Regal Leader
Volume 44 - April 2, 2018
A look to the week ahead
Happy Easter! I hope everyone was able to enjoy the weekend.
Our seniors and their chaperones left tonight. I am assuming everything went well since I did not receive any calls. Please keep them in your prayers as they travel this week.
Also, please keep Glenn Young and his family and friends in your prayers. It was great to get to know Glenn in the short time he was with us here at Regina.
Teacher contracts will be going out at the end of this week or the beginning of next week.
The elementary needs help from some high school students to help move in the set pieces for a play they are having Tuesday morning. Any study hall or PE students are asked to help when the crew arrives.
Monday: Preobservation meetings during 7th and 8th periods
Tuesday: Observations during 3rd and 4th periods
Wednesday: Mass @ 2:15, Jazz Band concert @ 7 in the Band Room
Thursday: Meeting with EF coordinator @ 10, Department meetings @ 2:30
Friday: Postobservation meetings during 7th and 8th periods
Have a great week!
Senior trip
This Week's Morning Prayer
4/2 Loving Father,
How do I live the baptismal promises I made again over the weekend?
I want to live my life in service of you.
Help me to carry the gift of faith I received from you.
Help me to welcome those who joined the church in baptism.
Guide me and give me the courage to live my faith, to accept your love.
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen
4/3 Loving God,
I feel your healing touch deep in my soul.
I sense the power of Easter in your love for me.
It is the power of your love that frees me to rely on your gentle care.
I am filled with joy at the many gifts you give me.
Let me now feel free to celebrate your love and share it with others.
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
4/4 Loving Father,
Do I feel this joy so deeply each year?
I know how solemn this season is and yet I am overcome by sheer delight.
I celebrate this joyful time of remembering how I am brought to new life
by the sacrifice your son made for me.
Help me to remember the invitation you extend for me to rise to new life in you.
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
4/5 Father,
we are scattered in this world and so easily distracted from seeing you.
Help me to gather those around me in your love.
Let me praise your name from my heart and rejoice that I have been
reborn in baptism through your faith and love for me.
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
4/6 Lord God,
by the sacrifice of your son, Jesus,
you have helped me to forgiveness and reconciliation.
Help me to be more understanding, to love as you have loved us --
utterly forgiving and forgetting of my many flaws.
Help me to live in this new way of loving
as I celebrate my new life in your Easter mystery.
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Mass on Wednesday This Week
Thursday Afternoon Meeting
Yearlong Reflection Journal
Links to past videos:
Week 3 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/week-3-2/
Week 4 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/week-4/
Week 5 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/2001/
Week 6 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/week-6_201/
Week 7 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/week-7_/
Week 8 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/big-mansion-episode/
Week 9 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/truth-person-episode/
Week 10 - https://beingcatholic.com.au/jesus-and-the-poached-egg/
Week 11 - https://beingcatholic.com.au/the-nobility-episode/
Week 12 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/new-missionaries-episode/
Week 13 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/2788/
Week 14 - https://beingcatholic.com.au/the-pope-francis-episode/
Week 15 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/internet-episode/
Week 16 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/rigorous-curriculum/
Week 17 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/power-witnesses/
Week 18 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/okavango-episode/
Week 19 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/human-rights-episode/
Week 20 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/european-sports-car-episode/
Week 21 - https://beingcatholic.com.au/the-lost-sheep-episode/
Week 22 - https://beingcatholic.com.au/the-unity-of-purpose-episode/
Week 23 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/?p=3441
Week 24 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/great-cloud-witnesses-episode/
Week 25 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/going-deeper-ep/courage-episodes-part-1/
Week 26 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/?p=3578
Week 27 - http://beingcatholic.com.au/?p=3596
Week 28 - http://wp.me/P3nYbb-Yf
Reflection questions:
Week 3 - Popular culture brings many challenges and pressures to our students. What do you think the Church can bring them to help them deal with all of the outside influences they face? How does Regina do this? Can we do more? How?
Week 4 - What structures or opportunities exist at Regina to help students build a deep sense of community? Can we do more? What?
Week 5 - What kind of balance exists between a Regina student’s intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual lives? Are we happy with the current balance? If so, what can we do to change it?
Week 6 - What practical ways could we incorporate periods of silence into our school day?
Week 7 - Is Jesus the genuine foundation of Regina? In what ways can we improve in making Jesus the foundation of Regina?
Week 8 - Does the sense of Regina achieving its mission ‘depending chief!y on you’ make you feel excited or burdened as a community?
Week 9 - An authentic Catholic school will try to reveal to students the deep truth that they are made in the image of God, that they are loved and that are needed in the world. How effective do you think Regina is at the moment in helping young people know these truths?
Week 9 - It takes courage and effort these days to present Jesus both to the hearts and heads of young people. Do you think your school has the courage to first make Jesus a priority for staff and then proclaim Him to young people in the many opportunities of each day or is Jesus given an occasional mention? What could change and how?
Week 9 - The idea of your subject being a way that students encounter truth can be a paradigm shift. Being totally honest, do you think your school values academic and teaching excellence more in terms of rankings and its appeal to parents or in terms of leading students to truth and Christ? Could both be possible?
Week 10 - What ways currently exist to really encounter the person of Jesus at Regina? What could change or be given more emphasis?
Week 11 - In what ways do you see your school currently developing ‘strong habits of virtue’ in each student that will ‘sustain them in the struggle of life”? What is one thing that could be attempted to strengthen this?
Week 12 - How effectively do you think Regina addresses the spiritual hunger that exists in every young person? Could more be done?
Week 13 - Try and define two or three core elements that truly capture what living the Gospel means.
Week 14 - Do you feel your strengths and expertise are creating a community where love for others is increasing? If not, what could be attempted or done differently?
Week 15 - How could Regina, “...bring warmth and stir hearts.’ through how it understands and uses social communication?
Week 16 - What is your sense of the quality of Regina’s religious education curriculum? Do you think students are given the chance to engage deeply with the Catholic faith on a rigorous level?
Week 17 - If observers spent a week at Regina what would they encounter? What ways exist at Regina for staff to deeply encounter Christ?
Week 18 - John Paul II saw Jesus as the centre of the universe and of history. Would it be fair to say that Christ is the centre of Regina?
Week 19 - Do you think that Regina is currently a place where students, ”...sense their dignity even before they have a definition for it”? What things make this likely or unlikely? What needs to change or what more can be done?
Week 20 - As a staff how do you see the current balance at Regina between a focus on knowledge and outcomes and the bigger picture of human and spiritual formation of staff and students?
Week 21 - How are we meeting the needs of the poor at Regina whether that be financial, relational, social or spiritual? What do we need to do more of? What could we start doing that we are not doing at the moment?
Week 22 - Describe the ‘purpose’ of Regina in a single sentence.
Week 23 - In what ways are we currently bringing the brokenhearted in our Regina community, ‘...rest for their souls.”? In what ways can we help them encounter Jesus who wants to be closer to them? In what ways are we being the presence of Christ to them? What could we attempt?
Week 24 - What role does tradition play in the life of Regina? What is our most valued school tradition? Could new traditions be started that would create a more vibrant Catholic community?
Week 25 - How can moral courage be lived out as a staff at Regina when it comes to witnessing to the Catholic faith? What would it cost people?
Week 26 - In terms of finding the courage to be a faithful Catholic school that is committed to sharing the Good News what do you think are the biggest fears and obstacles to this courage that need to be faced and overcome at Regina?
Week 27 - As well as the focus on Jesus and the need to value every person, what other basic principles do you feel matter at Regina? What opportunities currently exist at Regina for reflection and self-criticism?
Week 28 - In what ways if any do you think Regina is undertaking missionary work in the lives of young people?
Easter Resources
Easter arrives early this year on Sunday, April 1, 2018, offering all of us the wonderful opportunity to celebrate the entire Easter season with our students before the school/catechetical year comes to a close. There are a myriad of resources and opportunities parishes and schools can use during the Easter season. As you prepare to guide your faith community through all 50 days of the Easter season, take a peek at some of the amazing tools available at the 'click' of your mouse!
- Church Life Journal posted an outstanding blog about celebrating the Easter Season in the classroom. Here is the link to the article.
- Busted Halo is a great website especially for those who work with teens and young adults. Take a look at Holy Week in Two Minutes.
- Joe Paprocki's Catechist Journey arrives in my inbox every afternoon with helpful and insightful suggestions for Catholic school teachers and parish catechists alike. His Easter Folder contains an amazing list of helpful ideas, articles and learning activities.
- The Liturgical Catechist has become one of my favorite sites for video clips, articles, links and ideas. I highly recommend looking through their list of Easter resources. Click here.
- Loyola Press has also assembled a series of resources and lesson plans. Click here.
- The Diocese of Albany, NY has assembled an excellent Digital Library for anyone to use. Take a peek at their Easter Folder and then explore the entire collection.
- Catholic Family Faith has curated excellent suggestions that you can look through and share with the families you serve. Click here.
- The Religion Teacher website has great Easter activities click here as does Building Faith click here.
- The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) website is always a good place to start. Their overview of Easter is worth a look, click here.
Submitted by Lisa Orchen, M.Div., the Archdiocese of Hartford's Director of Catechetical Initiatives
Five Ways Teachers Can Impact School Culture
2. Take responsibility for your students' academic achievement... and share your data with colleagues. Data is used by the most successful schools to make instructional decisions and drive school improvement efforts. It is not always comfortable to share your own assessment results, but it is an essential component of healthy professional learning communities. When you take the tough steps of sharing your data with colleagues, it encourages others to follow suit. Your candor sends the message that weaknesses will be confronted head on. Faculties that are honest with each other about student achievement are in the best position to do something about it. Don't wait on the principal or instructional coach to call a data meeting -- you start the conversation. It will make it more likely that your colleagues will own their data as well.
3. Take risks... and fail publicly. It is easy for faculties to become complacent, especially when the status quo is adequate. Try something new in your classroom, and let your colleagues know how it goes. If a new activity or strategy bombs, scrap it... or tweak it, but share your experiences and move on. Your courage and your transparency will inspire other teachers to break out of their own ruts. Innovation thrives in schools where teachers are free to fail.
4. Be patient with the knuckleheads... and never lose sight of your purpose. Most teachers have some challenging students at some point during the day. It can be tempting for teachers to complain about them in the lounge, at the lunch table, in the hallways, or even at faculty meetings. You teach the knuckleheads too, but you give them the benefit of the doubt. You show empathy, You understand that the inappropriate behaviors are a manifestation of dysfunctional circumstances outside of school that no kid should have to deal with. Your attitude toward the toughest students will not go unnoticed by other teachers. It is usually the case that the most difficult kids need the most TLC. Your patience with these kids reminds other teachers what's really important -- making a difference in the lives of kids.
5. Stay positive... even in the face of adversity. We all have tough days, and some circumstances seem to conspire to destroy the morale of the faculty. Smile, remain optimistic, and figure out a way to remind your colleagues "the glass is half full." Optimism is contagious. The positive energy you bring to work each day will lift the spirits of those around you. Your commitment to maintaining a positive outlook will generate positive energy in the building that can make the naysayers irrelevant.
Taken from Steele Thoughts by Dr. Danny Steele
Glenn Plummer
Email: glenn.plummer@regina.org
Location: 2150 Rochester Avenue, Iowa City, IA, United States
Phone: 319-321-4234
Twitter: @gap_4