Join us in this enlightening episode as we sit down with the esteemed Jonathan Doyle, a renowned global Catholic education speaker, to delve into the essential topic of fostering meaningful connections between Catholic teachers and their students.
In this conversation, Jonathan draws upon his vast experience and expertise to share practical strategies and heartwarming anecdotes, guiding educators on how to create a positive and nurturing environment in the classroom. He emphasizes the significance of authenticity, empathy, and active listening in building trust and rapport with students.
Through his inspirational insights, Jonathan empowers teachers to understand the unique needs of each student, allowing them to feel seen, heard, and valued within the context of their faith. Discover the transformative power of compassionate teaching and how it can inspire students to excel academically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Whether you’re an experienced educator or a passionate individual interested in making a difference in students’ lives, this episode promises valuable takeaways that will resonate in and outside the classroom.
Tune in now and embark on a journey towards becoming an even more impactful and compassionate Catholic teacher. 🌟📚 #CatholicEducation #TeacherInspiration #BuildingRelationships #CompassionateTeaching #FaithInAction #EducationMatters 🙏
Find out about booking Jonathan to come and speak at your school or event
Book a coaching call with me right now – For Principal’s and Leaders in Catholic Education
https://choicez.txfunnel.com/catholic-leaders
Come and join Jonathan for his daily Youtube videos:
https://www.youtube.com/@onecatholicteacher/videos
Find Jonathan on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/jdoylespeaks/
Transcript
Well, hello there.
Speaker:My friend, Jonathan Doyle with you once again, welcome aboard to the
Speaker:Catholic teacher daily podcast.
Speaker:I am pleased you are here.
Speaker:Please make sure you subscribe to be hearing this on a podcast app.
Speaker:There will be a subscribe button somewhere.
Speaker:It does make a difference.
Speaker:I'm doing these five days a week, try and keep them relatively short.
Speaker:And there's a link here to the YouTube channel because I do a shorter version.
Speaker:On YouTube every day.
Speaker:So depending on how you like to consume content, Uh, this is the podcast here,
Speaker:or you can get the shorter version on YouTube, my new websites out.
Speaker:So I would love it if you could, um, you know, just go and check out
Speaker:that, uh, Check out that, uh, website it's, I'm pretty excited about it.
Speaker:And I'm back speaking and the speaking requests coming in each day.
Speaker:And, uh, it's awesome.
Speaker:I just looking for good, invited to go back to Tasmania again.
Speaker:Yesterday, and I've got to fit it in between speaking to a huge group
Speaker:of Lutheran principals in the middle of the Tasmanian speaking trips.
Speaker:I've got a race back and forth between mainland Australia and Tasmania.
Speaker:Over a 48 hour period.
Speaker:It's an interesting life, but a great privilege really enjoy it.
Speaker:And, uh,
Speaker:You know, there's all this talk about AI and everything.
Speaker:That's going to change the world, but, uh, it's something special about just
Speaker:standing in a room with real humans.
Speaker:And yesterday I was talking about communion.
Speaker:About this communion and community principle that permeates.
Speaker:Um, Catholic education.
Speaker:And so there is just something cool about being together with humans and.
Speaker:As tough as your work may be, you know, you are still situated
Speaker:in a community of people and.
Speaker:I'm sure there's some people that you are drawn to more than others
Speaker:in any community of human beings.
Speaker:But a community itself is a special and beautiful thing.
Speaker:And it's one of the great things Catholic education can do so
Speaker:well is to really build vibrant.
Speaker:Uh, communities where people really care about each other.
Speaker:Friends as you know, we are on a journey.
Speaker:Uh, through the work of Archbishop Michael Miller, who's got a massive
Speaker:focus on Catholic education.
Speaker:And it's his document, the five essential marks of Catholic schools.
Speaker:And we're working through this, uh, this concept of, I think it's point number
Speaker:three, but it's got different parts to it.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Uh, we've done Christian anthropology.
Speaker:Uh, this is communion and community.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So yesterday we talked about the role of the Bishop and where
Speaker:bishops fit in Catholic education.
Speaker:So if you want to check that out, that was yesterday's today.
Speaker:We're talking about the interaction of students and teachers.
Speaker:Gosh, it's one of those things, isn't it?
Speaker:It's just so ubiquitous in our schools that we can tend to
Speaker:forget about how central it is.
Speaker:What is that?
Speaker:The, just the interactions between you and your students.
Speaker:The vast number of conversations, interactions, facial gestures,
Speaker:experience, shared experiences that constitute the relationship that is at
Speaker:the heart of all Catholic education.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Take a step back and remember what's really happening in a Catholic school that
Speaker:you know, it's not about the technology.
Speaker:It's not about the building.
Speaker:It's not about the equipment, the pedagogy, the curriculum, those
Speaker:things have an important place.
Speaker:But I've been in Catholic schools in the remote parts of new Guinea.
Speaker:And you're lucky to have a Blackboard.
Speaker:Can we get a whiteboard, but the old fashioned chalk blackboards,
Speaker:you're lucky to have one of those.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Sometimes like you'd have paper and pens.
Speaker:But what you do have is a teacher and other students.
Speaker:So what you're going to have in every Catholic school, in the world.
Speaker:Is the interaction between.
Speaker:Young people.
Speaker:And educators, which is at the very heart.
Speaker:Of Catholic education.
Speaker:If you think about.
Speaker:This idea that we participate both in the teaching ministry or the
Speaker:teaching office of the local Bishop.
Speaker:But Herman knew tickly.
Speaker:We actually participate in the teaching of Christ himself.
Speaker:John Paul two said this in one of his documents.
Speaker:He said that a.
Speaker:That we teach with, you know, that, that the teaching that comes out of
Speaker:our mouth to the degree that it's effective is a participation in the
Speaker:teaching of Christ that we teach with the words of Christ that we speak
Speaker:with the words of Christ that we act.
Speaker:As best we can with the actions of Christ.
Speaker:So this participation is just so important.
Speaker:And this interaction is so important because if you go back to what Christ did,
Speaker:he spent time with his disciples, right?
Speaker:He was an absolute rabbi in that rabbinical tradition, which was,
Speaker:you know, the, the rabbi would rarely go right guys, nine o'clock.
Speaker:We're going to, we're going to have official teaching today through till 12.
Speaker:We'll take a break.
Speaker:We'll be back for afternoon sessions.
Speaker:You know, the, the rabbis didn't structure time like that.
Speaker:Uh, to be a disciple of a rabbi, you just followed the rabbi.
Speaker:You just went where he went.
Speaker:You spent time with the rabbi.
Speaker:You listened when they spoke, you were quiet when they were
Speaker:quiet, you prepared their meals.
Speaker:You wouldn't, it be nice if your students had that disposition
Speaker:towards you, it's like.
Speaker:Uh, yes.
Speaker:It's a miss your, uh, You know, duck.
Speaker:She's ready.
Speaker:Um, so we participate in a similar sort of sense that.
Speaker:You know, for the disciples, it was just their exposure to Christ,
Speaker:the daily watching of him that was very formative for them.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:For us as we try to mirror Christ, it is our students formation taking places.
Speaker:They watch us as they hear us and listen to us.
Speaker:So what I thought I'd do is just, I'll just read you this
Speaker:section from Archbishop Miller.
Speaker:It's pretty short.
Speaker:But a heel heel.
Speaker:So let's just listen to what he has to say about the interaction
Speaker:of students and teachers.
Speaker:The Catholic philosophy of education has always paid special attention
Speaker:to the quality of interpersonal relationships in the school community.
Speaker:Especially those between teachers and students.
Speaker:This concern ensures that the student is seen as a person whose intellectual
Speaker:growth is harmonized with spiritual, religious, emotional, and social growth.
Speaker:Because St.
Speaker:John Bosco said education is a thing of the heart.
Speaker:Well, Thintech formation of young people requires the personalized
Speaker:accompanying of a teacher.
Speaker:During childhood.
Speaker:And this is a quote from one of the church documents here
Speaker:during childhood and adolescence.
Speaker:A student needs to experience personal relations.
Speaker:Personal relations with outstanding educators.
Speaker:And what is taught has greater influence on the students formation.
Speaker:When placed in a context of personal involvement.
Speaker:Genuine reciprocity, coherence of attitudes.
Speaker:Lifestyle and day to day behavior.
Speaker:Direct and personal contact between teachers and students is a
Speaker:hallmark of the Catholic school, a learning atmosphere that encourages
Speaker:the befriending of students.
Speaker:Is far removed from the caricature of the remote disciplinarian.
Speaker:Cherished by the media.
Speaker:I think even that's vanished these days, hasn't it?
Speaker:This, I don't think anybody really thinks there's remote disciplinarians.
Speaker:You know, Uh, I think we I'm obviously now not reading the quote.
Speaker:I think, would you agree that.
Speaker:The modern education and the way that children have been socialized, the
Speaker:use of authority is harder and harder.
Speaker:It's, it's more, it's just rare.
Speaker:Isn't it?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:This idea that we can be remote authoritarians and
Speaker:students just do what we say.
Speaker:I tell my kids when I was in the eighth grade, I got strapped with horse leather.
Speaker:I'm not making this up.
Speaker:I was at a Christian brothers school.
Speaker:And I was light with a library book, and I remember getting taken
Speaker:out on this balcony, veranda.
Speaker:And I got six wax with this piece of it was six straps of horse leather stitched
Speaker:together and getting whacked with it.
Speaker:To this day, I've never had a library book back late.
Speaker:But I just don't know.
Speaker:I'm not encouraging you to try this.
Speaker:I think if you did that today, there would be.
Speaker:Well sorts of ramifications.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Please, let me be explicit.
Speaker:Do not hit the children.
Speaker:It's not a thing.
Speaker:It's definitely not a thing.
Speaker:Do not do that ever.
Speaker:Um, so this remote disciplinary is gone, but what's still, there is the
Speaker:ability to build powerful relationships.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:I want to give you another quote here from lay Catholics
Speaker:in schools, witnesses to faith.
Speaker:And it talks about this balancing act between familiarity and distance.
Speaker:Because as you know, really well, if you've, if teachers are
Speaker:overly familiar, Overly close.
Speaker:It just, you can sense there's an inappropriateness to it.
Speaker:So I would say that ontologically, there is a.
Speaker:Uh, structure.
Speaker:To the teacher, student relationship.
Speaker:Where a certain distance is appropriate.
Speaker:But too much distance.
Speaker:You can see this balancing act, right.
Speaker:Or there's too much distance then.
Speaker:Students feel that you don't care about them and they
Speaker:don't particularly learn that.
Speaker:Well, they don't want to learn from you.
Speaker:But if there's too much familiarity, then there's this equals relationship,
Speaker:which also is problematic.
Speaker:So I remember.
Speaker:And you've seen of course, and you've experienced no doubt,
Speaker:these great trends in education.
Speaker:So we go from the kind of wisdom figure where teachers would
Speaker:just, you know, impart content.
Speaker:Back in the day when there was complete.
Speaker:You know, At adherence by students to behavioral norms.
Speaker:So students would just sit and.
Speaker:You know, there was so much discipline and structure.
Speaker:It's teachers could just stand there and teach.
Speaker:Uh, and now.
Speaker:There's you know, to be able, I think, to communicate and to teach well,
Speaker:you've got to build relationships.
Speaker:So there's these.
Speaker:You know, we went through that stage where it was like, Teachers were like,
Speaker:meant to be coaches and you weren't meant to be the wisdom figure up there.
Speaker:And I remember, I remember early in my teaching career, you know, there was a
Speaker:lot of this stuff, like, you know, ah, we were there to coach the students and to
Speaker:walk with them and yeah, I get it kind of.
Speaker:But we're also there because we have more wisdom because we've learned
Speaker:more and we have more to impart.
Speaker:So, listen, let's talk about this quote.
Speaker:On the balance between familiarity and distance here is a personal
Speaker:relationship is always a dialogue.
Speaker:Rather than a monologue.
Speaker:And the teacher must be convinced that the enrichment in the relationship is mutual.
Speaker:But the mission must never be lost.
Speaker:Sight of the educator can never forget that students need a companion and
Speaker:guide during their period of growth.
Speaker:They need help from others in order to overcome doubts and disorientation.
Speaker:Also rapport with the students ought to be a prudent combination
Speaker:of familiarity and distance.
Speaker:And this must be adapted to the need of each individual student.
Speaker:Familiarity will make a personal relationship easier.
Speaker:But a certain distance is also needed.
Speaker:That's a good last line.
Speaker:Isn't it here that again, familiarity will make a personal relationship.
Speaker:Easier.
Speaker:But a certain distance is also needed.
Speaker:So as Bishop Miller finishes this, by saying these words, Catholic schools
Speaker:are then safeguard the priority of the person, both student and teacher.
Speaker:They foster the proper friendship between them since an authentic formative process.
Speaker:Can only be initiated through a personal relationship.
Speaker:And that's a quote from the church documents he's using there.
Speaker:He says an authentic formative process can only be initiated
Speaker:through a personal relationship.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:I liked that previous quote, because it's pointing to.
Speaker:Something, we need to remind ourselves.
Speaker:Solves that our students are not tabula.
Speaker:Rasa is they're not blank slates.
Speaker:They who have no sense of the world.
Speaker:But we have to remember that their children, that the young
Speaker:people, they have doubts and the document here says disorientation.
Speaker:And they are trying to find their way in the world.
Speaker:that.church document refers to it as a, they needed a companion
Speaker:guide during the period of growth.
Speaker:And I often quote this thing from Evelyn war, where they said you
Speaker:scratch beneath the surface and students who seem so sophisticated.
Speaker:You find this huge, huge, like,
Speaker:Well of uncertainty and sometimes even despair.
Speaker:Because they pretend to be so sophisticated and worldly but underneath
Speaker:they are still children this tool very young Our culture doesn't like that sort
Speaker:of i think postmodernism really would like to think that we construct meaning
Speaker:ourselves and so young people should be free to construct meaning on their
Speaker:own it's just ridiculous we're a social species we cause it, we create meaning in
Speaker:a shared experience of life and history.
Speaker:And you know what came before us and the wisdom of those that have come before us
Speaker:you know i'm gonna just make up reality on our own So one of the beauties of
Speaker:catholic education is how we are walking with students helping them to make meaning
Speaker:of the world and we've got to believe that we have something to offer if we do not
Speaker:think that the catholic vision of reality Is the most compelling beautiful vision
Speaker:of reality Then we're in the wrong game i really do After all these years Have
Speaker:you know being right immersed in catholic education all over the world I've been a
Speaker:teacher i still teach Um you know and i'm working every single day in this space
Speaker:i just look at reality and i think the catholic vision of reality is the closest
Speaker:thing to genuine the way the world really works that i've seen You know our capacity
Speaker:for incredible brilliance and beauty and majesty and wonder and i capacity for sin
Speaker:and failure and corruption That's reality and the catholic story explains it and
Speaker:explains the path out of it So let's have confidence again my friend that we do have
Speaker:something special to offer our students we do have something unique to offer them
Speaker:we're not just coaches who are walking alongside them as they walk off a cliff
Speaker:We are wisdom figures in their lives and we want to pray the holy spirit help us to
Speaker:get the will help us to get this beautiful balance between familiarity and distance
Speaker:Okay there's a lot in that I better wrap up do me a favor go check out those links
Speaker:to youtube channel my new page you can book me to speak so if you would like me
Speaker:to come and work with your staff there'll be a link to my uh my webpage And you can
Speaker:just book time to catch up with me there.
Speaker:Um but please if you would have liked me to come and speak to your staff
Speaker:or students remember i spent a decade speaking to 40,000 students a year so
Speaker:you know got to do a whole bunch of stuff for students as well so make sure you
Speaker:check that out all right my friend My name is jonathan doyle this has been the
Speaker:catholic teacher daily podcast and you and i are going to talk again tomorrow
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