Category Archives: Contribution

When I was coaching teachers, the centerpiece of writing a good lesson plan was called the “Mastery Response Narrative” (or MRN).  It was the narration of how one arrived at the completion of the task to be mastered.

So, take a simple example: Say, in Spanish class, the students were to learn how to conjugate a regular “-ar” verb.  

The “target task” to be mastered would be: “Write ‘I speak’.”

The “mastery response” would be: “Yo hablo.”

And then the MRN: “I know that the infinitive of “to speak,” in Spanish, is “hablar” which is a “regular” verb… the base form of the verb does not change when I conjugate it.  And the first person (Yo) verb ending is “-o.”  So to conjugate it, I remove the “-ar” from “hablar” and place the “-o” on the end of the root (“habl-”) to make “hablo.”  Then I add the first-person pronoun (Yo) to form Yo hablo…”

Ok – so kiiind of tedious for a simple task. 

But!  The MRN is indispensable for the teacher-in-training as they are welcomed back into a “beginner’s mind” for the task at hand.  The teacher also sees, through the MRN, all of the steps that they must help the students to practice in order to master the task.

I’ve been thinking about the MRN as I think about less straight forward tasks that we desperately need to master.

How can a busy person cultivate solitude?

How can someone build empathic relationships with people who think much differently than they do?

How can an individual connect with others to address climate change?

How can someone who wants to follow Jesus not become lukewarm or discouraged or a hypocrite and follow the Master anew each day?  

For whatever challenge we want to master, we might seek a person who is thriving at this challenge despite having similar constraints as we do.  Then, ask them for their MRN… How did they come to master this challenge?  And then sit and listen.

Any invitation for someone to give their MRN opens up a series of gifts.  The person you admire begins to see themself as a teacher.  (Gift!)  And you get a narrative to emulate and share.  (Gift that keeps on giving!)

One final thought: What have you mastered that we desperately need you to share about?  Consider doing an MRN today and see how much you have to teach.  You may be the one we’ve been waiting for.

Viktor Frankl named “the last of the human freedoms” as the ability “to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances… to choose one’s own way.” (Man’s Search For Meaning)

And, of course, he has serious authority.  This assertion was made as he reflected on his time in four different concentration camps.

His point is universally important and applicable: how we face the day is a deeply moral and creative act.  

Every moment offers us the possibility to change the story to be more constructive, more loving, more curious.

The Examen Book is turning one!  It’s a wonder how fast these kids grow up.  And what a way to celebrate the year… … a Loyola press webinar roundtable this week on the Examen prayer with three formidable interlocutors – Becky Eldridge, Jim Manney, and Fr. Mark Thibodeaux, SJ.  Here is the recording.  If youContinue reading “The Examen Book Turns One”

It can be tempting to maximize every system to its limit.

To squeeze as much productivity out of our minds and bodies selves as possible…

To be satisfied only with the best (whatever it might be)…

To overanalyze every moment to make sure it is producing maximum pleasure…

To take from the earth without regard for ecological limits…

At some point, this is going to break down and we will bear the cost.

And this maximization mindset actually makes us unhappy, pounding our interior lives dangerously thin.

Keeping the slack in life’s systems is a worthy and indispensable discipline.

To contribute generously in a challenging situation.

To show up a daily habit of meditation or prayer.

To gather a small group for a purpose close to your heart.

To open that conversation.

You don’t need permission to begin doing any of these things.

Or, put another way, the only person you need permission from is you.

When someone says “no” to something we offer them, we can beg them to change their mind, but it probably won’t work.

What we can do, though, is offer a subsequent opportunity to make a new decision based on new information.  

That is, we can offer a little more insight, and invite them to take another step forward.