Crestwood Teacher Inspired at Catholic Educational Convention

Michele Loughery called her experience speaking to fellow educators at the National Catholic Educational Association convention inspiring—and a bit overwhelming.

“I was very honored and I really was overwhelmed when I got there and heard over 8,600 Catholic educators from across the country were there,” said Ms. Loughery, a science teacher at the Annunciation School in Crestwood who took part in a 75-minute program titled “Developing Literacy Through Inquiry” at the convention in St. Louis April 18-20.

“It was very inspiring to see so many Catholic educators there. What I took back is the shared faith and love of Catholic education with so many people.”

The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), which dates to 1904, is the largest, private professional education association in the world with more than 150,000 educators serving 1.9 million students in Catholic schools in the United States.

Discovery Education is a digital service used to motivate students to learn and assist teachers in transforming their instruction beyond the classroom with interactive content.

Dr. Johnna Weller, director of professional learning at Discovery Education, and Marie O’Shea, instructional specialist for the archdiocese’s Central Westchester Region, joined Ms. Loughery, a seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher for nine years at Annunciation, in presenting the program to several hundred educators at the convention.

Ms. O’Shea introduced the Discovery Education program to archdiocesan schools in Westchester County with Dr. Noelle Beale, regional superintendent for Central Westchester schools.

Ms. Loughery cited examples of how she’s using Discovery Education in her classroom. “It’s student-driven and teacher-directed,” she said. “It allows students to really become interactive with the content. The students have responded incredibly well to it.”

Annunciation served as a pilot school for Discovery Education in the Central Westchester Region of the archdiocese for the 2015-2016 school year after Ms. O’Shea and Dr. Beale offered school principal Maureen Noonan the opportunity to try it.

Ms. Loughery said Annunciation added Discovery Education to its social studies curriculum for the current school year.

“It’s just a fabulous school to work at,” Ms. Loughery said. “It’s a true Christian, Catholic community. The community is supportive of the school, teachers, parish and each other.

“The students are great. They’re kind, respectful and they want to learn. They enjoy learning.”