Many teachers use advance organizers without realizing the power of what they are doing. Many just call them agendas. In The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning, I defined advance organizers as “agendas that give students an idea of what they will be learning that day or during a lecture.” It sounds simple enough, but…
The Religion Teacher Blog
4 Lessons All Catechists Can Learn from Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
Last week on of the founders of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Dr. Sofia Cavalletti, died peacefully in her home. She and her colleague Gianna Gobbi developed their unique approach to catechesis in the 1950s. In honor of their achievements, I would like to share a few thoughts on this model of catechesis and how…
Genesis Creation Stories Lesson Plan
The first three chapters of the book of Genesis relate important truths about ourselves, our humanity, and our relationship with God. A common pitfall we can run into when teaching about these chapters is the differences between the first chapter and chapters two and three. In this lesson plan, students will compare the first two…
Catechetical Link Round-up (Summer 2011)
There have been so many great catechetical links of resources posted on blogs and websites this summer, that I had to share a few. If you haven’t checked out or subscribed to some of these sites, you should definitely do so! Back to School Prayers (Catholic Faith Education) What Web Browsers Can Teach Us About…
6 Classroom Management Strategies for the First Weeks of School
The first weeks of school is the most critical time for establishing effective classroom management for the rest of the year. I’m a big believer in holding off on all significant teaching of course content until some effective classroom management procedures and classroom rules are established and practiced thoroughly. Consider using the following classroom management…
3 Passive Learning Objectives That I Never Use
I’ve written often on this site and in my eBook about the importance of writing out learning objectives for your students. These learning objectives, or lesson objectives, set a goal for your students to reach during the course of the lesson. It allows you as a teacher to focus only on the teaching strategies and…
Saint Augustine Prayers for Catechists, Teachers, and Students
The following prayers of Saint Augustine are derived from a short piece of writing that was meant to instruct catechists about teaching. Although his intention was not to offer prayers for the use in catechesis, his hope was to inspire teachers to overcome their challenges and find inspiration in the love of God. The prayers…
Nickel and Dimed Discussion Questions
A popular book used in social justice courses is Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. For schools who have assigned this book on the summer reading list or for an assignment during the year, consider integrating the Nickel and Dimed discussion questions that are offered below. For those who…
Use the ROMAN Reading Strategy to Promote your Summer Reading List
I love innovative reading strategies. Most religion teachers recognize early on that despite the fact that they are meant to teach theology, they spend a lot of their time teaching reading. Literature has historically been a key source of our faith and it is critical to the well-rounded Catholic religious education program. In Nick Senger’s…
Building Prayer Habits as a Teacher
Prayer is central to effective catechesis. If a teacher does not pray, how can she or he possibly expect to open students up to the grace of God? But we all know how busy our lives can get as teachers. Finding time to pray is difficult and it can be challenging to set up good…
