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It is our first of several “senior honoring ceremonies,” designed to celebrate each graduating senior—not just the few who have shown outstanding achievement in academics or athletics. A vase filled with flowers sits in the center. The first circle of chairs holds 25 students and the teachers who will address them. In the chairs behind them are parents and other faculty.
After a welcome by the school principal, teachers go one at a time to the center of the circle, select a unique flower from the vase, and stand before a surprised and curious student. One teacher begins: “I have watched you grow this last year and become strong like the sturdy stalk of this giant iris. When you came into my class, I could tell that you were used to being one of the clowns. Yet, when it came time to share our stories, you took the first risk. You inspired all of us with the courage of your vulnerability. I want to honor you for the warmth you brought to each of us and the initiative and courage you’ve shown. I respect you as a leader and value you as a friend.”
The young man beams. His father, behind him, looks stunned. This is his younger son— the cutup, the disappointment after the academic achiever who went before him, the one who has brought his father too many times to the disciplinary dean’s office. After listening to one of the most respected teachers in the school describe the outstanding gifts of character this boy has demonstrated in his final year of high school, the father’s face is soft, tears glistening. He places his hands on his son’s broad shoulders. One squeeze tells the boy that his father has heard, that he sees him in a new light.
In the father’s eyes looms a key question: What went right?
The answer: At the heart of every adolescent experience is an exquisite opening to spirit—an awakening of energy when larger questions of meaning and purpose, of ultimate beginnings and endings, begin to press with both an urgency and a loneliness much too powerful to be dismissed as “hormones.” What went right is that this young man found experiences that nourished his spiritual development. This secular school created a place for his soul, and he flourished. This curriculum of the heart is a response to the mysteries of our young: Their usually unspoken questions and concerns are at its center.
Since 1985, I have worked with teams of educators throughout the United States in both private and public schools to create curricula, methodology, and teacher development that can feed the awakening spirit of young people as part of school life. Now called PassageWorks, this approach is a systematic set of principles and practices for working with children and adolescents that integrates heart, spirit, and community with strong academics.
PassageWorks has been a pioneer in recognizing and responding to two vital needs now demonstrated in a growing body of research as essential to students’ resilience and future success: one, supporting students during critical transition years, and two, personalizing schools— creating small learning communities within each school that protect all children from falling through the cracks.
Beyond social and emotional learning, this model includes a depth dimension students have long referred to as “spiritual.” In the 1980s, I couldn’t explain this; after all, we were not practicing or even discussing religion. But after many years of seeing the impact of the model on students in diverse settings— public and private, urban, rural and small town—I came to understand what students have felt since the beginning of the program.
When soul enters the classroom, masks drop away. Students dare to share the joy and talents they once feared would provoke jealousy in even their best friends.
We can invite students to experience the exultation that comes with appreciating or creating art and music, encountering the majesty of nature, feeling or witnessing the power and grace of the human body in athletics and dance, and experiencing or observing the brilliance of the human mind. Inviting joy into the classroom supports the growth of positive emotions that mitigate the forces of cynicism and despair and promote resilience throughout life.
The spontaneous burst of respect and openness for “the other”—even those whom a student thought they could never stand—is an essential catalyst in the heart and mind that makes peace and justice a possibility. Young people discover the compassion that makes humans want to alleviate the suffering of others. They experience choice and change as possible—in themselves, the community, and society at large.
Welcoming Soul to Our Schools
by Rachael Kessler
Check out "Peace Is Fun" - an intervew with Positive News US Editior, Ilonka Wloch. Just click on the image below.
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