I have come to fall in love with teaching in Catholic schools. What are YOU in love with?...

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything." - Pedro Arrupe
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dance. Show all posts

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Joy...always

Who would have thought that getting 8 teachers together to learn a 2 minute dance in the school's musical production of "Mary Poppins Jr" would be so supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? (Sorry, I had to throw that descriptor in somewhere.)

But seriously - Educator life goal of making a cameo appearance in the school play complete. (But hey, if the opportunity presents itself, I'll do it again in the future...just sayin'...it doesn't have to be a one and done thing.)


Check out the whole dance HERE. :)

Best bloomin' chimney sweeps around, eh?

What strikes me about this group of fabulous educators, led, of course, by our principal (third from the left), is the constant JOY they emanate and the energy they bring each day to their classrooms and lessons. In a Catholic school, joy should always be what grounds us in the education of minds and hearts.

And I think as we prepare for Catholic Schools Week, we need to remember this. It's likely, from time to time, that many of us will lose that sense of joy, even if ever so briefly. (Trust me from personal experience on this one.) We get caught up in deadlines, paper grading, student misbehavior or frustration, lack of time, too many meetings, parent communication, etc. etc. etc. And then, we get disheartened, frustrated with ourselves and our students, and we wonder, Am I really cut out to be a teacher? (Spoiler alert: The answer is most likely yes.)

To be joyful is a choice, and it comes from first being filled with joy from knowing and loving God, letting our hearts be filled with the Holy Spirit. It comes from Mass, and prayer, and time, and commitment. It comes from surrounding ourselves with good people, others who have discovered their same God-given purpose in Catholic education. And it comes from helping our students recognize and find that same joy in their own relationships with Jesus.

So, as we gear up for Catholic Schools Week, we need to lift one another in prayer to our Father and ask that He fill our hearts with joy and gratitude so that through our work as educators we continue to make Him known, loved, and served.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

More Photos...and a Little Fun

And here we are again - photos do a better job of telling the story of this teacher setting up her classroom than words ever could:

Personal picture books + religion loaning library

by my teacher desk

prayers and goodies bulletin board

attempting to keep my teacher desk organized

ready for student work to be turned in

Look who showed up - it's Flat Francis (and a great quote from St. Ignatius of Loyola)

These hang by the door on the way out of the room...

student artwork and yet more attempts to stay organized

Absent? Now work is going to be in one place.

"Homeless Jesus" statue from the prayer table

desk setup...for now

partially completed Mass bulletin board

an almost organized classroom library - waiting on one more bookshelf

Yes, I'll admit, I got a lot done the past few days in my classroom. But I also took some time for fun with friends - on Friday night, a few friends, my sister, and I went to the Chicago Summer Dance swing lesson & open dance downtown - I hadn't swing danced in a long time, so it was a ton of fun! Then, on Saturday night, another group of friends, my sister, a co-worker, and I met up at one of the Shakespeare in the Park shows, which this year happened to be his "Greatest Hits."



All's well that ends well, that's what I always say.

Oh wait, that was Shakespeare who said that...