As our practices often shape our attitudes, pedagogical methods may help students begin to cultivate religious ways of reading. Formative assessments play a large role in how our students encounter and engage with texts, yet as much as scholars have begun considering approaches to cultivating Christian pedagogical methods, assessment methods have received little attention. Inspired by ancient and medieval Christian reading practices, I have developed formative assessments that emulate traditional Christian responses to texts, including memorization, anthologies, commentaries, and creative projects. Because these methods seek wisdom while invoking the imagination, adopting them into formative assessments may help cultivate a disposition of humility and wonder.

Many educators desire to cultivate wisdom in their students but feel this goal is too vague to be clearly articulated and encouraged. One possible way around this problem is to learn from classical and medieval depictions of wisdom and particular virtues, which were often personified. I will examine one highly illustrative artistic depiction of Prudence, which gives wisdom a face and form and thus provides students with an imaginative entryway into better understanding and practicing this virtue in the classroom. After providing a brief overview of the role of images and the imagination in learning, I explain how personifications of the virtues—and of Prudence, in particular—may be a useful pedagogical guide in helping students cultivate those virtues.