Professional Development: Ignatian Principles at Work With Teachers of Underserved Students

This article describes a professional development project for teachers in an underserved urban school in Buffalo, NY, centered on Ignatian Spirituality and the Jesuit, Catholic identity. During a time when the number of Jesuit priests has diminished, our universities look to academic departments, programs and other areas of campuses to engage their staffs and students in the teachings of St. Ignatius and the Jesuit tradition. Our professional partnerships with local underserved schools at Canisius College are based upon Ignatian principles to benefit the critical needs of teachers, students and staff. Participating teachers in this project addressed three interrelated areas of their teaching that they identified as most challenging: (1) teaching diverse learners in the 21st century; (2) engaging students in their learning; and (3) managing and teaching students at once. Our work with these three topics is summarized here. A sampling of documents used in our workshops and a bibliography containing a theoretical framework for professional development and learning are offered as well. During our workshops, teacher-participants realized their powerful commitment to cura personalis, the individual student, as a part of their daily work