Anyone who knows a teacher is probably familiar with the complaint that they don’t have enough time to teach.
Imagine, then, the consternation caused when a school is closed for entire weeks so seismic upgrades can be made.
Ecole Saint-Sacrement (Blessed Sacrament Elementary) in Vancouver turned the disruption into a blessing during its latest round of upgrades. The school used the lost week of classroom teaching as an opportunity to do some faith development in the form of staff-wide Catechesis of the Good Shepherd certification.
CGS is a Montessori-inspired approach to catechesis for young children that focuses on student-led engagement with materials and stories, guided by thought-provoking questions from the instructor. Typical questions are “What do you see?” “I wonder how that works?” and “Why do you think that is?”
The training at the end of the summer led to a delayed start for students in September, which the school made up for by adding 25 minutes to each school day.
A school wouldn’t normally be able to have its entire staff take so much time off for professional development, and certainly not together, but it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” principal Renie Sader Mykyte told The B.C. Catholic.
Blessed Sacrament’s teachers are now receiving their certification in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS), and with the help of Louise Fillion, a CGS instructor from Manitoba, they are even completing the course in French.
“I always want to carve out time for faith formation,” said Mykyte, who believes that faith formation for teachers will “trickle down to the students and their families.”
CGS, at its core, is a very intentional and slow method for teaching the faith to children, and it’s an approach Mykyte appreciates, since the methodical pace lessened any temptation to hurry back to the newly upgraded building.
The CGS training has helped the staff remain mindful of their mission and responsibility to support the spiritual growth of their students, Mykyte said, and having the entire staff train together presented a unique opportunity for collaboration. “I can see the wheels turning, I can hear the conversations.”
Teachers are already discussing how to share resources and activities, particularly for the younger grades, which are closer to the target age group that CGS is designed for.
The seismic upgrade provided an additional benefit, allowing teachers a clean slate to reorganize their classrooms and at the same time giving teachers the opportunity to apply what they’d learned to the layout and atmosphere of their classrooms.
CGS traditionally takes place in a specially organized space called an “atrium,” named after the outer courtyard of a church. Fillion describes this space as sacred and intentionally designed to facilitate learning.
Instead of seeing themselves as “teachers,” CGS instructors often consider themselves “partners with the child,” said Fillion. “In the atrium, the role of the adult is very different from a traditional classroom. We are not teaching; we become co-listeners and co-wonderers.”
This role requires humility from the adult. “They must make themselves very small before God,” said Fillion. “If you’re not used to doing that, the child will show you how.”
Since CGS is aimed at young children, applying the training to older grades presents an interesting challenge. It encourages slow, deliberate engagement with ideas, which Grade 7 teacher Kathy Mills said is beneficial. “If a child is paying attention, they can’t be left behind,” she told The B.C. Catholic.
The training reminded Mills that the goal of education is “learning, rather than just getting work done.”
She is also excited about the peer mentoring opportunities CGS offers and hopes to enlist her Grade 7 students to help teach the younger grades. By leading CGS activities with younger students, she believes her older students will also deepen their own learning.
Even kindergarten teacher Stephanie Pimentel, for whom the training might be most immediately practical, said the training helped her refocus. “Slowing down is so important because everything can feel so fast,” she said, acknowledging that she often feels pressured to entertain rather than to accompany the child learner.
Blessed Sacrament is a francophone school, so there wasn’t a need for English CGS, and the opportunity to have a French-speaking instructor sealed the decision.
Filion, their instructor, relished the opportunity to conduct the training in French, not only because it was her first time but because it was a chance to update French CGS materials and make them more accessible in other parts of Canada.
Until now, French CGS in Canada used catechetical material produced in France by educators using an approach that’s similar but not fully integrated into the CGS Montessori-based approach.
There are now hopes of launching a CGS program in Montreal in 2025, and the Vancouver training offered a good starting point for gathering and preparing resources, said Fillion. “We’re helping all of Canada.”
In addition to Blessed Sacrament, St. Francis of Assisi Elementary in Vancouver and St. Helen’s Elementary in Burnaby are getting seismic upgrades this year, and they too had to rearrange their academic schedules to accommodate the work.
The project improved the seismic capacity of the building by reinforcing the walls and roof of the school and improving the gym. In addition to making the building safer, Blessed Sacrament also received a new roof, heating system, and PA system.
“We are so glad our school is safe and new on the inside,” said Mykyte.
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