I came across these thoughts from an RCIA catechist pondering the first session of breaking open the Word. Take a look… http://catholicwideweb.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/rcia-catechist/
I’ve decided that, since we’ll have no class next Monday (Columbus Day) and that when we return, we jump right into a unit on Jesus Christ, tonight will be a good night to do an overview of the Bible with my 8th graders, taking them through the story of salvation history that culminates with Jesus Christ. Click here for an outline of passages that tell the narrative of the story of salvation history in a chronological sequence […]
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 […]
This past Monday evening, Chicago lived up to its name as the “windy city” (although that name originated not as a description of the climate in Chicago but of the politics!) with wind gusts reaching 40-50 mph. A good night to be teaching about the Holy Spirit! Sure enough, just as I told the young people that we would be learning about the Holy Spirit, a huge gust of wind blew through an open window, […]
I’ve had just enough time to prepare my lesson for tonight and have not left enough time to tell you about it in detail! Suffice to say that we will be learning about the Holy Spirit and how we are never alone because of the Spirit’s presence. We’ll focus on the word ADVOCATE to talk about how the Spirit helps us (my aide is a nurse and I’ve asked her to talk about how as […]
This coming Monday, my lesson will be on the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, and I plan to also talk about the mystery of the Trinity. I’ve been observing a thread on Catholic Catechist dealing with how to teach the Trinity. One suggestion caught my eye. It is from a catechist named Cheri and I think it is a good approach: Use ice, water, and steam as a visual aid. Show your students […]
Here’s my plan for tonight, the 2nd session of the year. I was away for a few days, so I didn’t get to plan for this session as early as I usually hope to. But don’t we all face this from time to time? Anyway, here’s the plan: The theme (BIG idea) is “God Reveals Himself to us through his Son, Jesus Christ.” I will emphasize the notion that Jesus reveals to us who God […]
So far, I’ve summarized the first 45-50 minutes of my first session with my 8th graders this past Monday evening, detailing the Engage and Explore steps of my lesson. Today, I’ll detail the REFLECT step which is designed to lead the young people to pray from within the truths they are learning. Here are the details: Before class began, I had set up on my prayer center, a circle of battery operated tea light candles (I […]
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 […]
Tonight’s the night! And I’m not referring to the great 1975 Neil Young song of the same title! Tonight is my first religious ed session for the 2009-10 catechetical year! May the “wind” of the Holy Spirit be at my sails! Here’s my plan: The theme (BIG idea) of this first session is: “We can trust in the goodness of God the Father” I plan to meet and greet the young people at the door […]
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