Teachers Institute Meetings August 17th and 20th.
Friday, August 17th
Meaningful work and enriching relationships are a secret to life.
As teachers we celebrate that we have both, and work diligently to live our vocations as teachers.
On our first day we talked about the importance of maintaining a Catholic identity in our school: through our words and actions, through the environment we present and the culture we create.
Here are some prayers from the opening days:
We begin: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Loving God, we praise and thank you for the blessings and excitement of this day: for enriching relationships and meaningful work, and for all the promise and possibilities this new year brings. We ask for your guidance in all that we do to serve the children and families of this parish and school community. May we do our best each day to teach our students and guide them to be strong, loving, compassionate leaders of the future. We ask your help for those most in need of our prayer…. and offer our thanksgiving for our families, mentors, and all those who helped us to be in these privileged seats today. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
On August 20th, day two of our teacher meetings, we continued our discussion of Catholic Identity and talked about Catholic writers who had recently spoken in our archdiocese – whose books may be of interest to the teachers. We also considered psychologists Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg and their stages of moral development in light of our prayer and spiritual lives.
Our meeting included this prayer:
Teacher Prayer
Gracious and All loving God, out of love for all people you spoke your Word who became human for our salvation.
May your Word transform us so that the message of your Son, our Lord, may be echoed through our teaching .
Allow us to guide the hearts of those we teach in such a way that they will enter more deeply into your way of truth and salvation.
Grant us the insight needed to lead others to know, love, and serve you.
With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, may all those entrusted to our care become hearers and followers of your Word, so that they might help transform the world - to follow the way of life to which your Son has called us all, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. AMEN.
We look forward to a great faith-filled, joyful, productive new school year for all.