Back to School

 My weeks have gotten much busier beginning this week, as the school year officially starts at the Catholic high school where I teach in Baltimore.  I know that many kids dread school starting, as many of us also did when we were kids, but in a way teachers have that same feeling.  It isn't that we hate our jobs - teaching is not a mere job, but a vocation, and many hours go into it outside the classroom too - but just that getting back into the routine, anticipating what the new kids this year will be like, and so many other normal feelings go into play with this.  That is frankly true when one starts any job, be it a prep cook in a restaurant or a corporate executive in an high-rise office.  There is natural apprehension, but the good thing is that it does quickly dissipate too.  Let me explain.

Today, I taught the first classes of the year with a totally new group of 11th graders, and while I was expecting some challenges out of them similar to some I had last year, in all honesty it went surprisingly well!  Turns out they are generally a decent group of kids, and I am teaching four classes this year in my subject area, with my fifth class being a study hall. The study hall consists of a group of my former students from last year, but they were not bad either - most of them were some of my better students from last year, and even the more "spirited" ones were nothing I couldn't handle.  I do have the challenge this year though of being what is called the "hopper" - what that means is that I don't have my own classroom, but rather teach my five classes in different classrooms while maintaining a desk in an office for a base.  That will prove a little different, but to be honest I am looking forward to a little more variety this year.  If the rest of the year goes as nice as the first day, I am thinking this will be a good year.  Of course, I also went into it with a good attitude too, and that helps as well.  We have some new and better systems in place this year, and it has somewhat streamlined our work a little better - the new principal that started this year really has a vision for the school, and he is implementing some new stuff that will make less stress for the teachers as well as helping the students be more committed to learning.  These are good things, and I am fully supportive.  I am looking for the following year into some other opportunities however if God opens a door for that, including possibly teaching overseas, but if God wills for me to commit a third year here, I can do that as well.  God's plan is ultimately the perfect plan, and either way it always works out.   I will deal with the specifics of that some other time however. 

Realizing the effort that goes into starting a new school year from a teacher's perspective has made me appreciate my former teachers more.  There is a lot invested into lesson planning, making sure that the students can understand the material, and then there are the creation of exams, coming up with syllabi and annual plans for the school administration, and then the meetings - it is a lot for sure.  And, with our particular school, we don't have a substitute teaching program in place, so if a teacher is out, one of us that is open will be scheduled to cover that particular class.  For the most part, coverage is not a bad thing - you don't do actual teaching (unless you know the subject area) and the regular teacher often leaves their instructions and all the students have to do is the assigned work they have.  While initially it seems like a pain in the neck, in reality it is not that bad, and it can be an opportunity for the covering teacher to catch up on some of their grading and other stuff they need to do.  And, that leads me to another discussion.

Last year, I came in during the middle of a semester, so I was sort of proverbially "thrown to the wolves."  With no textbook to work with, I had to pull off some meatball surgery that would make the fictional Hawkeye Pierce from the old TV classic M.A.S.H.proud.  The chaotic introduction of my first year teaching led to some problems to say the least - I was dealing with discipline issues and other things that frankly caused me sleep problems and other things.  A lot of it was an imperfect system and also having to go it alone for the most part.  Thankfully though, we ended up getting a very capable department chair, and she did wonders streamlining us - that lady doesn't realize what an answer to prayer she truly is!  Being she came into the picture later than I did, she had challenges ahead of her too, but she, to use the vernacular, "kicked butt and took names," and we are now a more cohesive department as a result. However, the one benefit of having to design my own curriculum is that I was able to essentially author my own study guide, and an idea occurred to me that I want to share here now. 

The Theology course I teach 11th-graders is called "Sacraments and Theology," and it focuses on two seemingly disconnected areas but that are fundamental to an understanding of Catholic theology.  Our courses at the school I teach follow a structure similar to many other conventional Catholic education curriculum programs - one year is Jesus and the Scriptures, the next is Jesus Christ and His Church, third is mine, Sacraments and Theology, and the fourth year is a course on Catholic social teaching. When we were in our department meeting on Thursday, a realization hit me - those four courses are designed around the four major documents of Vatican II.  Those four documents, known as Constitutions, are centered on these four aspects.  For the first course, Christ in the Scriptures, the focal document would be Dei Verbum.  For Christ and His Church, it would be Lumen Gentium.  For my course, Sacraments and Theology, it would be Sacrosanctum Concilium.  Finally, for the fourth-year Catholic social teaching course, the document Gaudium et Spes.  When you start thinking of Catholic theological education that way, then you see how it fits together.  This is actually a lesson I want to give my kids tomorrow as a matter of fact as a sort of introduction to the course.  Even as I write this now my wheels are turning as to how to present it, and it's actually kind of an epiphany moment for me.  The Dogmatic Constitutions of Vatican II, in essence, did not change Church teaching on anything - it just created a digestible framework that even the layperson could appreciate.  So, despite if someone is a TLM traditionalist or a more modern-thinking progressive Catholic, this is still the framework that is supposed to govern them theologically.  Now, I am ready to teach that tomorrow!

Those were just a few insights I had that I wanted to share from today, and hopefully for my fellow educators reading this - anyone from the volunteer parish catechist to the university professor - it will prove valuable in some way.  Perhaps some can even refine the idea a bit, and that may catch something I could be missing also.  Any rate, with a busier schedule now, I will not be writing as prolifically as I did during the summer, but perhaps a weekly insight will still be possible.  Thanks again for allowing me to ramble, and I will see you next time!