Learning the Hard Way – Stories on the Journey

Wonderful story from Christian!

A long time ago my wife & I were put in charge of teaching RCIA. We’d run the adult class for a couple of years, had a lot of informed, motivated Catholics. Anyway, I would teach the first RCIA class, and figured we’d start with some basics: Faith & Reason/ Fides et Ratio by JP2. We’d studied it in the adult class, no sweat.

But with the RCIAers, what a disaster! They all had that deer in the headlights look, and after about 15 minutes I could see that Fides et Ratio wasn’t a good intro for the novice crowd even if the veteran Catholics had liked it just fine. I said, “sorry, this ain’t working,” and spent the rest of the time answering their assorted questions about Catholicism.

For the rest of my catechetical career I’ve tried to be sensitive to what a class already knows and start gently from there.

What’s your story? Our topic for Week Four is “Oopsies! I Goofed!” Share a brief story (click here) – just one or two paragraphs – describing a time when your lesson plan didn’t quite work out as you planned and what you learned from the experience.  Then, return each day this week to read others’ stories and to comment on them if you wish. You can also go back and comment on stories from previous weeks. I look forward to hearing from you!

* All stories posted become property of Loyola Press and may be used in future publications
About Joe Paprocki 2758 Articles
Joe Paprocki, DMin, is National Consultant for Faith Formation at Loyola Press, where, in addition to his traveling/speaking responsibilities, he works on the development team for faith formation curriculum resources including Finding God: Our Response to God’s Gifts and God’s Gift: Reconciliation and Eucharist. Joe has more than 35 years of experience in ministry and has presented keynotes, presentations, and workshops in more than 100 dioceses in North America. Joe is a frequent presenter at national conferences including the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, the Mid-Atlantic Congress, and the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership. He is the author of numerous books, including the best seller The Catechist’s Toolbox, A Church on the Move, Under the Influence of Jesus, and Called to Be Catholic—a bilingual, foundational supplemental program that helps young people know their faith and grow in their relationship with God. Joe is also the series editor for the Effective Catechetical Leader and blogs about his experiences in faith formation at www.catechistsjourney.com.

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