Some faculty of the Niels Steensens Gymnasium met with Fr. Johnny Go SJ one Wednesday afternoon to discuss Jesuit education and Ignatian Pedagogy. On 21 May 2024, the teachers from both the primary and secondary school of the Jesuit school in Copenhagen joined the conversation, reflecting in particular on how Ignatian Pedagogy might help them teach more effectively given today’s challenges.
(more…)By Yuga Orita (Graduate School of Global Studies, Master’s Program – 1st Year)
The Ignatian Student Leadership Forum (ISLF) was held from March 23 to 25, 2023 for students from the four Jesuit Schools in Japan (Eiko Gakuen, Rokko Gakuin, Hiroshima Gakuin, and Sophia Fukuoka). It was planned, prepared, and organized by leaders comprising university students who had graduated from the four Jesuit schools. Also involved were individuals associated with the Sophia School Corporation Catholic Jesuit Center, priests of the Society of Jesus, and students of theology, and the event was held to welcome students from the from schools, specifically students of the 3rd year junior high to 2nd year high sections.
By Russell Fiorella, Jennie Kuenz & Greg Allen
(Jesuit High School – Portland, OR, USA)
Physics teaches us that refraction happens when light approaches a different medium from a new angle. In the case of light approaching a prism, the result is a beautiful spectrum of visible light. This phenomenon mirrors the transformation that occurs within a student when learning. Rather than bouncing content back at their teacher or allowing content to travel through them, a learner takes hold of the content and bends it, changes it, wrestles with it, pulls it apart, puts it back together in a new way and makes it their own.
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Jesuit Education Australia (JEA) held two Learning by Refraction training workshops in March of 2023–one hosted by St. Ignatius’ College in Adelaide from 15 March to 18, and the second one by Xavier College Kew from 22 March to 25.
The two Trainers’ Training Labs were facilitated by Fr. Johnny C. Go SJ and Rita Atienza, co-authors of the book Learning by Refraction: A Practitioner’s Guide to 21st Century Ignatian Pedagogy.
The workshops gathered a total of 35 educators: 13 in Adelaide and 22 in Melbourne.
Eight Australian schools were represented in the two workshops: St. Aloysius ‘ College (Sydney); St. Ignatius’ College Riverview (Sydney); St. Ignatius’ College (Adelaide); St. Ignatius’ College (Geelong); Xavier Catholic College (Ballina); Loyola College, Watsonia (Melbourne); Redfern Jarjum College (Sydney), and Xavier College (Melbourne).
An updated approach to Ignatian Pedagogy was introduced on the 25th anniversary of the publication of Ignatian Pedagogy: A Practical Approach. GBSEALD Founding Dean Fr. Johnny Go SJ and ATC Director Rita J. Atienza collaborated on a workbook intriguingly called Learning by Refraction: A Practitioners’ Guide to 21st-Century Ignatian Pedagogy.
Note: Under the leadership of its Principal, David O’Sulllivan, Coláiste Iognáid in Galway held a staff training day focused on Ignatian Pedagogy on 19 November 2020. This reflection is written by Linda O’Hara, one of the lead teachers there.
Our Ignatian Pedagogy training day consisted of three distinct parts: an address and Q & A with a guest speaker, staff discussions in smaller groups and subject department group meetings. The day closed with a whole-staff plenary session.
(more…)This article is reprinted from the JCAP 2021 Annual Report. The author is Fr. Johnny Go SJ.
What makes Jesuit education Jesuit in the digital age?
In the last year, educators everywhere found themselves involved in an unforeseen global teaching experiment. As a result of the Pandemic and the resulting suspension of onsite classes in many schools, teachers had to quickly learn how to pivot to online teaching..
Few of our teachers had been prepared for this shift to off-site learning. In many countries in Asia Pacific, teachers scrambled to migrate to online learning, with little time to find ways to equip themselves with the skills to deliver their courses online.
Learning by Refraction: A Practitioner’s Guide to 21st-Century Ignatian Pedagogy has been translated into Thai and is being used by Catholic schools all over Thailand through the efforts of the Catholic Education Council of Thailand.
The book was written by Fr. Johnny Go SJ and Rita J. Atienza and was published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press and the Jesuit Basic Education Commission on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the publication of Ignatian Pedagogy: A Practical Approach. Neither author expected that the book would be used outside the Philippines.
Note: On 12 October 2020, Saint Ignatius’ College (Riverview Sydney, Australia) held an online Staff Development Staff Day to discuss how they cna further improve their practice of Ignatian Pedagogy. This article was authored by Sharon McLean.
In February this year a group of teachers from Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview attended a workshop “Learning by Refraction” led by Fr. Johnny Go in Sydney. We were all thoroughly engaged and enthusiastic in aiming towards bringing this re-imagined Ignatian Pedagogy to our staff. However, Covid 19 meant staff were immersed in a new range of professional learning activities to provide online learning for our students and our plans were delayed. At the commencement of this term we were able to focus on embracing “Learning by Refraction” during a Staff Development day developed by our Head of Professional Learning, Jennifer Jackson. Zoom webinar, smaller face-to-face workshop groups and Faculty discussions were held during the day.
