Articles to Download

 

Publications by Rachael Kessler 

“Nourishing Students in Secular Schools” in Educational Leadership, Devember 1998/January 1999.  How do facilitators make a place for soul in group work? What does a classroom look like in which soul is vital to the enterprise of education or youth development? What are the experiences that nourish spiritual development of adolescents without violating the deeply held beliefs of youth, families, or facilitators? 

 

“Nurturing Deep Connections: Five Principles for Welcoming Soul into School Leadership” in The School Administrator, 2002. This article, included in the issue on “Spirituality in Leadership”, was sent to every school district superintendent in the country. The article describes five principles for welcoming soul into school leadership with an emphasis on deep connection to self and others and focuses on building a school community where learning can thrive and teaching can feel, once again, like a calling.

 

“The Teaching Presence” as published in Virginia Journal of Education, November 2000, Volume 94, Number 2. Increasing numbers of educators are taking on the challenge of integrating "emotional intelligence" as a key aspect in the classroom and throughout school life. Expressing feelings is central to this work. What are the skills and qualities that allow teachers to safely invite students to open their hearts in the classroom and to talk honestly about what matters most to them? Beyond curriculum, methods and theory, a more elusive quality profoundly affect the learning that is possible –the teacher’s own way of being with students.

 

“Grief as a Gateway to Love in Teaching” in Dan Liston and Jim Garrison(eds), Teaching, Loving, and Learning. New York: Routledge (2003). Adults in traditional American culture have little preparation for dealing with grief. In this paper, I share what inspires me as an educator to strengthen my ability to deal with grief, and then present a model that has been useful in doing so. My primary emphasis throughout this essay is to describe a series of experiences that might enable educators to deal more adequately with this challenging emotion in ourselves and others, and move on to the terrain of love and hope.

  

“The Teaching Presence” an extended and updated version of the original Teaching Presence article.

 

 

Publications by Professionals Using the PassageWorks Approach

“Have You Ever?” by Donna Turnbo-Smith

 

“PassageWays” by Mellisa Heath with Rachael Kessler

 

“Feeling At Home in Their Own Skins and With Each Other” by Arlene Fishbein.  Published in Jewish Educational Leadership, Volume 5:2, Winter 2007