Creating a meaningful education.
Armeen Sayani, undergraduate alumna, continues to impact Loyola and its surrounding communities long past her graduation. Sayani is pursuing her master's degree through Loyola School of Education’s Language, Culture, and Curriculum program while working as a teacher at Chicagoland’s Old Orchard Junior High School.
The School of Education’s Language, Culture, and Curriculum program is a project-based curriculum that focuses on allowing teachers to implement innovative ideas in the classroom right away. “It makes you feel like the work you are doing has purpose and meaning. You can make positive changes with the curriculum you are learning right away. It inspires passion and motivation for what you are doing in the classroom both as a teacher and student,” says Sayani.
"As a teacher, you take what you learn from that community and apply it to the school where you are teaching." Armeen Sayani, BSEd '18
Within Loyola’s classrooms, Sayani believes that the school refreshes her values as an educator and reminds her of what originally sparked her love for teaching. “You meet students from different places with different types of experiences and you begin to build a community,” says Sayani. “As a teacher, you take what you learn from that community and apply it to the school where you are teaching. I feel like I am growing in so many ways.”
Loyola has long championed the cura personalis value – care for the entire person – an axiom of Ignatian spirituality that is embodied in the School of Education’s studies. The idea, a core component of all Loyola schools, is characterized by three institutional priorities: promoting an environment of inclusive excellence, nurturing Ignatian skills of service and critical thinking, and the engagement of students to help them achieve academic and professional success.
“The program reiterates many of the values which are fostered in the undergraduate level. Social justice, inclusive education, advocating for vulnerable populations, and teaching with intention. Sayani appreciates the way the program and its curriculum is relevant to her current role, her, students, and their lives. She is learning to approach her teaching from a new angle, all while monitoring for inequities and identifying what changes we need to advocate for.
Outside of Loyola’s classrooms, Sayani recognizes that she learns from those around her. “I learn so much from my students. I teach at an extremely diverse school and every year I am learning about cultures and languages that I did not know about before. You learn about their life, their family, what students are passionate about, their communications styles, and their identity.”
"The skills I learn at the School of Education are so pertinent to what I do every day that it creates a very tangible experience for my coursework." Armeen Sayani, BSEd '18
Sayani stresses the wide span of learning opportunities that come with such a diverse student body. “I grew up speaking two languages. You must be mindful of breaking down the messages you are delivering and not limiting yourself to a monolingual style of teaching,” says Sayani. The idea of a classroom that is not limited to the English language is innovative, and it is one of the pillars from the Language, Culture, and Curriculum program that Sayani takes close to heart.
Sayani has tried to incorporate her students’ many languages into the classroom through multilingual decorations and discussions. By doing so, she hopes to take the necessary steps to create a more meaningful education for those in her class. One of the most important things to understand – also a priority bolstered by cura personalis – is that each child must be seen as their own whole, individual being. Individualizing teaching practices to meet the needs of all students is a key concept taught at the School of Education. This approach creates classrooms where children feel seen, heard, and understood.
In terms of English as a Second Language, there are issues that exist on both individual and institutional scales. Individually, students must be valued and understood. “There are so many things to learn about your students, much of which you will learn on your own. Working with so many kids from so many diverse backgrounds, it is essential to be open to that connection,” says Sayani.
To spark change on an institutional scale, there is still a great deal of work to be done. “Disrupting biases against multilingual students – how we really think about our prejudices and the people they harm – and ensuring that we, as teachers, do not oversimplify things. We need to come with an asset-based approach where we understand that each student brings so much to the table,” says Sayani. “You want to empower students and let them know and feel their strengths through their coursework.”
Sayani feels that her love for teaching has been reignited through the courses she takes at Loyola. “It is a profession where so many things will happen in one day. The skills I learn at the School of Education are so pertinent to what I do every day that it creates a very tangible experience for my coursework,” says Sayani.
Through her devotion to her students and intense passion for teaching, Sayani has made herself into a figure who students and teachers look to for inspiration. “You do not have to wait for policymakers to make policy. Take what you know now about good teaching, apply it in your classrooms, and advocate for those practices with other teachers. When all the teachers within a school can gain these understandings in school, we create a schoolwide shift,” says Sayani.
With her willingness to change, learn, and inspire, Sayani lives up to the Ignatian values and is an exemplary student at the School of Education and Loyola at large.
Teaching and Learning
Language, Culture, and Curriculum
We designed the Language, Culture, and Curriculum program at Loyola University Chicago to equip all teachers with the pertinent understandings and pedagogical practices to push forward emergent bilinguals’ learning and language development across settings, including literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, world languages, and fine arts classrooms with children, adolescents, and adults.
Learn MoreArmeen Sayani, undergraduate alumna, continues to impact Loyola and its surrounding communities long past her graduation. Sayani is pursuing her master's degree through Loyola School of Education’s Language, Culture, and Curriculum program while working as a teacher at Chicagoland’s Old Orchard Junior High School.
The School of Education’s Language, Culture, and Curriculum program is a project-based curriculum that focuses on allowing teachers to implement innovative ideas in the classroom right away. “It makes you feel like the work you are doing has purpose and meaning. You can make positive changes with the curriculum you are learning right away. It inspires passion and motivation for what you are doing in the classroom both as a teacher and student,” says Sayani.
Within Loyola’s classrooms, Sayani believes that the school refreshes her values as an educator and reminds her of what originally sparked her love for teaching. “You meet students from different places with different types of experiences and you begin to build a community,” says Sayani. “As a teacher, you take what you learn from that community and apply it to the school where you are teaching. I feel like I am growing in so many ways.”
Loyola has long championed the cura personalis value – care for the entire person – an axiom of Ignatian spirituality that is embodied in the School of Education’s studies. The idea, a core component of all Loyola schools, is characterized by three institutional priorities: promoting an environment of inclusive excellence, nurturing Ignatian skills of service and critical thinking, and the engagement of students to help them achieve academic and professional success.
“The program reiterates many of the values which are fostered in the undergraduate level. Social justice, inclusive education, advocating for vulnerable populations, and teaching with intention. Sayani appreciates the way the program and its curriculum is relevant to her current role, her, students, and their lives. She is learning to approach her teaching from a new angle, all while monitoring for inequities and identifying what changes we need to advocate for.
Outside of Loyola’s classrooms, Sayani recognizes that she learns from those around her. “I learn so much from my students. I teach at an extremely diverse school and every year I am learning about cultures and languages that I did not know about before. You learn about their life, their family, what students are passionate about, their communications styles, and their identity.”
Sayani stresses the wide span of learning opportunities that come with such a diverse student body. “I grew up speaking two languages. You must be mindful of breaking down the messages you are delivering and not limiting yourself to a monolingual style of teaching,” says Sayani. The idea of a classroom that is not limited to the English language is innovative, and it is one of the pillars from the Language, Culture, and Curriculum program that Sayani takes close to heart.
Sayani has tried to incorporate her students’ many languages into the classroom through multilingual decorations and discussions. By doing so, she hopes to take the necessary steps to create a more meaningful education for those in her class. One of the most important things to understand – also a priority bolstered by cura personalis – is that each child must be seen as their own whole, individual being. Individualizing teaching practices to meet the needs of all students is a key concept taught at the School of Education. This approach creates classrooms where children feel seen, heard, and understood.
In terms of English as a Second Language, there are issues that exist on both individual and institutional scales. Individually, students must be valued and understood. “There are so many things to learn about your students, much of which you will learn on your own. Working with so many kids from so many diverse backgrounds, it is essential to be open to that connection,” says Sayani.
To spark change on an institutional scale, there is still a great deal of work to be done. “Disrupting biases against multilingual students – how we really think about our prejudices and the people they harm – and ensuring that we, as teachers, do not oversimplify things. We need to come with an asset-based approach where we understand that each student brings so much to the table,” says Sayani. “You want to empower students and let them know and feel their strengths through their coursework.”
Sayani feels that her love for teaching has been reignited through the courses she takes at Loyola. “It is a profession where so many things will happen in one day. The skills I learn at the School of Education are so pertinent to what I do every day that it creates a very tangible experience for my coursework,” says Sayani.
Through her devotion to her students and intense passion for teaching, Sayani has made herself into a figure who students and teachers look to for inspiration. “You do not have to wait for policymakers to make policy. Take what you know now about good teaching, apply it in your classrooms, and advocate for those practices with other teachers. When all the teachers within a school can gain these understandings in school, we create a schoolwide shift,” says Sayani.
With her willingness to change, learn, and inspire, Sayani lives up to the Ignatian values and is an exemplary student at the School of Education and Loyola at large.