Category Archives: Andrew Kjera

Gaslighting: Using Charles Boyer as a teaching assistant

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The term gaslighting has gained some traction in the recent years because of the nature of the public discourse orbiting the major political parties.  It is psychological term to describe a type of manipulation that creates doubt and confusion in the receiver.  This doubt can sometimes lead to lowered self-esteem and malleability.


A recent exchange in one of my film classes required me to speak about words, responsibilities and safety. I waited a day to fully address it so I could be more level headed in my reply. 


As I was thinking, it dawned on me that this was a case of gaslighting. Then I realized I could address the recent classroom event embedded in a cinematic context.  You may not have known, but the term gaslight comes from a powerful play of the late 1930s.  Two films were adapted from the play in the 1940s.  (The second film won Ingrid Bergman her first Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress; watch this one soon!!) These film noir feature a manipulative fella trying to confuse a wealthy woman into thinking she is losing her mind.  His tenacity is diabolical. These productions are so good that they lent their names to the phenomena. 
Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight

Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight, Cukor, 1944

For class, I introduced the film scene in my standard fashion and played a youtube clip.  Then I expanded and explained the cinematic moment. I quickly followed by tying it back to what was recently said in class.  The looks on some faces (especially the one who was my muse for that moment) indicated they were too surprised to fall into a typical thousand yard stare, they had to listen and consider my point! I felt satisfied that I avoided the straight-forward lecture and instead couched the topic into a standard class operation.  It was a bit of an ethical wolf in sheep’s clothing.  


I will repeat, watch this film soon!

Creative Processes

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The Frosh Creation course has a complex layering of goals. One that the TMS team has struggled with it to teach teaming.

At a recent TMS team meeting, we were discussing this struggle and I realized how each of us occupy distinctive roles in that team. I began to notice how differently we were each looking at the problem. During the conversation, I started to wonder (One aspect of my specific role is to drift off into possibilities mid-discussion. They all know that and accept me.) could Amy, Joan, Victoria and I be archetypes for a teaming model. I began to come up with descriptions for each of us. Another realization come at that time. We somewhat align with a sequence I use in class, The Evolution of Tasks. This sequence (conceptualize-actualize-realize-display) is a guideline for a creative process.

I merged my realizations together and developed these job descriptions. I will be proposing to my team that we create teams of four students and run four team challenges in the first semester.  The members rotate role in each project.  Each challenge will include a self-reflection survey to help clarify the various experiences.  

My hope that this job training helps students discover strengths and contributions, confirms their individuality and produces synergistic results for the challenges.   

  1. Administrator
         Primary function:                  To CONCEPTUALIZE



  • Studies the problem
  • Re-explains to crew
  • Helps assign tasks
  • Guides brainstorming
  • Confirms uploads
  • Supports other crew
  1. Facilitator
         Primary function:           
         To ACTUALIZE



  • Fine tunes the plan (balancing the dream and the possible)
  • Gathers supplies/leads clean-up
  • Establishes timetable/manages work -flow
  • Quality Control
  • Supports other crew
  1. Producer
         Primary function: 
         To REALIZE



  • Develops the how behind the what
  • Creates practical instructions
  • Lead maker
  • Supports other crew
  1. Documentarian
         Primary function:                      To DISPLAY



  • Photographer
  • Editor
  • Ensures upload/submission of docs
  • Reporter of tasks
  • Supports other crew

Surrounded by Experts

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Sometimes our school focus on collaboration has felt like an added pressure, a box to check or a goal to complete. When asked to be intentional about collaboration and include it in my goals, I have sometimes felt that I am trying to force something to happen. Who will I collaborate with within my department? What about across departments? How do our subjects align or complement each other? How can we help students make connections?

    At the beginning of this year I created goals to help me collaborate effectively. My most collaboration-centric goal focused on my teaching of the Frosh Wellness: Mind, Body, Spirit course, which requires intense, daily work between religious studies and kinesiology. While I have been focusing a great deal on effective collaboration for the Frosh Wellness course, I have also found myself collaborating in surprising ways. 

    This year I have taken advantage of the fact that I am surrounded by experts in their fields. For those who may not know, this is my 8th year at Carondelet, but my first year full time teaching. As you can imagine, this new role has brought about new challenges and opportunities. I teach 3 sections of the junior religious studies course, Symbols & Ethics. The two central focuses of this course are Sacraments and social ethics. The students learn about the 7 sacraments, as well as topics such as sustainability and the environment, abortion, poverty, hunger, immigration, racism, the criminal justice system, sexism and a variety of other topics that impact our world today. My background is in theology and yet I find myself touching on climate (the environment), art (sacraments & spirituality), biology (abortion), economics (poverty & hunger), globalization & politics (immigration) and the list goes on and on. With every social/ ethical topic that we cover we look at 

Sacred Scripture – What does the Bible have to say about this topic?
  1. Sacred Tradition – What does the Catholic Church have to say about this topic?
  2. Logic/ Science/ Reason – What can we learn about this topic from experts and from the world around us?
  3. Personal Experience – What experiences have you had that impact your understanding of this topic? (Example: Your race may impact how you understand racism)
  4. When teaching #3 – What science and experts in the field can teach us about a particular topic – I have found myself seeking out colleagues for help. When I taught about our responsibility to care for all of God’s creation, I sought Susan Domanico and Michelle Koshi for help. I had the students research environmental concerns and write advocacy letters to people in positions of power (politicians, CEOs of companies, etc). Susan helped me come up with a list of potential environmental concerns and gave me an extensive list of resources. Similarly, Michelle, connected me with a number of online resources based on the different topics that students would be researching. Susan’s knowledge of environmental science and Michelle’s competency in library science empowered me to teach with greater confidence and depth. 

    When I taught the Sacrament of baptism, I wanted to incorporate religious art to highlight the important symbols and theological themes of baptism. I reached out to Andrew Kjera and he was able to come into my class to share a guest-lecture on symbolism within religious art. The students were then invited to create a piece of art using Sketchbook (an app that I was not familiar with, but that Andrew recommended), to express their personal connection to the themes of baptism through symbols. The outcome was tremendous! See a few examples below…

    When teaching about Hunger, students watched a documentary called “A Place at the Table,” which tells the story of hunger in the United States. The documentary touched on US agricultural policies and farm subsidies. Knowing very little about this topic, I sought out Mitch for conversation. Our short conversation in room 26 during break helped prepare me to tackle this topic in class. Similarly, when teaching about poverty, I wanted to touch on income inequality, and taxes. I went to Christina Leveque who teaches Financial Algebra with my questions and after a brief conversation felt ready to include these topics in my lesson. 

    I have brainstormed best practices to help students think critically about assigned reading with Michael Schooler. Phil Miller and I have talked about the history of labor unions in the United States (my class studied labor unions as part of our unit on the Dignity of Work)… and the list goes on and on. 

    If you are like me, you may feel slightly intimidated by the culture of collaboration at Carondelet. However, I have began to overcome my apprehension to collaborate by recognizing the great resource that my colleagues are to me. Collaboration is not a forced goal to achieve, but instead begins with an acceptance of the gift of my colleagues – experts in their field, thoughtful and eager to share what they know. Any time I have asked colleagues about their area of expertise I am always humbled by their willingness to share their knowledge and time. They are excited about their subject and have such great insights and ideas. I have truly learned so much from these mini collaborations that have taken place this year and will continue to seek out the expertise of my colleagues in the future. 

    I’m wondering – what kind of mini collaborations have taken place for others this year? Who has helped you understand a topic with greater depth or brought expertise to your curriculum that has enriched your classroom? 

What is going on in the inner court?

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Get on all the busses

A long standing tenet of the CHS VPA department is that we
value our disciplines as necessary to help balance daily life against the
growing forces of technology.  We don’t
think of them as fun options, although we do hope that we are fun. We also do
not think of ourselves as providing supplementary courses. We value whole brain
learning and we are concerned with what device are doing to our student. I am
not a Luddite; I highly value mobile banking from my phone, map apps when I am
in a hurry and the joy of being able to compose and post a murky blog about art
from the comfort of my favorite chair. 
But along with these conveniences, we also suffer some
losses.  The streamlining of some learning
processes, despite the sales pitches of expanded learning through efficiency,
may be depriving many students of the struggle of process.  Screens may also be reducing their field of
vision from panoramic to immediate. 
Through multiple pathways, the VPA department is attempting
to help students maintain a sense of invention, a sense of methodical process
to unlock the unexpected and the reward of discovery.  Most often, our plans affect the maker more
than the viewer.  Once in a while we can
turn that outcome around.
When Natalie Terry asked me about a public space project as
part of the school’s celebration of Lent through service, I doubt I let her
finish before I agreed.  I love the idea
of art as intervention, as disruption, as spectacle.  In those moments, the value of art shifts
from micro to macro, from maker to recipient, and everyone wins a prize.
I think she asked for consultation and support for her
groups to get a public piece going for Lent. 
Of course, I misunderstood that an opportunity to go a bit bigger.  My sculpture class had just finished a
project where they began to understand conceptual ideas within art on a small scale.  I thought this collaborative project could
work to support that lesson.  They liked
the challenge and dove in the design process. 
I encourage the value of disruption and mystery as
tools.  In the end, we designed an
abstracted bus design that had functionality. 
We kept it somewhat simple for construction speed and conceptual
strength.  I tried to challenge to
improve but I let them make decisions.
I also tried to minimize adult assistance.  The girls did great!  A combined task for sculpture students,
student leadership, SLC members and volunteers responding to a schoology update
pooled their energies to get it done in 5 working days. That was success no.1.
We built it publicly to generate interest and demand some
questioning. We orientated it to interfere with traffic, to disrupt flow and to
be cutely inconvenient.  Our concept is
that is the role of artists includes to boldly teach and expand ideas through
our work. We worked here to shatter near-sightedness, to penetrate the
awareness and to contradict the rapid image with a solid, immobile moment. That
was success no.2.  
And, as an extra prize, it looks sweeeeet! Bonus no.3

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I have never thought of myself as a teacher. I think of myself as an artist. Perhaps, I could be a thought of as a teaching artist.  Actually, this is has always been a temporary career. I was offered my first teaching position without applying so I gave it a shot. Initially, I intended to give it a solid 5 year trial.  I have modified that trial period repeatedly.  

Now I try to fit in during PD days and the such.  This is never easy for me.  I can tell I make some contributions occasionally but in that context, I also feel like an outsider every single time.  There are times where the words I am hearing confuse me so much, I try to sit next to people that I have secretly pegged as “friendly interpreters”.  
As an artist, I suppose I bring something else. My theory is based on a connection between my practice and that of our CSJs.  When I was interviewing in 2001 for a position at CHS, I first met Sr. Kathy.  Soon after that, I also met Sr. Madeleine.  I was instantly impressed and scared.  After I was hired, my CSJ education began.  All the new hires were flown down to LA for a team sleepover, to see the schools, the residence and some of the clinics.  Walking into the breakfast the next day, I met so many of the sisters and heard many stories. My biggest takeaway is that there were radicals.  They were empowered and intelligent women who did things. These were often things that went against the direction of mainstream society and sometimes, against the patriarchy of Catholicism.  It was the best of introductions.
My education has always centered around creative experiences, invention, and a dualistic approach to tradition: Connect and Deconstruct.  An arts education can be immersive; classes all morning, open studio time all afternoon and early evening. And I benefitted from living in the Bay Area in the early 90s.  There was live music nearly every night someplace.  The musical attitude of punk was the nightly half of my education.  
Classroom 9/2018

Studio 9/2018
I recognize parallels between being an artist, a punk musician, and the CSJ. They all just pursue their goals determinately, they aren’t limited to conventions, do what it takes to get it done and know that there may be a mess in the process.  Somewhere in there is my contribution.  I try to transmit that outlook to the students.  When my 25 year trial period is up in a few of years, I will reflect back on this side gig and share some discoveries.

Frosh Creation: Thinking, Making, Sharing – Sample Project Timeline

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Students focus on exploration and process.

The end product is the souvenir from their journey. 

Leah Boyle
Leah Boyle

Branna Sundy
Liv Drey
Analisa Pauline
Kayla Nuti

Day
1
Learn: terms and concepts: rhythm, pattern and pattern terms, motif, shapes vs. forms, synthesis
x1
Explore and gather evidence: photography (this is one of those cases where looking through the viewfinder actually makes the students see more!)
x30+
Day
2
Identify and indicate: digital drawing over the photograph to recognize and mark the pattern
x20
Day
3
Modify/enhance: remove the photographic layer and add new elements that maintain the original patterns
x10
Day
4
Synthesize: Create transparencies of the drawings and stack them in groups of 3 making complex results, modify as necessary to unify
x3
Modify/declutter: Repeatedly subtract a minor element from the field to strengthen the patterning
x3
Day
5
Identify and indicate: using a different color, mark the repeating motif
x3
Convert: Reimagine the motif as a form and draw it
x3
Day
6
& 7
Learn: what is a prototype? What it is role? What can it be?
x1
Build: create a sculptural prototype of the motif with cardboard and tape
x2
Self-assess: complete rubric and end of unit evaluation
x1

Film Clips on Schoology

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When I was a student, I saw a lot of great films, once.  My professors exposed me to marvelous images and sequences but I really needed to pay attention.  Each viewing was unique and not to be repeated.  Like my current seventh period film student, I fell asleep in class often.  Sometimes I could find the same film at a video rental but I rarely tried. 

Daily, I show the students many clips and stills from all type of movies.  I want to flood their mental image banks with possibilities.  I also want them to have access to everything I show in class.  Some of it may be on youtube but they will rarely try to find it there. 


Using an open-source program, VLC player, I am capturing stills and sequences from dvds (for my educational purposes).  It is a simple task and it takes a few minutes but it is much faster than trying to cue up that scene from a dvd player during class! Whatever I show them in class, I also put on a Schoology for the students’ reference.  At then end of the years, I will save my clip library as a resource and expand it with new clips next year.

You can talk to our IT department about downloading it on your device.  I have learned that it works much easier on a PC than the MacBooks. I am mostly using a faculty room pc for this operation.

If you merely want to use it once in a while or for a single project, I will help you do it!

A great resource for hi-res film stills

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Looking at film stills is a significant portion of our film studies class.  I usually clip my own shots from our dvd collection but often want images from other movies.  It seemed like there should be a library of these images out there so I looked around a bit.  I found Film Grab and think it is worth sharing. On this site you can search by a few criteria to find the right collection.  The quality of the images is fantastic well curated.  It was such a delight that I start to imagine if other disciplines might be able to see possibilities.

image from Atonement, Joe Wright 2007





partial page view 


Sometimes, I teach through modeling

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I work at Carondelet but I like a spartan gradebook.  

Recently, I was cleaning up my Powerteacher grade book and entering some makeup grades.  Typically,  I head directly to a class through the Powerschool menu but today was a maintenance check all of my classes. This means that I would sequentially navigate through classes using the top drop-down menu. I was quickly in berserker mode and quickly making progress.  In my manner, I equate simplicity with clarity, clarity with effectiveness.  I occasionally tweak things to align them simpler.

I started at period 1, added a few late score entries and started moving down through the list.  When I moved on to 3rd period, I noticed that some details were wrong on the only assignment visible. I thought that was odd, wrong and not aligned with how I set up other assignments in other classes. I also thought that I have made other mistakes at times. I set out to make changes. I did not think that the numerous errors were a sign of anything except my previous inattention. 

I summarily ignored the blaring siren and waving red flags were trying to get my attention.  I proceeded to change Points Possible to 1 and hit save.  A window popped up to warn me that the scores would need to be adjusted to fit the new parameter.  In my stubbornness, I ignored another round of interior red flags and clicked the Go Ahead and Make this Mess Larger button.  
I slowly started to consider that I made a lot more mistakes than usual when I set up this particular assignment. That’s not problem, I was in a fixing mood. Pondering some more, I then remembered I told the students that it was not going to be worth any points. So I erased all of the entered scores so I could bulk fill them with ‘collected’ checks. Some had zeros but I thought I could just look at Schoology submissions to get the names for a clean start. I was getting closer to that lean, sleek gradebook that I prefer.  Wisely, I carefully saved the now blanked column at this moment, so I wouldn’t lose all the work I had just done. Only at this point did I realize that I was making a lot of significant changes to my grade book. I paused to confirm some facts. I scanned up, it my class name.  I looked at the column heading, it was my assignment.  My eyes finally looked left to the student names.  
Who were those strangers?! 
I had just nuked someone else’s class.
Now I know that forgiving Christina currently has the first section of Period 3 TMS, the one that follows my second period class on the Powerteacher/Powerschool menu. Happily in that course we are teaching the gift of a failure as the opportunity to improve. I failed. I need to improve. Now I have become aware of the ease of grade book trespassing as well as my own need to slow down and think a bit more or just to start thinking at all.
I do want to suggest to all of teachers with these new freshmen megaclasses that each of us have a method of backing up our online books.