Integrating a pedagogy of writing with personal formation in the Jesuit tradition

Abstract

This study examines the writing program at Creighton Preparatory High School in Omaha, Nebraska. The school is an all-male school operated by the Society of Jesus. The study identifies the formalist elements in the writing curriculum and contrasts these elements with the formative philosophy described in documents central to the Jesuit paradigm. To establish the program as formalist, or a product-oriented rather than process-oriented, the study examines surveys, interviews and artifacts. It concludes by describing the department's recent adoption of a portfolio program, suggesting the department is facing change. Chapter two shows one Prep classroom struggling with formalism, drawing on formational elements in Jesuit pedagogy, but without a clear focus on how to adapt this pedagogy to writing needs. Chapter three suggests what a Jesuit rhetoric might be if it drew on the Jesuit philosophy of education as enunciated in its essential documents. It terms this approach a rhetoric of consideration, meaning both sensitive and thoughtful. Chapter four describes the establishment of the Jesuit educational endeavor, the insertion of vernacular instruction into the Jesuit classical curriculum, and the practical difficulties of trying to adjust a centuries' old tradition to new demands. Chapter five returns to Creighton Preparatory to provide an historical review of how the Jesuits adapted their educational endeavor to one institution, particularly in regards to writing instruction, leaving the school at a crossroads as the Jesuits approach the 450th anniversary of their first educational institution. ^