Good afternoon
The practicum accounts for 30% of the final mark for this course. I would strongly suggest you look ahead to that, and what you would like to do. I would not suggest that you leave it all til the last week.
The strategies listed for the Practicum are there to prompt you to think about what you feel would be beneficial for you to undertake, something that would challenge you and also inform you, not only as a Catholic teacher, but as a person as well.
If there is something else that interests you, please let me know and we will make sure it is applicable.
The format for your practicum will depend on which strategy you choose, it could be a ppt, Prezi presentation, word document, video, whichever fits your project best. You will be developing a resource that would be applicable to a classroom or school setting or to be shared with your colleagues or parents.
Here are some suggestions for the Practicum projects.
Portfolio of learning resources - a detailed collection of resources of different media types focused on a specific theme in Catholic education ie virtues, sacramental preparation, support for 2SLGBTQ+ students, how to support mental health issues, how to integrate faith into specific subject areas, implementing the TRC Calls To Action. These resources of varying media should be annotated, with a brief description of the resource and how it could be implemented into the curriculum. The number would be whatever you think, as a teacher, would help you prepare lessons or activities for students to best present the information.
Instructional resource - a series of lessons focused on a specific aspect or theme of Catholic education or Social Teaching ie Dignity of the human person, Care for God's creation. You could use the lesson in Assignment 3 as a starting point or develop any detailed lesson in any subject area and develop subsequent lessons and activities to follow it. It would be important to demonstrate the integration of faith and the gospel message into different areas of the curriculum, connecting this lesson to other subject areas. It is also important to make connections to the OCSGE, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Compendium and scripture.
Facilitating a learning experience - any learning experience focused on Catholic education or social teaching ie mindfulness, a unit on prayer (formal/informal), a graduation retreat, a prayer walk, an experience in which students (class or school based) put their faith into action. One student did a prayer/meditation walk around a local conservation area with points at which to stop with corresponding scripture/meditation passages. Other students have created prayer gardens or developed retreats for students.
Journal entries - For a journal entry you can reflect on the questions listed under the learning goals for the assignment or keep an individual journal in which you can reflect, every week or so, on your practicum (why that topic interests you, how you are progressing, your thoughts about your practicum) or reflect on the course itself. You only need 3 – 5 anecdotal journal reflections. These are to be submitted with the completed practicum.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Sources:
https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1303136424696/1534962294279
https://www.epl.ca/blogs/post/indigenous-naming-practices/
https://www.epl.ca/blogs/post/getting-your-teen-outdoors-this-summer/
https://www.epl.ca/explore/?post-type=blogs&topic=indigenous
Feedback on Assignment 4:
Your "Educator's Guide to FNMI Learning Perspectives" is a extremely comprehensive, well researched and well developed. This is an excellent resource for any educator in a Catholic school. You have recognized that "as a Eucharist person it was my duty as a responsible citizen and witness of my faith to support the people whose cross it is."
This guide will remind others that we are all Eucharist people, and as such, we must all accept the challenge to "not only to develop truth and reconciliation learning experiences for indigenous and non-indigenous learners but to also promote advocacy and faith leadership (as indigenous worldview is a form of spirituality that indigenous learners may hold)." The resources you have compiled, the activities you have presented, the pedagogy have you developed will enhance your students' understanding of the FNMI worldview. Not only are you enhancing their understanding, you are challenging them to recognize that, although historically we may not have been complicit in the treatment experienced by those who attended the residential schools, the mistreatment and misappropriation of indigenous culture, if we do not respond to the Calls to Action, we are complicit in the perpetuating these wrongs. As you quoted from the Calls to Action "Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect" is the responsibility we must all accept. Only then can we truly move forward to truth and reconciliation. I am humbled to have been a small part of your practicum project.
You clearly demonstrate your understanding of what it is to be a Catholic teacher. All teachers have an incredible responsibility; to help students develop academically, physically and emotionally. As Catholic teachers we are challenged to help our students strengthen their relationship with God, to instilling the message of the gospel, to actively demonstrate what it is to live a life as a disciple of Jesus. As you have written "as disciples of Jesus, we are to learn His Words, His actions and how He participates in different traditions (Gracin, 213). The world is ever changing and Jesus is my teacher."
We strive to positively make a difference in the lives of our students, to engage them in all aspects of their faith. The difference between a public school and the Catholic school is not the one a day or twice a week religion class. We are challenged to integrate the gospel message and Catholic social teachings into our lessons. However, the difference in a Catholic school is even more than the integration of faith and the gospel message into all aspects of the curriculum. It is the integration of the gospel message in all that we say and do, into the very life of each school. It is often said that students will not remember what we have taught them but they will remember how we have taught them. They will remember you, your words, your actions, your passion and your commitment to living the gospel message. It is you who is the real difference.
We are often asked "Why Catholic schools?" What are the advantages of attending a Catholic school? Where is the data to substantiate our claims of the benefits of Catholic education? There is no EQAO, no literacy test, no standardized test to measure how well our students fulfil the OCGSE.
The report, Beyond Catholic Graduation, a survey conducted by OISE for ICE in 2012, in which past graduates were asked how the goals of Catholic education as outlined by the OCSGE are reflected in their lives, indicates that our graduates are doing just that. "Graduates wrote that Catholic education was important because it incorporated beliefs, values, morals, ethics and guiding life principles that have helped to shape who they are; gave them a sense of community in which they could participate in social activities, build relationships and connect with members of the school community; provided an inclusive environment where they could openly and freely practice their faith; helped them to develop their faith; and provided them with insight and inspiration to guide their decisions. Catholic education, they wrote, taught them the importance of social justice, altruism, and helping others." It will be our students, who involve themselves in social justice issues, who speak for those whose voices are not heard, who go out to change the world, who will be the testaments to Catholic schools.
As Pope Francis has said "Education cannot be neutral. It is either positive or negative; either it enriches or it impoverishes; either it enables a person to grow or it lessens, even corrupts him. The mission of schools is to develop a sense of truth, of what is good and beautiful." Pope Francis, in an address to students and teachers across Italy. May 10, 2014
Just as we are challenged to inform, form and transform our students, so do we continue to be informed, formed and transformed. We must all develop "a sense of truth, of what is good and beautiful."
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