Catholic educators demonstrate creativity

By Susan Bailey | CFP correspondent

Catholic educators throughout the Diocese of Worcester are demonstrating a creative response to teaching their students during the COVID-19 crisis.
“The Catholic schools haven’t missed a beat; the learning goes on,” Superintendent David Perda said Tuesday.
On Sunday, March 15, Gov. Charlie Baker ordered all public and private schools be shut down for three weeks. On Wednesday, he extended the shutdown until at least May 4.
Elementary and secondary Catholic schools in the Worcester Diocese had anticipated the closure and planned for it, Superintendent Perda said.    
“We had to figure out how to make sure that our customers - the students, the parents - have as seamless an experience as possible with respect to a high quality Catholic education,” he said.
“We’re blessed to have some very talented teachers and principals who are up-to-date on technology that can be utilized to continue to provide an education to students ranging from young children all the way to high school kids,” he said.
Principal Deborah O’Neil of St. Bernadette School, Northborough, (grades pre-k through grade 8) described the process her school went through in a letter to parents and students.
“Monday, March 9th was scheduled as a professional day for the faculty of St. Bernadette School,” she wrote. “Previously planned agenda items were tabled as we took advantage of the
time to consider an action plan to address a potential school closing.”
That plan resulted in the use of two online platforms, Seesaw and Google Classroom. These programs enable teachers and students to communicate with each other, conduct classroom activities daily and remain connected to the school community. Teachers and students can create and upload videos, and participate in live classroom instruction; students can take tests and quizzes, and submit homework assignments.
St. Bernadette is also making use of digital textbooks such as Discovery Education Science and Social Studies, and IXL Math, English, Science and Social Studies.
Each of the grades are taking full advantage of the technology. The kindergarten team is holding an online event known as Fairy Tale Day where students and teachers will dress up as fairy tale characters and share their paper bag puppet projects through the use of Zoom, a web-based video conferencing tool.
Fourth-graders are using YouTube for read-alouds and Khan Academy for instructional videos. The middle school grades are using Seesaw to deliver the curriculum. Digital texts are being used to supplement the instruction. Seventh-graders are answering writing prompts and eighth-graders are responding to questions tied to their current novel, “The Devil’s Arithmetic.”
Prayer and faith reflection are also being addressed.
“Daily prayer has been shared electronically with colleagues and Pope Francis’ worldwide invitation to pray the rosary was an opportunity to support our connection as Catholic school educators,” Principal O’Neil said.
“Schools are starting the day with opening prayer ... We are just in the middle of our second week. I think it is very exciting,” Superintendent Perda said.    

CHALLENGE AT NATIVITY
The Nativity School of Worcester, a private Jesuit middle school, faces a unique challenge. As the city’s only tuition-free private educational institution with an enrollment of 63 boys from low-income families, conducting classes online was not a viable option.
“Students come from families living at or below the federal poverty line, and do not have access to the equipment or reliable internet in order to participate online effectively,” said Patrick T.  Maloney, president of the school. “Therefore, we have created paper-based work for them during our closure and we are also distributing food bags to families to get through this difficult time.”
To cover the next three weeks, teachers created weekly homework packets. Since students normally receive two meals and two snacks at school, food is being distributed to the 60 current families and 15 graduate families.
Emily Kent, Nativity’s principal, noted that connections between students and teachers will be maintained.
“Each student has a Nativity email that they use, she said. “We do have a text messaging service that we’ve been using to update families on any changes.”
    The school is also asking the public to partner with them by making a monetary or food item donation, using the school’s Amazon wishlist (http://a.co/b8jo2NJ), or by giving to the school using a credit card (https://bit.ly/2W9PGKw).
“As we continue to monitor the situation and follow guidance by government officials, we are committed to the education of our students and the well-being of the entire Nativity Worcester community,” President Maloney said.
“There is some amazing work being done and I am proud of the school leaders and teachers for stepping up to the plate in a time of crisis,”     Superintendent Perda said.
Summing up the extraordinary efforts of Catholic educators Principal O’Neil said, “All schools in the Diocese are doing our best to provide authentic learning for our children, support our families and lean on one another as education professionals.”

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