Tag: teacher

What do they expect of me now?

What do they expect of me now?
Write about yourself as you enter into Grade 8.

Consider these questions to get you organized in your writing:
Are you excited or worried? What does being in Grade 8 mean to you?
Who are the people in your life that have expectations of you this year? What do you think they expect of you?
What about you is just fine the way it is? What about you do you want to change? What about you do you want to leave behind?
What expectations do you have for yourself for Grade 8? Are they the same as your parents, teachers, friends’ expectations of you? How are they the same/different?

Share your writing with your teacher by submitting a google doc.

Rationality

The real subjects in Catholic education are the learners in the sense that wisdom requires that the learners be the primary agents of their own learning. Learners are invited to see for themselves: to be active agents of their learning rather than passive recipients of knowledge.

Learners are encouraged to use their whole minds in the pursuit of learning – their reason, memory, and imagination. And because learning proceeds from what is known to the unknown, learner’s own lefe experiences become the building blocks to new learning. An attitude of openess to the truth requires that practices of exclusion – such as racism and sexism – be absent from the learning environment. Wisdom is the antithesis of injustice. Such openness also welcomes everyone into the learning process. Everyone’s voice can be heard in the learning environment just as everyone has the opportunity to learn.

Strategies to engage Reason and Rationality in Catholic Schools:

  • Encourage social analysis: the context of learnings gives meaning to the content; cultural contexts and worldviews are open to question; other perspectives can be viewed
  • Promote responsibility and commitment: take learners beyond their own knowledge; discover how knowledge can be life-giving
  • Sensitize learning: investigate whose interests are served by what we learn; relate learning to the Reign of God
  • Encourage relational learning: allow for different styles of learning; collaborative; cooperative learning
  • Foster the professional development of teachers in the study of theology and religious education
  • Assess student learning in the religious dimension based on the cognitive understanding of faith integration into all subject areas
  • Celebrate academic achievement

How can Catholic educators educate for wisdom?

Hillel and the Meaning of Torah

Hillel was a Jewish teacher who lived around 70 B.C.E. He was devoted to the study of Torah, or Jewish sacred writings.

One day a non-Jew came to Hillel intending to mock Torah. He said to Hillel, “Teach me the Torah in the time I can balance on one foot. If you do this, I will convert to Judaism.” Hillel responded, “The main idea of the Torah is ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour.’ Everything else is commentary.”

The visitor was so impressed with Hillel’s response that he began to study Torah seriously and became a Jew.

What is your reaction to Hillel’s response?