Profile of an Ignatian Educator
Teachers are guides with and for students on their journey
An Ignatian Educator serves as a guide with and for students on their formational journeys in a Jesuit school. In collaboration with colleagues, the Ignatian Educator engages in ongoing personal, professional and religious development in order to sustain a vibrant community committed to the mission of Jesuit education.
Caring for the Individual, an Ignatian Educator:
- Helps students to be conscious of their well-rounded growth as men and women for others.
- Values students as individuals and treats them with empathy.
- Demonstrates the willingness and ability to listen, developing mutual trust with students and colleagues.
- Seeks to understand adolescent psychology/behavior and the world of the adolescent.
- Holds students, others and oneself accountable to reasonable academic and behavioral expectations.
Discerning Ways of Teaching and Learning, an Ignatian Educator:
- Collaborates with educators in and beyond the school community to enrich teaching and learning.
- Engages in ongoing development as an educator in light of new research, best practices, and social and cultural changes.
- Solicits feedback from student and colleagues on the teaching-learning process.
- Strives to be a critically reflective teacher.
- Evaluates curricular and instructional programs in light of department goals and the overall mission of the school.
Modeling Ignatian Pedagogy, an Ignatian Educator:
- Creates conditions and provides the opportunities for the continual interplay of experience, reflection and action.
- Helps students gain the skills to become life-long learners, including fostering creative and imaginative thinking.
- Uses a variety of assessments to evaluate a student’s holistic growth.
- Guides inquiry into subject matter for an awareness and a deeper understanding of significant issues and complex values that impels to action.
- Incorporates into the teaching-learning process the advances in technology, the expanding knowledge of how the brain works and the increasing awareness of students’ health/physical well-being.
Building Community and Fostering Collaboration, an Ignatian Educator:
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Works in partnership with Jesuit and lay colleagues in planning the educational and formational program to ensure the future of Jesuit education.
- Engages in honest and respectful dialogue with colleagues on important issues of Jesuit education and professional development.
- Earns the trust of others and draws upon the work and wisdom of others in decision-making.
- Partners with parents/guardians in achieving the school’s educational mission (as a Jesuit work and ministry).
- Recognizes and works to overcome prejudices that impede the building of an Ignatian learning community.
- Inspires students and colleagues to collaborate with others in seeking the greater good for all.
Animating the Ignatian Vision, an Ignatian Educator:
- Shares and helps to shape the school’s vision and mission.
- Ensures the continual renewal of the institution.
- Responds to Christ’s call to be a woman or man with and for others.
- Is knowledgeable of the foundational documents of Jesuit education.
- Values his/her work as a vocation to the ministry of teaching and works to promote a faith that does justice
- Is open to the experience of the Spiritual Exercises and engages in ongoing learning and development in the principles of Ignatian spirituality and pedagogy.