Is it a waste of time to play review games to prepare for tests? “I pray thee, spare thyself at times: for it becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the big pressure of his attention to work” (Augustine, Music, ii, 15). St. Thomas Aquinas uses this quote from St. Augustine to respond to the…
Teaching Strategies
How to Assess with No Test (Formative Assessments)
Old-school teachers like to teach and test, teach, and test. Tests and quizzes can be effective measures of a student’s progress, but they are rarely used to their full potential. If a quiz or test reveals that there were concepts that students did not master, then teachers need to re-teach. This concept defines the term…
Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Create Lesson Objectives
In order to expand on a previous post titled “Creating Lesson Objectives,” here is a short introduction to Bloom’s Taxonomy. Many teachers use Bloom’s Taxonomy to select an action verb for lesson objectives. Bloom’s taxonomy categorizes different levels of learning to allow teachers to think about what level they want their students to learn: knowledge,…
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)…
How to Lesson Plan in Religion and Catechesis
Preparation is a key to effective teaching. Lesson planning can be so much more than creating a list of activities for students to do. Take a look at the following questions and consider them a process by which you can lesson plan each week. Ask yourself the following questions when you create your lesson plans:…
