This year, we’ve partnered with the Greeley Center at Loyola-Chicago to promote “Positive Classrooms.” Our idea was to try to find a professional development focus that would benefit all students across all classes and grades. At our PD Day on October 6th, Dr. Kaitlin Reichart presented on four strategies:

• Purposeful learning

• Pride in Work

• Mutual Respect

• Continuous Reconciliation

Last week, Dr. Reichart met with principals to discuss strategies to support teachers in building a positive classroom environment. She used the graphic (below) to illustrate the different needs of our teachers:

Some strategies would be considered the core instruction that is necessary, and all staff benefit from. Those are on the bottom of the triangle. And, as you move up in the triangle, the methods of support are more individualized.

You may notice this triangle does not have dividing lines and the color naturally moves from purple to white. This is to represent how these strategies and methods will vary depending on your building. In one building, 1:1 coaching may be something all teachers participate in, while another school only has 2 teachers working with a coach.

Dr. Reichart also mentioned positive reinforcement strategies for teachers that are meant to free/minimal cost & simple:

• Leaving notes on teacher's desks or in their mailbox

• Quick comment when passing a teacher

• Feature a teacher in newsletter or social media post

• Surprise teacher dress down day

• Shout out a teacher (or groups of teachers) in a staff meeting

• Acknowledging a teacher's personal or professional accomplishments

• Acknowledging a classroom accomplishment (praising the students is praising the teacher!!)

She also mentioned the school-wide opportunities:

• Monthly student awards

• "Mystery" staff member

• Church buddies

• Honoring birthdays

• Surprise food - freeze pops

• Students design or decorate a classroom/space

• Board game day/bingo

• "Buddy" days

• Teacher vs. Student competition

• Competition related to service work

• All-school assembly models including Motivation Monday, Teaching Tuesday, Wacky Wednesday, Thumbs-up Thursday, and Funny Friday.

Lots of great ideas that we’ll continue to build on this year!

Also, here is the link to the Danielson observation tools that one principal requested. If they create an account, the tools can be downloaded for free.

Previous blogs can be found here. Want to keep up with the conversations surrounding Catholic education? Set up your own Google Alert, subscribe to this newsletter by clicking "follow," or subscribe to the Catholic School Matters podcast.

Dr. Tim Uhl

• All Catholic schools are asked to consider sponsoring the Catholic Education luncheon, purchase tickets and ads, and tables. Here is the link.

• We are still looking for a part-time STREAM Coordinator. You can share this job posting with someone who may be interested.

• The Character Virtue for October is Sportsmanship. Please use this link to submit your student for October by Fri. 11/3.

• 2nd Annual Math Tournament at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. See here for details. Register by Nov. 1st.

• Catholic School’s Day with the BPO is Feb. 13, 2024 at 10:15am. Use the BPO Registration form to register your school (grades 1-4). Payments must be received by January 8th.

• We've created a google doc for agendas and notes from the 8:30 am Wed Teams Meetings. Here is the link.

Here's the link to the Office Blog

11/1/23 Title I Letters Sent to Each Public School District w/Poverty Students

11/7/23 Election Day - Please Vote! Early Voting 10/28/23 to 11/5/23

11/17/23 BEDS Report Due to NYSED via Business Portal IRS-Data Exchange

12/1/23 Fire Safety Inspection Must be Completed; Report Due 12/16/2023

More Schools Eligible for Free Lunches for All - CEP Program Threshold Lowered to 25%: The US Department of Agriculture has expanded access to the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) by lowering the minimum identified student percentage participation threshold from 40 to 25 percent. This federal change, combined with the CEP State Subsidy, will open a window of opportunity for many students across New York State to receive meals at no cost while ensuring schools receive the equivalent of the free reimbursement rates for every meal. Schools can apply now through December 15, 2023 to begin serving meals at no charge to all enrolled students during the 2023-2024 school year (click here for application instructions).

Previous posts from Mr. Riso

This season's Catholic School Matters podcast season is underway. This month, I kicked off a series of podcasts on leadership in Catholic schools. These five podcasts will include a conversation with a Catholic school leader about five controversies which have impacted Catholic schools in the past year. This week in the fifth and final installment, Chris Mominey of Avanti Advisers comes on to discuss a number of different controversies and then Dr. Daniel McMahon returns to the podcast to reflect on what he heard. Here's a blog about the episode. Then I invite on another Catholic school thought leader to reflect on what they've heard.. Previous episodes:

• The fourth podcast includes a conversation with Dr. Melanie Palmisano about five controversies and then a reflection by Dr. Antonio Felix of LMU. Here's a blog post about the episode
  
• The third podcast includes a conversation with Dr. Kevin Baxter of ACE about five controversies, and then a shorter conversation Dr. Bill Hughes. Here's a blog post about the episode
  
• The second in the series includes a conversation with Greg Richmond of the Archdiocese of Chicago and commentary from Faustin Weber. Here's a blog post about the podcast.
  
• The first podcast includes a conversation with Dr. Daniel McMahon from DeMatha Catholic High School and a reflection by Beth Purvis of Wake Forest. I've also penned a blog post which gives a little more context to the project
• I invite John Kennedy of St. Joseph High School in South Bend onto the show to discuss the school's decision to drop their Native American nickname and the process by which this decision occurred
  
• I spoke with Fr. Jack Podsiadlo, SJ, the author of the recent book "The Nativity Phenomenon." In the book, he tells the story of how the Nativity schools began and their incredible growth. Now semi-retired back home at McQuaid, this was a face-to-face conversation.
  
• I brought David Palmieri back on the podcast to discuss diocesan policies about human sexuality. Palmieri has done the homework to discover origins of different policies and find out how they are related to each other. We discuss the different types of policies, their origins, and their implications

Here is a link to the podcast on Apple Podcasts.

A weekly newsletter of resources to spur enrollment and excellence in our Catholic schools.

Email: catholicschoolmatters@gmail.com
Website: www.wnycatholic.org
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA
Phone: 716-847-5520
Twitter: @WNYCatholicEd

1. The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila.
   

2. White Too Long : The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity (2020) by Robert P. Jones
   

3. The Art of Learning ( 2007) by Josh Waitkin

4. A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped It (2023 ) by Timothy Egan
   

5. The Great Dechurching: Who's Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? (2023) by Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan Burge.

Click this link for a full list of my professional reading

October 24, 2023 "Board Training"

October 17, 2023 "Systems Thinking"

October 10, 2023 "Leadership Lessons"

October 3, 2023 "Friday's Colloborative Community"

September 26, 2023 "Character"

For previous newsletters, click this link

A few years ago I set out to write a book which would explore the challenges of Catholic school leadership. My premise that there are no easy answers and that we have to learn from our (and other's) mistakes in order to form a mindset appropriate for orchestrating conflict proved prescient as we all faced completely new and unexpected challenges in 2020. The book,Orchestrating Conflict: Case Studies in Catholic Leadership is now available on Amazon or on the Barnes & Noble site in print or e-book formats. The book explores issues in Catholic school leadership and the tensions between building community and following Church policies and introduces deliberate practice as a method for leadership formation. Most recently, I have completed a new book proposal so book #2 is underway!