Holy Week Activity – Looking for Clues in the Good Friday Passion

Here’s what I’ll be doing this evening with my 4th graders: After our opening prayer, I’ll have my aide, Daneen, take those students who have yet to finish their final assessment into the neighboring room so that they can complete the test. Meanwhile, I’ll meet with each of the students who have completed their test to go over their results with them. As I’m meeting with them individually, I’ll have them work on a Holy […]

“People like that have poop for brains” – Pardon my “French”

Last evening’s class was a lot of fun and very productive. I told the kids that they were going to take a “final exam” and, of course, they all freaked out. I then proceeded to calm their fears and tell them that we were going to review first and that the test was just a way to see what “stuck” and what we might need to cover on our last class. I then did the […]

Bucks and Montgomery Counties, PA

A great big THANK YOU to all the good folks (nearly 300 of ya’s from Bucks and Montgomery Counties) who came out on Thursday night in Bucks County, PA, for A Catechist’s Night Out! I was honored and privileged to have the opportunity to spend the evening with you talking about the catechetical process and creative ways of keeping kids engaged in religious education. Here I am with one of PA’s finest ladies, Marie Scanlon, […]

Webinar-palooza!

Today’s post is all about Webinars! First, here is a link to the recording of last week’s Webinar, Getting Started as a Catechist, Part One. Second, here is a link to register for Getting Started as a Catechist, Part Two, which will take place on Thursday, September 2, 2010. Finally, continuing our follow-up from Getting Started as a Catechist, Part One, here are some more Q & A: _______________________________________________________________ Sue Q:  Do you have suggestions […]

Webinar Follow-Up: Q & A

During our Webinar on Wednesday evening, many catechists sent in some excellent questions. Here’s a sampling along with my responses. There’s more to come in the days ahead! Dawn Q: ­where can we get the opening prayer that you used?­ A: I adapted the prayer from Catechetical Sunday prayers which you can find at the U.S. Bishops’ Web site: http://usccb.org/catecheticalsunday/2010/catechists-prayer.pdf and http://usccb.org/catecheticalsunday/2010/prayer-for-catechists.pdf  ________________________________________________________________  ­Julie Q: ­I teach kids under the age of 10 and I […]

Thanks for Helping Nancy!

A couple of days ago, I put up a post asking if folks could help Nancy in Puerto Rico who was asking about fees/tuition charged for parish religious education programs. Your response has been very generous! Here are more comments that came in by way of websupport: Hi Joe – I am a DRE in two parishes at the East End of Long Island which is part of the Diocese of Rockville Centre and I […]

Did I Hear You Ask About ACTIVITIES?

Back on 4/27/10, I received this comment from Michael N. It seems that Catholic religion textbooks (we use one designed for schools) are painfully bad…to the point of being almost unusable. I think I’d do much better if they just gave me a religious-themed coloring book! Any websites you recommend for ideas/content (games, songs, prayers, activities, printable sheets, etc.)?? God bless you! Michael Although I don’t agree with Michael’s assessment of Catholic religion textbooks (what […]

More About My First Session

Yesterday, I told you about the first 35 minutes or so of my first session on Monday evening during which time my focus was to ENGAGE the young people. My Engage step normally does not take that long however, being the first night, there was more engaging to do! With the focus on the theme of TRUST, we next moved into the EXPLORE step of the lesson, where we look at the story of salvation […]

"What If I Don't Pass the Exam?"

This is the question I have heard and will hear again on Monday evening when the young people take their Confirmation exam – I like to call it an assessment but to them it’s an exam! I explain it this way: This is not a matter of passing or failing to see if you’ll be allowed to be confirmed. If you don’t do well, that means that you and I have some work to do. […]

Virtual Symposium on Adolescent Catechesis

Last week, a National Symposium on Adolescent Catechesis was held in Baltimore with 100 invited guests (academics, bishops, practicioners, and leaders of various disciplines related to adolescent catechesis). The goals of the symposium were: to identify factors that affect adolescent faith formation and their implications, to develop a common language that will help establish standards for effective adolescent catechesis and its assessment, to establish tools for addressing the creation of comprehensive youth faith formation programs. […]

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