Abstract:

This project began with essentially three questions that the modules presented tried to answer. How can Xavier School Nuvali design a G12 CLE curriculum that is reflective of the school’s vision of persons fully alive endowed with a passion for justice and the skills for development and faithful to the school motto: Luceat Lux! Let your light shine!? This project attempted to give an answer by defining Xavier’s Approaches to Teaching the 6 C’s (its core values) which basically roots Xavier School’s education to The Characteristics of Jesuit Education, the foundational document that had articulated the identity and mission of Jesuit schools and to the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, a practical approach to teaching itself.

Given the dangers facing our students in the digital age and a greater consciousness of the sensus fidei, what guidelines/principles can we draw up for an effective holistic formation in the faith in Xavier School Nuvali as a Jesuit school? This project is anchored on the centrality of Christ in any faith formation and its ultimate goal is to bring students ever closer to Christ and ever committed to following Him especially in the work of justice for the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized. The project made use the Ignatian pedagogy that is concretely manifested in both the frameworks of the pastoral circle and the Life-Faith-Life approach, as well as the educational framework Understanding by Design (UbD) and the methods of Visible Thinking.

How do we design modules that will teach and form Xaverians into the school’s hoped-for graduate who is compassionate, competent, religious, loving, and committed to doing justice? How do we achieve the goal of the Xaverian as a thinking and a serving believer? The modules try to answer these by presenting to our students a worldview and a vision of the human person as good, created in the image of God, with inviolable dignity and called to be a steward of God’s creation – a person who is (or must be) Christ-like.

Because the modules of this project went beyond mere coverage of content and tried to create every possible opportunity for meaning using visible thinking strategies, they will take longer to implement and require much more energy and commitment and might be a source of insecurity in terms of accomplishing academic requirements. But, the seeds of holistic faith formation are more deeply planted when well planned, well executed, not hurried, and seen as more than just an academic subject to be accomplished. When teaching is done and seen this particular way, the students get more attuned to the prodding of the Holy Spirit and to the message of Christ for them, making even the teacher feel and sense such divine presence in and out of the classroom.

Final Defense:

Board of Examiners: Fr. Francis Alvarez, S.J., S.T.L., Ph.D. (Principal Examiner), Fr. Oliver Dy, S.J., S.T.D., Ph.D., and Arlene Choo, MEd-CTL

Proposal Defense:

Board of Examiners:.Fr. Eric Marcelo Genilo, S.J., S.T.D. (Adviser), Fr. Francis Alvarez, S.J., S.T.L., Ph.D., Fr. Oliver Dy, S.J., S.T.D.