Blocks, Dress-ups, and Make Believe: The Power of Play in the Faith Formation of Young Children

Play is powerful at all stages of development and learning, but is especially important in the faith formation of young children. Play provides opportunities to learn and practice new concepts and skills. Play inspires children to act out stories, and in turn, provides opportunities for children to make meaning of their world. In this session, participants will learn how to create a play-based faith formation program that helps young children come to understand the wonders of God’s love

Stories of God\u27s Love (Kindergarten)

This kindergarten program offers a leaflet-style format that proclaims Bible stories as well as contemporary stories that relate to the life of a kindergarten child. Seasonal lessons deepen the child’s understanding of holy days, holidays and liturgical seasons. Stories of God’s Love is the first new program following the Guidelines for Materials developed by the Subcommittee on the Catechism of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Responses from the Field

DeFiore (2006) provides a comprehensive review of elements that have shaped the state of special education in Catholic schools. The article speaks of the bishops’ vision without teeth and the theoretical support provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA). DeFiore discusses the demand for services that are not met because of a lack of resources, expertise, and funding. The article concludes by allowing that much has occurred over the past decade, but more is needed. To meet this need, DeFiore states that diocesan and local leaders must face the challenge of inspiring the laity to respond to this need with the necessary enthusiasm. We believe that high quality special education comes out of a culture of inclusiveness and is not impacted as greatly by resources as DeFiore and others would suggest. The focus on the inequities in funding between public and private schools often provides an opportunity to justify the inability to provide services for children with special needs. In truth, special education is mandated but not fully funded in public schools as well. At the time that the original special education act, Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, was signed into law, President Ford warned that the mandates would far exceed the allocated resources. His hope was that Congress would revise the law to be more realistic before it was enacted in 1978. These revisions never happened and the mandates of the law continue to exceed the funding (Freedman, Bisbicos, Jentz, & Orenstein, 2005)

Preschool Parent Training for Traumatic Brain Injury Prevention and Response

This study evaluated a training procedure designed to increase low-income parents’ awareness of traumatic brain injury (TBI), knowledge of what to do for a suspected head injury, and confidence related to TBI response. Participants included 40 parents from low-income households who attended one of six identical 1-hour training sessions about preschool injury and TBI. The training utilized direct instruction, videos, discussion of scenarios, and an in-person helmet fitting. Results of a pre- and post-test indicated that the training significantly increased parent awareness, knowledge, and confidence related to TBI. Suggestions are provided for how educators and mental health professionals can structure and implement educational training programs about TBI for parents of preschoolers

Catholic Schools and Multicultural Education: A Good Match

This article reflects on the place of multicultural education in Catholic schools. The authors review the history and development of Catholic schools in order to set a context for examination of the appropriateness of multicultural education

Expanding World Views and Supporting Intercultural Competence: A Model for Understanding, Assessment and Growth for Teacher Educators

Intentional efforts for teacher education candidates to expand their worldview throughout their program of study can lead to growth in their intercultural development as measured by the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) (Hammer & Bennett, 1998). This study examines the impact of utilizing the Inter-Cultural Action Plan (ICAP), a results-guided self-designed action plan, on the developmental orientation (Bennett, 2011) of the candidate’s intercultural development as measured by the IDI. Significant impact on a candidate’s developmental orientation is identified when candidates take ownership of their experiences in the form of an action plan that includes coursework and out of class opportunities

Stories of God\u27s Love: Preschool Program (Ages 3-4)

Stories of God’s Love is a Bible-based program prepared by a team of respected preschool specialists from the University of Dayton and is written following the directives developed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The leaflet style format proclaims age appropriate Bible stories as well as contemporary stories which connect the scripture story to an everyday life experience of a preschool child. Seasonal leaflets introduce and explore holy days, holidays and the seasons of the year. A music component, poster set and program director manual completes the program. Multi-day and one-day guides are available

Women Scholars, Integration, and the Marianist Tradition: Learning From Our Culture and Ourselves

In the fall of 1997, a group of junior tenure-track women faculty in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Dayton decided to meet regularly in order to support each others’ scholarly endeavors in the process of achieving promotion and tenure. The group of subsequently became known as the Writing ”“Writers’ Support Group (WWSG). In 2000, the group conducted a self-study of its group process to determine how the formation of women’s WWSG fit with the mission and characteristics of a Marianist university. The results suggest that, although each of the characteristics could be identified in the group processes, the group best identified with the Marianist mandate to educate in family spirit. Each member of the group considered the possible reasons for this outcome

Women Scholars, Integration, and the Marianist Tradition: Learning from our Culture and Ourselves

In the fall of 1997, a group of junior tenure-track women faculty in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Dayton decided to meet regularly in order to support each other’s scholarly endeavors in the process of achieving promotion and tenure. The group of subsequently became known as the Writing-Writers’ Support Group (WWSG). In 2000, the group conducted a self-study of its group process to determine how the formation of women’s WWSG fit with the mission and characteristics of a Marianist university. The results suggest that, although each of the characteristics could be identified in the group processes, the group best identified with the Marianist mandate to educate in family spirit. Each member of the group considered the possible reasons for this outcome