For catechists, this is a great time to reflect on the past year and look ahead to next year. I did a little reflecting and came up with some observations about the year and goals for next year. This was my first year teaching 8th grade CCD at our current parish. It was an adjustment…
Middle School
Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel on Vatican Website – Activities
The Vatican has added another interactive feature to their website. Have you ever been to the Sistine Chapel? Have your students been? With so many things to see in Rome, I was never able to block out the time to wait in line to see it. A “virtual” tour may not be as good as…
End of the School Year Ideas and Activities
The end of the year is quickly approaching for most schools and religious education programs. For teachers this can be just as stressful that the rest of the year. Many students—especially seniors and 8th graders—“check-out” early in the second semester with a bad case of “senioritis.” Other students wait joyfully in anticipation of the close…
A Reflection on Developing Virtues in Teens
One thing that separates religious education from other disciplines is that religion teachers and catechists go beyond teaching about the faith to teach students how to have faith. This is especially the case with the Christian moral life. With Christ as our model, teachers show students how to be moral persons. They do this by…
Bell Work Activities – They Save Time and Keep Students Engaged
There is nothing like the sound of students working hard on an assignment the minute class has begun. What is that sound? Silence. I loved it. I was able to recover from the class that just ended and prepare for the class that was beginning all while students were learning on their own. In this…
Feast of the Epiphany Lesson Plan & Activities
Background to the Feast of the Epiphany The Epiphany is celebrated on the Sunday between January 2nd and 8th while the actual feast day occurs on January 6th (twelve days after Christmas). In many European countries the Epiphany, rather than Christmas (Feast of the Nativity), is the day of gift-giving. The Epiphany is in commemoration…
Advent Resources that Make Mysteries Become Tangible Realities
Come Quickly Lord Jesus, The Whole World is Waiting for Love!This is a guest post from my wife, Jennifer Dees. She is the Assistant Director of the Notre Dame Magnifiat Schools and a master teacher. I love being Catholic for many reasons but one of the things I love the most is the way that…
Catholic Thanksgiving Day Lesson Plans on the Eucharist as Thanksgiving
Eucharist means first of all “thanksgiving” (CCC, 1360). I can think of no better lesson to teach to our students this Thanksgiving week than this. There are many images that express the intense mystery that is the Eucharist, but the Eucharist as thanksgiving is the most appropriate for November. A simple connection that you can…
Rosary Journals for Meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary
One of the ways I taught students to meditate on the mysteries of the rosary, was to have them create a rosary journal for a particular week. We focused on one decade/mystery of the rosary each day (for a total of five mysteries per week). I found this to be especially powerful for the sorrowful…
Creating Lesson Objectives
Lesson objectives are succinct sentences that describe what you would like students to be able to do as a result of the lesson. In other words they are the goals of the lesson. They are also known as learning goals or learning objectives. Lesson Objectives/Goals have three parts: 1) Students Will Be Able To (SWBAT)…
