Witness to Catholic Education
Faith Mentorship Cohort
I had the chance to Witness Catholic
Education in action during our four Faith Mentorship sessions. These sessions
were 3 hour long sessions held on October 15th, December 3rd,
January 15th, and March 4th. Between these four meetings,
the teachers had the chance to hear some interesting viewpoints, to meet other
teachers in our field, and to develop as a faith community. We got to hear some
very valuable insight about the struggles of being a Catholic Educator by both
our Superintendent and one of our Parish Priests. We were also given many prayer resources,
faith-based books, and some real-life examples of how to better ourselves as
Catholics but also how to incorporate rich religion into all aspects of our
classrooms. One session that particularly influenced my “creative spark” was
the session where we were shown pictures of different prayer table ideas. Up
until that point I hadn’t used my prayer table very often yet and I just had
very basic symbols on it. After that session, however, I realized how flexible
and symbolic the table can be each week. The kids are now very engaged in
changing out our prayer table symbols and so they actually pay attention to the
prayer table!
Leading Celebrations
One way that I feel that I have supported Catholic education this year is through my involvement with school masses and celebrations. While preparing for a Catholic celebration, a teacher needs to be very careful that they do everything the correct and respectful way. They also have to make sure that they teach their students how to do everything the proper way too. By teaching the students things such as proper actions, verbal responses, prayers, and where to go, you are modelling the Church teachings and expectations. It has been a huge learning curve for me this year to make sure that I am doing everything by the book but I am learning a LOT about the traditional Catholic practices. So far this year my class has been fortunate enough to lead 3 religious celebrations, and I have also personally prepared a 4th. Each celebration and its resources are listed below.
Leading Mass
On November 19th my class was in charge of the readings for the Wednesday mass. After assigning each kid their role I had to review the words and their actions numerous times before they got it down.
Leading Week 4 "Love" Theme during Advent
During Advent our class was in charge of the "LOVE" themed week. The whole class practiced really hard and the whole presentation went beautifully! We had some really awesome class discussions about the right hand movements, and about what the readings meant.
Leading Stations of the Cross
We paired up with the Grade 8s to perform the Stations of the Cross for the rest of the congregation. There was lots of pre-teaching before we were ready for that celebration (including help from Father Newton) so that the kids knew when to go to the podium, when to give their responses, when to kneel, what to say, and when the candles needed to move to a new station.
Leading the Student Retreat Day
I had wanted to get involved in committees that I was familiar with from the previous year, so I decided to sign up to help organize the Student Retreat Day. We had Face-2-Face Ministries out and there were funny and full of energy like always. I was in charge of organizing our Division 1 activities for the times when we were not in the gym with the presenters. I had a lot of fun planning our activities on "Stewardship" and "Walking Together". Below is a slideshow of the Smartboard files used to explain stewardship.
Here are some pictures to exemplify the "walking together" art project that kids did with a partner, and the others pictures show the kids interacting with Face-to-Face Ministries. F2F did an incredible job connecting with the kids and the adults in the room it was a great day of examining your own faith and growing in faith with the kids.
Parish-Classroom Connections
Father Newton has been in numerous times this year to talk to the kids about church expectations. Before my class was to lead the Stations of the Cross, I asked him if he could tell us all of the proper actions for when we were in the church (photographed below).
Catholic Education Sunday
November 9th was Catholic Education Sunday and so I decided that I would go to church at our school's parish to help represent our staff in church. (I usually go to mass in my own home town so that I can have some family bonding time). I arrived at church early to help get the coffee perking, the juice made, and the cookies set up. During the mass it was great to hear Terry O'Donnell speak so highly of our division and to let the congregation know all that we have been up to in our school as well as what our faith plan is for this year. After mass I was serving the coffee and tea and it was a great opportunity for me to introduce myself to some of the parish community. Many of the church members were curious who I was and it was a good chance to network with the locals and for them to see me as an active school member. My favorite part was getting to see some of the students of St.Catherine's and many of them even came to help me do dishes after the mass as well so it was a good chance for both myself and the kids to see each other in new roles. I found the day to be very rewarding and fulfilling!