Tonight, we begin our unit on Church History. We kick off this unit by bringing all five eighth grade classes together for a PowerPoint presentation on Church history to give them a sweeping overview of major events in Church history over the past 2,000 years. Each of the five catechists “narrates” a period of Church history and the kids take notes on a fill-in-the-blank note-taking sheet we provide. It’s an engaging way to introduce a topic that they may otherwise not find very interesting.
Junior High
Meditation on the Corporal Works of Mercy
I’m always suspicious of people who tell me that when they were in Vegas, they won X amount of money playing a certain game or machine. They never tell you how much they lost along the way! In the same way, I’m about to tell you about a moment I had last night at religious education that was like hitting the jackpot. I’ll follow that, however, with a little disclaimer that shows it wasn’t all […]
Catechists in Action
Catechists in Action – Marge Introduces the Theme for the Session
In this segment of Catechists in Action, Marge Garbacz introduces the theme for the evening’s RCIA session (Human Dignity), drawn from Practice Makes Catholic. Watch for the following: Marge nicely ties in the theme for the evening, human dignity, with the Gospel reading just reflected on (the Man Born Blind). Marge describes how I introduce the theme of human dignity in Practice Makes Catholic by talking about a song from the musical Chicago: Mr. Cellophane to emphasize […]
Creative Moments
Not Bad!
Our experience of playing a Jeopardy-like review was not bad at all last night. Of course, games can rile kids up so we were walking a fine line between having fun and laying down the law last night. However, overall, I’d have to say that fifty 8th graders in one room behaved pretty well! The nice thing was that they did a pretty good job of answering the questions. All of us were pleased that […]
That is very substantial, it’ll require real thinking from the kids….did you make that P’point? Also, for this amount of material, how many (90 min.?) classes will you need?
And do I understand your parish has five 8th grade classes and five 8th grade catechists? If so, your parish is truly blessed to have such participation….I’m gettin’ dizzy….take me now, Lord.
Christian, you are so funny! I did indeed make the Powerpoint and we whisked through it in one session last evening. That’s a lot to take in in one setting but over the next few classes, we can unpack things more slowly. This presentation gives the kids a feel for the whole story and some sense of chronology. The note-taking sheet keeps them focused and on-task.
Yes, the parish I serve at has five 8th grade classes, each with its own catechist. Hats off to my DRE, Arlene, who does such a wonderful job of recruiting and retaining catechists.
Joe, what’s your parish? I want to visit the website.
Most Holy Redeemer, Evergreen Park, IL
Joe,
I am a huge fan of your website and have already incorporated many of your ideas in my lesson plans. I teach 8th Grade Confirmation class at St. Basil, Carrick, PA. Over the summer I plan to embellish my lesson plans a bit further in preparation for the next class in September 2011 and would like to incorporate the Church History. Can you please send me the actual powerpoint file for church history parts 1 and 2? I’d be most grateful. Thank you, Mary Beth Gugliuzza
Shall do, Mary Beth!
Dear Joe,
I would love to have a copy of the actual power point, too!
Thank you
I’ll send it to you.
Can I get a copy of the powerpoint?
Thanks!
Sure Laura, send me an email at joe@catechistsjourney.com and I’ll return it with the PPT attached.