Center for Catholic Education at UD

By Emily Ely

Summer break is almost here! Every single one of you – as much as you love your vocation and your students – knows exactly how many days you have left until summer vacation. You have earned this time to relax and recharge. You have earned the right to read whatever YOU want and spend time with your OWN children. You can eat lunch for (gasp!) longer than 15 minutes. You actually have time to reflect on the past school year and prepare for the next one.

It is also the perfect time to come to the University of Dayton for the Center for Catholic Education’s fifth annual professional development day, the Catholic Education Summit. This year’s theme is Listen, Dialogue, Plan, Act: Contemplation and Technology in Catholic Schools. It will be on June 24 from 8am to 4 pm on our River Campus. It is super affordable – only $25 to learn from five keynote speakers, interact with colleagues during three networking sessions, eat three meals without interruption from a school bell (continental breakfast, boxed lunch, celebratory 20^th Anniversary Dinner), and earn contact hours for CEUs.

Our morning will focus on Contemplation in Catholic Schools. Paul Tratnyek will teach about the history of meditation in our Christian tradition, the benefits of Christian meditation for our students and ourselves, brain research on meditation along with practical ways to introduce and sustain the practice in our classrooms and schools. Then Father Michael Fish will give us practical ways to practice faith and prayer in the midst of our hectic, chaotic life. He will help us explore how to convert the ordinary into the sacred and so turn daily life into an encounter with the Divine.

After lunch we will focus on Technology in Catholic Schools. Gail Donahue will begin our afternoon with ways teachers can use technology to personalize learning, promote collaboration, motivate and prepare students for the future. Using the Catholic School Standards as a foundation, we will see how technology integration supports curricular goals and how some Catholic schools are finding innovative ways to transform instruction and learning spaces. Katie Poeppelmeier will then share web tools and resources which will engage students and provide opportunities for active learning. These tools offer effective ways to interact and collaborate, gather feedback, flip learning, and create unique content.

Sister Angela Ann Zukowski will wrap up our day of professional development with a session that synthesizes our two seemingly opposing topics. She will identify best practices for applying this new knowledge into our curriculum and introduce to us her "Seven Christian Habits for Navigating in the Digital Milieu" which will help prepare us to be a moral presence in cyberspace.

Please make us part of your summer. Reflect and recharge at River Campus. For more information and to register visit https://www.udayton.edu/education/offices_and_centers/cce/programs/colloquium/catholic_education_summit_2016/index.php

Be sure to RSVP for our 20^th Anniversary Dinner if you plan to stay and celebrate with us!