Curriculum Blog - Kristin Dixon

Welcome to our 143 new teachers! While not all are first year teachers, we welcome every one of you to our work in Catholic schools. We look forward to our year together!
To those of you returning, welcome back! We, at the Office for Catholic Schools pray that your summer has been one of rest and brimming with new ideas to share with your colleagues and with your students. We, too, have been working to support you.
Four teacher opportunities/resources of note:

1. Elementary Religion One-Page Overview Resource
2. Teacher Excellence Day
3. Unit Design Workshop
4. Northwest Catholic Educational Leadership Institute

Religion Standards Resource Document for all Elementary Grade Levels
Yes, the Religion Standards have been delivered to each elementary school. However, in presenting the standards to the schools, all teachers expressed a need for the following:
a. A student vocabulary list for each grade level
b. A way to integrate the weighty grade level standards
Working with the Religion Standards Committee, we have created a grade-level, one page, front and back, document of the essential and core content that includes the vocabulary for each grade level. Principals received this set of documents at their meeting on Monday, and the document will live on line. The possible uses? For use as a course outline…for your classroom word wall…for parents at back-to-school night…as a touchstone to be certain you are covering all the key concepts at your grade level. Do you have another idea on how to use this resource? Let me know! Send me an email, I would love to hear from you! Kristin.dixon@seattlearch.org

Registration Open Now for TED Teacher Excellence Day, Friday, October 2.
Click here to access the registration form and the break-out session descriptions. Please note the following:

• As sessions fill to 28 teachers, sessions will close.
• We hope to honor your requests, but will place you in a session if the selection has filled.
• Articulation sessions will give you the option of signing up for an opportunity to review a writing rubric and student sample that we provide. Teachers will not need to bring writing samples with them.
• All high school sessions will be held at Bishop Blanchet High School.
• Teachers of high school theology will be meeting for both breakout sessions with a speaker.
• Principals will take the lunch orders and will submit those to our office.
• Registration closes: September 10.

As we prepare for this great day, celebrating our shared ministry in Catholic education, we thank you all in advance for your participation in the opening Mass. Again, we invite all musicians who are interested in assisting us with the music ministry to join us at 7:30A.M. for a quick run through of the music prior to our 8:15 A.M. mass. Our day concludes at 2:45 P.M.

And for our new teachers….What is Teacher Excellence Day, TED?
TED is our day together celebrating our shared ministry as Catholic school educators. Our theme this year, inspired by the Sermon on the Mount Gospel, is “Feed One Another.” What is our miracle? We feed one another with our presence and the willingness to share! Thank you to the nearly 70 presenters who will offer their wisdom on October 2, 2015 to teachers and administrators at our two sites, St. Charles Borromeo, Tacoma and Bishop Blanchet High School Seattle. Over 1,500 participants will begin the day with Mass celebrating and affirming our Catholic identity. We will hear from our Superintendent, Dr. Haggarty, who will share his vision, and from his colleague Dr. Kevin Baxter, Superintendent of Los Angeles Catholic Schools, who will share his reflections on our theme. Throughout the day, you will have the opportunity to peruse the goods offered in our exhibitor area.
Thank you to our hosting schools and principals Mr. Dan Hill and Mrs. Sheila Kries for their willingness to open their schools for this important event.

Unit Design Workshop
Beginning this month, teachers will have the opportunity to attend a 3 hour in-service on Unit Design with the goal of content integration! The accreditation process supports the unit design as one step in curriculum mapping. Click here for the many regional dates and registration form. Teachers at all grade levels are encouraged to attend. Participants will receive the hand-outs and the PowerPoint Presentation so that, at each school site, teachers can become trainers of this valuable process.

Northwest Catholic Educational Leadership Institute – August 18, 19, 20, 2015
This year, we will sponsor a two day institute in two regions. Our topic is “Serving Diverse Learners: For the Good of All Learners”. Two nationally recognized speakers have been engaged for this event held at Holy Rosary School, Edmonds on August 18 and 19, and St. Michael School, Olympia on August 19 and 20. Dr. James Frabutt, Ph.D., Director of Teaching Exceptional Children Program at the University of Notre Dame and Hanna Bogen, M.S. CCC-SLP from Communication Works in Oakland, CA will help all participants to:

• Articulate how living our Catholic faith requires the inclusion of all learners
• Acknowledge challenges, and seek best practices in serving diverse learners
• Access tools and strategies specific to elementary and high school settings

We have over 340 participants this year. If your school did not register, we will have all the resources available on line. Stay tuned for our institute registration for next year. Theme and dates to be posted within the month. If you did register, you should have received an email with all the important logistic information. Please contact Elizabeth O’Leary elizabeth.oleary@seattlearch.org if you have any questions.