Catholic School Matters
December 17, 2017
Best of the Fall
This is the final Catholic School Matters newsletter of 2017. Below I will include the most popular link from each of the fall newsletters as well as my own favorite. I encourage you took them over and find an article or two which interest you. I always find it interesting to see what is the most popular link and it’s sometimes difficult to choose one favorite. There is a TON of great content in this newsletter!
As you approach the Christmas break, I encourage you to take a break and to allow your employees to break, too. Read “Emailing While You’re on Vacation is a Quick Way to Ruin Company Culture” and make sure that you’re not emailing colleagues over break. No sense in disturbing another person’s vacation! It can wait.
Read “How to Be More Productive Without Burning Out” to consider how you are approaching work and whether you need to make any changes. The article is full of great suggestions about how to frame work in a life-work balance. For a deeper dive, I encourage you to read “If You’re Too Busy for These 5 Things: Your Life is More Off-Course Than You Think.”
Perhaps the article which stuck with me the most this week is Maker vs. Manager: How Your Schedule Can Make or Break You. I often have the need for uninterrupted time in order to create. (Right now, I’m two hours with my phone shut off, for example). But I’ve never seen such a great explanation. I encourage you to spend some uninterrupted time over the next few weeks for deeper thinking and creation. Strategic planning, communications, long-term goal setting—these all take quiet, uninterrupted time. Are you looking for a New Year’s Resolution? How about scheduling some uninterrupted time for creating and planning purposes every week?
Catholic Schools news doesn’t stop. Let’s congratulate the Diocese of Grand Rapids for its decision to open a new elementary school in 2018 and for the Diocese of Buffalo for re-opening a Catholic school closed in 2013. Marist High School in New Jersey has improved its prospects and Holy Cross HS in New Jersey prepares to become independent of Diocesan control. Let’s hope for the best for the 2 Connecticut Catholic schools merging this fall and the rural Kansas school struggling with rumors of its closing. Let’s grieve for the announcement that Livonia Ladywood HS—an all-girls Detroit Catholic school—will close this fall and hope that this New Jersey Catholic high school won’t close.. And let’s celebrate the advent of tuition tax-free scholarships in Illinois while hoping that New York Catholic schools are able to secure state-mandated reimbursements.
Most popular links from each newsletter:
1. Aug 20th: 5 Mistakes Teachers Make the First Day of School
2. Aug 27th: As Enrollment in Catholic education is on the decline, some Massachusetts schools find that reputation keeps numbers steady
3. Sep 10th: What Teachers Want You to Know: A Note to School Administrators
4. Sep 17th: How a School District Ditched Awards and Assemblies to Refocus on Kids and Learning
5. Sep 24th: Pope Francis’ new document, Evangelii Gaudim: 9 things to know and share
6. Oct 1st: The Difference Between Open-Minded and Closed-Minded People
7. Oct 8th: Classroom Management Makeover
8. Oct 15th: President of Catholic U warns against ‘echo chamber’
9. Oct 22nd: A Catholic School is born
10. Oct 29th: The 4 Practices of Servant Leadership for School Leaders
11. Nov 5th: Fr. Antonio Spadaro’s talk “Welcoming the Stranger”
12. Nov 12th: 36 Questions to Bring You Closer
13. Dec 3rd: How to Let Go at the End of the Work Day
14. Dec 10th: The video showing Sacred Heart School in OKC
My Favorite links:
1. Aug 20th: Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers
2. Aug 27th: Meet the First Black Superintendent of New Orleans’ Catholic Schools (and the link to the podcast conversation here)
3. Sep 10th: How Filter Bubbles Distort Reality: Everything You Need to Know
4. Sep 17th: Dean James Ryan’s 5 Essential Questions in Life
5. Sep 24th: Francis on ‘Joy of the Gospel’: Pope lays out vision for an evangelical church
6. Oct 1st: Bruce Springsteen, Artful Leadership, and What Rock Star Bosses Do
7. Oct 8th: The More Innovative I have become, the less classroom management
8. Oct 15th: America Wasn’t Built for Humans
9. Oct 22nd: Faith Formation and the Personal Relationship with Jesus
10. Oct 29th: The War Against Just War
11. Nov 5th: Who do you say you are: Relationships and Faith in Catholic Schools
12. Nov 12th: How Design Thinking is Improving Patient-Caregiver Conversations
13. Dec 3rd: Bishop McElroy sees ‘a cultural crisis in our body politic’
14. Dec 10th: 10 Ways Hispanics are redefining American Catholicism in the 21st Century.
Want to keep up with the conversations surrounding Catholic education? Set up your own Google Alert, subscribe to this newsletter by clicking "follow," subscribe to the Catholic Schools Daily, or subscribe to the Catholic School Matters podcast.
Dr. Tim Uhl
What I'm Up To
The Church Documents podcast series continues this week with the eighth in the series covering the US Bishops statement from 1990 "In Support of Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools." Dr. Kevin Baxter, the outstanding superintendent from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is the guest and we discuss innovations, change, and challenges to Catholic schools. Lisa Orchen from the Archdiocese of Hartford and Notre Dame's STEP Theology program is the guest blogger.
Last week, Episode #7 of the Church Documents series dropped. "Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School" with guest John Galvan was the topic and Carmen Garcia from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Michael Zelenka from ACE were the guest bloggers last week. You can find links to the documents as well as guest blogs, study questions, and more here. If you're interested in serving as a guest blogger, please contact me.
Here is the link to the podcast on iTunes. Here are videos showing you how to download and subscribe to a podcast on iTunes and how to download and subscribe a podcast on Android.
Here's what I'm working on this week:
- Monday: Office (Helena); Podcast Episode 88: In Support of Catholic Elementary & Secondary Schools with Dr. Kevin Baxter
- Tuesday: Missoula meetings; Blog: In Support of Catholic Elementary & Secondary Schools
- Wednesday: Great Falls meetings; Wed book blog: The Short & Tragic Life of Robert Peace (2015) by Jeff Hobbs.
Miles this week: 461 driving miles
Miles travelled in 2017-18: 14,537 road miles; 18,423 air miles
Catholic School Matters
Email: superintendent@montanacc.org
Website: www.montanacatholicschools.org
Location: PO Box 1708 Helena MT 59601
Phone: (406) 442-5761
Facebook: facebook.com/montanacatholicschools
Twitter: @mtcathschools
Most Popular Links
My Favorite Links
What I'm Reading
- Creativity, Inc. (2014) by Ed Catmull
- America's Original Sin (2017) by Rev. Jim Wallis
- Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017) by Neil deGrasse Tyson
- The Principal as Spiritual Leader (1994) Ed. by Maria Ciriello, OP
- Be Our Guest (2011) by The Disney Institute and Theodore Kinni
Click this link for a full list of my professional reading along with links to Wed Book Blogs
For Montana Administrators & Teachers
- Bishop Warfel's schedule of Masses for Catholic Schools Week
- Here is the slideshow from the Dec 5th Admin Virtual meeting
- Jeremy Beck, the long-time and oustanding President of Missoula Catholic Schools, has announced his resignation effective at the end of the school year. We are currently formulating the search process.
Past Issues of Catholic School Matters
December 10, 2017 Serving Hispanic Catholics
December 3, 2017 Building Culture the ND Way
November 12, 2017 "How Are We Building Relationships?"
November 5, 2017 "Journal of Catholic Education"
October 29, 2017 Church Documents
October 22, 2017 Momentum Special Issue
October 15, 2017 "Anthem Protests"
October 8, 2017 Classroom Managment Special Issue
October 1, 2017 "The Un-Themed Issue"
September 24, 2017 "Joy of the Gospel"
September 17, 2017 "ESSA"
September 10, 2017 "On Leadership"
August 27, 2017 "American Catholic News"
August 20, 2017 Back to School Issue