MAY MODULE

 The Soil in Which We Grow

Objectives: 

LEAD Fellows will discern the seeds that God is asking them to plant and cultivate.

LEAD Fellows will be able to describe the cultural soil that is present, or that is yet to be established, in their school community.

LEAD Fellows will be able to consider the contributing factors of their school’s cultural soil and determine their role in the nourishment of that culture.

Prayer: 

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seeds fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still, other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Mathew 13: 3-9

Loving God, thank you for inspiring our mission of planting good seeds on this earth. We ask that you continue to guide us as we learn how to also cultivate rich soil so that your kingdom may prosperously grow. Amen.

Introduction:

The natural world has a sneaky way of reminding us of the order of living things through the arrival of spring. At this time of year, it’s hard to miss the many reminders of how life flourishes when it receives the sustenance and good soil needed to grow. This growth does not just exist outside of our windows, for if you keep your eyes focused on the living beings entrusted to your care within the walls of your school, you’ll notice that the same notion is true: when a seed falls on good soil, it grows.

How is it that our students can fully grow and flourish? As we have discussed over the past year, we know that the culture of a school plays a fundamental role in determining the success of our students. This holds a particular significance for those students whose cultures, identities, and backgrounds are often mis- or under-represented throughout their educational experiences. In order for us to hope for a future where all our students can flourish, we must commit ourselves to the cultivation of rich cultural soil in our school communities - one that is both sustainable and representative of our student’s varied identities.

This is what each of you has committed to over the past year as LEAD Fellows. You have done the work of looking inwards and reflecting on what representation means to you; from there, you have engaged in new learnings within your small groups to further unpack cultural identities and align them with virtues in Catholic leadership. This spring, we introduced the Empowerment Projects and asked you to consider how your unique gifts as a leader will respond to a specific need in your school community. Now, we extend the Empowerment Projects further by returning to the significance of school culture which, in other words, is the soil from which all potential student flourishing can spring forth.

Below you’ll find a reflection written by scholar and former ACE colleague, Dr. Christian Dallavis, who has dedicated his career to studying the culture of schools across the country. In this article, he shares his brief observation on how a small, predominantly Latino Catholic school community in Tucson, Arizona, St. John the Evangelist, has cultivated a rich cultural soil in their community.

We also wanted to include an additional reflection shared by one of our recent ACE Teaching Fellows graduates, Miss Rachel Quiñones. In this supplementary video, Rachel reflects on our grounding scripture, the Parable of the Sower. Rachel, a strong, tenacious, and wise Catholic school teacher, dedicated her life to doing hard things and raised up so many others in the process of doing so. She wrote this reflection for her fellow classmates at the end of their journey in ACE in 2018, shortly before passing away due to her long-fought battle with cancer.

In light of extensive reading, we encourage you to spend time working on your empowerment project planning guides and engaging in fruitful conversation around your ideas. We also hope the reflections of Dr. Dallavis and Rachel serve as a testament to the importance of sowing good seeds in a soil that is culturally rich and fertile. In the words of our beloved Rachel, “Happy Sowing”!

Reflection Questions:

1. Who or what nourishes the cultural soil of your school’s community?

2. What roles have you played in cultivating that cultural soil?

3. How specifically will your empowerment project contribute to the cultural soil of your school community? What are the specific seeds you are planting and nurturing through this project?

Required Readings

Required Viewing

Graphic Organizer: 

Be welcome to use this slide deck as a place to organize your thoughts. When you click this link, it will ask if you want to make a copy. Simply respond "make a copy" to access your own version.  

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!