Week at a Glance
Marian Central Catholic High School Faculty Newsletter
February 29. 2020
Reflecting on the past week...
Happy Leap Year??? Do you know the history behind Leap Year? Check out some interesting tidbits below!
World Languages Week was wonderful! Filled with trivia, curiosity, and wonder, our students learned about the languages and cultures of Latvia, Puerto Rico, Equator, China, and France. The Marian community is fortunate to have several presenters... some parents and even some of our own students, including Steven Sbarounis, Joe Cimino, & Neil Shuai. Thanks to those departments who brought their classes to the auditorium to hear some of our presenters and support the program. The Marian Chapter of the Spanish Honor Society also celebrated its new inductees this past Thursday! Thanks to the SHS officers as they ran a wonderful ceremony and congratulations to all of the new inductees!lease see some pictures below!
Hats off to our Guidance Department for putting on a fantastic College Night! By the next morning Administration's email was flooded with praise for the break-out sessions, variety of colleges represented, and overall professionalism of the night! Check out the pictures below!
We also welcomed the season of Lent this week... beginning with Wednesday's Ash Wednesday mass. Thanks to Father Twenty for his always inciteful homilies, Mr. Toledo and his musicians for the wonderful music (did you see our harpist?), the Staffulty Eucharistic Ministers, and our student alter servers. "Repent and believe in the Gospel!"
Cheering yet another team out on Friday reminds us that our students are living out their best high school years! Academics infused with co-curricular activities, sprinkled with social functions, and doused with school spirit! Good luck to our State Wrestling Team this weekend!
What's coming up?
This may seem like a short week, academically speaking, but it will be a week rich in spirit!
ALL SCHOOL RETREAT
Welcome to our first-ever two-day All School Retreat! Running from Wednesday morning, March 4 through the end of day Thursday, March 5, it will be filled with a variety of activities and opportunities for spiritual development and community building. We will be sending basic expectations of students to all families early this week as well as more details on the Staffulty's part in these special days. In the meantime, a couple of things to be aware of right now include...
- Wednesday will be a late start day for students. Though teachers are still expected to be at school at the regular time, there will be no expectations for how you spend your time prior to students arriving.... except please join your colleagues for breakfast in the cafeteria starting at 7:30 am!
- There is to be no expectation of students to do any homework between Wednesday 9:45 am when they arrive and Thursday 2:30 pm when the retreat is over. Students and Staffulty should stay in retreat mode throughout the two-day retreat... which also means there should be no club/org or athletic meetings, practices, or games throughout this time span.
- We are hoping that although the Staffulty will be overseeing our student behaviors and participation in general, the activities and events planned will provide enough engagement that you will be able to focus on their own spiritual development and treat this experience as a retreat opportunity for yourselves as well.
We thank Father, all other adults, as well as the student retreat leader team who have worked hard to plan out this special retreat experience and are looking forward to the retreat helping to guide us on this year's Lenten journey.
Other Things Happening this Week
French and Art Classes have been collaborating the past few weeks as teams worked to write and illustrate their own children's books! Now that they are completed, the teams are eager to share their creations. This Tuesday these students will be visiting several Deanery kindergarten classes. They will be reading the stories in both French and English while showing their illustrations. What a wonderful experience for all!
IHSA Solo & Ensemble Contest
This coming Saturday, March 7 we will have several of our music students participating in the IHSA Solo & Ensemble Contest. Best of luck to our Marian participants!
**Special Note: Knowing that Super-Tuesday is this week, there might be a heightened sense of politicization with our students. As the adults and role-models for our students, we need to have a heightened sense of various behaviors and potential inappropriate/insensitive comments this week. Remember that schools should be a place that promotes civility, equal rights, and safety for all. If there are any concerns or questions, feel free to reach out to Administration for additional support.
Have a good week!
CULTURAL SENSITIVITY at MARIAN
It seems that Marian is faced with the reality that some students are feeling more brazen... unfortunately, openly expressing their biases throughout the halls and classrooms of Marian. Administration has been approached by some of our minority students, discussing their concern for these types of behaviors. It has been reported that an increasing amount of students are saying extremely culturally insensitive words/terms out loud in the halls and classrooms "without getting in trouble." Certainly, our Staffulty is very aware of the increase in intolerance and insensitivity that society has been facing in our world today. While we cannot control what is happening outside the walls of our dear school, we can take appropriate measures to ensure the safety, acceptance, and preservation of dignity of all students and staff during the school day and at all Marian sponsored activities.
While we are all very aware that implementing assemblies, presentations, or imposing increased discipline has some effect, we need systemic change. This takes time, yes, but it also takes each one of us... starting with some subtle changes in our own approaches to classroom & hallway management as well as changes to teaching strategies.
We are asking that every adult in our building do a cultural audit to your space, presentations, decorations, announcements, signage, etc. Simple things like making sure that any PowerPoint presentations, posters, and other visuals display diversity will help build the feeling of acceptance... but there is so much more!
Feel free to utilize the following resources as you continue to ensure students leave all biases at the door!
Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education
6 Ways to Foster Cultural Awareness in your Classroom
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Creating an Anti-Bias Learning Environment
Related sidenote: Cudos to our newly developed Social Justice Club, headed up by Dr. Pinnau as they begin painting murals that represent our interconnected lives in the halls of Marian.
Additionally, please anticipate having a Staffulty discussion at our March 11th Late Start Meeting so we can continue to address this concern together.
COLLEGE NIGHT AT MCCHS!
Why do we "LEAP?"
As many of you might know, many ancient civilizations recognized the need for a periodic adjustment to the calendar.
Did you know that when Julius Caesar put an extra day into the calendar to balance out that extra 1/4 of a day, the Catholic Church had a problem with it? The church had originally placed Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Ceasar's calendar caused Easter to move off the traditional place in the calendar which prompted Pope Gregory XIII to order the development of a new calendar...the Gregorian Calendar, which is generally the calendar as we know it today.
GOOD LUCK MARIAN WRESTLING TEAM!
Daily Prayers during Lent, 2020 ~ onlineministries.creighton.edu
February 26-29
The First Week of Lent
March 1-7
The Second Week of Lent
March 8-14
The Third Week of Lent
March 15-21
The Fourth Week of Lent
March 22-28
The Fifth Week of Lent
March 29 - April 4
Holy Week: The First Four Days
April 5-8
Holy Week: The Sacred Triduum
April 9-11
Celebrating the Easter Season
April 12 - May 31
SPANISH HONOR SOCIETY INDUCTIONS ~ Thursday, Feb. 27
New Required Training... ALL REQUIRED TO COMPLETE!
The DCFS Mandated Reporter Training is available at: https://mr.dcfstraining.org/UserAuth/Login!loginPage.action?request_locale=en.
(You will need to create an account)
Please complete this before April 1, after which you will not need to do this again until the 2022-23 school year! Once you complete the training, please provide Mrs. DiSilvio with a copy of both the Acknowledgement of Mandated Reporter Status and the certificate of completion for our records.
Thank you.
Time is Running Out!
As shared back in August, all trainings must be completed no later than April 1, 2020.
If you have already completed your trainings, thank you for being so pro-active! If you have not, please print out the Certificate of Completion once you have completed all of your designated trainings.
If you need assistance logging into your account, please contact Ms. Novy.
Catechist Certification Opportunities
LEVEL 1 PART 2 OFFERINGS AROUND THE DIOCESE
Sacred Heart, Sterling :
March 7, 2020 from 9:00 am - 2:15 pm
(includes lunch)
St. Patrick's, Dixon:
March 23, 2020 from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
For more information and registration, please contact Cindy Vincent
815-339-4200 Ext. 371
***Remember...
All Diocesan teachers are required to complete some level of certification. Please refer to the requirements here.
If you complete any trainings, make sure that you fill out the proper form and submit it to Father Twenty.
TECHNOLOGY CORNER
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT EMAILS!
Mrs. Houk spoke with ST. Benedicts this past week and the plan is to have the email conversion from GMail to Outlook done by June 1st. In order to make the process go smoothly, all staff needs to begin cleaning out their email inbox and folders in your GMail account as much as possible. You need to delete any unnecessary emails and also download any attachments that you want to keep.
If you need any assistance or further directions, feel free to reach out to Mrs. Houk.
Tech PD
Don't forget that you can participate in FREE PD on Microsoft! Just go to the Microsoft Education Center and click on "Explore Courses" and choose the course that meets your expertise level and needs! Check it out here!
Great Ways to use Technology in your classrooms!
Professional Development Opportunities & Resources
NEW!
Did you know that IVS, the same online service that our students take their credit recovery courses, has professional development for educators? Click here to check out the offerings!
Remember that you have this resource available to you!
Your SchoolShelf URL: http://www.schoolshelf.com/981085-marian
This Week's Schedule
As you work through your plans this week, please note these events. For a more detailed list, check out our school calendar, 8to18 Athletics Calendar or Clubs/Organizations Page
Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020
State Wrestling Meet
9:00 am ~ Spring Production Set/Costume Work, Auditorium
Sunday, March 1, 2020
Monday, March 2, 2020
8:10 am ~ FOR Club to share about the Memory Wall Project
2:35 pm ~ Confessions, Chapel
2:45 pm ~ Mass, Chapel
3:00 pm ~ Musical Rehearsal, Auditorium
Tuesday, March 3 2020
French/Art Students @ Deanery Kindergartens
2:35 pm ~ Confessions, Chapel
2:45 pm ~ Mass, Chapel
3:00 pm ~ Musical Rehearsal, Auditorium
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
REVIVAL!
Late Start for Students
7:30 am ~ Staffulty breakfast, cafeteria
9:45 am ~ REVIVAL BEGINS!
Thursday, March 5, 2020
REVIVAL!
3:00 pm ~ Musical Rehearsal, Auditorium
Friday, March 6, 2020
Diocesan Wellness Screenings
2:35 pm ~ Confessions, Chapel
2:45 pm ~ Mass, Chapel
3:00 pm ~ Musical Rehearsal, Auditorium
Saturday, March 7, 2020
IHSA Solo & Ensemble Contest
9:00 am ~ Spring Production Set/Costume Work, Auditorium