As we approach Thanksgiving, I thought it would be a good time to pause and give thanks for those blessings that are specifically related to my (our) role as a catechist. To the following, I/we pray, “Thank you, Lord!” What would you add? For my vocation as a catechist… For the many people who formed me in faith… For those I am privileged to teach… For those I have taught in the past… For my […]
So things went fairly well last night with my experiment in having the kids make PowerPoint slides to describe who Jesus is. I say fairly well because I was surprised at how poorly some of them are at keyboarding and that slowed the whole process down (they know how to use Powerpoint, but they type slowly!). They behaved well and seemed to like the idea of working on computers in religious education class, but they […]
On Monday evening, we presented a segment of the video Jesus of Nazareth, focusing on the death and Resurrection of Jesus (about a 40-minute segment leading up to the end of the film). As part of the viewing exercise, the young people have a viewing guide that they fill in as they watch (we pause the video at each scene that has a question connected with it). At the end of the evening, one of […]
Interestingly enough, one of the problems that I ran into while walking my class through the Bible on Monday evening was the unforeseen distractions that occurred while they were reading aloud…and these distractions came from the text itself! What am I talking about? Here’s what I mean: Exodus 20:10 – “No work may be done then either by you….or by the alien who lives with you.” Had to pause and explain that this was not […]
Last evening’s session went OK, however, as I look back over my attempt to walk the young people through the Bible in preparation for the unit on Jesus, I’m having second thoughts about my approach. Frankly, I think it was a bit beyond them to explore so many Scripture passages (as outlined in my handout) in one swoop. As brief as most of those passages are and as easy as I thought it would be […]
As I mentioned yesterday, one of the concepts we covered in Monday evening’s class was the Holy Spirit as our ADVOCATE. To help illustrate this point, I invited my aide, Lucy, to share her experience as a nurse, explaining how she advocates for patients. Here’s what happened: I first asked if anyone knew what an advocate is or what it means to advocate for someone. One of the young men responded that “it means to […]
I had a very enjoyable session last night! Here are the highlights: We began in church with an opening prayer service with the pastor. I met my group out in the parking lot and they were jovial and polite. I had a full class with the 2 absentees from last week being present. The kids were very well behaved in church…I was quite pleased to see that. My aide Lucy was there as well and […]
Are you off to a good start this year as a catechist? Please share your comments with me and your fellow catechists about your first session (click on Comments below). My first session last night went very well, thank God! Today I’ll share some observations about the Engage step, which, being the first class, took about 35 minutes: My aide had a family issue to tend to and was unable to be there last night […]
This Monday, September 14, is my first session of the catechetical year with my 8th graders! Yesterday I spent some time shopping for a few more supplies that I need for my room and, in particular, for my first session. I created name tents for my students (index cards, folded in half) that I will place in front of them for the first session to not only assign seats but also to help me use […]
Last night, we had our opening catechist meeting for the 09-10 catechetical year! It was great to see my fellow 8th grade catechists as well as all of the other catechists and aides who gathered for the evening. There was a palpable sense of excitement and enthusiasm in the air. Here are a few highlights: Arlene, our DRE, demonstrated how we can all start our classes by enthroning the Bible. She invited 4 volunteers: one […]
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