Resurrection Weekly Update #4
The Way to Stay in Touch with All Things Res: 9/10 - 9/14
The Principal's Corner
Reflection
Hello everyone! These past weeks have been some of the most exciting weeks! As I walked around the hallways and café yesterday, it was really great hearing all of the positive comments about what we are doing at Res. It affirms my commitment to make certain that we stay focused on the amazing, life changing work that we undertake in our ministry. Last week, I shared a few thoughts on connecting intentionality with community by asking you to reflection about the living witness of adults, rooted in Christ, forming a community of relationships. This week, I want to ground the above statement with a passage on the vocation of the Catholic educator.
As Catholic school teachers, EACH of us are symbols of the knowledge, skills, and values that denote our understanding of God’s kingdom. More so, EACH of us are the disciples whose faith, hope and love symbolize, to our students and one another, the distinctive meaning, purpose, and value of our common way of life. Now, the challenge is using this understanding to form the relationships mentioned last week for the benefit of our students. How do we go about doing this?
More to come on this topic next week. For now, I would like for you to consider how, as a member of this faith community, will you approach one another in faith, hope, and love.
Interesting Information
This week, both the Academic Council met and minutes will be shared next Friday. Admin team meeting was postponed due to last minute schedule conflicts.
Finally, we are all praying for those affected by the multiple storms. If you are interested in incorporating a specific prayer into your class next week, which I would encourage you to do, I found a great one from the Diocese of Dallas....You will find it here.
What I am working on....
This week, we are continuing STREAM integration framework conversations, as well as exploring the addition of online AP courses for the humanities. Additionally, we are looking at creative ways to continue the UbD conversations. More to come on these exciting topics...
THINK big....START small...GO FOR the early win!
Amen,
Mr. P
What's Happening at Res
Tuesday will be the start of activity periods for the year, beginning with Activity 1. Please make sure that you take note of the changes for an Activity Day Schedule. On Wednesday, freshmen will be meeting in the Little Theater during Seminar B for a presentation on Cyber Safety. Seminar Teachers, please have your student go directly to the theater after lunch and sit with their seminars.
The Practicum program is excited to bring in a couple guest speakers this week and they will be speaking to the students enrolled in the Practicum course during both Seminars on Thursday. Amanda Stieber will provide teachers with a list of the teachers attending. We will end the week by celebrating the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows at Friday's Liturgy. Our scheduled mass will run from 8:30 to 9:45 AM. Please see the schedule below:
Liturgy: 8:30 - 9:45
Period 1: 9:50 - 10:40
Period 3: 10:45 - 11:35
Seminar A/Lunch: 11:40 - 12:20
Seminar B/Lunch: 12:25 - 1:05
Period 5: 1:10 - 2:00
Period 7: 2:05 - 3:00
Daily Breakdown
- Service Program, Meeting w/ Students and Mentors: Seminar B (See Above)
Tuesday Sept 12th - White Day
- Activity 1 meets, please review the Activity 1 Schedule
Wednesday Sept. 13th - Red Day
- Cyber Safety Presentation for freshmen: Seminar B in the Little Theater
- Grandparents Night: 6:30 - 8:30 pm in the Gym
Thursday Sept. 14th - White Day
- Practicum Guest Speakers for all students in the Practicum program: Seminar A & B
Friday Sept. 15th - Red Day
- Liturgy - Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows: 8:30 - 9:45 AM in the Gym
Shoutouts!
Outstanding happenings around the building:
Ms. Brendzel did a great job walking around her classroom with formative assessment.
Ms. Guistino did an awesome job reassuring her Honors English students for their first critique.
Ms. Fumic incorporated CNN in an interesting way in her history course.
Mr. Wiechert has some interesting decorations in his science lab.
Dr. Leider has a very interesting class website…..check it out leiderscience.weebly.com!
Ms. Schneider organized an interesting magazine drive
Sr. Mary Ann for her willingness to take the lead in preparing for Kairos this October
Ms. Bridich and Ms. Damery for their diligent work in getting students back on track academically
Ms.Rogers for her informative and well-received presentation for the Senior Parent Meeting.
New Res Community Members Spotlight:
Ms. Bridget Kancler, Music and ELL Faculty
I sing with a professional choir. Just last month we rounded out our fourth European concert tour with a performance at Ravinia!
LOVE to travel, the NON-tourist routes! Once was temporarily lost in the Swiss Alps, alone. I made it out, all is well.
Ms. Moira Ryan, Social Science Faculty
I named my dog, Rey, after the Star Wars "Force Awakens" heroine.
'm obsessed with Fiona the #famous baby hippo who lives at the Cincinnati Zoo.
When I'm healthy (not injured) I love to run and take over-priced fitness classes.
Technology Updates
If you have never utilized Schoology's test/quiz feature, this might be a good opportunity to explore it. Beginning September 20th, Schoology will be adding new, enhanced question types provide teachers with much more than just multiple choice, true/false, matching, short answers and essays. Pairing Schoology's online testing with Hapara's Focused Browsing provides teachers with peace of mind concerning students abilities to surf the web while testing. If you would like to know more about Schoology's testing capabilities, check out their Guide to Schoology Assessments.
In other Technology news, the Innovation Lab now have their two Oculus powered VR stations set up. These stations offer tremendous opportunities for students to immerse themselves in educational experiences. From exploring ancient Rome or Jerusalem to conducting expensive science labs, VR now offers opportunities for every subject area. If you would like to try out the new VR stations (much better quality than the mobile VR headsets), stop by the Innovation Lab before school or during seminar to check it out!
Curriculum Updates
Take away's from Wednesday, 9/06/2017:
Despite the hectic pace of a shortened week, teachers did strong work with UbD. We used a real-world application of learning to drive to deepen our understanding of knowledge, skills, understandings and transfer; we had our first look at the template for Stage 1 of the UbD framework; and we critiqued a sample unit on nutrition using a checklist of criteria.
Teachers are eager to start working on the units they will be teaching in January. Teachers and curriculum coordinators will connect regarding the selection of courses and units to ensure all four grade levels have fairly even amounts of exposure to UbD units.
For next Wednesday, 9/13/2017:
During PD next Wednesday, we will look at established goals and transfer goals. (Take a look at the blank UbD template for a quick reminder.) Departments will have time to collaborate on identifying established goals (e.g., CCSS, ACT College Readiness, Illinois State Standards) and naming transfer goals (e.g., long-term goals).
Looking ahead
Here is a link to the PD schedule for the upcoming weeks.
Motivational Video of the Week
Spiritual Reflections
Taken from Mother Angelica's Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality.....
The Big Mission
You have been chosen twice: first to be, then to know Jesus. What are you doing with the fantastic mission? You have been created by God and know Jesus for one reason: to witness to faith, and hope, and love before an unbelieving world. I do not care if he world knows you, or no one know you. Even if you influence only one person in your whole life, God does not look at numbers or quantities. He looks at souls and individuals. If you were able, by your example or by one of your acts, to bring one person to heaven, it would mean more to Him than all the accomplishments on earth.
Reminders and Specific Updates for the Week
- Mother Celine Scholars underwent a few enhancements. Please see new program information here.
- Activities start this week!
- Committees START this month. Please see this document for a listing of the current, in house committees.
- We continue accepting nominations for Students and Teacher of the Month. Here is the necessary information!
What a RES education means to me: Sr. Mary Ann, Religion Curriculum Coordinator
Caring, amazing young women....
Our students are the best part of Res. They are such amazing women! They are caring and funny and bright. I delight in having the privilege of working to empower them to claim more fully the gift of who they are. They are a source of great energy and joy for me.
Also, I am blessed to minister in a place where I know there are people who support me and care about me. What incredible colleagues!!! I appreciate the bad puns and the genuine conversations about things that truly matter in our lives and in the lives of our students.
‘Convinced of God’s unconditional love’ is my favorite part of our Mission statement. I experience and share that love through my relationships with the people here at Res.
Happy Birthday!
About Us
Mission
Resurrection College Prep High School is a Catholic Christian community dedicated to the education of young women, and to the development of their God–given talents. Convinced of God’s unconditional love and nourished by the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, we are committed to the spiritual, ethical, intellectual, physical and social growth of our students.
Email: Resurrection@reshs.org
Website: www.reshs.org
Location: 7500 W Talcott Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Phone: 773-775-6616
Facebook: www.facebook.com/reshs.chicago/
Twitter: @ResurrectionHS