Social Justice & Catholic Education

Holy Trinity High School Partnership with

Escuela San Jose Las Flores, El Salvador

l to r. Superintendent Atkinson, translator Rene Guerra Salazar, student Claudia Lopez,
Escuela San Jose Las Flores Principal Nelson Orellana,
Holy Trinity Principal Jennifer Oake, Teacher Stephanie Pearson,
& student Danilo Henriquez  

Several years ago when I was principal of Holy Trinity Catholic High School, a teacher by the name of Maureen Bourke came to see me in my office.  As I recall, it was an extremely busy day, and while she began to speak with me, I must admit that I was preoccupied with several issues that seemed important at the time but which, in retrospect, I can no longer even recall.  Despite my lack of focus, Maureen persisted with me - and looking back, I thank God that she did!

Through a social justice organization called Salvaide, Maureen had this terrific idea to twin Holy Trinity with a small school in San Jose Las Flores, El Salvador.  The partnership would be symbiotic: The students of Holy Trinity, living in the affluent neighbourhood of Kanata South, would learn about, and in some cases, experience the plight of people living in the global south.  The community of San Jose Las Flores would get support for its desperately under-funded school.

San Jose Las Flores, El Salvador

The partnership between Escuela San Jose Las Flores and Holy Trinity evolved slowly.  Unfortunately, it was barely off the ground when I left Holy Trinity in March 2009 in order to help plan the opening of a new high school for the Ottawa Catholic School Board.  However, I was pleased when Sister Shelley Lawrence, the chaplaincy leader of this new school, St. Francis Xavier, got it also connected to this social justice initiative..

It's difficult for those of us involved in education in Canada to relate to the lack of resources and funding available for this school in El Salvador.  Its principal, Mr. Nelson Orellano, told me that he must run the school on an operating budget of $3,500 per year!

The Holy Trinity community not only sent a delegation of staff and students to El Salvador to see Escuela San Jose Las Flores for themselves but also raised funds to provide much needed resources for the school.  Their fundraising efforts resulted in the creation of a computer lab in the school.  For pictures of the computer lab and Escuela San Jose Las Flores, please view the Ottawa Catholic School Board October 23, 2012 meeting agenda: 

http://bboard.ocsb.ca/bbcswebdav/institution/OCSB%20Corporate/Board%20Departments/Directorate%20and%20Corporate%20Services/Communications/Webmaster%20Files/Board%20Agenda%202012-2013/ocsb-board-agenda-23-oct-2012.pdf

On Tuesday, October 23, I had the pleasure of attending a welcome to Canada luncheon at Holy Trinity for principal Nelson Orellano and two delightful Escuela San Jose Las Flores students, Claudia Lopez and Danilo Henriquez.  All expressed their heartfelt thanks to the students and staff at Holy Trinity for supporting their school.  It was a message that was repeated again that evening, as Mr. Orellano.and the two El Slvadoran students presented to the Board of Trustees along with Holy Trinity teacher Stephanie Pearson.  

Left to right - Rene Guerra Salazar, translator; Denise Andre, Deputy Director; Nelson

Orellana, El Salvador principal; Mark Mullan, Chairperson; Claudia Lopez, student from

El Salvador; Danilo Henriquez, student from El Salvador; Stephanie Pearson, teacher;

Jennifer Oake, Principal; Melissa Hornby, student from Holy Trinity Catholic High School

and Ted Hurley, Vice-Chairperson

    

Great Occasions

Family of Schools Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral

His Grace, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast & Father Jessimar Cavan-Tapia
of  St. Andrew Parish 

The mission statement of the Ottawa Catholic School Board states that partnerships between schools and parishes are at the core of Catholic education .  And so it was that on Wednesday, October 17 St. Andrew Parish organized a special mass at Notre Dame Cathedral for grade 5 and 6 students of five of my Barrhaven elementary schools: Monsignor Paul Baxter, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Emily, St. Luke, and St. Patrick.

The Recessional following mass at Notre Dame Cathedral

Before mass began, Father Jeff Kerslake, Episcopal Vicar, welcomed the students, their teachers and principals, and many parents to Notre Dame Cathedral.  He spoke about the history of the cathedral and its recent restoration.  The students displayed great reverence for the solemnity of the mass, and I was very impressed with how enthusiastically they participated in the responses. In his homily, Archbishop Prendergast explained to the children that the word cathedral derives from the Latin word cathedra, meaning chair, and that a cathedral is so named because the bishop's chair is located there.

Archbishop Prendergast, Father Jessimar, Trustee Alison Baizana,
Superintendent Peter Atkinson, and some of the Principals 

 Sensing the students' interest in the splendor of the cathedral, His Grace described many of the features of the cathedral, pointing out to the children that the stars on the ceiling are made of gold!

Accompanied by Barrhaven/Gloucester-South Nepean Trustee Alison Baizana, I was honoured to be at Notre Dame Cathedral for this wonderful Eucharistic celebration.  Thank you to Father Jessie and the parishioners of St. Andrew for organizing this mass.  Congratulations to the principals, teachers, and students of these schools for their participation. 

The Archbishops Annual Charity Banquet

Having begun my day on Wednesday, October 17 with Archbishop Prendergast at Notre Dame Cathedral, I also finished my day with the archbishop at his annual charity dinner.  This year, the two beneficiaries of the charity dinner were St.Patrick's Home and Centre d'accueil Roger-Seguin.  With these seniors residences in mind, His Grace spoke about respect for life, from conception to natural 

death, focusing his remarks particularly on our responsibility to care for the elderly.  A thought-provoking remark he made was his caution that how we currently treat the elderly is likely how we will be treated by others when we grow old.

Visit by Ministry of Citizenship & Immigration Deputy Minister

On October 12, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, Mr. Chisanga Puta-Chekwe, visited St. Joseph Adult School in order to have a first-hand look at our very successful adult non-credit English as a Second Language program and Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada program.

Mr. Puta-Chekwe speak about newcomer settlement trends 

After speaking with our Deputy Director of Education, Ms. Denise Andre, Continuing and Community Education Manager Shailja Verma, ESL Administrator Abai Coker, and myself, Mr. Puta-Chekwe spent some time observing our specialized language class for deaf students.  He was very impressed with the use of technology and the mastery of American Sign Language demonstrated by the students.

The Deputy Minister with Ms. Andre and Ms. Verma in
our Specialized Language Class for Deaf Students 

Following the classroom visit, an assembly was held at which Mr. Puta-Chekwe was able to speak with adult ESL students at St. Joseph.  A group of students also performed a song for him. 

The Deputy Minister left St. Joseph with a great impression of the adult ESL programs offered by the Ottawa Catholic School Board and the dedication of our program instructors and administrators.

Micheal Fullan's Stratosphere

Book Review: Michael Fullan's Stratosphere

In Stratosphere, Michael Fullan outlines his solution for the current inertia in schools: “The solution consists of the integration of advances in pedagogy (especially built on how we learn), in technology (especially around engagement), and in change knowledge (especially around making change easier).”  

Pointing to studies that suggest alarming levels of both student and teacher dissatisfaction and disengagement with learning in schools, Fullan argues that current approaches such as “tell and test” are to blame for this general malaise.  He further states that only through the proper integration of pedagogy and technology will schools become effective institutions for learning in the 21^st century.  New developments in learning he states must be “irresistibly engaging, elegantly efficient and easy to use, technologically ubiquitous 24/7, and steeped in real-life problem solving.”

In his chapter on technology, Fullan begins by acknowledging technology’s “dark side” – phenomena like cyberbullying, sexting, and gaming addiction.   He suggests, though, that the undisciplined use of technology by young people is due, in part, to the fact that “the digital world of students is largely outside of schools”.  Although his message with respect to technology is for school districts and teachers to “get in there”, experiment,  and allow the gadgets to come to school,  he also warns against simply loading up on technology in schools, which he calls a “wrong driver”.  Instead, he argues for a proper integration of technology, involving a focus on pedagogy with teachers becoming comfortable “with not being the tech expert in the room” and practicing good classroom management skills.

Along with this increased focus on technology, Fullan calls for a new pedagogy that is centred on meaningful projects that focus on real-life problem solving and include the following elements:

-       Teamwork

-       Risk taking and experimentation

-       Frequent and purposeful feedback

-       Personalization

More than anything else, the new pedagogy calls for a focus on the subjective experiences of students, allowing students, as Sir Kenneth Robinson says, to “be creative in one’s area of interest”.

Fullan concludes Stratosphere on an optimistic note, predicting that an explosion of innovations that integrate technology and the new pedagogy are just around the corner.  Let's hope he's right!

Christian Community Day

Christian Community Day 2012

For close to 30 years, I have been moved and inspired by the Ottawa Catholic School Board's unique professional development day which is held on the Friday before Thanksgiving weekend.  This celebration of Catholic education is appropriately called  Christian Community Day.  This year, we gathered on Friday, October 5 at the Ottawa Convention Centre.

Following a series of poignant vignettes reminding us of powerful Christian messages such as forgiveness brings peace, and greetings from Ottawa Catholic School Board Chair Mark D. Mullan, Mr. Julian Hanlon took the stage to deliver the annual Director of Education address.  Mr. Hanlon focused on three topics: our United Way Campaign, the board's communication strategy, and student success. 

Director of Education Julian Hanlon's Address

 Framing the United Way Campaign within the context of our mission in Catholic education and our board's spiritual theme, By Our Works We Show Our Faith, he first commended all staff for raising an incredible $562,000 last year, making ours the top campaign in 2011 in the City of Ottawa!  He then appealed for a generous response again this year and showed a student-produced video which hi-lights the amazing work of our own United Way partner organization the Catholic Education Foundation of Ottawa: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiiBpoSYAAQ&feature=youtu.be

In speaking about student success, Mr. Hanlon focused on the work of John Hattie.  In Visible Learning For Teachers, Hattie synthesizes the results of more than fifteen years of research involving millions of students. His meta-analysis represents the biggest ever collection of evidence-based research into what actually works in schools to improve learning.  As Mr. Hanlon stated, the biggest message for teachers from Visible Learning is simply this - Know thy impact. 

A surprise to some teachers, Mr. Hanlon revealed that research indicates that while factors such as class size and teacher knowledge of subject content have relatively low impact on student learning, factors such as feedback and student expectations (self-reported grades) have high impact.  

 A great moment during Christian Community day was the performance of Jan Bentham's song Works of Mercy by two students at Sacred Heart High School

Liam England & Nicholas Maillet - Works of Mercy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtGNUA2OKA4&feature=youtu.be

The keynote speaker at Christian Community Day was Steve Bell. Along with humour and Christian music, Steve Bell spoke about the nature of prayer and his understanding of God.  He explained that the most important part of prayer is the hang - not so much the words we speak to God but the time we devote to simply being in communication with God. 

Steve Bell emphasized that the very nature of God is relational, familial - "the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father."  Creation, he went on to say, is a consequence of God's "ecstatic overflow of love". It is a beautiful image of the Creator as is Bell's notion, drawn from his own experiences as a songwriter, that "We are the song that God had to create." 

Christian Community Day concluded with a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.  His Grace began mass by acknowledging the Unity Cross that was on stage.  It has become a powerful symbol across the Ottawa Catholic School Board of our Christian community.  In his homily, Archbishop Prendergast expressed gratitude for the "life changing" impact some of his teachers had on him, and in doing so, reminded all of us of the powerful influence that educators have in the lives of students of all ages.

Staff gather at the Ottawa Convention Centre during Christian Community Day

Click on the link to view a presentation on Christian Community Day:

http://animoto.com/play/cZtCrLg9t4K0uQfhkI1hSw