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…
The Religion Teacher Blog
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…
Post-Confirmation Lesson Plan and Discussion
What do you teach after Confirmation is over (post-Confirmation sessions)? I recently shared a Confirmation lesson plan that focused on the deductive method of catechesis. The other approach to teaching ritual is the inductive method. This method begins with the ritual and and applies the actions to beliefs. In the case of Confirmation, this means…
Palm Sunday Video
Spirit Juice Studios and Outside da Box Productions have developed an incredible new video for Palm Sunday and Holy Week. If you teach teens or middle school students, this Palm Sunday video is spectacular. The video depicts two young men and their mother listening to the long Palm Sunday Gospel reading. One of the two…
Catholic Saints Birthday Project
Have you ever wondered which saints’ feast day is on your birthday? I bet your students haven’t taken the time to do the research. Give them the opportunity to find out as a Catholic saints birthday project. This could be a fun end-of-the-year project or a great way to start off the school year. One…
Rite of Confirmation Lesson Plan
According to the National Directory for Catechesis, there are two approaches to teaching ritual: the inductive method and the deductive method (NDC, 29). I wrote about these two approaches in a general way in a recent article published in the National Catholic Educational Association’s journal, Momemtum (February/March 2011, pp. 22-23). In the lesson plan below,…
7 Practical Ideas for Prayer Before Class
Prayer before class starts is usually a crucial part of every religion teacher’s lesson plan. I included it by default on the lesson planning templates I created to support The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning. Use the tips below to help you remember to pray before every class session and to offer creative opportunities…
A Class Divided: An Attention Grabbing Lesson on Prejudice and Racism
Teaching about prejudice and racism calls for more than just direct instruction and lecture. Using inductive teaching strategies is crucial to grabbing students’ attention. Some of the most memorable lessons that I have taught incorporated some authentic role-playing on my part. The best example of authentic role-playing by a teachers is featured in the PBS…
Using Inductive Teaching Strategies to Get Students’ Attention
Getting students’ attention and keeping it can be a real challenge for any teacher or catechist. Children are easily distracted and have a hard time sitting in desks and remaining focused. Throughout the school day, most teachers use the same teaching strategies (mostly lecture) again and again. Catechists are faced with the challenge of trying…
SWBAT Verb Examples
SWBAT stands for “Students Will Be Able To…” and it should begin all of the lesson objectives that you write as a teacher. Using SWBAT properly places the focus of a lesson plan on what the students learn and do rather that what the teacher teaches and does. As I have previously written, too many…
