Stories from the Field

Whether you work with little children, teenagers, or adults, you are not alone in catechetical ministry. These posts highlight stories from catechists and faith formation leaders in the field, sharing the ups and downs of their work.

Advent wreath
Advent

Tonight’s Session – Advent Prayer Service

Joe Paprocki

This evening’s session will be an Advent Prayer Service in the Church and my guess is that by the time all is said and done, it’ll be at least 45 minutes before we get back to the class room. This, of course, does not leave me with too much time, so instead of trying to cram in a lesson on the Old Testament, I plan to spend the remainder of time focusing on Advent. I […]

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Intermediate Grades

David: Shepherd and King – A Summary of Monday’s Session

Joe Paprocki

We had a very nice session last evening on the topic of David, shepherd and king. I hadn’t seen “my kids” for 3 weeks due to traveling and a holiday so it was great to see them again. I had 3 absences so the room seemed a little emptier and, for the most part, the kids were very cooperative and in good spirits. Here’s a summary of some of the high and low points: The […]

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Intermediate Grades

A Happy Shepherd!

Joe Paprocki

Had a very nice session on Monday about David, shepherd and king. Here’s a pic of one of the boys who quickly volunteered to dress as a shepherd. I added a graphic to hide his face for privacy reasons but left his smile for all to see! For the rest of the session, anyone who volunteered to read or to answer questions got to hold the shepherd’s staff (kinda like holding the conch in Lord […]

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Intermediate Grades

David: Shepherd and King – Lesson Plan

Joe Paprocki

Here is my lesson plan for this evening’s session focusing on David…ambitious as usual! Session 10: David – Shepherd and King BIG IDEA David: shepherd and king, points the way to Jesus: the Good Shepherd and Christ the King PRELIMINARIES (15 mins) Students fill out prayer intention slips upon arrival Opening procession to set up prayer table Opening prayer ritual ENGAGE (20 mins) Give Ten Commandments Quiz and review (answer key). Invite volunteer to come […]

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Intermediate Grades

David the Shepherd – Instant Costume

Joe Paprocki

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Tonight’s lesson is going to focus on David – shepherd and king – who points the way to Jesus, the Good Shepherd and Christ the King. With that in mind, I quickly assembled a shepherd’s costume to bring tonight which I am modeling below. I don’t intend to wear this myself (although many catechists effectively teach in costume) but instead plan to invite one of the students […]

stories from the field
Stories from the Field

Sacraments Learning Stations at St. Gabriel’s in Riverdale, the Bronx

Joe Paprocki

As they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery so I am indeed flattered to learn that a parish in the Bronx – St. Gabriel – adapted my Sacraments of Initiation Learning Stations for use with their Family Faith Day, an intergenerational event. I’ll let Marie Gwertzman, the Sacramental Coordinator, fill you in and then you can enjoy the pics she sent along! Hats off to Marie and her DRE Glenn McCarthy! November 14, […]

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Intermediate Grades

Substitute Lesson Plan

Joe Paprocki

This coming Monday, November 12, I am going to be on the road and will not be able to teach my 6th graders 🙁 so I prepared a simple lesson plan for the substitute catechist to complete in my place. The focus continues to be on Moses and the Exodus/Passover event. Here’s what I sent to my DRE: Hi Arlene, For Monday (11/12), please have a sub do the following: Distribute Finding God student books (they […]

teaching sixth grade
Intermediate Grades

Getting Ready for Moses!

Joe Paprocki

This coming Monday, my sixth-grade religious education class will move forward in our Old Testament exploration to encounter da man: Moses! The story of the Exodus/Passover event is the centerpiece of the Old Testament and Moses is the “standard of excellence” when it comes to OT characters! With that in mind, we are going to begin by showing a good chunk (50 minutes) of The Prince of Egypt, beginning with the scene where Moses encounters […]

teaching sixth grade
Intermediate Grades

October 29 Session Summary – Part IV: Rosary

Joe Paprocki

Here’s the final installment of a summary of this past Monday’s session on Abraham and God’s plan for salvation. After completing the Bible activity on Abraham, we still had time to pray a decade of the Rosary in order to mark October as the Month of the Holy Rosary and most of the kids had brought one in as requested…I had extras for the few that didn’t. We dedicated our prayer to the people in […]

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Intermediate Grades

October 29 Session Summary – Part III: Getting Down to Business

Joe Paprocki

Here’s the third installment of a summary of this past Monday’s session on Abraham and God’s plan for salvation. About a half-hour into the session, after prayer and reviewing the previous session (and a ton of Q & A!), I then arranged the kids in pairs and assigned them a passage about Abraham that they were to read in their Bibles and report on (using this worksheet). As I suspected, they were loathe to move […]