Faculty Highlight Reel: Week of October 10

• Mrs. Chappetto’s Art II students took a field trip to Jackson Park to sketch the trees as they change color.  This field trip is a great idea that utilized our unique location and our exceptional weather while turning students into artists as they were asked to pick a scene to sketch. 
• Mrs. Millsap presented at the National Association of Biology Teachers conference in Anaheim, California this week.  She was asked to present on “The Challenges, Successes and Future Plans of an Illinois Representative of Biology Teachers.”  Congrats to Mrs. Millsap.            
• Thanks to Mr. Reidy for being a steady presence in our hallways in between class to greet students and make sure they are traveling up and down the correct stairways. 
• Mr. Mota’s Spanish IV students created original “magical realist” stories in Spanish and read their short stories to the class.  Each student presented a series of pictures on the computer to accompany the reading of his story.  Mr. Mota had students create their own stories after reading Continuidad de los Parques, by Julio Cortazar – another work in magical realism. 
• Forty six seniors and six student leaders went on Kairos at Bennet Lake, Wisconsin this week.  Thanks to Fr. Marlon, Fr. Peter, Br. Dave, and Mr. Sweany for their work on this important component to a Mount Carmel education.
• Mr. Eisenbraun and Ms. McKay organized our National Testing Day on Wednesday by dividing tests, students and teachers in various classrooms.  The coordination work that goes into testing days is tedious work.    
• Thanks to teachers who presented to freshmen during our Reorientation Day.  Padre, Mr. O’Connor, Coach Antonietti, Coach Ehrenstrom, Fr. Tony, Mr. LaCount, and Mr. Burke all presented and Coach Quinn organized intramural competition for students at 63^rd street beach.  Thanks to a number of other teachers for supervising students throughout the day. 
• When Spanish II students struggled with the meaning of a word, Mr. Godinez dictated a sentence in Spanish that used that word and asked the students in the class to use context clues to determine its meaning.  Not only does this technique help students with their Spanish, it’s also a College Readiness Standard.
• After Monday’s Sectional competition, Coach Nick wrapped up 25 years of coaching Mount Carmel’s Golf Team.  The accolades and well wishes for Coach Nick continue to poor in from graduates of the golf program, coaches from across the Catholic League, and present and former colleagues. 
• Congratulations to Coach Schergen and Coach Godinez on capturing the Soccer Catholic League Championship in thrilling fashion at St. Ignatius on Thursday evening. 
• Mr. Iwerson provided his English II students with engaging writing prompts.  Students were asked to write for 30 minutes either agreeing or disagreeing with thought-provoking statements like “Parents love all their children equally; there is no such thing as a ‘favorite son’ or ‘favorite daughter’” and “fighting is a natural part of family life.”  Mr. Iwerson reminded his students that writing is like “doing pushups” – the more you do it, the better you become.  Clearly Mr. Iwerson’s discussion of the struggle of writing coupled with his interesting prompts piqued his students’ thinking because every student in the class wrote diligently for 30 minutes. 
• Mr. Timbers’ Freshmen Technology students created Excel files that calculate salaries for a fictitious professional sports franchise they created.  Students used espn.com as a source to gather their information and used Excel to balance their team’s budget.  This creative assignment leveraged our students’ interests to teach them how to use a computer program.
• Mr. Good made clear distinctions between what is vital to know to be successful in Geometry and what isn’t as important.  He made sure his students knew that as long as they could identify their own errors, they would do better the next time.  Mr. Good’s approach guided students through the struggle Geometry students face in their learning.