ED 429 - Study Guide for Week Nine

More on the Role of Experience

“Ignatian Pedagogy: A Practical Approach” (bound packet):

1. Note the claim, in para. 11, that pedagogy “cannot simply be reduced to methodology.” Have you taken any methods courses? Why do you think there are doubts about method? What do you have to say in its defense?

2. What is the problem suggested in para. 14 that the pedagogy is supposed to address?

3. What are the goals of a pedagogy for “faith and justice” (paras.15-22)?

4. Note the reference in the final paragraph of this section to experience, reflection and action.
Later, context and evaluation will be added to these three.

5. Ignatian pedagogy is seen as analogous to (or an instance of?) the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. (More on this below.) In this context, it is suggested that the relationship of teacher to student is the same or analogous to the relationship between the director of the Spiritual Exercises (referred to in the document we read as the “retreat-giver”) and the retreatant or person doing the Exercises. What is the relationship?

6. We will want to compare the emphasis on experience here with Dewey’s views in Experience and Education. Are they talking about the same thing?

7. What are the pedagogical implications of the interplay between experience, reflection and action? (Note in this context the reference to the passive, lecture fill-up-the-cup model as “primitive.” Dewey, of course, was saying this at the turn of the 19th century.)

8. Note all the ways in which context is important (paras. 33-42) and consider the implications for you as a practitioner.

9. For the paradigm, experience is far more than raw feelings or sensations. What is involved in an educational experience?

10. What does reflection add to experience?

11. What is presupposed by the commitment to action?

12. What is the difference between the evaluation discussed here and the high-stakes testing of the No Child Left Behind act and similar state imposed standards?

13. Note the proposed features of the paradigm (paras. 71-76) and the anticipated challenges to its use (paras. 77-89).

“The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius” (on line):

14. What is the focus of each of the four ‘weeks’ of the Exercises? Is there anyway to summarize their essence in more universal terms?

15. What do you think is meant by ‘contemplation’ in this context?

16. If you feel called to do the Exercises, there are on campus Jesuits who lead them. Let me know and I’ll put you in touch with one. They do what is called the “Exercises in daily life,” but I’m sure you can find a place to do them in a retreat setting (without going to London, which is were this document originates).

“Longing for the Sacred in Schools” (on line):

Since this article is an interview and I think the questions raised by Halford are good ones, let them be your guide. You should be able to explain Noddings’ answers to each, and also how you might answer those very same questions, as appropriate.