In this third installment of the video training material for The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning, we look at assessment. Assessment is most commonly thought of as tests and quizzes, but it is much more than that. Assessment should be seen as a variety of means to check students’ understanding and mastery of learning…
The Religion Teacher Blog
Video Tutorial: Creating Lesson Objectives – Step 2
This video tutorial introduces teachers and catechists to creating lesson objectives using a simplified taxonomy of educational SWBAT objectives.
Video Tutorial: Lesson Preparation – Step 1
Here is the first installment of the video series based on The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning free e-book. In this tutorial you will learn: The sources for selecting topics How to incorporate a curriculum and a textbook into lesson plans How to select the most important information to teach How to use the…
Introducing the Free E-book: The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning
On this feast of St. Charles Borromeo, the patron saint of catechists, I am proud to bring you my first e-book: The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning. This guide provides teachers and catechists with a simple system for lesson planning success. Included in this 63 page e-book are: Unit planning and lesson planning templates…
The Living Rosary: Bring the Rosary to life for your students!
Looking for a special way to pray the Rosary? Try bringing a Living Rosary to your school or religious education community. This beautiful prayer service takes some preparation and practice, but many teachers have found it makes for a powerful and prayerful annual tradition. The Rosary, in this case, is made of students, with each…
Rosary Activities
Get The Religion Teacher’s Rosary Worksheets for Kids! Includes handout meditations on each mystery of the Rosary to help young people not only recite the prayers but enter into the mysteries of the lives of Christ and Mary. (Special Offer: Buy these rosary worksheets for kids and get two free classroom videos on “How to…
Why I Am Catholic (Activity)
Today we had the privilege of welcoming our retired local Bishop at our Sunday liturgy. It was the first time my sixteen month old daughter had seen a bishop at Mass. She watched him process in with the deacon and altar servers as she had watched the priest and company process in at previous Masses….
Top 21 Note-taking Strategies that Will Help Students Score Better on Tests
It is not enough to just teach something and expect students to learn it. Teachers and catechists must assist students as they organize new information within their already pre-existing knowledge about a topic. There are many ways for students to organize new information in through note-taking. Many of the strategies below extend well beyond simple…
7 Pre-reading Strategies that Will Increase Comprehension
Effective reading comprehension is essential to studying the Catholic faith. Being able to read and understand the Scriptures is an obvious reason for this. Since textbooks continue to be a primary teaching tool at all levels of religious education, catechists and religion teachers should have a number of teaching strategies and activities up their sleeves…
The Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine, Patron Saint of Catechists
September 17th is the feast day of Saint Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church, and patron saint of catechists and catechumens. He was born in 1542 at the height of the Protestant Reformation. Like many saints, he was from a noble family and suffered form an assortment of health issues. He became a Jesuit and…
