Every Day, Every Class, Every Student, an Encounter with Christ That is the vision we aspire to at The Religion Teacher. So much of what religious educators do, however, focuses almost entirely on education and not encounter. As a result, Christ becomes just another idea to learn like everything else in school. As catechists and…
The Religion Teacher Blog
The Lord’s Prayer Lesson Plan
Use this lesson plan to teach about the meaning of each part of the Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father). Students will learn the meaning of the prayer and apply it to their lives so that praying it becomes more meaningful and not mindless and memorized. This lesson plan format is based on the Lectio Divina…
A Class Litany of the Saints
The Litany of the Saints is a perfect prayer for All Saints Day or to supplement any lesson you teach about the lives of the saints. You can certainly use the official Litany of the Saints (found below), or try this variation on this wonderful intercessory prayer for Catholic schools and parish religious education programs….
A Prayer Service After a Tragedy
How do we teach after a tragedy? What is the best way to pray for the victims of a tragedy? People respond in so many different ways. Our students may not know how to respond especially if the tragedy affected them personally or affected their community. Our goal in the wake of a tragedy is…
Image and Likeness of God Activity
“God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 We read in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis that God created human beings in his image and likeness. If we know who God is and what God is like, then…
Lectio Divina Lesson Planning
This concept was so effective for religious educators who started using it in class, that I expanded it into an entire book on lesson planning: Christ in the Classroom: Lesson Planning for the Heart and Mind. How do we help our students know, love, and serve God? How do we teach both the head AND…
Help! My Students Are Bored in Class
Are your students bored in class? It is a common problem and as the students get older, they tend to be more and more bored. A 2015 Gallup poll of high school students showed that 40 percent of teenagers were “engaged” in school. “Bored” was the most commonly cited adjective to describe how they felt…
Word on Fire’s Exodus & Moses Lesson Plan, Video, and Handouts
This Exodus lesson plan is adapted from Word on Fire’s CATHOLICISM School Enrichment program, which offers resources for middle school and high school religion teachers based on Bishop Robert Barron’s CATHOLICISM DVD Series. Bishop Barron’s team has generously offered to share this lesson to spread the word about their wonderful educational resources. To learn more,…
Tower of Babel Activity
What are the towers in your life? That is the question to pose to your students as you teach them about the story of the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis. In this story, the people came together to try to build a tower and a city all on their own. They seek…
Cain and Abel Lesson Plan
This Cain and Abel lesson plan will help you teach young people about the importance of generosity over jealousy. They will read and remember the story of Cain and Abel, but more importantly, they will read and reflect on how it relates to their lives. Cain and Abel Lesson Objective Students will be able to…
