Welcome to the new site, www.thereligionteacher.com! First, thank you for sticking with me during the transition to the new site. The experience has been great and I’m excited about the new possibilities the move has opened up. Second, the new e-book The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning will launch in October. If you would…
The Religion Teacher Blog
The Religion Teacher Is Moving!
This Labor Day weekend, The Religion Teacher will be migrating to www.thereligionteacher.com. I have wanted to make this move for awhile now, and I am finally prepared to do it at the loss of some PageRank in Google (for now). Update your bookmarks and links! If you have this page bookmarked, go over to www.thereligionteacher.com…
Welcome to TheReligionTeacher.com
On Sunday September 5, 2010, The Religion Teacher will be moving from http://thereligionteacher.blogspot.com to www.thereligionteacher.com. Bookmark this page now and get ready for some new resources and teaching tips this September!
Symbol or Sign? A Mystogogical Pedagogy of the Sacraments
Teaching about the sacraments What is a sacrament? The definition drawn from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which most children are asked to memorize, is “an efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which we receive the life of God through the work of the Holy Spirit.” In…
Coming Soon
In the meantime, check out http://thereligionteacher.blogspot.com
Classroom Procedures and the First Weeks of School
Classroom procedures and routines are the key to effective classroom management. One of the earliest and best lessons I learned as a teacher was the importance of classroom procedures above and beyond classroom rules. All teachers have rules in their classrooms, but many teachers waste time and energy enforcing rules instead of practicing procedures until…
If Jesus Had a Cell Phone…
If Jesus had a cell phone, who would be in his “fave five”? Or, If Jesus had a cell phone who would be a part of his “in network”? Or, If Jesus had a phone, who would be on his speed dial? Try posing this question as Bell Work. Have the students write out a…
Catholic Mass Reflection Questions
Occasionally you will have the opportunity to meet with students either before or after mass. As I mentioned in my post on CatholicMom.com, “How to Get Teens to Participate in Mass,” it is critical that we help young people connect their personal experiences with the Liturgy (“find their feelings”) and learn more about the God…
Getting Things Done (GTD) for Religious Educators
I recently read a book by David Allen called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. At first I thought it was a bit overwhelming with all the lists and organization that it required. I had been experimenting with Stephen Covey’s form of productivity from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but thought…
Are WebQuests Dead?
When I first started teaching, I used to hear about WebQuests all the time. People said that they were great because the kids would actually enjoy learning. They love technology so the motivation to learn would automatically be there. To be honest, I never found a WebQuest that I liked. Today I barely hear about…
