This year has been the biggest year yet for The Religion Teacher. I began 2011 providing support for the new owners of The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning–the free eBook available to subscribers of The Religion Teacher mailing list. Then in the summer, I began to work on The Religion Teacher’s New Roman Missal Student Activity Pack, which launched in October when the Roman Missal, Third Edition was officially released in the U.S.
In the meantime there have been a lot of new resources at The Religion Teacher. Here is a run-down of the most popular resources, new and old:
Collections of Religious Education Activities
The most popular pages on this site have been the collections of activities for Advent, Lent, and the Rosary. Some of the activities, resources, lesson plans, and resources came from this website but most pointed to many other places with quality resources and activities for religious educators.
Each year these pages are updated with new resources so be sure to check out the Lent Activities collection for 2012.
Catholic Schools Week
For the last two years the collections of Catholic Schools Week ideas and activities have been very popular here. Each article has a collection of resources that match the theme of the year, although the ideas are applicable all year long. I look forward to sharing Meghann and Jen’s collection of activities for Catholic Schools Week 2012 theme “Faith. Academics. Service.” Look for it soon!
Top Lesson Plans in 2011
The new home of the most popular lesson plans on this site can be found at the Catholic lesson plans page. If you are new to lesson planning, this is a great place to start. On that page you’ll find the most of these lesson plans as well as some videos in support of The Religion Teacher’s Guide to Lesson Planning. The top lesson plans in 2011 were:
- Catholic Thanksgiving Day Lesson Plan
- Confirmation Lesson Plan
- Post-Confirmation Lesson Plan and Discussion
- And With Your Spirit Lesson Plan
- Hocus Pocus: A New Roman Missal Lesson Plan
- Genesis Creation Stories Lesson Plan
Top Teaching Strategies in 2011
One of my goals here at The Religion Teacher is to share the most effective teaching strategies that education experts have shared. Of these teaching strategies, the most popular in 2011 were:
- 7 Pre-Reading Strategies that Increase Comprehension
- Bell Work Activities and Ideas
- Note-taking Strategies
- SWBAT Verb Examples
- Classroom Procedures for the First Week of School
Top Prayer Resources at The Religion Teacher
Prayer has been a special focus for me in 2011. Not only did I start a little side blog to share my mission to develop a deeper prayer life, I also tried to share effective ways to integrating prayer into the classroom. The most popular prayers and prayer resources in 2011 were:
- Advent Prayer Service
- Prayer Before Class Ideas
- Class Prayer (Resource Page)
- Teaching the Mysteries of the Rosary
- The Living Rosary
- Student Prayer Partners
- Saint Thomas Aquinas Prayer Before Study
Looking Ahead to 2012…
It has been a great year at The Religion Teacher and I can’t wait for the years ahead. Shortly after this post goes live, you can expect to see a brand new design (and logo!) for this website. You’ll also find a heightened focus on videos in 2012 that Catholic school teachers and catechists will find very effective teaching tools.
Wishing you the best in 2012 — happy new year!!
