Category: News

Posted on

101 Ways to Support Catholic Schools

Support Catholic Schools

Gandalf Loves Catholic Schools

It’s Catholic Schools Week 2013, and to celebrate I’ve compiled this list of ways you can support Catholic education. The most important way to support Catholic schools is through prayer, but your Time, Talent, and Treasure are also of great benefit. I’m sure there are at least 101 more ways to support Catholic schools. Leave your ideas in the comment area. And Happy Catholic Schools Week!

Prayer

  1. Attend a school Mass.
  2. Start a Catholic school parent prayer group.
  3. Say a Rosary for Catholic schools.
  4. Pray for all Catholic school students.
  5. Pray for Catholic school teachers around the world.
  6. Pray for principals and vice principals.
  7. Pray for secretaries, custodians, and all support staff.
  8. Pray for pastors with parish schools.
  9. Pray for Catholic school parents, that the sacrifices they make for their children bear fruit.
  10. Pray for diocesan secretaries of education.
  11. Pray for bishops, that they find creative and successful ways to strengthen Catholic schools in their dioceses.
  12. Pray a novena to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton for the success of Catholic education.
  13. Visit the Blessed Sacrament for Catholic schools.
  14. Light a candle for Catholic schools.
  15. Offer a Mass intention for Catholic schools.
  16. Start with Kindergarten, and each day pray for a different grade level at your local Catholic school.
  17. Get a class list or yearbook and each day hold up a different student in prayer.
  18. Pray for a different teacher each day.
  19. Attend a school’s Stations of the Cross service.
  20. Bless your child’s school supplies the night before the new school year starts.
  21. Pray for all students who might have a test today.
  22. Pray for the financial stability of Catholic schools.
  23. Pray for students with special needs, that the Catholic schools in their area have the financial resources to meet their needs.
  24. Pray that the Holy Spirit guide parents, teachers, and administrators to work in unity to build up the Kingdom of God in the school community.
  25. Pray that Catholic schools be available for anyone that wishes to attend, regardless of economic background.
  26. Pray that Catholic schools continue to help students recognize their vocation.

Time

  1. Join or launch a local organization like the Nazareth Guild or the Fulcrum Foundation to raise and distribute funds to support Catholic schools.
  2. Join the ACE Advocates.
  3. Volunteer in the classroom.
  4. Attend a local Catholic school Christmas Program.
  5. Volunteer in the school cafeteria.
  6. Drive students on field trips.
  7. Make treats for class parties.
  8. Volunteer for a school fundraiser.
  9. Write a thank you letter to a Catholic school teacher, administrator, or staff member.
  10. Organize an appreciation luncheon for the staff.
  11. Make a positive comment on a Catholic school’s Facebook page.
  12. Chaperone a school dance.
  13. Help out at the school picnic.
  14. Serve on a school committee.
  15. Volunteer to read a story to a class.
  16. Be a room mom or dad.
  17. Help teachers by laminating or photocopying.
  18. Help out in the lunch room.
  19. Help out on the playground.
  20. Volunteer to build and paint sets for the school musical.
  21. Offer to do simple maintenance in the summer.
  22. Help give classrooms a new coat of paint.
  23. Give young children practice reading aloud by volunteering to listen to them read.
  24. Volunteer in the school library.
  25. Tutor students after school.
  26. Be a buddy family for a family that is new to the school.

Talent

  1. Make a career change: become a Catholic school teacher.
  2. Be a guest speaker/teacher.
  3. Play the piano for school liturgies.
  4. Offer to have a class visit your place of employment as a field trip.
  5. Write a grant proposal.
  6. Artists: Offer to teach an art lesson.
  7. Athletes: Volunteer to coach a Catholic school sports team.
  8. Business Owners: Donate a product or gift certificate to the school’s auction.
  9. Computer techs: Help maintain the school’s computer infrastructure.
  10. Dermatologists: Give the junior high students a lesson on skin care.
  11. Doctors: Offer free sports physicals once a year.
  12. Electricians: Check to see if the school needs an electrical upgrade to handle more computers.
  13. Event Planners: Lend expertise to the Development Director.
  14. Farmers: Bring a class out to the farm on an agricultural field trip.
  15. Foreign language speakers: Translate school documents or volunteer to be an interpreter for students whose second language is English.
  16. Gardeners: Help the school create a Mary garden.
  17. Graphic designers: Help with school branding and logos.
  18. Musicians: Hold a benefit concert for the local Catholic school.
  19. Nurses: Volunteer to help with hearing and vision screening.
  20. Painters: Create and paint a mural for the side of the school building.
  21. Photographers: Take pictures of school events for promotional materials.
  22. Software Engineers: Design a mobile app for a Catholic school.
  23. University Professors: Give an inservice to the school faculty.
  24. Web designers: Offer to design/maintain the school webpage.
  25. Writers: Present a writer’s workshop to students.

Treasure

  1. Donate to the school’s annual giving campaign.
  2. Go wild at the school auction!
  3. Adopt a student and pay his or her tuition for the year.
  4. Give an unrestricted donation.
  5. Find out if your company matches donations and donate.
  6. Purchase an item from a teacher’s classroom wish list.
  7. Donate a computer.
  8. Bring in a latte or coffee for the school secretary.
  9. Provide financial support so a teacher can attend the NCEA convention.
  10. Donate books to the classroom or school library.
  11. Buy new uniforms for one of the school’s sports teams.
  12. Purchase religious statues for classrooms.
  13. Help defray the cost of a school field trip.
  14. Buy new software for school computers.
  15. Donate a printer, TV, or dvd player.
  16. Buy magazines, candy, or whatever else the students sell as fundraisers.
  17. Support the school’s scrip program.
  18. Help the school purchase a new set of textbooks.
  19. Donate stock from your investment portfolio.
  20. Offer to pay for consumable workbooks for students.
  21. Purchase a document camera or interactive white board for the classroom.
  22. Offer to purchase Bibles for each student.
  23. Help the school purchase an electronic tablet for each student.
  24. Include a bequest to a Catholic school in your will.
Posted on

Catholic Educators Meet on Twitter Each Saturday Morning

twitter bird

Twitter LogoOn Saturday morning, November 3, 2012, Catholic educators from around the globe gathered on Twitter for the first ever Catholic Ed Chat. Participants included administrators, diocesan officials, and teachers from all curricular areas and grade levels, from places as diverse as Los Angeles, Omaha, Spokane, Virginia Beach, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, Baltimore — even Sydney, Australia!

The plan was for these chats to take place monthly, but the energy, enthusiasm, and excitement was so contagious, that the chats are now planned for every Saturday morning at 9:00am Eastern.

Don’t worry if you missed the first one; Nancy Caramanico (@ncara) has posted a transcript of the conversation at Storify: #CatholicEdChat transcript.

To participate, simply search for the Twitter hashtag #CatholicEdChat. An even easier way to follow the conversation is to use the website TweetChat.

Whether you just want to lurk and observe the conversation, or whether you’re dying to share your story, CatholicEdChat is a great way to connect with other Catholic teachers.

Hope to see you at #CatholicEdChat next Saturday!

Posted on

Join the Catholic Teachers Edmodo Group to Connect and Collaborate

Collaborate on EdmodoImagine a place where Catholic teachers from all over the world can gather and share ideas, web resources, videos, assignments, and discuss current issues.

Imagine a place where you can connect with other teachers to plan collaborative projects where your students can communicate daily with students the world over.

Edmodo is just such a place. It’s simple, safe, powerful — and free.

In their own words,

Edmodo is a secure, social learning platform for teachers, students, schools and districts. We provide a safe and easy way for your class to connect and collaborate, share content and access homework, grades and school notices. Our goal is to help educators harness the power of social media to customize the classroom for each and every learner.

Social learning is a fantastic idea in theory, but there are problems with using services like Facebook, Ning or Twitter in the classroom. Whether it’s cost, advertisements, safety, usability, or management, most social platforms just don’t work well for education. Edmodo does.

I started using Edmodo with my 8th grade class this year, and they absolutely love it. Some of the things they like so far include:

  • Its resemblance to Facebook.
  • The fun and interesting badges I award them for accomplishing tasks.
  • The ability to turn in their homework digitally.
  • The chance to stay connected after school hours.

And here are some of the things I like about Edmodo so far:

  • It’s safe: only my students and I are connected.
  • Students don’t need email addresses to join.
  • It’s free, with no advertisements.
  • Students can communicate directly with me or the whole group, but not directly with each other.
  • I can create polls, quizzes, and electronic assignments.
  • I can create custom badges for anything and everything, and award them to students at any time.
  • There’s a very handy mobile app for accessing and using Edmodo from anywhere. Edmodo is a fantastic tool for classrooms in which every student has an iPad or other tablet.
  • There are many teacher groups on Edmodo for collaborating and connecting with other teachers.

It’s that last bullet that brings me to the main purpose of this post. Edmodo makes connecting with other teachers incredibly easy. I belong to the 8th Grade Teachers Network and the Back to School Best Practices Group, and those groups have already given me some terrific teaching ideas this year.

As far as I can tell, there is no Edmodo group specifically for Catholic school teachers. At least there wasn’t until now. I’ve created the Catholic Teachers Network, and I’d like to invite you to join.

Here’s how to join:

  1. Visit Edmodo.com and click on the “I’m a Teacher” button. You’ll be asked to provide typical login information: username, email, etc.
  2. You’ll be taken to a new page where if you look on the left hand side you’ll see a place for groups. Click the “Join” button and enter this code: c6u263
  3. That’s it!
  4. By the way, if you’re one of the first teachers to join, you’ll get the coveted St. Elizabeth Ann Seton badge — so check it out soon!

Here’s a video that shows you exactly how to join a group on Edmodo:

Give Edmodo a try and help build a strong community of Catholic school teachers who can support each other, share ideas, and collaborate on classroom projects.

Posted on

More Back to School Prayers

Students Praying

A Concord Pastor Comments is a must-read blog, and today Fr. Fleming has some wonderful new prayers for the beginning of school, including this original one for teachers:

A Concord Pastor CommentsA Teacher’s Prayer

Dear God,
A new school year is about to begin
and my classroom door will soon open
to the students you’ve assigned to my care…
Open my mind and heart to each of them
and especially to the ones
who will challenge me the most…
Help me challenge my students, all of them,
to study, to learn, to grow in knowledge
and even a little wisdom…
Help me remember, Lord,
how young my students are:
give me patience to help them grow up
and insight to know the help they need…
Help me to understand that sometimes
my students may not understand me:
may I be clear in the things I say and do,
and in how I say and do them…
My students don’t know the burdens and worries
my heart brings to the classroom,
so help me remember, Lord,
how anxious and heavy my students’ hearts may be…
Keep me from favoring any particular students, Lord,
except for those who most need my help…
Let my decisions in the classroom
be fair and just, honest and true…
Send your Spirit to fill me with gifts
of knowledge and understanding, counsel and wisdom…
Lord, open my mind and heart to my students’ parents,
especially those who will challenge me the most…
Help me challenge parents to challenge their children
to study, to learn and to grow…
Help me to teach as you would, Lord:
help me be understanding when I need to be firm,
gentle in all things,
and patient until the last bell rings…

A new school year is about to begin, Lord,
and I wonder,
what will you teach me today?

Amen.

Be sure to read the full article, and you may even want to subscribe so you can get all of Fr. Fleming’s posts as they become available–they’re worth it.

Posted on

Surprise Serenade by Students Bids Catholic School Principal Goodbye [Video]

Student Serenade

From MontgomeryNew.com:

Students, graduates, teachers and staff gathered Wednesday night to say a surprise farewell to Timothy Quinn, who announced unexpectedly that he was stepping down from his job as principal at Lansdale Catholic High School last week.

A crowd of about 40 people, young and old, met in the school’s parking lot before marching with megaphones, pennants and pom poms — many wearing the school’s green and gold colors– to the Quinn family’s house about two blocks away.

Read the rest here.

Posted on

Pope to US Bishops: Catholic Schools Essential for New Evangelization

Earlier today, Pope Benedict spoke to some visiting US Bishops about the importance of Catholic education. Here are a few excerpts:

Pope Benedict XVIImportant efforts are…being made to preserve the great patrimony of America’s Catholic elementary and high schools, which have been deeply affected by changing demographics and increased costs, while at the same time ensuring that the education they provide remains within the reach of all families, whatever their financial status. As has often been mentioned in our meetings, these schools remain an essential resource for the new evangelization, and the significant contribution that they make to American society as a whole ought to be better appreciated and more generously supported.

* * *

It is no exaggeration to say that providing young people with a sound education in the faith represents the most urgent internal challenge facing the Catholic community in your country. The deposit of faith is a priceless treasure which each generation must pass on to the next by winning hearts to Jesus Christ and shaping minds in the knowledge, understanding and love of his Church. It is gratifying to realize that, in our day too, the Christian vision, presented in its breadth and integrity, proves immensely appealing to the imagination, idealism and aspirations of the young, who have a right to encounter the faith in all its beauty, its intellectual richness and its radical demands.

* * *

First, as we know, the essential task of authentic education at every level is not simply that of passing on knowledge, essential as this is, but also of shaping hearts. There is a constant need to balance intellectual rigor in communicating effectively, attractively and integrally, the richness of the Church’s faith with forming the young in the love of God, the praxis of the Christian moral and sacramental life and, not least, the cultivation of personal and liturgical prayer.

* * *

The Christian commitment to learning, which gave birth to the medieval universities, was based upon this conviction that the one God, as the source of all truth and goodness, is likewise the source of the intellect’s passionate desire to know and the will’s yearning for fulfilment in love.

Only in this light can we appreciate the distinctive contribution of Catholic education, which engages in a “diakonia of truth” inspired by an intellectual charity which knows that leading others to the truth is ultimately an act of love (cf. Address to Catholic Educators, Washington, 17 April 2008). Faith’s recognition of the essential unity of all knowledge provides a bulwark against the alienation and fragmentation which occurs when the use of reason is detached from the pursuit of truth and virtue; in this sense, Catholic institutions have a specific role to play in helping to overcome the crisis of universities today. Firmly grounded in this vision of the intrinsic interplay of faith, reason and the pursuit of human excellence, every Christian intellectual and all the Church’s educational institutions must be convinced, and desirous of convincing others, that no aspect of reality remains alien to, or untouched by, the mystery of the redemption and the Risen Lord’s dominion over all creation.

* * *

In concluding these brief reflections, I wish to express once more my gratitude, and that of the whole Church, for the generous commitment, often accompanied by personal sacrifice, shown by so many teachers and administrators who work in the vast network of Catholic schools in your country.

Read the full text of the speech at Vatican Radio.