Soul of Education Stories
Senior Passages in a Nebraska High School
There’s an adage about how a book tends to find you when you’re in most need of its message or lesson. It was the fall of 2002 and I was beginning my eighth year as a third grader teacher at Bryan Elementary in Lexington, Nebraska. Winds of Change might be the title of that year as I began to develop a restlessness and hunger for change and something more sustaining.
I once again picked up the book The Soul of Education by Rachael Kessler and began to reread it–this time with more intent and application. My sister Sarah had given me the book the previous Christmas. She had met Rachael at a book signing and purchased the book. Little did my sister know, nor I, how this particular book would alter my teaching career and life forever.
As I read the book I noticed Rachael articulated very effectively a message about the necessity of nurturing the inner life of youth. Prior to reading the book, I had always wondered why we, in the teaching profession, had placed such a high emphasis on the intellectual development of students but little on simply “being human” or the emotional side or guidance of the ‘whole child’. My fragmented thoughts and understandings began to take form with the words Rachael shared, as it seemed to provide a specific language to address the social and emotional needs of youth.
Later that spring, the high school principal ‘ironically’ approached me and asked if I would consider transferring to the high school to develop the ninth grade academy that focused not only on academics but relationships. I only agreed to do it if I could also teach a class called Senior Passages.
Lexington, Nebraska has such rich diversity of students with recent immigrants blending in with generations of cultural heritages of European decent. In addition, there is a range of socio-economic levels, though most of our students come from experiences of poverty; poverty beyond finances and resources, but that which includes emotional and spiritual poverty. Thus it is rewarding to honor the stories and establish connections that support these youth in who they are.
I have learned to honor the significance of story, the power of listening and to welcome silence, thus influencing the students and athletes I encounter to value similar traits. This has allowed me and my students to fully appreciate the elements involved with our lives whether painful or joyful, hidden or viewed, neglected or nurtured, vulnerable or secure.
-Sam Jilka Lexington, Nebraska
Working with Indigenous Youth in Alaska
I was working on a statewide youth development initiative in Alaska, and I used PassageWorks’ insights to create and articulate the goals for "Alaska Faith Communities Concerned For Children." This project, embedded within the state school board association, used the language of Kessler’s work to bring Alaskans, from diverse backgrounds, together to find ways to allow, and invite "spirit" into the school, and into our conversations with students. Kessler’s work has both freed and guided teachers to explore the deepest longings of Inupiak and Yupik Eskimo, Athabaskan, Aleut, Haida, and Tlingit Indian teens. I personally watched kids "light up" and connect to something deep and personal and transcendent inside themselves. I see this “Soul of Education” approach as the forerunner to the awakening of their virtue and compassion. Rachael compelled us to ask big questions, in meaningful ways. Questions like – What does it mean to accept that this is my life and I have responsibility for it? How do I know I am normal? What is normal? What is our purpose in life? Why do some people tire of life? And, it was within these, and other questions, that teens were able to discover themselves, and uncover meaning in their lives.
-Derek Peterson, youth advocate (Alaska project)
Learning to See My Students in a New Way
I attended one of the early PassageWorks weekend workshops, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that what I learned there changed how I taught forever. Rachael Kessler’s quiet and gentle approach to making education real and heartfelt spoke to me and convinced me that what I had instinctively sensed all the years I had taught could become an intentional and purposeful way for me to do my every day work. I’ve learned to see my students as valuable and worthwhile people, to listen to them with an open heart, and to be willing to push them towards emotional and social responsibility and maturity. Rachael gave me tools to help my students grow and become confident and capable young adults. Most importantly, Rachael has encouraged me to listen to my own heart and to my body and to seek health in every area of my life.
-Colleen Conrad Ft. Collins, CO
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