Educators from Mercy Academy and Assumption High School — which are sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas — were recently among nearly 300 educators who learned how to address fear and violence and foster harmony in the classroom.
The educators participated in the 42nd annual Mercy Education Conference held at the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville Oct. 11-12.
The theme was “Cultivating Compassion, Nurturing Nonviolence.” Nonviolence is one of the critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy.
Dawn Heuglin, a theology teacher at Mercy Academy, said the event helped her and her colleagues acknowledge that in society, violence seems to be the “norm” and that even the “language we use in the classroom can have violent connotations,” she said.
Common words, used without a second thought, have those connotations, she said, noting the term “bullet point.”
Students live in a world where violence is everywhere — on the news and on social media platforms, creating “anxiety that they can’t even name,” said Heuglin.
“The conference encouraged us to use non-violent forms of communication with students, be careful, wise and prudent with the words we use,” she said.
The language people use and how individuals become immune to the power of words were central among the discussions during the event, Heuglin said,
Ernesto Laspiur, who teaches Spanish at Mercy, said it was good to spend time at the conference focusing on the issue of violence, especially on how it can affect the classroom.
“Sometimes we use expressions that might not be appropriate in a school atmosphere,” he said.
Heuglin and Laspiur agreed that some words may trigger negative feelings in students, especially after a school shooting occurs in the U.S. Students experiencing violence in their personal lives also may be more sensitive, they said.
Laspuir acknowledged that it might sound silly to ask teachers to avoid phrases like “killing it” or “shoot from the hips.”
“We know it doesn’t mean exactly that, but some students are sensitive, especially after a violent event, and maybe there’s a better way to express ourselves,” said Laspiur. “We cannot control every little thing, but just be aware.”
The conference also included a presentation on ways to help students resolve problems in a nonviolent way.
Educators from Santa Ethnea — a school in Argentina sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy — shared about a system their school uses to empower students to resolve conflicts by sitting down and talking.
“It lowers the anxiety and helps them see they have common goals and that conflict is not necessarily the end of the friendship, and to look at things from a different perspective,” Laspuir said.
Mary Ann Steutermann, executive director of mission effectiveness at Assumption, said the conference also explored how to help students communicate in a non-violent way and have conversations about controversial issues, such as abortion and immigration.
Steutermann — who also teaches social justice — said students are sometimes “afraid to talk about politics or heated issues.”
The conference also offered tips for teaching students how to debate a topic and “have a discussion where you can learn where the person is coming from and how they formed that opinion,” she said.
Assumption is already putting some strategies into use, teaching students the following:
- Don’t talk about people; talk about issues.
- Have humility. Use language that acknowledges you do not know everything about every subject.
- Ask questions and be curious and nonjudgemental.
“These skills go back to the Gospel — turning the other cheek and loving your neighbor,” Steutermann said. “It connects to our identity as Christians, to be able to use language in a positive way, not to run away from conversations but to use language in a way that isn’t destructive.”
