Dr. Melissa Mitchell leads the Word on Fire Institute’s Secondary Catholic Educators Formation Community. She joined Nell O’Leary to discuss the goal and mission of the vibrant community.
Nell O’Leary: Melissa, you’ve been in education for a long time. This new community “Secondary Catholic Educators Formation” you’re launching with the Word on Fire Institute is to share the depth and breadth of your wisdom and experience as a formator of educators. Tell us a little about your background that brings you to this place!
Melissa Mitchell: My calling as an educator began over twenty-seven years ago. I started my career as a high school history teacher in my hometown of Yorktown, Virginia. I then moved to Washington, DC, to pursue my doctorate in curriculum and instruction at The George Washington University, where I also served as a visiting professor. I spent many years with the National Council for History Education and the Library of Congress in the professional development of history teachers. I have been at The Catholic University of America (CUA) since 2015 and have served as the elementary coordinator, secondary coordinator, and chair of the department of education. My current research explores Catholic teacher formation and its essential characteristics by asking questions such as, “How can elements of religious formation be shared with Catholic teachers to transform into authentic Catholic cultures in American schools?” I have been a long-time member of the Word on Fire Institute and so blessed to be a part of this ministry.
This community will offer something quite unique for teachers for grades 7-12. Can you share about what these offerings will look like with what you’ll do each week and what kinds of guest-experts you’ll bring on?
I will introduce Catholic educators to a wide range of experts who have developed faith-based resources to assist educators in Catholic teacher formation. As a secondary education professor, I will focus specifically on the middle and high school classrooms. Guest experts will be scheduled to give live lectures every two weeks during the summer and monthly during the traditional school year. Our first lecture will be given by Dr. Daryl Hagan, director of the Institute for the Transformation of Catholic Education (ITCE) at the Catholic University of America (CUA), entitled “How Do I Know My Catholic High School is Catholic?” Participants will learn distinctive markers of a mission-focused Catholic high school and be introduced to resources and practices to deepen a Catholic culture within the high school. Dr. Hagan will also co-present with Sister Elena Marie Piteo, OP, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Aquinas College who also serves as the director of the “Education in Communion” committee. They will discuss and share videos from Insight, the first social and emotional learning professional development program designed for Pre-K–12 Catholic school educators.
Education in the Church’s faith falters and fails if it is not rooted in an invitation to accept a unique way of life.
Why does teacher formation matter? What challenges do our Catholic teachers face today?
Catholic teacher formation is important because unlike Catholic schools in the past, many teachers in Catholic schools have not discerned nor received Catholic formation as the religious brothers and sisters did historically in American Catholic schools. Therefore, a challenge for many Catholic teachers, even with the best intentions, is the absence of practicing and modeling the Catholic faith in their classrooms. Father Stephen Grunow shared this concern in the Autumn 2023 issue of Evangelization & Culture: “Education in the Church’s faith falters and fails if it is not rooted in an invitation to accept a unique way of life. If the teacher does not embody this way of life in Christ-like behaviors, then the risk is that the doctrines might be presented correctly, but the meaning and mysticism of those doctrines will be thwarted.” Each guest expert in the Secondary Catholic Formation community will provide strategies and resources Catholic teachers can implement to grow personally and professionally in their Catholic faith.
Can you share a little more about what you hope teachers and administrators will glean from being part of this community?
I hope teachers and administrators in this community will be inspired and empowered to be a model of the Catholic faith to their students. One essential component of Catholic teacher formation should be rooted in the life and work of the saints and most notably for this community of educators, St. Thomas Aquinas and his tireless efforts to teach the faith to his students. St. Thomas’s vast library of writings was his desire to clarify difficult or sometimes heretical doctrines to his beloved students. Catholic teachers today must also practice and preach sound Catholic doctrine in their classrooms and communities as St. Thomas Aquinas dedicated his life to eight hundred years ago.