Office for Schools
Diocese of San Diego ~ September 2017
Welcome!
Back-to-School: Reminders of What Matters
In preparation for an NCEA podcast interview, I admittedly crammed to digest about 40 years of church documents addressing Catholic schools into a very small window. With equal admission, I hadn’t spent this much time with these docs in quite some time. It was familiar territory just the same. After all, I spent nearly 15 years as a high school Religious Studies Chair. Some things become intuitive over time.
Beginning with the Declaration on Christian Education (Gravissimum Educationis) from the Second Vatican Council, the Congregation for Catholic Education has been an advocate and strong support for our shared Catholic school mission. I was reminded that over 50 years ago the Council made this proclamation:
“What makes the Catholic school distinctive is its attempt to generate a community climate in the school that is permeated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and love. It tries to guide the adolescents in such a way that personality development goes hand in hand with the development of the ‘new creature’ that each one has become through baptism. It tries to relate all of human culture to the good news of salvation so that the light of faith will illumine everything that the students will gradually come to learn about the world, about life, and about the human person.”
Something that struck me in reviewing these documents was the number of references to a school’s “climate.” The Congregation's follow-up to Gravissimum Educationis some 20 years later, entitled The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, defined “climate” as “the sum total of the different components at work in the school which interact with one another in such a way as to create favourable conditions for a formation process.”
As the Congregation described the ideal school climate in greater depth, I couldn't help but have flashbacks to my days in the classroom. The Congregation stated: “Most of all, students should be able to recognize authentic human qualities in their teachers. This includes...such things as affection, tact, understanding, serenity of spirit, a balanced judgment, patience in listening to others and prudence in the way they respond, and, finally, availability for personal meetings and conversations with the students.”
In reading this, one particular student came to mind…
It was the first day of a new school year. While going through my perfectly rehearsed first-day-back lesson plan, I noticed at least one student with arms folded and looking quite unimpressed. After class, she waited until most of the other students had cleared, approached my desk, and said, “You’ve probably heard about me, right?” Here’s another admission. Of course, I’d heard of this kid. Her difficult reputation preceded her. She had made a number of my colleagues’ lives total misery. In that moment, I (sort of) lied to this kid. I looked at her, and replied: “Listen, I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. Yesterday, last month, and last year do not matter much to me. My concern is to move forward with you as your teacher, and you’ve got to decide how you want to define this experience. I, for one, see great potential in you. What do you think?”
We had a great year of learning.
Part of our back-to-school preparation as educational professionals should include preparing the heart of a teacher. Our Church is clear that our hearts are to be marked by affection, tact, understanding, serenity of spirit, balanced judgment, patience in listening to others, prudence in the way they respond, and making time for our students. Our students need to recognize these qualities in us, and it begins with us recognizing something in them. If all teachers in our Catholic schools were to see each child as the image-bearer of our faithful and loving God, then we will have succeeded in creating a school climate where the conditions for an impactful faith formation process and high levels of learning can occur.
Thank you for making this “if-then” proposition happen on a daily basis in your classrooms. There is not a Catholic school in the Diocese of San Diego that does not embody a genuine joy of the Gospel that permeates the life of the school community. On behalf of the children you serve so faithfully, this is an admission I am happy to make.
In Mission,
John Galvan
Director, Office for Schools
Did You Know...
- We have several new K-8 principals in the Diocese of San Diego this year! Please read more about them here. #americasfinestprincipals
- October is National Disability Awareness Month. SD Catholic Schools are invited to participate in a "Disabilities Awareness Day" on October 24. Details will be shared soon.
- October 12 (2:00-4:00) is the first general Learning Support Network meeting of the year. All administrators and teachers are invited to attend! This meeting will be a K-16 Learning Support Articulation.
- The winner of the raffle for a class set of Paul the Apostle: A Graphic Novel, was Adrienne Jones from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Mario DeMatteo, SD Catholic school grad, presented his new text at our Annual Religion Convocation at USD. Congrats, Adrienne!
COLLABORATION & PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Learning Support Meeting #1 - October 12, 2:00-4:00pm
Western Catholic Curriculum Summit
6th Annual Winter STEAM Maker Challenge on December 2
SD Catholic Professional Learning Website
CELEBRATING OUR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
#SDXtreme2018 - Be an "Xtreme" Disciple!
OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
Commissioning Mass with Bishop McElroy
Please download this form, complete, and then email it to Lisa Vaca at lvaca@sdcatholic.org.
Prayers Requested
Dear Educators,
I am very saddened to write to you with news that we have lost a faithful member of our Catholic school family.
Dawn Park, a 24-year veteran teacher at School of the Madeleine, died this weekend after sustaining severe injuries from an accident. At the request of Jean Coleman, Principal at School of the Madeleine, please join us in praying for Dawn’s family.
The family and friends of Dawn Park have established a Go Fund Me page for those who would like to make a monetary donation to support her family during this time: https://www.gofundme.com/rhjwf4-noel-dawn-park
Thank you all in advance for your prayerful and practical support of Madeleine’s school community at this delicate time.
In Mission,
John
MDTP Field Test Opportunity
MDTP is field testing three tests this year:
SR45D17 – Second Year Algebra Readiness
GR45D17 – Geometry Readiness
MS35D17 – Middle School Skills (new test!)
We need your help. If you are teaching high school Algebra 2, high school Geometry, or a 6th grade class, you could help us by participating in the field testing process.
You would need to administer the above field test in the next few weeks, administer a specific post-test in the spring, and fill out an easy electronic survey in the spring as well. The tests can be administered on paper or online (MDTP has a great, free online testing platform now – go to our website: mdtp.ucsd.edu to check it out!).
If you would like to participate, please let me know. I would need to know the number of teachers, number of classes, and approximate number of students that would take the test.
Additionally, it is very important that you commit to the three parts of the process: field test, post-test, and survey.
MDTP Fall Newsletter: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6CR03sQYpBMbVlRQUdxcVliSW8/view?usp=sharing
Sincerely,
Ann Trescott
UC/CSU Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project
State Coordinator Outreach and Support
NCEA September Parent News
New OFS Professional Learning Website
NCEA Resources
NCEA is the largest, private professional education association in the world. NCEA works with Catholic educators to support ongoing faith formation and the teaching mission of the Catholic Church. Our membership includes more than 150,000 educators serving 1.9 million students in Catholic education.
Learning Forward
Links to Previous OFS Newsletters
Contact Information
Email: ahodges@sdcatholic.org
Website: http://www.sdcatholic.org
Location: 3888 Paducah Drive, San Diego, CA, United States
Phone: 858-490-8240
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sdcatholicschools/
Twitter: @DioceseSDschool