1 Going Further: The Unexpected Joys for Educators and Students of Incorporating Jesuit Mission & Identity in an Interdisciplinary Classroom May 25, 2017 – TLISI Jamie Kralovec, MUP Mary Novak, JD, MAPS
2 Defining Character: Catholic, Jesuit Universities“Our primary mission is the education and formation of our students for the sake of the kind of persons they become and their wide influence for good in society in lives, professions, and service.” (AJCU, The Jesuit, Catholic Mission of U.S. Jesuit Colleges and Universities, 2010, p. 3) “The real measure of our Jesuit universities lies in who our students become.” (Id. and Peter Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education, 2000, Santa Clara University)
3 Jesuit Education . . . Seeks to “educate ‘the whole person’ intellectually and professionally, psychologically, morally and spiritually.” “Tomorrow’s ‘whole person’ cannot be whole without an educated awareness of society and culture with which to contribute socially, generously, in the real world. Tomorrow’s whole person much have, in brief, a well-educated solidarity.” (Kolvenbach)
4 AJCU “Self-Evaluation Instrument”Professional Schools: Do professional schools within the University share a common commitment to the joining of professional, technical training with personal and moral formation of their students rooted in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition? Are courses offered in the graduate curricula that reflect attention to larger questions of meaning and purpose within the professions?
5 Here is a Profile of the “Ideal Graduate” from a Jesuit University:1) A fly that has flown out of the bottle, that is, a student who has escaped from the confines of experience, who has an expanded awareness beyond comfort zones, has been exposed to other cultures and to other modes of thought. One who has escaped from the bondage of unexamined assumptions and prejudices, who dares to ask questions, not only the chosen discipline and trade but about life itself. One who exercises her or his imagination in exploring the known and “the other.” (John W. O’Malley, S.J., Jesuit School and the Humanities Yesterday and Today, Studies in the Spirituality of the Jesuits, Spring 2015, 28)
6 Profile 2) One who has a real sense of “heritage and perspective,” because “we cannot understand ourselves and the situations in which we find ourselves unless we have some idea of how we got to be where we are – as individuals and as a society. We do not know who we are unless we know where we came from and have not fallen victim to cultural amnesia. (O’Malley, 29)
7 Profile 3) A student who knows “We are Not Born for Ourselves Alone.” Being women and men for others is at the heart of the humanistic tradition out of which the Jesuit education tradition comes. (O’Malley, 29)
8 Profile 4) “Eloquentia perfecta” (Perfect Eloquence) -- without being perfectionistic – “the skill to say precisely what one means with grace, clarity, and conviction ” We “do not say what we mean if we do not know what we mean, and only when we have the right word do we know what we mean. . . Cultivation of the art of the word is a sure path to acquisition of the art of precise thinking and effective communication.” (O’Malley, 30)
9 Profile One who possesses the “Spirit of Finesse;” realizing (unlike the “geometric spirit”) that “in the murky darkness of human interaction and motivation two plus two does not equal four.” The student is able to embrace the ambiguities of life, reflect on them and see the webs we weave that are often filled with knots and tangles. (O’Malley, 30-31)
10 Profile The virtue the “humanists especially wanted to inculcate was prudence, that is, good judgment, which expressed the wisdom that characterized their ideal leader They hoped to make them into adults who made humane decisions for themselves, their families, and for any group of which they might be a part, decisions as appropriate as possible to all aspects of a given situation . . .
11 Profile – “a wise person, somebody, whose judgment you respec[t] and to whom you would go for personal advice . . .a secular version of what we in the tradition of St. Ignatius call” a discerning person. (O’Malley, 31) In summary: 1) the Fly having flown from the Bottle; 2) with Heritage and Perspectives; 3) Not Born for Ourselves Alone; 4) who has Eloquentia perfecta, or The Art of the Word; and 5) with the Spirit of Finesse. (O’Malley, 28)
12 Overview of “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice”Inspiration and motivation Course structure Teaching and learning methods Evaluation
13 Inspiration and Motivation1. Formative experiences of Jesuit spirituality and education 2. Desire to share these experiences more broadly at SCS 3. Opportunity for students to engage across programs in inter-disciplinary classroom 4. Promote social justice and the common good through community-based learning
14 Course Structure 1. Community-based learning2. Weekly reflection exercise 3. Three longer reflection & analysis essays “Transformation: Your Manresa Moment” “Reflection: Discerning Your Vocation” ”Action: Called to Justice” 4. Weekly class participation 5. Final oral presentation project “Identity, Life, and Mission”
15 Course Structure Major course topics: History of the JesuitsReflection in community-based learning History of Jesuit education, approach to education Georgetown’s mission Applications of Jesuit values in professional life Social justice: implications for action Authority v. Leadership
16 Teaching and Learning Methods1. Learning Goals: Knowledge of Jesuit values Communication & professional skills Social Justice 2. Methods to Achieve Goals: Individual and group reflection Community-based learning Classroom as sacred space Co-educators: deliver content and vocation stories
17 Teaching and Learning MethodsHow does the class serve the mission of Jesuit higher education? 1. Opportunity to reflect on cognitive and affective responses to experience 2. Connect personal experience of social injustice with plan for social action 3. Appropriate Jesuit values in each student’s concrete human circumstances & social reality 4. Kinship with community-based partners
18 Evaluation and Assessment1. Pre-course survey 2. 4 major assignments using a CBL rubric 3. Student course evaluation, with tailored questions regarding specific course outcomes 4. Final oral presentation What are Jesuit values? Why do they matter in your Georgetown education? How do you put them into action in your lives? TRANSITION: We wanted to give you an experience of what we did in the class on a regular basis…
19 TRANSITION: I will invite Jamie for a personal reflection on how he was transformed.
20 Reflection Questions Go back to the places you noted from the interview and how you were moved. Sit with those places and your response. Can you begin to get a sense of why you were so moved? Write about that. Fr. Greg speaks about kinship as a relationship of mutuality. Have you ever experienced that kind of relationship in your life? Where? Describe it and who you were in the midst of it. Have you ever experienced a relationship of mutuality with someone who is marginalized by our culture? If so, describe it. If not, can you imagine what that might look like or is there a movie you remember that reveals this? What are your obstacles to mutuality with others? What are your obstacles to mutuality with those on the margins?
21 Reflection on “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice”How did this class transform me? How did this class transform the students?
22 Reflection on “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice”How was I changed? 1. GRATITUDE 2. Vocation – teaching as ministry 3. Listening skills 4. Flexibility & Creativity 5. Trust 6. Magis – how to serve university’s mission with greater love? 1. Jesuit friend of mine encouraged me to use the class experience as a way to gain data about my own vocation. I gained a lot of data about what excites me and terrifies me about the classroom. Since the fall I’ve continued to actively discern how God calls me to serve in the mission of Jesuit higher education. 2. “God labors on us in a unique and personal way – conversation& communication is key to any good relationship. Teacher and student relationship emulates the relationship of director-retreatant relationship in the Spiritual Exercises. 3. The transformation that we’re seeking is no small feat – it requies patience, trust, support of a community.
23 Reflection on “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice”How were the students changed? 1. New perspectives on Jesuit education 2. From charity to social justice 3. Habits of reflection & spiritual practice 4. Articulation and refinement of personal values and professional goals 5. Portal to resources and networks at Georgetown and beyond 2. Several students continued their CBL engagements after the semester ended
24 In their own words … “CBL truly opened up my eyes to the way people dedicate their time to fight justice everyday. I enjoyed serving those in need and getting to know them - their stories. It was an experience that I will carry on into my own work and life.” “The speakers who moved me the most had journeyed deeply inside their humanity and touched mine.” “I finally understand what makes Ignatian spirituality unique. It is a spirituality that is externalized, that actively shapes one's choices and actions, it is contemplation in action, being men and women for others and aspiring for the magis.” “I learned the foundational aspects of Jesuit values and caring for the whole person. In working to develop a right relationship with all, I learned much about Jesuit spirituality in practice and about the process of accompanying, serving, reflecting on data, researching, communicating and raising awareness in order to transform the life of another, one person at a time.” I was nervous as hell.
25 Questions