april08 - National Catholic Educational Association

Welcome to the April edition of E-News. The information supplied in this monthly newsletter aims to keep Catholic high school administrators, faculty, staff, and students up-to-date on professional development opportunities, new curriculum resources, and relevant news stories. As a service provided by the Secondary Schools Department at the National Catholic Educational Association, we strive to support our members throughout the school year and as always, we appreciate your feedback.

Present at NCEA Convention 2009 in Anaheim!
After a successful NCEA Convention in Indianapolis, the Department has begun planning for the 2009 NCEA Convention in Anaheim. (That's right folks...Disneyland!) Proposal submission guidelines and applications will be available online at www.ncea.org/departments/secondary/ApplicationGuidelines.asp beginning Monday, April 7th. Proposals received by Friday, May 23 will receive first consideration.

Birthday Blessings for Pope Benedict XVI: A Gift of Public Service from U.S. Catholic Youth and Students:
The project is off to a strong start with more than 582,899 hours of community service pledged in the name of the Pope as of April 1 To sign your school or diocese up, complete the online form at http://ncea.catholic.org/

Operation Focus: In conjunction with the Council for American Private Education (CAPE), NCEA and the other member organizations are working to encourage the private school community across the country to communicate with key members of Congress about legislative issues of concern to religious and independent schools. The program is called "Operation Focus" because it focuses on specific lawmakers and enlists the help of specific constituents within their states or districts.

In the coming months, as legislative issues are addressed by the members of the House and Senate key education and appropriations committees, Operation Focus will lobby them on behalf of our schools. This is a "grass tops" approach that utilizes the influence of persons with some relationship to the targeted legislators to press the issues on behalf of religious and private schools.

We are asking you to identify persons connected with your school who might be especially effective in communicating with a member of Congress who is a focus of the project. If you can identify such persons, please help us by asking them to complete a brief online survey (available at http://www.capenet.org/focus.html) explaining their connection with the legislator so that, if they are willing, they may be asked to advocate for a specific issue important to religious and independent schools.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) DISCIPLINE EDUCATORS: From March 26-April 7, www.edweek.org is hosting an Open House with FREE access to all content! Check out the brand new issue of Technology Counts 2008 titled STEM: The Push to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Read how states are pushing to prepare students for the high-tech global economy. Education Week's State Technology Reports include detailed, state-specific technology report cards and data on math and science achievement. Although collected from public education institutes, compare your state with others, gain valuable tips to improve your school's technology leadership, and more!

Educators save 25% off books, CDs, DVDs and more on personal AND classroom purchases! The Borders Educator Savings Days will run from April 2 to 8, 2008. Special receptions will take place at Borders nationwide on Friday, April 4 from 4:00 to 8:00 PM and will feature food, fun and prizes. More information is available at http://www.bordersmedia.com/educators/ **Receptions not held at Borders Express or Waldenbooks.

Prayer for Our Brothers and Sisters in Kosovo: For the past three summers, NCEA, in partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), has promoted global solidarity in Kosovo by sending delegations of Catholic secondary school educators to the country through the Frontiers of Justice (FOJ) program. We have been paying close attention to recent events that have transpired in this Balkan state. On February 17, 2008, the parliamentary leaders in Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia and became the 195th nation in the world. The Serbian-Albanian conflict lasted through the 20th century and brought widespread violence, political conflict, and grief to the people of that region. Neal Deles of CRS and Sr. Katherine Feely of Education for Justice put together a Prayer for Peace in Kosovo available on the Secondary Schools Department webpage at /UserFiles/File/Secondary/Kosovo_PS.doc

We encourage you to print and use this prayer with your students as we prayerfully remember our brothers and sisters in Kosovo and those in other areas of conflict in our world

National Environmental Education Week (EE Week): The largest organized environmental education event in the United States will take place from April 13 to 19, 2008. Encourage your school to increase the educational impact of Earth Day by hosting environmentally themed lessons and activities during EE Week. Last year, nearly 1,500 schools, nature centers, zoos, and museums nationwide participated and served over 3.5 million students. Log on to www.EEWeek.org to register. Email Karen Schultz at EEWeek@neefusa.org or call (202) 261-6484 with any questions.

National Geographic Student Trips: Explore Inca ruins, hike China's Great Wall, snorkel Caribbean reefs, ride a camel across a desert, play soccer with Ecuadorian teenagers, help build a school in Tanzania...These are some of the activities your students can engage in through the National Geographic Student Expedition open to students completing 9th through 12th grades. N.B. these trips are not inexpensive and the deadline is fast approaching. Application available online.

Opportunity for Parish and School Choir Conductors: Voices of the Future is designed for conductors of school and parish youth choirs to learn from the nation's top authorities on young voices. Topics covered at this 2-day hands on conference range from recruitment to repertoire and will provide time for networking among participants from around the United States. Mount St. Mary's College is a popular movie set location, offering a 360 degree view of the Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica Mountains and City of Los Angeles. For more information contact Jan Schmidt, Executive Director of American Federation Pueri Cantores at 714.396.0860, or Janschmidt3@aol.com

Summer Conference: The Soul of Youth Sport: Discovering the Life-Giving Dimensions is a summer conference hosted by The Center for the Study of Sport and Exercise at Seattle University from June 27-29, 2008. This three-day conference will bring together experienced coaches, administrators and scholars in philosophy, moral development and theology/spirituality with national and international reputations to reflect on this topic. Information is available at http://www.seattleu.edu/artsci/css/youthsport

2008 Summer Workshop for Teachers on Teaching the Catholic Past: Designed for secondary and college-level educators, this four-day workshop focuses on understanding and teaching the Catholic past with courage and integrity. Engage in topics within cultural contexts of Catholicism without "right" or "left" agendas, needless triumphalisms, or "chic" negativisms. The workshop runs from July 7 to 11, 2008 at John Carroll University in Cleveland. Contact W.F. Ryan at 216.397.4780, or humanities@jcu.edu.

*The listed curriculum resources are for your consideration and do not represent any endorsement by NCEA.

Student Filmmaking Contest: Education Justice is sponsoring a filmmaking contest called "Visualizing Catholic Social Teaching." Open to high school juniors and seniors, the contest requires submissions to creatively portray themes of Catholic Social Teaching in a short film. The deadline is April 15, 2008. More information is available from its brochure, or by contacting Sr. Katherine Feely, SND, at telephone 202.635.2757 ext. 125, or email efj@coc.org.

Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP) of the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is pleased to announce that applications to host Chinese or Arabic exchange teachers during the 2008-2009 school year are now available. Applications can be downloaded from either www.americancouncils.org or www.tclprogram.org. Applications are due May 16, 2008. Awards and regrets will be sent by the end of May. Please contact Ben Dunbar at American Councils for International Education (202) 833-7522 / (202) 833-7523 (f), Bdunbar@americancouncils.org, www.americancouncils.org.

Opportunity to Host a Native-Speaking Mandarin or Arabic Teacher: Host a native-speaking Mandarin or Arabic teacher for the 2008-9 academic year with support from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Bureau manages a program designed to strengthen the acquisition of critical need languages in U.S. K-12 schools with existing Mandarin and Arabic programs. Host school application is available at http://www.americancouncils.org/TCLP/. You are encouraged you to investigate, consider, and apply to the program. We anticipate an application deadline of mid-May. Contact Program Officer William Heaton at HeatonWE@state.gov.

Sr. Mary Frances Taymans, SND, Executive Director
Sr. Mary E. Tracy, SNJM, Associate Executive Director
Mr. Gary Meyerl, Assistant Executive Director
Ms. Christiane Connors, Director of Special Projects
Mr. Michael Conroy, Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Kelley Endreola, Administrative Assistant