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.
My lesson tonight includes the concept of God as king and of how we pray for the coming of the Kingdom. In American society, we sometimes have trouble teaching about the concept of the Kingdom of God – afterall, we won our independence from the “tyranny” of the King of England. Our present day understanding of a king is someone who is rich, powerful, self-centered,tyrannical, and arrogant. (In fact, once, on the Feast of Christ the […]
Here’s what I’m planning for this coming Monday’s session: Theme (from textbook) – God is Our Father Big Idea: We can trust God our Father to protect us The session focuses on how Jesus taught us to call God our Father and how we pray for the coming of the Kingdom. A king is someone who leads and protects his people. We can trust God to lead and protect us from sin. God arms us […]
As part of my lesson this past Monday, I wanted to emphasize how human beings are the greatest part of God’s creation and I wanted to incorporate the use of the Internet in my classes for the first time. I located a brief YouTube video that shows images of babies growing in the womb. I made sure that the video did not have any images relating to the act of sexual intercourse or the fertilization […]
As I mentioned in my last post, I taught my first 4th grade RE class on Monday and really loved it. Here are some more details about the ups and downs of that first class: I arrived 45 mins early only to find out that the doors don’t open until 30 mins before class begins. I’m such a dork! 🙂 For the early session, the kids kind of straggle in over a 10 min. period […]
This evening I enjoyed my first 4th grade religious education class and I have to say that I LOVE IT!!! These kids are so darn cute! I have 16 kids (8 boys and 8 girls) and I have to say that they were really good: energetic, fun-filled, smart, and cooperative. Because of the size of the group and being in a different room that has desks instead of tables and chairs, I chose to seat […]
I’m looking forward to my first class tonight (I should say this evening, since I begin at 5:30 pm now!) with my 4th graders! I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide me to be an effective catechist tonight and always! Also, here is the recording of Part Two of my Getting Started as a Catechist Webinar:
So, I’ve been doing some planning for my first class with my 4th graders! Here’s a look at what I hope to accomplish this coming Monday: Theme (from the text book) – God Creates the World My BIG Idea: We Care for God’s Gift of Creation ENGAGE STEP (10-15 min) As the students arrive, I will greet them at the door and hand them a worksheet that invites them to identify the names of some famous beautiful locations […]
One of the Two-Minute Drills that I organized for my class on Monday evening involved a demonstration using water, food coloring, and bleach. You fill a clear glass with water (about half full), add a drop or two of food color to represent sin, stir, and then add bleach to make the color disappear, representing the effect of God’s grace. Many catechists and Sunday school teachers use this demonstration to show how grace dispels sin. […]
So last evening’s class was kind of a mixed bag. The main focus was on the “Ten Commandments Two-Minute Drills” that I wrote about yesterday. Here’s the scoop: All ten students were present and in good spirits. During opening prayer, one of the boys prayed for Brian Campbell, Blackhawks’ defenseman, who suffered a broken collar bone and cracked ribs as a result of a vicious hit by Alex Ovechkin on Sunday. I thought that was […]
I’m pretty excited about this one! I want to do something to reinforce the Ten Commandments as we move in to this last unit on Morality. I also want to place more responsibility on the kids now that they are confirmed, so that they sense a difference between how I taught them before Confirmation and how they are learning now. As a result, I’ve come up with something I call The Ten Commandments Two-Minute Drills! […]
