We all love the subjects we teach, but what ultimately calls us into the classroom each morning is the hope that we are changing lives and impacting eternal souls. Though we don’t often write “soul impact” time into our lesson plans, we know that cultivating affections
(what a person loves and wants) can transform an informative lesson into a soul-shaping experience. But how do we reach our students’ affections in our daily lessons? The answer lies in academic liturgies that mold the imagination: environments, routines, and habitual ways of treating others that are the norm in our classrooms. These often invisible practices are the soil from which our students’ loves grow. Can intentional liturgies, such as daily confession of sin or reading Tolkien by candlelight, really inspire our students to be kinder or love Christ more? In this seminar, we will discuss specific ways of revamping our academic practices and our own perspectives to better cultivate the affections of our students.
Jenny Rallens
A er homeschooling through highschool, Jenny Rallens earned her B.A. in 2008 from New St. Andrews College and then joined The Ambrose School faculty in Boise, Idaho to teach, direct nine (mostly Shakespeare) plays, and develop a pedagogy based on four pillars: incarnational student-teacher relationships, story, socratic discussion, and liturgy. In addition to teaching, Jenny is currently working on her master’s degree at Oxford in Literature and Arts, particularly investigating the roles literature, liturgy and material culture play in forming a community’s theological imagination.