IGNITE

 

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 21^st 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). 

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Finally, the long-planned Learning by Refraction/Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) Trainers’ Training Workshop organized by Jesuit European Committee for Primary and Secondary Education (JECSE) was held from October 3 to 7, 2022 in El Campello, Alicante, Spain. Coming from 17 countries in Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, a total of 42 educators converged in Casa Read more…

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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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This article is authored by Ms. Jennie Hickey, the Executive Officer of Jesuit Education Australia.

The Key Leaders of Learning and the Ignatian Coordinators from Jesuit and Companion Schools Australia were engaged in a four-day workshop entitled “Learning by Refraction: A Practitioner’s Guide to 21^st Century Ignatian Pedagogy.” The workshop was held at St. Peter Canisius House, Pymble, Australia from the 23rd to the 27th of February 2020.

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On February 3rd to 6th, 2020, over 30 educators from nine European countries attended a four-day Conference on “Learning by Refraction,” a 21st-century approach to Ignatian Pedagogy proposed in a book of the same title by Fr. Johnny Go SJ and Ms. Rita Atienza of the Ateneo SALT Institute in Manila. (Listen to an interview with Fr Go about the topic.)

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