About Joe Paprocki
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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 40 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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Intermediate Grades
Stories of Abraham and Jacob: Around the “Campfire” (While Roasting Marshmallows!)
This evening’s session is all about storytelling! First, we need to finish our work on the stories of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac from last week but then we will segue immediately into the great stories of that rascal, Jacob! To set the mood for the storytelling, I’m going to build a pretend campfire! Take a look: (For directions on how to make the pretend campfire and marshmallows, visit http://www.funinthemaking.net/2009/02/17/pretend-to-campout-how-to-make-a-pretend-campfire-and-paper-marshmallows/). Here’s the overall plan: BIG IDEA: […]
Growing as a Catechist
Ends With a Whimper, Not a Bang
Alas, the catechetical year with my 6th graders ended with more of a whimper than a bang last evening! Suffice it to say that their eagerness to be done with Monday night religious education sessions outweighed any anguish they were feeling about not seeing Mr. Paprocki any more! 🙂 Part of the problem stemmed from the usual shenanigans that one encounters when supervising a large group of pre-adolescents attending Mass on a Monday evening after […]
Intermediate Grades
Session 5: Keeping it Simple!
Knowing that we have a fire drill scheduled for Monday evening, I need to keep my lesson plan simple! The fire drill will probably eat up 10 minutes of the schedule which, if you do the math, is nearly 15% of a 75 minute class! With that in mind, I have a simple plan for this lesson which is to tie up some loose ends from the Learning Stations we did a few weeks ago. […]

Joe,
I am teaching 6th grade this year, have taught 8th grade Confirmation the past 2 years. I love your website, plus I have 2 of your books. Thanks for your inspirtion and help!
Constance R. Metzger
Thanks for the kind words, Constance! Hope you have a stellar year!
You truly are my guru !!! I can’t wait to try this! So excited. I did the sacrament learning stations what a hit for the parish!
Thanks so much for your inspiration
You GO, Geri!
Hi Joe,
Like Constance, I’m teaching 6th grade this year, too (I’ve also taught 1st and 3rd thru 5th). I’m really happy I can “steal” such great ideas from you. Our Parish’s first session is this coming Monday. Thanks for sharing with us, Joe.
kate, you can’t steal if it’s being given away! 😉