Catechist Discussion (for middle school age kids): Do You Ever Feel Like It's an Uphill Battle

[billy15]

So, I kind of want to use this as a sounding board. This is my first full year as being a catechist. I’m in my late 20’s, I feel on fire for my faith, and as my wife and I just moved to a new parish, I wanted to do something to get involved. I wanted to be a good witness to others and teach others about Christ; so I figured I’d become a catechist, even though the prospect frightened me… and still kind of does.

Unfortunately, sometimes I don’t know if I’m reaching these sixth graders. Some of them seem to be paying attention, but out of the nine kids in my class, only two seem to regularly attend Mass each Sunday. Then, today, I asked who had heard of the Immaculate Conception. Two had heard of it, but didn’t have a clue what it was about, the other seven all said they had no idea an had never heard of it in their lives. Which led to the next question: what’s a Holy Day of Obligation. Three kids had heard of the term, but they said they could not explain it. The other six had never heard of the term before.

Are all parents of CCD children derelict in their duties? Sometimes I feel like everything I’m doing goes over their heads, but then there’s other times where things really seem to be clicking for them. However, they just aren’t getting to Mass. And there’s hardly any accountability aside from Mass reflection sheets, which I’ve made mandatory. No idea what the other teachers, save one, is doing with them. In 2 weeks, I plan on showing them a 25-minute edited video of Fr. Larry Richards “The Mass Explained”. He’s so dynamic I’m hoping this wakes some of the kids up.

So, i dunno… it’d be nice of this could be a place for other catechists to vent, give advice, talk. Just because outside my wife, I really have no one to discuss these things with. Hopefully something fruitful can come from this thread. I guess with that being sad, I ask for prayers for these 9 children, their families, and me to teach them something that sticks…

 

[1ke]

Are all parents of CCD children derelict in their duties?

This is my purely unscientific statistics based on 20+ years in the CCD trenches:

90% of parents AWOL on faith life in the home, regular mass attendance, teaching their kids about the faith, etc. yes, completely derelict and living a very secular life at home.

8% of parents are faithful Mass attenders, and faithful people (I.e., they pray maybe even as a family, the do Catholic crafts they found on Pintrest, they absorb generic Christian sentiments and post them on Facebook, they get confused when I won’t let them show Evangelical Protestant movies in CCD class) but they are uneducated in the faith and therefore pass on very little of the faith or worse, Protestant versions of the faith (and some are just plain dumb as rocks)

2% are faithful and knowledgeable, are actively parenting and trying to build virtue in their children, raise strong Catholic young men and women, have a Catholic home, pray, and put Church before football, dance recital, or other things.

Sometimes I feel like everything I’m doing goes over their heads,

It probably does, in addition to having almost zero faith formation in their homes, the current state of modern public school will nearly guarntee you have kids with zero vocabulary too.

and me to teach them something that sticks…

Just take them where they are and teach what you can in the time you have. You never know what seeds will be planted that will bear fruit years later, you will likely never know. Because only one of the ten will come back to thank you. Just like the lepers cured by Jesus.

 

[Angela77]

Just take them where they are and teach what you can in the time you have. You never know what seeds will be planted that will bear fruit years later, you will likely never know. Because only one of the ten will come back to thank you. Just like the lepers cured by Jesus.

^^^THIS

I’m in my early 20s, and I come from one of those non-practicing Catholic families. My parents are poorly educated in the faith, and my mom is more Protestant in her beliefs.

I hated CCD as a kid. I was a generally well-behaved kid, though, so I paid attention. Most of it did go over my head, though, because I had never heard any of the Catholic-specific material before.

Then something clicked for me at my Confirmation. I’ve been heavily involved in all things Catholic ever since. The seeds planted during CCD couldn’t have hurt.

 

[Hicks]

I teach 6th Grade Religion at a Catholic school, and yes it can be an uphill battle. I’m heading off to bed in a minute here, but just a couple of thoughts:

-You can’t be too energetic with middle school students. Vary your tone, speak loudly and softly, quickly then slowly. Insert commercial breaks. Ask them questions with obvious answers just to get them involved. Act like you’re just bursting with excitement about your Catholic faith and they’ll respect that.

-I do something called Catholic Hero Friday where I show a video clip about a Catholic who did something brave (Fr. Emil Kapuan: youtube.com/watch?v=AZuPrQBSDCs, Fr. Vincent Capodanno: youtube.com/watch?v=lLR-rJYPlQo , or the Swiss Guard: youtube.com/watch?v=OH2iQp1DEP4 for example). I explain that there’s far more to being Catholic than sitting quietly in church, that Catholics ride in helicopters and jump on grenades to save their buddies and serve the poor Calcutta and do all kinds of heroic things.

-Learn to be okay with showing your emotions in front of the group. If you love a saint, communicate that to the kids with the tender way you express what you love about them. Be really personal. Tell lots of stories, about the saints and yourself and anything you can think of. The kids will get bored with dry information, but not the human connection.

-Set up a time in the adoration chapel that you will dedicate exclusively to praying for their intentions. Let them know that you will be doing this and give them the opportunity to leave anonymous prayer intentions that you will bring to the chapel with you. I just started this with my kids, and the response has been more positive than I would have thought. On top of that, bring them to the adoration chapel and make them pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy or something with you. Make them sit in silence with a written meditation, whatever.

-Above all: "Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death (Revelation 3:2). You can’t do everything, you can’t make up for all the deficiencies in their faith formation. You can strengthen what remains. You can build on whatever foundation the will give you. Do little things with great love.

Message me if you have any specific questions or I’ll check back in this thread, too. We teachers gotta stick together.

 

[RCIAGraduate]

Then, there is the issue of faith-split families, where either one of the parents is practicing another faith or denomination (which can cause confusion), or one parent isn’t practicing at all.

That said, keep up the good work Hicks and other Catechists, in the forums. We need you guys to keep fighting the good fight. Remember, the mustard started out small but after awhile it grew into a large and and fruitful plant compared to the minuscule seed it was.

Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

I also think the Adoration idea would be a great idea.

 

[Blessedwithfive]

I teach too. I have for almost twenty years. This year I have 22 fourth graders and 16 seventh graders. I actually love it. It is true, very few of the families actually practice the faith at home. I think because the Catholic Church has a defined religious education program the parents feel they don’t need to do anything else. I have had them say to me, it’s your job to teach the faith, all I have to do is bring them

I take this pretty seriously. I plan each class to the minute. I also make sure to end each class with a craft/learning aid or something they physically take home dealing with the lesson. Hopefully they share these with their family and it will spark a conversation.

My two biggest things I try to teach, whether it is in the curriculum or not, is first, our church is their church. We take tours of our church, point out interesting features and I tell the kids they should feel comfortable coming to our church at any time!

Secondly, I teach all the kids, from first grade on up, how to look up passages in the Bible. In the past, our kids never touch a Bible until the sixth grade. It’s too late then…they need to know how to look up stuff earlier.

Lastly, don’t give up. It takes years for a little acorn to grow into a mighty oak.

 

[pianistclare]

I’m a DRE and Middle school kids are my favorite age group. They are literal sponges.
One thing you have to realize is that the LAST thing any child wants to do is to attend yet another school. On Sunday or Weds nights, or whenever.
Your “class” should not operate like a typical class. (except fro disciplining rowdy people, of course).
No reading out of textbooks. Make out your lesson plan, and include brain breaks, factoids, an occasional powerpoint, a youtube clip of a Saint bio, or something relevant to the class topic, misc now and then, journaling, an “occasional” craft, and some kind of take-away. Always. A take-away can be an interesting handout, or a home-made holy card. Those little dollar cord rosary bracelets. A pin. An inexpensive medal. Maybe people don’t think they care about these items, but I’ve had many young people (even high schoolers) tell me that they accumulate on their dresser, and at some point, they picked up that card and prayed that prayer. And it helped. So the prayer lives in their wallet/purse now, and they are grateful to remember that they are not alone.
Discussion, Lots of it. Questions. If the question was what did you think of this week’s readings? And you get deer in the headlight? You say, OK, maybe you forgot …let’s re-visit that because that’s what I’d like to discuss today: And then pick one of those nice kids to read it aloud. Use that as your jumping off point. They missed Mass. Their parents only bring them to Sunday school because of guilt. OK, YOU take those moments and run with them.
Have lessons where they learn how to navigate the Bible. Bible word searches. Games of looking up books and passages. A prize can be a “smartee” candy.
You don’t’ have to re-invent the wheel, just switch it up often, and give them a chance to speak.
Ask relevant questions…How do you think you can be a Christian witness in your school?
If you find out they’re a loner…you can work on that. If you find out they are part of the popular crowd, you can ask “why do you think people like to exclude others?” Did Jesus exclude anyone? How can we relate this to the story of the Good Samaritan?
Just continue to be PASSIONATE. Kids have a high “cr*p-ometer”. If they think that catechists (not you, just sayin) put the bare minimum into their lessons, they rationalize that its just a formality. “One day I’ll be old enough to stop learning about God”.
No. No you won’t. I’M still learning about God. And you know what? It’s pretty cool!
God bless you for your efforts. It will be OK. Just be passionate and make your class about relationship. Realize they are missing big pieces of the puzzle and introduce them to salvation history a bit at a time. They’ll come to know and LOVE Christ because you do.
Peace.

 

[smead2942]

So, I kind of want to use this as a sounding board. This is my first full year as being a catechist. I’m in my late 20’s, I feel on fire for my faith, and as my wife and I just moved to a new parish, I wanted to do something to get involved. I wanted to be a good witness to others and teach others about Christ; so I figured I’d become a catechist, even though the prospect frightened me… and still kind of does.

Unfortunately, sometimes I don’t know if I’m reaching these sixth graders. Some of them seem to be paying attention, but out of the nine kids in my class, only two seem to regularly attend Mass each Sunday. Then, today, I asked who had heard of the Immaculate Conception. Two had heard of it, but didn’t have a clue what it was about, the other seven all said they had no idea an had never heard of it in their lives. Which led to the next question: what’s a Holy Day of Obligation. Three kids had heard of the term, but they said they could not explain it. The other six had never heard of the term before.

Are all parents of CCD children derelict in their duties? Sometimes I feel like everything I’m doing goes over their heads, but then there’s other times where things really seem to be clicking for them. However, they just aren’t getting to Mass. And there’s hardly any accountability aside from Mass reflection sheets, which I’ve made mandatory. No idea what the other teachers, save one, is doing with them. In 2 weeks, I plan on showing them a 25-minute edited video of Fr. Larry Richards “The Mass Explained”. He’s so dynamic I’m hoping this wakes some of the kids up.

So, i dunno… it’d be nice of this could be a place for other catechists to vent, give advice, talk. Just because outside my wife, I really have no one to discuss these things with. Hopefully something fruitful can come from this thread. I guess with that being sad, I ask for prayers for these 9 children, their families, and me to teach them something that sticks…

Take the current CCD books out back and torch them, then replace them with the Baltimore Catechism. Start with the very basics of the faith and go from there.

 

[1ke]

Take the current CCD books out back and torch them, then replace them with the Baltimore Catechism. Start with the very basics of the faith and go from there.

This is very bad advice.

The OP is certainly able to use the Baltimore Catechism or any other materials to supplement lessons as appropriate. HOWEVER… there are many problems with the advice given here to simply toss out the current books and use the BC with the students.

First, ecclesial law is comingled with doctrine and it may instruct on things that are no longer true or binding on Catholics as it pertains to ecclesial laws since there has been a new code of canon law in place now for some years.

Second, you have no idea what textbooks the OP has and such a blanket statement with NO knowledge of the situation is pointless. Ignatius Press Faith and Life are excellent textbooks. So do some other publishers.

Third, the OP is not free to disregard the instructions of his pastor or bishop on which texts may and may not be used. Nor is the OP free to disregard the pastor or DRE on how CCD will be conducted in the parish. The PASTOR has the say in these matters, not the catechist.

 

[billy15]

Thank you every one for the replies. I do feel better now seeing that some of your suggestions I’ve already implemented in my class. Here are some things I do pretty regularly in my 90 min. class each week:

-We always start with a Saint of the day video, ranging anywhere from 2-6 minutes typically. Although Confirmation is a couple years away, I want them to know the saints, and know them as their friends in heaven. I’ve explained to them countless times what intercessory prayer is. I try to include saints that are close to their age, have lived in the 20th century, or saints who have feast days that week. I’ve done saints such as St. Therese of Liseux, Bl. Pierre Frassati, Bl. Vasyl Velychkovsky, Bl. Chiara Badano, and St. Alexander Briant.

-I always leave the “question box” in front of the blackboard. I keep encouraging the kids to ask me questions, to have me clarify anything that doesn’t make sense, and to write down ANY question they have, and anonymously put it in the box. I’ve gotten some good questions, and have found that I need to go over things from the textbook again. For instance, the question box showed me that they didn’t fully understand why Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac. We had a pretty good 15-20 minute talk the following week (well, I did practically all of the talking) where I gave it to them straight, and didn’t talk dumb to them, and put it in as easy to digest terms as I could.

-I try to do a second video at some point. Either from Sophia Institute, or something on the canonization of saints, or this past week, a short 3 1/2 minute video on the Eastern Catholic Churches.

-The kids usually only have one homework assignment: Mass reflection sheets. Only two of the nine kids regularly attend Mass. But I tell the kids if they want 50% instead of a 0%, find the readings online or watch Mass on TV. I gave them 2 sheets this week for the Immaculate Conception, and I plan on giving them 5 sheets for Christmas break so I don’t contradict myself and make it seem that Christmas break is also a break from the Holy Mass.

My main problem, I think, is trying to come up with activities. Pianistclare said this:

No reading out of textbooks. Make out your lesson plan, and include brain breaks, factoids, an occasional powerpoint, a youtube clip of a Saint bio, or something relevant to the class topic, misc now and then, journaling, an “occasional” craft, and some kind of take-away. Always.

We use the “Blest Are We” textbooks, and I have to say they are pretty orthodox and go over some complex things I wasn’t expecting to find in a 6th grade book, i.e. the Precepts of the Church. The one thing I don’t like about it is the “cultural awareness” prompts where they want me to talk about other faiths. For one, these kids hardly know the different Catholic Churches and how their own faith works, not to mention the myriad of Christian and other religions throughout the world. Anyway, Stclare’s comment struck me…

Should I really abandon the textbook? Usually I let the kids read the text out loud, I follow the prompts in my copy, and expound on anything I feel needs to be explained. Sometimes I can see this kids getting bored, but I try to spice it up by actually opening our Bibles and reading, or do something spontaneous (well, I’ve only done it once) such as yesterday where I had everyone get up and walk around the room in a line pretending they were a train. We just read how God revealed himself as the Creator to Moses in the burning bush; that God was I AM. I wanted to drive home the point that God was the Creator of all things, and thought this would be a good moment to explain St. Thomas Aquinas’ First Way. But other than that… I’m horrible at thinking up activities, and I don’t want to bore these kids with the text… but they know nothing about the Old Testament (at least 5 kids had never heard of Moses parting the Red Sea), so I feel it’s important to go over these things in the textbook. Thoughts?

I do like the idea of giving out a “take away”. I gave them all rosaries our second day of class, and I was considering giving them brown scapulars at some point, but my wife thought it would be a bad idea and they’d get nothing out of it. I’m thinking maybe I should reconsider…?

I also like the idea of taking the kids inside the actual church more. I’ve thought of doing this, but Blessedwithfive has really made me think about it. Any ideas on what we can do? I still remember my 5th grade teacher at my Catholic school giving us a “our” of our church, which was basically the size of a cathedral. After a couple of days of “touring”, she gave us a video test. I’ve been thinking of implementing this somewhere, but I’m curious to know if anyone else has had success with something similar.

I agree that we should stick together. I would like for this thread to continue for a long time, and use this as a sounding board for everyone. You all seem to have a lot of wisdom to impart, and I appreciate that.

 

[pianistclare]

Thank you every one for the replies. I do feel better now seeing that some of your suggestions I’ve already implemented in my class. Here are some things I do pretty regularly in my 90 min. class each week:

-We always start with a Saint of the day video, ranging anywhere from 2-6 minutes typically. Although Confirmation is a couple years away, I want them to know the saints, and know them as their friends in heaven. I’ve explained to them countless times what intercessory prayer is. I try to include saints that are close to their age, have lived in the 20th century, or saints who have feast days that week. I’ve done saints such as St. Therese of Liseux, Bl. Pierre Frassati, Bl. Vasyl Velychkovsky, Bl. Chiara Badano, and St. Alexander Briant.

-I always leave the “question box” in front of the blackboard. I keep encouraging the kids to ask me questions, to have me clarify anything that doesn’t make sense, and to write down ANY question they have, and anonymously put it in the box. I’ve gotten some good questions, and have found that I need to go over things from the textbook again. For instance, the question box showed me that they didn’t fully understand why Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac. We had a pretty good 15-20 minute talk the following week (well, I did practically all of the talking) where I gave it to them straight, and didn’t talk dumb to them, and put it in as easy to digest terms as I could.

-I try to do a second video at some point. Either from Sophia Institute, or something on the canonization of saints, or this past week, a short 3 1/2 minute video on the Eastern Catholic Churches.

-The kids usually only have one homework assignment: Mass reflection sheets. Only two of the nine kids regularly attend Mass. But I tell the kids if they want 50% instead of a 0%, find the readings online or watch Mass on TV. I gave them 2 sheets this week for the Immaculate Conception, and I plan on giving them 5 sheets for Christmas break so I don’t contradict myself and make it seem that Christmas break is also a break from the Holy Mass.

My main problem, I think, is trying to come up with activities. Pianistclare said this:

We use the “Blest Are We” textbooks, and I have to say they are pretty orthodox and go over some complex things I wasn’t expecting to find in a 6th grade book, i.e. the Precepts of the Church. The one thing I don’t like about it is the “cultural awareness” prompts where they want me to talk about other faiths. For one, these kids hardly know the different Catholic Churches and how their own faith works, not to mention the myriad of Christian and other religions throughout the world. Anyway, Stclare’s comment struck me…

Should I really abandon the textbook? Usually I let the kids read the text out loud, I follow the prompts in my copy, and expound on anything I feel needs to be explained. Sometimes I can see this kids getting bored, but I try to spice it up by actually opening our Bibles and reading, or do something spontaneous (well, I’ve only done it once) such as yesterday where I had everyone get up and walk around the room in a line pretending they were a train. We just read how God revealed himself as the Creator to Moses in the burning bush; that God was I AM. I wanted to drive home the point that God was the Creator of all things, and thought this would be a good moment to explain St. Thomas Aquinas’ First Way. But other than that… I’m horrible at thinking up activities, and I don’t want to bore these kids with the text… but they know nothing about the Old Testament (at least 5 kids had never heard of Moses parting the Red Sea), so I feel it’s important to go over these things in the textbook. Thoughts?

I do like the idea of giving out a “take away”. I gave them all rosaries our second day of class, and I was considering giving them brown scapulars at some point, but my wife thought it would be a bad idea and they’d get nothing out of it. I’m thinking maybe I should reconsider…?

I also like the idea of taking the kids inside the actual church more. I’ve thought of doing this, but Blessedwithfive has really made me think about it. Any ideas on what we can do? I still remember my 5th grade teacher at my Catholic school giving us a “our” of our church, which was basically the size of a cathedral. After a couple of days of “touring”, she gave us a video test. I’ve been thinking of implementing this somewhere, but I’m curious to know if anyone else has had success with something similar.

I agree that we should stick together. I would like for this thread to continue for a long time, and use this as a sounding board for everyone. You all seem to have a lot of wisdom to impart, and I appreciate that.

I don’t advocate abandoning the textbook. What I meant was…don’t have them reading the entire chapter out loud, with some kid droning on and the rest of them staring at the letters on the page and not taking it in. Nothing worse than a “who wants to read next?” question. That’s what I meant. We don’t use textbooks. So no danger of reading endless paragraphs with little or no interaction.

 

[Blessedwithfive]

I’ve been taking kids to our church for years. This year I decided to take close up photos of interesting objects. Then I passed out the photos and we had a lesson on church symbols. Finally they figured out that the pictures were from our church it took a little longer than I expected… To end the class tour I had a laser pionter and the kids found their image in the church and pointed it out. They loved that!

I did blessed are we last year in sixth grade. Is that what you have? I can send you the lesson plans. The biggest thing we did was to look up the stories we were learning about in the Bible and the kids highlighted it. (They get a Bible from the church in sixth grade, so we all have the same ones, if your church doesn’t do that you might suggest it. We get a discount of five dollars per Bible and they are nice Catholic versions, hard bound)

To encourage chuch attendance I tell all the kids that they can sit with me at Mass. I always go to 9:30 Mass (unless it is a LifeTeen Mass week, then I go to both). I put it in my newsletter and I am surprised how many parents drop off their kids to attend Mass with me. Kids usually like to attend with me as I also give them some task before or after Mass to help out (organizing the books in the pews, helping set up for Mass, helping with the Christmas tree, salting the sidewalk, something…they like to help and take ownership in their church)

You are doing so many things right. Keep it up.

Another thing the kids LOVE is when I invite one of the priests or deacon to come in for a question and answer time. In sixth grade his main reason for coming was to bless the Bibles, but as long as he was visiting…the kids had questions!

 

[1ke]

don’t have them reading the entire chapter out loud, with some kid droning on and the rest of them staring at the letters on the page and not taking it in. Nothing worse than a “who wants to read next?” question.

Yep, snooze fest. And, many of them are not good readers and you will send their anxiety through the roof if you ask them to read.

So, I’ll brag on my diocese which has an awesome catechesis director, and great resources on their page. Particularly the lessons on the Virtues.

diolc.org/ministry_resources/catechesis/

Here’s a great lesson plan format:

diolc.org/ministry_resources/catechesis/files/2)Lesson%20Planning.pdfLesson%20Planning.pdf)

 

[1ke]

But I tell the kids if they want 50% instead of a 0%,

I’m sorry, what? You grade CCD?

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

I work with adults, not children, so feel free to ignore this.

It sounds like these kids could benefit from some storytelling. We have many great stories in our tradition and it sounds like they don’t know them. The Creation story. The Abraham story. The Moses story. The David story. And ultimately, the Jesus story.

Don’t read them from a book. But tell the stories, with all the drama they include. Let the kids get to know some of these people in history, and let them know how those stories are still relevant and still touch our lives today. God was faithful then and he’s faithful now. People were afraid and confused then, and we still are, but God stands fast.

 

[billy15]

I did blessed are we last year in sixth grade. Is that what you have? I can send you the lesson plans. The biggest thing we did was to look up the stories we were learning about in the Bible and the kids highlighted it. (They get a Bible from the church in sixth grade, so we all have the same ones, if your church doesn’t do that you might suggest it. We get a discount of five dollars per Bible and they are nice Catholic versions, hard bound)

To encourage chuch attendance I tell all the kids that they can sit with me at Mass. I always go to 9:30 Mass (unless it is a LifeTeen Mass week, then I go to both). I put it in my newsletter and I am surprised how many parents drop off their kids to attend Mass with me. Kids usually like to attend with me as I also give them some task before or after Mass to help out (organizing the books in the pews, helping set up for Mass, helping with the Christmas tree, salting the sidewalk, something…they like to help and take ownership in their church)

Awesome, I would love if you sent me some lesson plans! I have chapter 6 planned out already, I’m curious to know what you’ve done for chapter 7 and beyond. And while I would love to ask the kids to attend Mass with me and my family, I’m faced with the problem that it probably wouldn’t be allowed. Perhaps over time, but I haven’t seen any of the other catechists doing this unfortunately.

So, I’ll brag on my diocese which has an awesome catechesis director, and great resources on their page. Particularly the lessons on the Virtues.

diolc.org/ministry_resources/catechesis/

Here’s a great lesson plan format:

diolc.org/ministry_resources/…20Planning.pdf

Thanks for the links!

I’m sorry, what? You grade CCD?

Yes, I do. Is that unheard of? The other teachers at my parish do so, and the other 6th grade teacer even goes as far as sending the kids home with quarterly progress reports. I don’t plan on getting that in depth with it, but my thing is, that since they aren’t going to Catholic school, this is their religion class. I went to Catholic grade school, and religion/catechesis was considered a subject and averaged into our GPAs. If I don’t grade them, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to let them know how they do on their tests, the first one of which we just took two weeks ago. I’m guessing all parishes don’t folow the textbooks, or have an alternative curriculum?

As far as the Mass reflection sheets go, I started “grading” them when i wasn’t getting hardly any back. Once I told the kids that it was mandatory to turn these sheets in (per parish policy), I let them know they’d be getting a zero if they didn’t go to Mass and give them to me. I kindly let them know it’s not their fault if their parents don’t take them to Mass, but it is necessary to complete the reflection sheet, and while I can’t give them full credit (questions are asked about specific things at the Mass) for not attending Mass, I can at least give them half credit. Unfortunately, that’s what got them motivated. Not asking nicely to go to mass, not fire and brimstone, but how it would affect their grade. Save a couple kids, I’m consistently getting the reflections back now, with the kids giving much more than two sentence answers for the most part.

 

[1ke]

Yes, I do. Is that unheard of?

Assessing, no.

Grading, pretty much unheard of.

The other teachers at my parish do so, and the other 6th grade teacer even goes as far as sending the kids home with quarterly progress reports.

I don’t plan on getting that in depth with it, but my thing is, that since they aren’t going to Catholic school, this is their religion class.

I think that’s where I disagree. It’s formation, not class. It takes place in a group setting, and probably looks a lot like a class, but it’s formation. The faith is not a set of facts, it’s a way of living.

I went to Catholic grade school, and religion/catechesis was considered a subject and averaged into our GPAs.

However, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison because school has class every day and a lot of support in the instruction, religion is part of all curriculum and there is a formal class as well. You are with them once a week for an hour or two.

If I don’t grade them, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to let them know how they do on their tests, the first one of which we just took two weeks ago.

You can assess all through class. You can assess through oral discussion, through oral or written quizzes, through games-- many, many ways.

I’m guessing all parishes don’t folow the textbooks, or have an alternative curriculum?

We use the Faith and Life textbooks from Ignatius Press. We work with the children weekly. We teach them, we pray with them, but we don’t give homework or “tests”. Assessment, yes. Tests, no. Again, it’s about formation.

How do you “test” prayer life? How do you test living out the virtues?

We do a knowledge assessment in grades 4, 8, and 10 that is given by the diocese. But it’s not framed as a test. Again, an assessment. We get back statistical data on the diocesan wide assessment and individual results. We go over the information they missed. But we don’t frame it as a grade or anything. Because it isn’t.

As far as the Mass reflection sheets go, I started “grading” them when i wasn’t getting hardly any back.

Once I told the kids that it was mandatory to turn these sheets in (per parish policy), I let them know they’d be getting a zero if they didn’t go to Mass and give them to me.

I can’t believe you haven’t gotten a big “so what” using the “going to get a zero” tactic. “So, what, are you going to fail me in religion?” Or worse from the parents… Wow, they must really like you and want to please you if they are doing the sheets.

Not asking nicely to go to mass, not fire and brimstone, but how it would affect their grade.

They must be confused and think this impacts their real grade or something, otherwise I can’t imagine why they would care.

Save a couple kids, I’m consistently getting the reflections back now, with the kids giving much more than two sentence answers for the most part.

I don’t think having them reflect on mass is a bad thing at all. I am just a little stumped with the grading thing.

 

[billy15]

Well as I said in my original post, this is my first year ever doing this, and I’m not an instructor by trade. This is the first time I’ve been told by another catechist not to grade. I totally understand your points; it’s formation as opposed to a school class. However, it seems like my parish is set up differently. I’m looking over the RE Handbook again for the parish, and it talks about students being sent home with progress reports twice during the school term and that they must do all homework they receive. So I know you said you don’t give homework or tests, but it looks like that’s the norm here, and the DRE has reminded us to give her a ring whenever we need copies of unit tests made.

And apparently, according to our handbook, grades 1-5 get some kind of “prayer booklet” that gets graded depending on how well they memorize certain prayers throughout the year. So it’s not that I’m necessarily defending what’s going on here… it’s just that this is all I’ve known. I’ve told the DRE about my problems with the Mass reflections and how I planned on handling it, and she didn’t have a problem with it. No I don’t know if ALL the teachers are doing this in the same way, but the few I’ve talked to seem to give out tests and homework through out the course of the year. So I just took all this as normal. I’m hoping I’m not setting these kids up for failure, but I honestly had no idea that this was “pretty much unheard of”. Again, all the enlightenment and discussion is much appreciated.

 

[1ke]

You do what your parish pastor or his designee has asked you to do.

I’ve never seen homework and grades handed out in parish religious ed. That is a new one on me, and I’ve been in several states.

Work within the framework you’ve been given. But find ways to focus on formation… Helping them come to know Jesus in relationship.

You are going to do a fine job, you are not going to do the students any disservice. I am sure your love of God and desire to share with them is quite evident.

 

[billy15]

Thank you, and I certainly hope so.

I find myself thinking about them and their families a lot now, because I know how difficult it is for them to grow up in such a secular world… so I worry for them. I saw an interesting article on Crisis Magazine the other day, detailing how we need to get back to focusing on the faith formation of children as a number one priority. or as they put it, “the old evangelization”, meaning:

On the parish level, it would mean the bulk of a parish’s resources go to facilitating families rearing their children in the Faith. The goal of the Old Evangelization was to form young Catholics’ characters in the virtues to prepare them for a happy life within the Church, and, at the same time, immunize them from the allures of American popular culture.

crisismagazine.com/2015/give-me-that-old-time-evangelization

I have to admit, I agree that investing in our young people should be at the top of the priority list of every parish. I just feel that we as Catholics need to get to these children before the world sinks its claws into them