It Was the Quietest of Times, It Was the Noisiest of Times!

Joe Paprocki Intermediate Grades

Our session this past Tuesday (Jan. 14, 2014) was very enjoyable and was a study in contrasts.

I actually began the session (after preliminary chit-chat and our opening prayer ritual) with a guided reflection in which I invited the young people to talk with Jesus about what they have learned in the first half of the year. The kids were amazingly quiet! It was a very prayerful experience and, in all, lasted about 15 minutes. You could hear a pin drop!

Then, however…

We played our Jeopardy-like review game (Jeopardy-Like Review for 6th grade – 2014) and, while it was effective for reviewing the content we learned in the first half of the year, it also led them to be noisier than at any previous time in the year! My wife and I needed to repeatedly shush them into submission!  🙂

Following all the excitement, we once again returned to the sublime, as I gave them their Ten Commandments Quiz which consisted of them simply writing out the Ten Commandments. Again, it grew very quiet and you could hear a pin drop! I was very pleased with the results (see attached) Almost every one of them got all Ten Commandments correct. A few missed one commandment and a few got some occasional wording incorrect.

I have ordered some simple tassels to distribute to them next week to remind them to keep God’s Commandments, just as God instructed the Jewish people to wear tassels on their garments to remind them of God’s Law. (Numbers 15:37-41)

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About Joe Paprocki 2742 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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2 Comments

  1. Joe
    I passed this review lesson on to my catechists.
    I opened the Jeopardy game. Nicely done. If catechists save it and open it into PowerPoint they could create new games my changing the categories, questions and answers. It is a nice template.
    I may try it out at a parent/child meeting!

    Frank

    Reply

    • Great Frank! I love passing along things that people can replicate/adapt for their own setting! That sounds like fun for a parent/child meeting.

      Reply

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