101 Essential Resources for Catholic Educators

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2012 Catholic Schools Week Logo

Happy Catholic Schools Week! To celebrate, I’ve put together a list of 101 resources that no Catholic educator should be without. From Twitter users to bloggers, from social networks to teaching tools, it’s all here in one convenient spot. Share the love, spread the news, and tell the world about Catholic Schools!

Catholic School Organizations and Resources:

  1. The National Catholic Education Association (NCEA)
  2. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice
  3. Today’s Catholic Teacher
  4. Catholic Education Resources Wiki
  5. Resources for Catholic Educators
  6. Edocere.org
  7. CSK12 – Catholic Schools Virtual
  8. Catholic Coalition for Special Education

Social Networks and Catholic School Connections:

  1. The Catholic School Chronicle List of Blogs by Catholic Teachers, Principals, and Catechists
  2. ACE Advocates
  3. I Love Catholic Schools – Facebook
  4. Teaching Catholic Kids from OSV – Facebook
  5. NCEA Social Media Mashup
  6. Digital Catechesis Global Network on Ning
  7. Catholic School Connect
Catechetical Resources:

Catholic News, Podcasts, and Multimedia:

  1. Catholic News Service
  2. Catechetical Leader Podcast
  3. Sunday Sunday Sunday from Lifeteen
  4. Catholic Movie Reviews from Lifteen
  5. Catholic Newsbreak from CatholicTV
  6. Redemptorist Television
  7. Whispers in the Loggia
Prayer Resources:

Members of the University Consortium for Catholic Education:

  1. The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) at University of Notre Dame
  2. The Alliance for Catholic Education at St. John’s University
  3. Magis Catholic Teacher Corps at Creighton University
  4. The Educational Partners in Catholic Schools (EPICS) Program at Seton Hall University
  5. The Gulf Region Academy for Catholic Educators (GRACE) at University of St. Thomas
  6. The Lalanne Program at University of Dayton
  7. The Lasallian Association of New Catholic Educators (LANCE) Program at Christian Brothers University
  8. The Lutheran Education Alliance with Parochial Schools (LEAPS) Program at Valparaiso University
  9. The Loyola University Chicago Opportunities in Catholic Education (LU-CHOICE) Program
  10. operation TEACH from Notre Dame of Maryland University
  11. The Pacific Alliance for Catholic Education (PACE) at the University of Portland
  12. The Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers (PACT) Program at Providence College
  13. Partners in Los Angeles Catholic Education (PLACE) Program at Loyola Marymount University
  14. Remick Fellowship at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota
  15. Urban Catholic Teacher Corps (UCTC) at Boston College

A Sample of Some of the Best Blogs in Catholic Education: (click here for a comprehensive list)

  1. Barb in Nebraska on Posterous
  2. Catholic Educator
  3. Catholic Teacher Musings
  4. Notes from McTeach
  5. Soul of a Nation
  6. Work with Hope

A Small Selection of Catholic Educators, Organizations, and Catechists on Twitter:

Catholic School Resources from the Magisterium:

  1. Congregation for Catholic Education
  2. United States Council of Catholic Bishops Office of Education

Documents from the Congregation for Catholic Education and the USCCB:

12 of My Favorites in Catholic Media

Sitting at home sick today I discovered–thanks to tweets by Barb Gilman and Nancy Caraminico–that it was Catholic Media Promotion Day. I don’t know how I missed hearing about this, but I’m glad I found out in time. According to the CMPD Facebook page, Catholics with blogs should post their favorites in the following categories:Catholic Media Promotion Day

  • 3 blogs
  • 3 podcasts
  • 3 other media
  • 3 random Catholic things online
  • their own projects

In addition, Catholics are asked to visit iTunes and leave 3 positive review for podcasts and apps.

Here are my contributions, heavily biased by my current interests in Catholic education and deacon formation:

Blogs that I Never Skip:

  • The Deacon’s Bench – Of all the blogs I read, I look forward to this one the most.
  • Engaging Faith – Superb effort from Ave Maria Press to share practical lesson plans and activities for Catholic educators and catechists.
  • CNS Blog – An essential source for Catholic news.

Podcasts I Can’t Do Without:

Other Must-See Media

  • Catholic TV, iCatholic Digital Magazine and the iCatholic Community – I can’t say enough about how much I admire and appreciate what the Archdiocese of Boston is doing in the realm of new media. Between their TV network, their digital magazine, their gorgeous iPad app and their online community, they are paving the way for Catholic evangelization in the 21st century. This is what all Catholic media should aspire to–high quality in every respect.
  • iBreviary Pro Terra Sancta – This is the greatest Catholic app in iTunes, hands down. The complete Liturgy of the Hours, Mass readings, Catholic rites, prayers–and all for FREE. An absolute must for all Catholic iPhone, iPod or iPad users. There is no reason for this app not to be on the mobile Apple device of every Catholic.
  • ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools – If you care anything at all for Catholic education, then I implore you to join this initiative from the University of Notre Dame. ACE Advocates will keep you up to speed on Catholic school initiatives and events, and connect you with others who share the same love for Catholic education.

3 Random Catholic Things Online

My Own Projects:

  • Catholic School Chronicle
    • Website – You’re here; stay current on Catholic school news, events and resources by subscribing via RSS or email using the links in the right sidebar.
    • Facebook page – Connect with CSC on Facebook by liking the Catholic School Chronicle Facebook page. Be sure to leave your own thoughts, comments and resources on our wall. We’d love to hear about the positive impact of Catholic education in your community.
    • Catholic School Chronicle on Twitter – A steady stream of Catholic school news.
  • ROMAN Reading – Support literacy and independent publishing by purchasing ROMAN Reading: 5 Essential Skills for Transforming Your Life Through Literature. This practice edition includes stories by Chekhov, Tolstoy and Dickens, and is also available in ebook format. Perfect for students of all ages.
  • Catholic School Minute – Finally, announcing our newest initiative, Catholic School Minute, student-produced news for Catholic classrooms. Look for a full article about this crowd-source project in the days to come, but here’s a brief summary:
    • Catholic School Chronicle is calling on all Catholic teachers who use technology in the classroom to have their students create one-minute videos of Catholic news items. Once these videos are posted on YouTube they can be added to the Catholic School Minute blog feed so that Catholic schools all over the country can use these videos in the classroom with students.

There were many great blogs and resources that I would have liked to list above. For more of my favorite Catholic media sites, see the related posts below and the Links of Interest in the left sidebar.

Bring Catholic TV News to Your Classroom

NewsbreakYou may be familiar with classroom news podcasts like CNN’s Student News, but what you might not realize is that the Archdiocese of Boston produces a similar show each week for Catholics called Newsbreak. Each episode is around five minutes long, a perfect length for showing to students in grades 6-12. New episodes air twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays, providing Catholic teachers with an excellent way to help their students keep on top of what’s happening in the Church.

As the CatholicTV website explains,

Newsbreak is hosted by Kevin Nelson who researches and reports on Catholic news from all over the nation and the world. Videos are posted at CatholicTV.com each week and include video footage from Rome Reports, a news agency which specializes in coverage of the Pope and the Vatican.

News segments at CatholicTV.com focus on anything from violence in the Middle East, to charitable work, or even abortion. In its news pieces, CatholicTV also keeps viewers up to date on various calls to action from Catholic Bishops and the Pope through its privileged relationship with Centro Vaticano Television (CTV). CatholicTV receives video footage of Vatican and Papal events for Catholic Newsbreak from CTV.

Teachers can accesss Newsbreak in several ways:

  • The show can be watched in your web browser by visiting CatholicTV.com
  • Newsbreak is also available via video podcast through iTunes.
  • There’s even a CatholicTV iPhone app that brings the latest episodes right to your phone, iPod Touch or iPad.
  • Or, you can let Catholic School Chronicle make life easy for you. Just click on the “Launch the Player” button on the right sidebar of this page to bring up the CatholicTV video player, which gives you instant access to all of CatholicTV’s programming, including Newsbreak.

It’s extremely important that we Catholic educators keep up with current Catholic news. Ours is a living faith, not an ancient relic, and it is our responsibility to know what’s happening in Catholicism so we can share it with our students.

I like to make Friday’s Religion class come alive via multimedia, so I play the latest Newsbreak video, along with Lifeteen’s Sunday Sunday Sunday and Catholic Movie Review podcasts. Then we discuss some aspect of one or the other of the shows and connect it to whatever we’ve been studying in class that week.

I’d love to hear how you could use Newsbreak in your classroom. Why don’t you leave a comment below to share your ideas with other readers?

Essential Podcasts for Educators – Lifeteen’s Sunday Sunday Sunday

Bible Geek Mark Hart
Bible Geek Mark Hart

One podcast that I play for my eighth grade students every week is Lifeteen’s Sunday Sunday Sunday. The Bible Geek, Mark Hart, prepares young Catholics for Sunday’s Mass readings by highlighting the major themes and filling in background information.

Hart begins the podcast by reminding his listeners to get a pen and paper before he lists the readings for the week. For the next seven to ten minutes he helps teen listeners connect more easily with God’s word. His enthusiasm is contagious and my students always enjoy hearing what he has to say. Hart has an energetic, folksy voice that doesn’t get too preachy or overhanded.

One thing I like about the Lifeteen podcasts is how easily they can be incorporated into a class period. Each Friday morning, my Religion class begins by listening to Sunday Sunday Sunday. Students take notes, and after the podcast is done I ask my students if they have any questions or comments. I think Hart’s style and message would be understandable by students from 4th-12th grade, and the seven minute average run time is short enough for most student attention spans.

The only complaint I have is that a couple of months ago they changed the theme music. It used to sound like a monster truck commercial, which my eighth grade boys looked forward to each week. I don’t know if they were violating copyright, but they changed the opening theme, and the new music is much more generic. Still, I highly recommend playing this podcast with your students each week. You might even try pairing it with Lifeteen’s Catholic Movie Reviews podcast.

You can listen to Sunday Sunday Sunday at Lifeteen’s podcast page, or subscribe to it for free via iTunes.

Lifeteen Catholic Movie Reviews – Essential Podcasts for Catholic Educators #2

Lifeteen movies200Anyone who teaches school knows that one way to connect with students is to talk movies with them. Lifeteen.com’s weekly Catholic Movie Reviews podcast is a great way to keep up with the latest screen triumphs and travesties. Host Greg Iwinski does an effective job of balancing cinematic critique with a Catholic moral and aesthetic perspective. His insights are pithy intelligent, and useful. Recent reviews include The Dark Knight, Hellboy II, Hancock, Wall-E, Get Smart, The Love Guru, and The Incredible Hulk.

At less than seven minutes an episode, this would be a great podcast to play to your students each week to jumpstart a discussion about living the Catholic lifestyle in today’s culture. I listen to it myself to help weed out the worthless from the worthwhile.

You can find the audio reviews at Lifeteen.com’s podcast page, or you can subscribe to Catholic Movie Reviews via iTunes (will open up iTunes on your computer).

Essential Podcasts for Catholic Educators – Pray As You Go

This is the first in a series of podcast reviews and suggestions for those who teach in Catholic schools or religious education programs. Podcasts can be a powerful tool for educators, both in the classroom and for personal and professional development. Now on to our first review, Pray As You Go, Daily Prayer for Your MP3 Prayer: Continue reading “Essential Podcasts for Catholic Educators – Pray As You Go”