The ACE Blog

It is hard to believe that the lazy days of summer are coming to an end. School supplies and backpacks have replaced summer toys, and teachers are planning schedules, procedures, and classrooms for the upcoming year. If you are implementing blended learning in your school this year, here are some quick tips to start your year off as a PRO!

For the last several years, we have been invited to teach a summer course for our second-year ACE Teaching Fellows. These are teachers who already have a year of teaching and now want to improve their teaching practice. They take our class as an elective, so they’re making the choice to take an elective instead of having a couple hours of free time in the afternoon. It’s not surprising, therefore, that these students were incredibly motivated to learn how to use technology for meaningful differentiation. Over the course of the class, we introduced them to blended learning, created learner profiles, discussed classroom management and procedures in a blended-learning classroom, explored software, dove deep into data-informed instruction, and talked about planning for success. Whew! It was a lot, packed into a short amount of time, and this group of students was particularly energetic, creative, hard-working, and hungry to be better teachers for their kids.

It seems like just yesterday we were beginning our journey with five schools in the Twin Cities. On the last day of professional development, we asked our teams to reflect on what they learned about implementing blended learning. We asked, “What is one thing you know now that you would offer to someone who is just getting started?” We received many thoughtful responses that centered around five major themes. 

Hi there Higher-Powered Learning blog readers! Today, I have the pleasure of introducing the newest member of our Higher-Powered Learning team: Kourtney Bradshaw. 

Kourtney is a native of North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina for her undergrad. She then moved to Baltimore to teach and attain her M.Ed. Most recently, Kourtney taught Kindergarten-2nd grade at KIPP One in Chicago. She came to understand and utilize blended learning in the best way possible: organically, thoughtfully, and because she wanted to provide her students with a better education that met the needs of ALL students.

Kourtney joined our Higher-Powered Learning team last month and by day three, she was traveling with us to our spring professional development in Minnesota. Her relentless curiosity, real-world experience, and caring approach quickly endeared her to our BLAST members in Minnesota. I’m thrilled to introduce Kourtney to you all and for you to read her great blog post below. We’re eager to help teachers meaningfully utilize technology in the context of Catholic education to help them engage in Higher-Powered Learning!

-Fr. Nate Wills, CSC
Director, Higher-Powered Learning Program

Last week, we had the privilege of spending three days with the members of the Higher-Powered Learning Program in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This time together served two purposes: to reflect on the first year of implementation and to prepare for the next year of coaching and continuous improvement (check out the timeline to learn more about the structure of the program).

If you’re anything like me, your mind is probably already on summer. Whether your students finished classes just before Memorial Day weekend or will be doing so within the next few weeks, I would guess that you’re ready for a little break from the early mornings and long days of school.

One of the most common concerns with blended learning is that it is a glorified form of "tracking" students. In case you are not familiar with the term, “tracking” refers to separating students by performance level and differentiating their instruction accordingly. The reason this method is called tracking is because students are typically put on an academic track at a young age and often stay on that track for the rest of their academic careers.

The Program for Inclusive Education is grateful to share a special message from Diane Freeby, a colleague of the Alliance for Catholic Education at the University of Notre Dame. This piece highlights our Blessed Mother during the month of May. It also explores the good works of Doreen Engel-a long time educator and champion of inclusion, and an adjunct faculty member at the Andrew M. Greeley Center, Loyola University Chicago. It is PIE’s privilege to collaborate with faithful educators across the country who support and advocate for inclusion in Catholic schools. There is much to be done with this mission and the partnerships are valued. Thank you both for your gracious efforts!        

~Christie Bonfiglio, Ph.D.; Director of the Program for Inclusive Education

Catholic school leaders and teachers can sometimes feel discouraged when they hear about the funding available for hardware and software or the staffing models that make classroom management so much easier in public and charter schools. Many teachers and leaders from parochial schools can feel isolated when they implement a blended-learning model and perceive that others using blended learning have different priorities and resources. For this precise reason, we created the Blended Learning in Catholic Schools Symposium.

Spring is a season of new beginnings and fresh starts. As we move further along in the school year, many educators—recent graduates, teaching veterans, and those relocating to other cities—are beginning to consider their plans for the next academic year.

On behalf of those aspiring applicants, we reached out to three Catholic school leaders—Matthew DeBoer, Tony Harris, and Martine Romero—to get their thoughts on what they look for when reviewing a resume and interviewing a potential new team member. Here are three areas you’ll want to emphasize on your resume when applying for a position at a Catholic school.

The birds chirping and blossoms slowly emerging from the cold ground signal that spring has finally come again. Now that winter’s chill is finally ending and warmer days are upon us, it is a good time to think of ways to put a little “spring” into instructional practices to breathe new life into classrooms. One of the ways our team decided to liven things up and spark student motivation was to bring a little March Madness to our schools.

I can’t tell you how many times “I’ll be there for you…” gets stuck in my head after watching an episode of Friends. But as cheesy as the song may be, its message rings true. People thrive on relationships and support.

In this post, we talked about our teachers and the positive feedback they have given us so far. Because teachers thrive when they feel challenged and supported, we try to balance the two in our work. Read on to learn about the four steps we take to make sure our teachers feel supported.

Everyone loves some friendly competition—especially in the ACE community house in Corpus Christi, Texas, when three community members coached two competing teams during the middle school basketball season.

The Program for Inclusive Education is privileged to continue last month’s inclusion story. All Saints Academy (ASA) opened its doors to ALL learners and welcomed Maya Schaab. Six years later, Maya’s parents describe their unique experience. Thank you Brian and Marcie Schaab for your faith in ASA and your willingness to share your journey.

~Christie Bonfiglio, Ph.D.; Director of the Program for Inclusive Education

As we enter the last week of March, many of us are following our brackets and the NCAA basketball tournament. Back at Notre Dame, groups of students are putting together their lineups for the largest 5-on-5 outdoor basketball tournament in the world, Bookstore Basketball. Here in the Dallas ACE community, however, our first-year teachers are anxiously awaiting preparation for the premier basketball tournament of the year: the ACE Summer Community Basketball tournament.