No Picture
Books

Check Out a New Online Course on Bible Basics!

I was honored to write a new course for the University of Dayton Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF). It is called Bible Basics and the required text for the course is my book, The Bible Blueprint: A Catholic’s Guide to Understanding and Embracing God’s Word. Thanks to Richard Drabick, the Assistant Director of the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives for inviting me to write the course and to Sr. Angela Ann Zukowski, MHSH, the Director […]

No Picture
Approaches/Techniques

October 29th Session Summary – Part 1: Questions, Questions, Questions!

Since I have lots to share about my session last evening, I decided to break it up into smaller, bite-size pieces for you this week. Here’s the first installment.  Last evening’s session was characterized by questions, questions, questions! It seems that you can’t talk about creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac without a million questions! That’s good, of course, however, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog, catechists have […]

No Picture
Intermediate Grades

They Left Singing!

What a delightful evening last night with my 6th graders! I had an ambitious plan and I am happy to report that it came off without a hitch. When it was all over, some of them even left singing How Great Thou Art! More about that in a second. Here’s the summary: Since I was relying on a number of video segments, I needed to get there early to set up my laptop and projector. That’s […]

No Picture
Intermediate Grades

A Laid-Back, Fun Night

Monday’s session turned out very well! I have to say that I had a very laid-back and informal attitude going into this session and my overall goal was to keep it simple which I did. As a result, I actually finished everything I planned to do (for once!) Here’s a summary: Approaching the session, I continued to “downsize” my approach because of the fire drill which would take up time. I decided to set up […]

No Picture
Intermediate Grades

Session 5: Keeping it Simple!

 Knowing that we have a fire drill scheduled for Monday evening, I need to keep my lesson plan simple! The fire drill will probably eat up 10 minutes of the schedule which, if you do the math, is nearly 15% of a 75 minute class! With that in mind, I have a simple plan for this lesson which is to tie up some loose ends from the Learning Stations we did a few weeks ago. […]

No Picture
Intermediate Grades

Biting Off More Than THEY Can Chew!

If you have been following me here at Catechist’s Journey for any length of time, you know that my biggest chronic problem as a catechist is trying to do too much (biting off more than THEY can chew)! From time to time, I need to make an adjustment to narrow the scope of what I hope to accomplish (not lower my expectations, but just be more realistic). Last night was one of those nights. Overall, […]

No Picture
Intermediate Grades

The Bible Tells Our Story

Here is the outline for my session on Monday, October 1, 2012: Big Idea: The Bible Tells Our Story Action Plan Preliminaries: (15 mins) Instrumental music in background (CD/player) Prayer intention slips and pens at places Prayer center objects on side table Hold bowl of holy water at the door Greet students at door with holy water – bless selves Students are seated and write out prayer intentions Take attendance Do Prayer Center Procession Opening […]

No Picture
Intermediate Grades

Answer Keys for Bible Learning Stations Fill-in Sheets

Here are the Answer Keys for the Student Fill-in Sheets that we used for the Bible Learning Stations. While all the “answers” are on the learning stations, it’s nice for the catechist to have them at his/her fingertips when reviewing! Bible Learning Stations fill in sheets – Bible Basics – Answer Key Bible Learning Stations fill in sheets – Old Testament – Answer Key Bible Learning Stations fill in sheets – New Testament – Answer […]

No Picture
Intermediate Grades

Bible Learning Stations Successful!

Last night, we finally offered our much-anticipated Bible Learning Stations that I have been talking about for the last week or so and I am happy to report that it was a success! Other than the fact that they did not have enough time to finish all of them (so what else is new in the world of RE?), the experience was very positive and the kids were thoroughly engaged (as the pics below reveal). […]

No Picture
Intermediate Grades

Bible Basics Learning Stations: READY!!!

And finally, here are the 4 Bible Basics Learning Stations for this coming Monday evening’s session. That brings us to a total of 12 learning stations: 4 Old Testament; 4 New Testament; and 4 Bible Basics (below)! Bible Basics Learning Station – How to Find Things in the Bible Bible Basics Learning Station – Bible Timeline Bible Basics Learning Station – How Catholics Understand the Bible Bible Basics Learning Station – The Bible at Mass […]