Lectio divina is an ancient Catholic prayer method for reading and praying with the Bible. Don’t let the Latin scare you away from learning to do it yourself or from sharing it with your students. It is an essential practice for all Catholics to learn and certainly not something we should avoid teaching young people…
Search Results for: Scripture
Are You a Witness? A New Focus on Teaching AND Testimony
“You will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, and Samaria, and all the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 I started something new this semester and it really made a big impact on my students. I started using a new approach to…
New Book: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator!
I am pleased to announce that my new book, 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, is officially published! It is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, www.avemariapress.com, and various Catholic bookstores! 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator is the book I wish that I had when I was first starting…
Day 16: Update Your Classroom Rules
There are two possible activities in today’s exercise. You can either rewrite your classroom rules or try new ways to communicate your current classroom rules to your students. Use the guidelines on pages 83-84 of 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator to rewrite or better communicate your classroom rules. Check with some of your colleagues to see…
The Religion Teacher’s Lectio Divina Worksheets
“The Church desires that in the ministry of the word, Sacred Scripture should have a pre-eminent position. In concrete terms, catechesis should be ‘an authentic introduction to lectio divina, that is, to a reading of the Sacred Scriptures done in accordance to the Spirit who dwells in the Church’.” ( General Directory for Catechesis, 71)…
31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator
Creator of the popular website The Religion Teacher, Jared Dees shares practical, easy-to-use teaching strategies and exercises for spiritual growth in his book 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator. These components are designed to improve the effectiveness of any busy religious educator. Volunteer catechists and professional religion teachers are responsible for two unique and challenging…
Catholic Schools Week Ideas and Activities 2013
I am so pleased to welcome back for the fourth time my wife Jennifer Dees and our good friend Meghann Kirzeder, who will share another set of Catholic Schools Week ideas and activities for 2013. They’ve shared so many ideas in the past that they wanted me to point you to their previous posts as…
The Religion Teacher’s Jesse Tree Kit
The Religion Teacher’s Jesse Tree Kit is a special set of resources that can be used by catechists, teachers, and parents to prepare their children for the coming of Christ throughout the month of December. This Jesse Tree kit includes twenty-four Jesse Tree ornaments and symbols. All twenty-four ornaments in The Religion Teacher’s Jesse Tree Kit come…
The Second Coming of Christ & Advent
Five questions about the Second Coming of Christ: Who will come again? When will Christ come again? How will the Second Coming occur? What will happen during the Second Coming? Why will Christ come again? Based on the Scripture readings about the coming of the Son of Man and the teachings of the Catholic Catechism…
The 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit Lesson Plan & Worksheet
If you sat down to think about it, you could probably come up with a long list of things that God gives us to make us better people. There are a whole host of gifts that allow us to reach our dreams and conquer our greatest challenges, but based on the Scriptures (Isaiah 11:2-3) and…
