesuit High School. Here, we have successfully appropriated the teacher Growth & Renewal process (an Independent Schools Management model) into our school – to support teachers’ reflective practices. One component of this process is central: class visits. As I enter Bob’s English class for a 15-20 minute unscheduled visit, I take a seat along the side, and fire up my tablet. This class visit represents one of perhaps 4 visits to any one of Bob’s classes for the academic school year. Using the school’s class visit rubric based on agreed upon Characteristics of Professional Excellence (CPE) that we developed as a community a few years ago, I observe student engagement, and I note summaries of what I directly see, in the appropriate spaces on the rubric. Sometimes I add reflective questions and affirmations. Because I don’t record what I don’t see, some of the CPEs are left blank – perhaps for noting during another visit. When I am ready to leave class after 15-20 minutes, I save my notes in the rubric and immediately send the rubric detailing the class visit to Bob, along with an email: Bob, thanks for having me in class today. I enjoyed seeing you interact with small groups, as they prepared specific presentations based on topics from a list you provided to them earlier. I appreciated seeing a shift from “teacher as imparter of knowledge” to “teacher as facilitator” as you helped students discover information and they prepared for presentations. In particular, I enjoyed your question as you approached student groups, “What do you know?” Attached are some reflections and notes as they relate to the Characteristics of Professional Excellence. You will notice some notes, some questions, some reflections. You might notice some categories are blank or “not as reflected upon.” Simply, those categories that are blank are those I did not visibly notice today. I would like the opportunity to debrief the class with you, sometime soon after you have reviewed the reflections. I will leave it up to you to contact me and set a time to meet within the next few days. The conversation doesn’t have to be long, just some time to chat about the class. It’s great to see you in action, and I’m grateful for what you do with our students! This email and the attached notes achieve four important things: immediate feedback to Bob about what I saw during his class, written documentation for Bob and for me, specific commendations (email, paragraph one) about Bob’s class, and a context setting piece and rationale for my notes and subsequent reflecting conversation (email, paragraph two). While my brief visits build positive rapport and a routine that is predictable and supportive, each visit also creates data points for the teacher, toward a yearly process of growth and renewal: my presence during class (and reflections on how that went), concrete summary notes based upon my visit, and a follow-up email that highlights a positive quality about the class that day. After my visit, Bob reviews notes and schedules a time to have a reflecting conversation with me based upon my reflections and his experience during class. The follow-up conversation typically takes between 15-20 minutes, and it is a structured conversation based upon the Cognitive Coaching model (https://www.thinkingcollaborative.com/seminars_cc_seminars/), that “strengthens performance by enhancing one’s ability to examine familiar patterns of practice and consider underlying assumptions that guide and direct action. Cognitive Coaching’s unique contribution is that it influences another person’s thought processes” (Costa, Garmston). A typical reflecting conversation includes the following sequential prompts posed by me:
After the reflecting conversation, I send a “thank you” email to the teacher, immediately highlighting some (not necessarily all) conversation take-aways. Below is a sample of a thank you email I sent to a Spanish teacher after our reflecting conversation based on my class visit: Thanks very much for taking some time to have a reflecting conversation after my visit to your class last week. Some reflections:
This email contains several noteworthy qualities: I affirm the classroom experience with commendations, I note challenges, I note possibilities for areas for growth (bolded above), and I thank the teacher. Potentially, in later conversations we could talk about class size, what’s happening in other similar class sections, learn about other LP strategies, focus on the pace at which she moves through content relative to students, and beware of her students’ upcoming trip to Spain. My follow-up email after the reflecting conversation concludes the visit process. At the end of each visit process, there are 5 data points that the teacher can reflect on:
During later visits, I embed the teacher’s Growth & Renewal goals for the year, and use those goals to drive a conversation about work. As I reflect on class visits, I am confident that they are becoming a predictable and support component of each teacher’s Growth and Renewal process. Here is a final list of 12 visit process suggestions:
Like three astronauts, Nick, Mike, and I land on/in our school’s Innovation Center (IC), Cave 4, for nearly every period 1 (with a few exceptions). Returning from work away from the school for the past 4 years, I help lead the school’s curriculum and instruction. Mike, our Director of Educational Technology, gets situated in his new office in the IC. And Nick, English teacher (and next year’s department leader), has returned from a educational gamification workshop, where he facilitated a presentation about his students’ way of proceeding in an English class – framed by video gaming. All three of us gather, with one task this year: develop a working definition (and indicators) for Innovative Education at our school and plan strategies that animate the definition – among students and teachers. We have the space. But, how do we help students be innovative? It feels as though I am an amateur astronaut – being forced to reposition myself on another planet or the moon, as I experience something new – seemingly not from our world. Perhaps all three of us bounce around in unfamiliar territory, acknowledging this new perspective with wonder, ease, and joy. We begin our work together by historicizing about the origins of the Innovation Center – the actual space we occupy for our meetings – how did it come to be and why? We invite members from the principal’s team and the leadership team to reveal perceptions and feelings of both consolation and desolation. This exercise quickly becomes the foundation for constructing our IE definition. After we pour our foundation, we begin to construct our definition for IE – using our collective knowledge and experience, along with research and best practices – all informed by our Catholic, Jesuit traditions. We hold in tension the foci from General Congregation 36, while framing our conversations around components of The Profile of the Graduate at Graduation and the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm. What emerges after months of conversation and deliberation is a dynamic, complex, changing, but clear IE definition that guides how our students and teachers are reflective, action-based, and engaged with one another, and in the community. Is it perfect? By no means. But, it is a starting point in a slow, rhythmic process. We leave most meetings realizing, “the work is never finished.” Thoughts of Oscar Romero, SJ, continuously come to my mind: it may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Soon after we develop our IE definition, questions surface: how do we communicate this definition, test it, ask for input, and expose colleagues to it? How does our understanding of innovative education help us to animate what we do in our classes with students? Eventually we depend on two strategies to help us deliver our definition: small presentations to groups of faculty where we test our definition, as well as the creation of a paid, 4-day summer institute – open to faculty during this coming summer 2019. We are invitational to all faculty, while at the same time, targeting specific innovators and early adaptors –colleagues who will help us build the IE kingdom here. Happily, with a cohort of 15 teachers, we will launch the IE Summer Seminar, focusing on four spheres of IE – coming directly from our definition:
Our summer experience will provide faculty exposure to and practice with these spheres as they relate to their already-existing curriculum, while challenging us all to create community while building own class prototypes that we can use in our space – the IC. We expect that faculty will embed and use these IE spheres (and prototypes) in their classes, with students, during the 2019-2020 year. In addition, we will make a “home-grown” maker space within the confines of our IC, continuing to discover where creativity can help us animate IE and complement our college preparatory curriculum. As next year unfolds, our cohort will come together to be a continuing community of learners and a resource to one another and others. What an exciting time to be an innovative educator at De Smet Jesuit! Although I am excited about the work of our grand experiment with innovative education, I’m most hopeful about how Mike, Nick, and I are modelling a way of proceeding and collaboration for faculty – through our meetings this year. It is not coincidence that some of the qualities of this collaboration are practical animations of innovative education, which include but are not limited to:
Setting the Class Context Through Guided Meditation & Silence
In the craziness of our lives at school, how do we help students set the context by encouraging them to focus and be engaged in the class that is about to begin? One method is two minutes of guided meditation/silence at the start of class. Here’s how it typically goes . . . feel free to adapt the script to your own circumstances. As we settle into our seats, close your computers. Take everything off your work space. (turn off lights, play music, instrumental – optional) Pause for a moment. You can even close your eyes and put your head on your desk, if that helps . . . but try not to doze off. Instead, pay close attention to your breathing right in this moment. (pause) It is 10:25 AM. We are in English class, having just come from activity period, and before that, another block class. During these two minutes before we begin class, try to empty your head & clear your mind . . . (pause) Perhaps during activity period you engaged in intramurals or at a club meeting. Maybe you played games on your computer in the Innovation Center, or checked messages on your phone. Maybe you caught up with some homework, reviewed for an upcoming test, or chatted with a friend or teacher. Perhaps you were in the chapel. Maybe during your time you read a novel or even slept. (pause) Perhaps during your last class you were participative and engaged in discussion or an activity. Maybe you felt frustrated, happy, or anxious. Whatever your feelings, leave them and those experiences, if you are remembering them right now. (pause) Try, in this moment right now, to clear your mind . . . (longer pause) As you prepare for this English class, how you want to be? (pause) Will you be preoccupied? Or will you be engaged and on-task today during class? (pause) Decide now. (pause) As we end this time of quiet and as we prepare for class . . . as you open your eyes, please get out your book, your notebook (and open it to a new page), and a pen. Let’s begin . . . The Paradigm for Innovative Education Our Search Begins in the World . . . Introduction As I spend time in our Innovation Center and with our exciting work of continuing to define innovative education, my phone lights up with a picture delivered via text message from my son’s school. It’s of him and his buddy, showing off part of their work on a class unit on community. What a wonderful example of project-based learning that challenges first-graders to be self-directed in producing a product based upon their experiences and research. Better than a lecture from his first grade teacher? Perhaps. Where in the continuum of education do such experiences stop? I am slowing and happily embracing what Teilhard de Chardin’s prayer hopes, to “accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.” Perhaps it’s because the prayerful phrase best captures the essence of our high school students today. Maybe it’s because our educational reality is the result of not fully understanding the ramifications of a teaching and learning model – the IPP – that is in desperate need of appropriation to today’s students – learning and teaching. Now is the time to reframe the traditional paradigm (IPP) used in our network of schools, by blending it with a 21st-century-and-beyond model for education – creating a new prototype? Setting the Context When we teach, we ought to presume the best in our students - rooted in the tradition of the Spiritual Exercises, whereby “Ignatius exhorts the director to first presume the best in the retreatant, to put the best interpretation on his or her motives, intent, desires, and commitment” (Gallagher, Musso). When we approach teaching and learning, how do we do this? What do we know about students in our classrooms (their environment, background, community, and potential)? How do we arrive at cura personalis, knowing students? Innovative educators start with “why.” What’s my why (my role) as a teacher of an academic discipline in a Jesuit high school and how does my why impact how I proceed, plan, implement, and evaluate? How do I authentically get to know and understand students? How do discipline content and skills transcend my class, to the world? How do I create an environment for students that helps them to better understand that we are part of a larger world? How do I teach students what it means to be human? Innovative educators learn along with our students, while lecturing less. We use data, best practices, and research to address – individually - the contexts of our students (Dressler, Musso, Talken). Using Experience When we teach, we use experiences in addition to content. During the Spiritual Exercises, the “retreatant comes to realize that God moves about within the circumstances of one’s life” (Lonsdale Qtd. in Gallagher, Musso). Similarly, “starting with experience, the teacher creates the conditions whereby students gather and recollect the material of their own experience in order to distill what they understand already in terms of facts, feelings, values, insights and intuitions they bring to the subject matter at hand” (International Commission of the Apostolate of Jesuit Education). “Teachers . . . should take account of . . . the real context of a student’s life which includes family, peers, social situations, the educational institution itself, politics, economics, cultural climate, the ecclesial situation, media, music and other realities” (International Commission of the Apostolate of Jesuit Education). What is the best way to engage learners in the teaching and learning process? We create the conditions whereby learners gather and recollect the material of their own experience to distil what they understand already in terms of facts, feelings, values, insights and intuitions they bring to the subject matter at hand. “Attention paid to experience will enable a student to achieve an understanding of the material that reaches beyond the cognitive,” perhaps into empathy (Gallahger, Musso). Teachers later guide learners in assimilating new information and further experience so that their knowledge will grow in completeness and truth. Innovative educators appropriate the lesson so that it centers on students and students collaboratively creating content. We provide students autonomy, choice, and collaborative opportunities. We embrace that technology is part of life, leveraging technology in safe, legal, and ethical ways. We foster a spirit of collaboration, locally and globally – accessing and using the experiences of others to inform ourselves (Dressler, Musso, Talken). Reflection In our teaching, we provide opportunities for reflection. In the Spiritual Exercises, “it is the retreatant who is responsible for his or her own personal growth . . .” (Gallagher, Musso) “Reflection should be a formative and liberating process so that it shapes consciousness of students – their habitual attitudes, values, and beliefs, as well as ways of thinking . . .” (International Commission of the Apostolate of Jesuit Education). How do learners become more reflective so they more deeply understand what they have learned? We lay the foundations for learning how to learn by engaging students in skills and techniques of reflection. Here memory, understanding, imagination, and feelings help students grasp the essential meaning and value of studies, to discover its relationship to other facets of human knowledge and activity, and to appreciate its implications in the continuing search for truth. We should continuously “seek to increase the freedom of the student by exposing the student to different viewpoints and asking questions that lead the student to understand his or her own personal reaction to the material and the implication of the material for them and for others” (Gallagher, Musso). Innovative educators are attentive to minds, bodies, and souls. Students become aware of a bigger picture in the context of the lesson. Together, we practice various forms of reflection, toward understanding why we are doing what we are doing. How do lessons influence how we think and act? How do we use our education to impact the world, using the lens of social justice? How do we cultivate an understanding of the deeper issues of the lesson, to develop a sense of empathy with and for the work in the world? Teachers and students are curious, questioning, discovering and learning together – curating resources to construct knowledge toward meaningful thought or action. This is about expansive thinking and doing, without constraints, where failure is part of education (Dressler, Musso, Talken). Action Learning and teaching do not exist in a vacuum, but for the purpose of meaningful action – to help us think or act in new and different ways. “Jesuit education is never meant to end in mere personal satisfaction for academic achievement” (Gallagher, Musso). Instead, students “are compelled to move beyond knowing to action” (International Commission of the Apostolate of Jesuit Education). How are we compelled to move beyond knowledge into meaningful action? The lesson is an opportunity that challenges the imagination. It is an exercise provoking learners to choose the best possible course of action from what they have learned. What do we do because of new understandings? While it may not immediately transform the world into a global community of justice, peace and love, action should at least be an educational step towards that goal even if it merely leads to new experiences, further reflections, and consequent actions within the subject area under consideration. Innovative education leads students to learning that is collaborative, blended, and not formulaic. Teachers are creative, working toward intentionally developing design processes for students, to solve real world problems. Those design processes include offering students a variety of diverse resources, and challenging students to be collaborative in creating live prototypes – an early sample, model, or product to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from – toward being transformational (Wikipedia). This requires a high level of clear communication and facilitation and perhaps only small periods of lecture and explanation. This includes problem- and project-based pieces. Actions also include networking and are driven by students’ personalities, lives, and talents, as well as choice. Evaluation How did we do during this lesson? “Success is in proportion to both the student and the educator’s growth in attitude and action toward becoming a man or woman for and with others” (International Commission on Apostolate of Jesuit Education Qtd. in Gallagher, Musso). How do we assess learners’ growth in mind, heart, and spirit? Daily quizzes, weekly or monthly tests and semester examinations are familiar instruments to assess the degree of mastery of knowledge and skills achieved. Ignatian pedagogy, however, aims at evaluation, which includes but goes beyond academic mastery to the learners’ well-rounded growth as persons for others. We then perceive indications of growth or lack of growth in class discussions and students’ generosity in response to common needs much more frequently (Korth). Innovative educators discover evidence that students are engaged in the class and inspired beyond the class, toward just action. Innovative educators encourage failure during the unit, combined with a process for re-do and revision. Innovative educators use statistics and data to inform classroom decisions and improve student achievement. Works Cited Defining Innovative Education – Period 8 Meetings. Dressler, Musso, Talken. De Smet Jesuit High School. St. Louis, MO, December 2019. Excerpts from: Korth, S. J. (2008). Precis of Ignatian pedagogy: A practical approach. In G. W. Traub (Ed.), A Jesuit education reader. Chicago, IL: Loyola Press. Ignatian Pedagogy: A Practical Approach. Foundations. JSN. 1993. Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm: Synopsis. Gallagher, Musso. JSEA. 2006. As director of school support for a network of pre-secondary and secondary schools, I work with teams who help schools reflect and be better. One of the many ways we do this is by shepherding schools through a comprehensive self-reflective review process. This particular review process for schools is in its second year of pilot development, and three schools have moved through it. This process, with is various components and school support tools, is effective because it helps school’s study and reflect, identify their own strengths, pinpoint some challenges, seek outside support from experts, as well as develop authentic action plans for growth. The following are general components of this review process that could perhaps be helpful for schools as they continue to be professional learning communities that are full of reflective practitioners:
As the school moves through this process, it should challenge itself to continue to create, review, and revise consistently-developed resources during this process that tie directly to the set of standards the school uses and that help the school during the process. Such tools could include a self-study timeline paradigm, artifact list/examples, stakeholder perception surveys (students, adult school personnel, parents, board, and alum), small group conversation prompts, a self-study narrative template, a visiting team resource booklet, class visit rubrics, a school visit exit report template, and a school action plan. Processes such as the one identified above engage everyone at the school, allow the school to identify strengths and areas for growth based on study data, invite outside experts, and help the school toward getting better. |
Pete MussoAssistant Principal, Curriculum & Instruction Archives
May 2022
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