Archives for January 2017

Setting the Tone for Class

By Catechist's Aide on January 26, 2017 0

Establish Rules for Classroom Behavior Up-Front

Let your students know, from the first day of class, what your expectations are in terms of their behavior in the classroom. It may be helpful to either make them sign a “Classroom Contract” indicating they understand the rules of the classroom, or keep a poster with the rules visible in the room. Sure, you’ll have to remind them throughout the year, but be clear, be consistent, and keep reminding them until it becomes a habit. It’s like teaching your children to put on a seatbelt in the car. You don’t just say it once, you say “Okay everyone buckle up” every time you get in the car until they do it without even thinking about it.

Some rules that I find helpful for middle school students:

- No Distractions. All schoolbooks, homework, cell phones and tablets, and any other type of distraction (including snacks) should be put away when class begins – items that are not put away WILL be taken away until class is over.
- LISTEN = SILENT. The word “listen” contains the exact same letters as the word “silent” and when I’m talking, you should be listening – in other words be silent. There will be many opportunities for you to speak out; when I am talking is not one of them.
- Visitors to the classroom. From time to time we may have visitors to our class. When any visitor, whether it is Father, a guest speaker, or one of your parents, enters our classroom, everyone needs to immediately quiet down and give our guest your full attention and respect.
- Respectful use of the classroom. Other students, or parish groups, use our classroom for various activities. Do not touch or move anything that does not belong to you. At the end of class, all students should return chairs to their original location, and tidy up their area. Any trash should be placed in trash receptacles.
- Behavior in Church/Chapel – Students’ behavior during visits to Church should reflect that they are in a sacred and holy place. Silence should be observed, and students should display proper reverence by genuflecting before the Tabernacle and bowing before the altar. Remember that as middle school students you serve as an example for the younger children.

Learning Stations Follow-Up

By Catechist's Aide on January 25, 2017 0

Last week I was very excited about my upcoming class with learning stations on the Sacraments of Initiation. I’d like to use this blog post to give a brief “post-mortem” on the class and discuss how the activity was received by my middle school students. The prep for this class was no small undertaking, but fortunately the lesson plan is clearly detailed and laid out at Joe Paprocki’s Catchist’s Journey.

I thought the stations were age appropriate for middle school students, but would have worked for younger students as well. I have a large class with 32 students (a mix of 7^th and 8^th graders). The students were very receptive to a more interactive approach to learning. We started by breaking the class into 4 groups and starting them at different stations. This seemed to work well at first, but because we only had three adults/catechists, one group was always without an adult leader, and this proved problematic as we progressed through the stations. This was the result of poor planning on my part. I should have asked for a few parent volunteers, and that would have helped to ensure that all groups progress through the stations in a timely and orderly fashion.

I made a few changes to some of the stations, but for the most part stuck to the script. As I mentioned before, the kids really embraced the various forms of interactive learning. We meet for 1 hour and 15 minutes, but taking into account opening/closing prayers, attendance, announcements and other class business, we really only have an hour for instruction. We could have benefitted from having a little more time. Some of the activities took a little longer than others, which caused bottlenecks at times. Now that I’ve established where those log jams occur, I can route the students differently in future classes.

Bottom line, the class was a great experience, and I will definitely do it again. If you are considering using this lesson plan, I would encourage you to do so. Don’t worry if things don’t go perfectly. Based on my personal experience, I can offer two pieces of advice. First, consider your class size and make sure you have an adequate number of adults to lead students through the stations. Second, consider the actual amount of class time you have available to you. It may be worthwhile to split the stations into 2 classes.

Sacraments of Initiation

By Catechist's Aide on January 16, 2017 0

No class today, but I am busy preparing for next week’s lesson which will feature a free lesson plan created by Joe Paprocki and featured at Catechist’s Journey. It’s an interactive session featuring Learning Stations for the Sacraments of Initiation. The stations focus on the visible and invisible realities of the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. There are four stations for each of the sacraments, each representing one of the signs which are visible in the rite of the sacraments. Through various activities the students learn about what is really happening that we cannot see – the invisible reality of the sacrament.

I have followed Joe Paprocki for many years and read several of his books. He has been an invaluable asset to me as a catechist. The lesson plan is a re-working of one that originally appeared on his blog site several years ago. I used that original lesson plan in 2014. It was a success, but to be completely honest, I didn’t fully commit to the process. This year, I am “all in.” I’m looking forward to reporting back next week on how everything went.

Essential Tools – Youth Bible

By Catechist's Aide on January 16, 2017 0

As catechists, we want to take every opportunity we can to introduce scripture into our classrooms. We use the New American Bible – Revised Edition (NABRE), which of course corresponds to the text that the children hear in Mass. But, there are other texts which are perfectly acceptable to use. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops provides a listing of all approved Bible texts that Catholics can use for their personal study. That being said, I like to tell my students, that the version of the Bible they should use – is the one that they will read!

In all seriousness though, many students simply are not comfortable reading the Bible for a number of reasons – everything from words they can’t pronounce, to places they’ve never heard of, to feeling that the Bible is out of touch with what is happening in their lives 2000 years later. In a future post I’ll go into more detail on ways to make the Bible more approachable for your students, but one place that I like to go for ideas of how to connect Scriptures to our youth is The Catholic Youth Bible by Saint Mary’s Press. I confess that I have an older edition (from 2000) that I use, so it may be time to upgrade to the latest edition. The good news (pun intended) is that Amazon sells used books and I found a listing for the current edition in “like new” condition for less than $5 -Sold!

Lesson Plans

By Catechist's Aide on January 10, 2017 0

Check back soon for complete Lesson Plans on the Sacraments, the Creed, the Commandments, Prayer and much more.

Epiphany Sunday & the Sacraments

By Catechist's Aide on January 9, 2017 0

We’re back in class on Monday, after the Christmas break, and we will begin our study of the Sacraments. While preparing the lesson, I wanted to do a quick recap of the very special feasts and holy days that we just experienced during the Christmas season.

I wanted to focus on Epiphany Sunday because I felt the students were least familiar with this day when the Son of God is made manifest to the world.

The Traditional date of the Feast of the Epiphany is January 6th which marks the end of the twelve days of Christmas. The feast was moved to always fall on the Sunday that falls between Jan. 2 and Jan 8. Despite the confusion with the timing, the significance of the feast is compelling to all Christians. The revelation of the Christ child to the three wise men symbolizes his revelation to the Gentile world. It tells us that God’s call goes out to all nations.

We don’t know if, when the wise men set out, they knew what they could expect to find at the end of their journey, but we do know that something compelled them to follow the star. They were called, and they heeded the call, reminding us of the desire within each of us to seek God.

Upon arriving at the stable, they bow down in worship before the child and offer him precious gifts. This seems completely illogical for these highly educated and worldly men – to fall down at the crib of a powerless infant, yet this is what they do.

Perhaps the most important takeaway, however, is the final line in Matthew’s gospel where the visit is recorded. He says, “And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.” (Matthew 2:12) As the story goes, Herod, was king of Judea, and he secretly asked the magi to return to him after finding the child Jesus. Understanding that Herod meant to harm the child, they instead chose not to share that information with him and returned home another way. Looking a little deeper at this scripture verse, it reveals that these men were changed by their encounter with the Son of God.

What a perfect lead-in to our study of the sacraments! At their core, the sacraments are places where we encounter Christ, just like the magi in Matthew’s gospel. And, like the magi, we too are changed by that encounter and leave following a different path.