Very little is known about Jesus’ life when he was a boy. We have only one story about Jesus between his birth and life as an adult. In the Gospel of Luke, the boy Jesus is accidentally left in Jerusalem by his parents. They later find him listening and teaching in the temple as if…
The Religion Teacher Blog
4 Ways to Help Students Learn the Books of the Bible
Every year that I teach young people, I’m amazed by how little they know about the Bible. I’ll say, “turn to Luke, chapter fifteen” and wait for four or five minutes for students to find the right page. It doesn’t matter what age group it is. High school juniors seem to take just as long…
The Chalk Talk Teaching Strategy
One of my favorite teaching strategies is chalk talk. I can’t help but think that the reason I like it so much is the fact that it gets the students thinking rather than talking out. Chalk Talk is simple. The #1 rule is no talking. Students talk with the chalk. Various students are given chalk (markers)…
This Summer at The Religion Teacher
I don’t share personal updates at The Religion Teacher very often, but there is a lot going on right now and I want to explain why you’ve seen so few new resources, activities, lesson plans, and videos. For almost a year and a half now I’ve been waking up at 5:00am to get work done….
Feast of the Ascension Activities
Forty days after Easter Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus’s ascension into heaven is recounted in Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:50-53, and Acts 1:6-12. There are a number of Ascension activities that you can do in your classrooms or at home with your children from various websites below….
Prayer Table Ideas for Religious Educators
Somewhere inside almost every religious education room or religion teacher’s room is a prayer table. Teachers and catechists use these prayer tables at various times and at various levels in throughout the year. Some pray with it daily; some let them collect dust in the back of the room. The following prayer table ideas are…
The 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit Lesson Plan & Worksheet
If you sat down to think about it, you could probably come up with a long list of things that God gives us to make us better people. There are a whole host of gifts that allow us to reach our dreams and conquer our greatest challenges, but based on the Scriptures (Isaiah 11:2-3) and…
NCEA 2012 Presentation: 12 Edtech Tools Any Religion Teacher Can Use Effectively
I was so pleased to be speaking at the annual NCEA convention in Boston, MA this year. Thank you to all of you who came to the presentation, listened to some of my tips and shared your own experiences with integrating technology into the religion classroom. As promised, here is the presentation titled, “12 Edtech…
New Testament Lesson Plans
Check out the following New Testament lesson plans taken from various religious education websites including The Religion Teacher. Lesson Plan: Development of the New Testament Canon (Engaging Faith) Birth of Jesus Lesson Plan (Catholic Mom) Feast of the Epiphany Lesson Plan (The Religion Teacher) Baptism of Jesus Lesson Plan (Catholic Mom) The Temptation of Jesus Lesson…
The Come Holy Spirit Prayer
I have had the privilege of attending a number of masses with Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, the legendary President Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame. In each of these masses, Fr. Ted has given different variations of the same homily, all of which advocate for the use of one simple prayer: Come Holy Spirit. Fr. Ted…
