What is your method of organization? Have you made the digital jump yet? Growing up and even into college, I carried around a “planner” writing down meetings, assignments, tasks, to-dos, etc. I was lost without it. Today things are different. I recently had to get a new computer and I realized my entire life is…
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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…
A New Job, A New Adventure
People often say that your vocation is where your greatest passion meets the world’s greatest need. If this blog isn’t a dead give-away, I love teaching religion. I have an insatiable desire to learn everything I can about the Catholic faith and share that love with others. On one restless night of my junior year…
Teacher’s Reading List Ideas for Christmas Break
Christmas break is a great time to step back away from teaching and enjoy your time off. You may be looking for some good books to read or maybe you are looking to use some gift certificates from your students before you lose them. The following books rocked my socks off in 2009 and if…
Why is the third Sunday of Advent pink? (Why is the third candle in the Advent wreath pink?)
I inevitably got this question from my students during the 3rd week of Advent. So what is the best way to answer it? You could Google it and find a number of reasons: Purple is a penitential color of fasting while pink (rose) is the color of joy. The 3rd Sunday in Advent is Gaudete…
Visualizing God in Prayer and Guided Meditations
When you pray, how do you imagine God? Do you visualize someone or something? Do you use images to help you pray? Too often we tend to focus on what we are praying for rather than the God to whom we pray. If you ask your students what they imagine when they pray, you may…
Using the "New Taxonomy" to Design and Assess Educational Objectives
In September I posted a brief overview of Bloom’s Taxonomy, something I have used to develop lesson objectives since I first became a teacher. Since that post, I have spent a lot of time reading about Robert Marzano’s “New Taxonomy.” On a plane trip to New York, I found myself captivated by Marzano and John…
Review Games – All Play and No Work?
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…
About The Religion Teacher
Religion teachers, theology teachers, and catechists are always hungry for new ideas and helpful resources. This blog was created to provide teachers with the resources, tips, strategies and tools to become excellent religious educators. Other school subjects have countless resources in textbooks and on the web while religion and catechesis seem to lack quality educational…
Danielle Rose Music: Mysteries of the Rosary CD
In 2002, Pope John Paul II put out the apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (RVM). In this letter the Pope reiterated his personal devotion to the rosary and power of praying the rosary. This letter was the inspiration for a beautiful collection of prayerful songs written and performed by an amazingly talented young musician Danielle…
