CCD Teacher guidelines?

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Hi All,

I have tried searching for CCD threads, but it won’t let me use that term. So I am starting a new thread. I am a first time CCD teacher this year, and I am very dissappointed, but unfortunately not surprised. Aside from our diocese requirement for sex abuse training, there are virtually no guidelines. It is: Here is a group of kids-find something to do with them for an hour until their parents come to get them. This is what I always suspected from my own basically worthless CCD classes back in the seventies. Any warm body will do, and they are given no idea what to teach except the standard-follow the workbook. It seems only a dedicated individual with a LOT of extra time to create their own lesson plans, etc. would be able to accomplish anythign menaingful.

Is it the same all over? Would this seem less daunting if I were a trained teacher? Can anyone suggest resources to use? I want these kids to at least feel that they aren’t wasting their time being there (like I did) and hoepfully learn something about their religion. anyone had similar experiences?
 
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TAS2000:
Hi All,

I have tried searching for CCD threads, but it won’t let me use that term. So I am starting a new thread. I am a first time CCD teacher this year, and I am very dissappointed, but unfortunately not surprised. Aside from our diocese requirement for sex abuse training, there are virtually no guidelines. It is: Here is a group of kids-find something to do with them for an hour until their parents come to get them. This is what I always suspected from my own basically worthless CCD classes back in the seventies. Any warm body will do, and they are given no idea what to teach except the standard-follow the workbook. It seems only a dedicated individual with a LOT of extra time to create their own lesson plans, etc. would be able to accomplish anythign menaingful.

Is it the same all over? Would this seem less daunting if I were a trained teacher? Can anyone suggest resources to use? I want these kids to at least feel that they aren’t wasting their time being there (like I did) and hoepfully learn something about their religion. anyone had similar experiences?
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I would highly recommend the Faith and Life series found here:

cuf.org/faith.htm

We have used it with great benefit to homeschool our kids, but I have heard it works well in a CCD setting as well. It is simple, orthodox, attractive to the eye, and imparts solid useful information in an interesting way. There are also workbooks and teacher’s guides available.

Another thing you might consider is creating (or having the families create) memorization cards keyed to the 1962 Baltimore Catechism #1.

angeluspress.org/catechetics_theology.htm
(bottom of page)

You would be astounded how much children can learn in this way, and you can even make it a fun type of competition with prizes given at the end of the year (this is a good way to get parents involved too, as they can practice with the kids at home). Many of the lessons in this catechism can be linked with the chapters in the *Faith and Life * series. By using this method, my 9 year old has a better grasp of the fundementals of the Faith than most Catholic adults I know.

Good luck and God bless you for teaching the next generation of Catholics.
 
I’m not a trained teacher, and this is my first year teaching CCD. 5th grade, 8 girls in my class - so far, so good!

We use the Faith First series www.faithfirst.com

They have some good resources online - and forums!

My only problem is that in our limited time (about 45 minutes) we don’t have much time for the activities suggested in the book. There is a teachers guide, if you followed it to the letter, I think the class would have to be an hour and a half long! Of course, we seem to have lots of discussion about what we are reading.

We are having monthly community CCD, where all of the classes join in the gym and invite the parents - to all study together. Our first was 2 weeks ago - topic - the Rosary. Only 2 parents attended (compared to 60+ kids…). The second half of the class, all of the kids and teachers gathered in the floor and prayed one full decade together. These kids were from pre K to 8th grade. It was very moving to hear all of those young voices praying together.
 
Okay, this is a little bit of a shameless plug, because I work from home writing a lectionary based program for religious ed.

Our program is called “Celebrating the Lectionary” and is published by Resource Publications. It is structured to be able to be done in an hour or a little less.

Each session begins with a prayer and some sort of group building activity. Then has a story or reading from that Sunday’s readings…usually the gospel, but we also do quite a few of the letters, and occasionally old testament stuff. Then there are a choice of three activities, one is usually an activity sheet (such as crossword puzzles, etc.) which is great for limited time, one is a crafty type project to reinforce the lesson, and one is either community building or social justice oriented. And of course, the session ends with prayer.

The program costs about $90 (I think for the level you would be interested in, Intermediate, it is $83, but I am not sure) and it is a packet in which the activity sheets can be duplicated for as many students as you have.

I write the youngest level (3-5 year olds) and the Children’s Catechuminate packets. Our intermediate writer is excellent, and has some really great ideas.

Anyhow, I don’t know if you have a budget at all…I coordinate the program at my parish, and basically because we have to have untrained catechists (we are in a very rural area) we use prepurchased curriculums that can just be followed.

If you have no budget, I would suggest doing something similar on your own. The bible and the catechism are the best resources I can think of! Also, ask your DRE about resources that might be available (we have tons of books on different topics in our parish library.)

I hope this helps a little! Good luck and bless you for taking on this ministry.

-Lori
 
oops! I just wanted to say sorry, I got a little confused. I thought that it was the OP who had 5th grade.

CTL has several programs, but a few cost a little more because they are year round.

Levels that are partial year (basically school year) are:
Beginner (5-6 yr olds)
Primary (7-8)
Intermediate (9-11)
Junior (middle school aged)
Youth (high school aged)
these are all under $90

Levels that are year round are:
Nursery (3-4 yr. olds)
Children’s Catechumenate (7-11 yr olds)
Adult
these are all under $100

We also have Children’s Liturgy of the Word and Family Handouts.

anyhow, I just wanted to clarify! Sorry about my confusion!

-Lori
 
Was that you? I found CTL last year and got it because it comes in Spanish and English. I use the family version and send it home with every family, when our current subscription to another program runs out, I will be getting the various age level components. We begin every CCD session, catechist meeting, parent meeting or other get-together with CTL and Sunday gospel, then faith-sharing. It is also used for the BOW portion of RCIA and RCIC classes. For the money it is the best single resource I have found for this purpose. It allows us to combine lectionary-based catechsis with traditional programming, and with it I have been able to introduce catechists, coordinators, parents and parish leaders to the concept. I have been impressed with the content, such a lot packed into one page. Thank you so much.
 
We have a training program called the Master Catechist program. Those who graduate from this program can then train CCC teachers. All Ordained permanent deacons are also Master Catechists. We have a very difficult time getting teachers and we provide some training. We offer classes in both English and Spanish. The number 1. fear of most people is standing up and talking to a group. this makes it difficult to find CCD teachers.

God bless you for your service to HIM.
Deacon Tony SFO
 
puzzleannie,

thank you so much for the great words about CTL! I really can’t take any credit, we have a wonderful team of writers, editors, artists, etc. I will definately pass your words along to the other people on the team!

We also use a lot of CTL materials for meetings at our parish, though I generally feel a little shy about it (I’m really not usually into shameless self promotion!)

I’d love to hear what you think of the age-based programs when you switch. I’d also love to hear what materials you have used in the past and not had as much luck with. I’m always looking for ways to improve my writing.

Anyhow, feel free to private message me for my e-mail, I’d love to hear more, but don’t want to take over this thread!

-Lori
 
I teach the seventh grade, all girls, about 12-13 years old. I had a week to look at the workbook before my first class. While I am pretty sure the work books (Faith First) are ok, nothing theologically unsound or anything like that, I am leery of teaching this way. This is what I remember from my childhood classes. No offense to the person working on the CTL series, but I dislike the format listed. Read a story/lesson/scripture and then discuss or go through exercises about how we as Christians should respond or act. It just seems so “social studies” to me. I don’t think it is my job to teach these kids how to be good people, that is their parents’ job. I am supposed to be teaching them about their religion. What we believe as Catholics. Why just any religion isn’t good enough. You know what I mean? I only have an hour a week. When I told them not going to mass on Sunday was a sin, they were shocked! They thought Jesus was Catholic. Which then prompted the discussion of “well, why aren’t we Jewish then?”

But the point is, I am appalled at the fact that teaching our kids about their religion has become thus. A warm body with no training or background but good intentions could be very dangerous. I just see too much emphasis on making it fun rather than actually teaching them anything. I wonder if it is like this all over? Volunteers from the parish with no training just given a class full of kids to entertain for an hour? I have no accountability! Maybe I am just used to regular school where you gets grades. But it bugs me that there is no system in place to check and make sure what I am teaching them all year. So are there any resources out there to help teach them the basic precepts of their faith and why we believe those things? Or are we dooming another generation of kids to being good citizens, but lousy Catholics (like me)?
 
TAS2000,

I taught seventh grade for several years to a mixed group of boys and girls. It was very challenging and rewarding. The text was pretty bad so I worked with bibles (each child had one because we met in the Catholic school classrooms and they had them there) and the Catechism. Seventh grade was focused on the life of Jesus, the Gospel and set up Eighth grade, which was focused on the Church. I used the Gospel of Luke because it set up the Book of Acts, which was the focus of Eighth grade.

First I laid the groundwork with Genesis 1, 2 and 3, Creation, the Fall, Original Sin, which is necessary to understand the Gospel and Redemption through Christ and the Cross and Resurrection. We also touched on the other books of the Pentateuch, including the meaning of the names of the books, and Abraham and Isaac, slavery and Exodus from Egypt and the Ten Commandments. Then we worked through Luke having established the background context. I suggested they think of Matthew through Acts as a kind of New Testament Pentateuch as a memory device to remember the first five books off the OT and NT.

The first question I asked was: How many of you are hear because you parents make you come? All hands up. I then explained that soon no one would make them learn about the Faith, but they would have to make it their own. I told them they would be challenged it they identified themselves as Catholics and that many would present to them a false caricature of what the Catholic Church teaches. I challenged them to first learn what the Catholic Church really does teach so they can at least accept or reject it based on the Truth not a false presentation.

Their first question was: Will there be tests? I told them life was the test. I also demanded respect for myself and the others in the class and I in turn treated them with respect. But I challenged them, took their questions seriously and asked them serious questions using real life scenarios and applications of the Biblical examples and principles. Sometimes we used games that reinforced facts and principles. They liked the bible trivia type questions about what we had read aloud and discussed in class from the Bible and the old Hangman word game on the blackboard. I also divided them into competing groups in a Family Feud type game., often girls versus boys, when I had a good balance. They enjoyed it.

I took every oppourtunity to explain the Catholic doctrines which were derived from the Scripture we were studying. Luke was good because the Marian doctrines are also in that Gospel as well as other doctrines. Genesis and Exodus were good for the doctrines about Creation, the Fall and Original Sin.

The children I taught responded well to the challenge. I did not treat them like dummies. I set a high standard and challenged them to rise to it. Generally they did. And they leaned to find their way around the Bible instead of remaining biblically illiterate. But fun and learning were not mutually exclusive.

If no one else is holding you accountable, set a high standard and hold yourself accountable. I had little or no help and no oversight either, except to never hold a class alone if there only one child showed up. That happened only three or fours times in two years when I had a very small group. I was amazed at what the children did not know, which they should have known by then. But I brought them up to speed quickly.

I hope this is of some help to you.
 
While not strict “grades”, I use the Faith First chapter review questions, send them home with the girls each week and they bring them back the next week. We go over the answers in class and discuss.

Faith First 5th grade has good emphasis on history and scripture, the basics of our faith and WHY we believe.

Our CCD teachers have a training seminar at the Diocese (I’ll miss it this time because of family visiting from out of town). There were about 20 workshop choices, we could choose one for morning session and one for afternoon. The parish should be supporting the CCD teachers.

If the 7th grade course is just feel-good, ask the DRE about alternates. The Baltimore Cathecism is available online - free! For 7th graders, I think it would be a good format. Of course, the Bible and the CCC are enough for a world of learning.

Praying for you.
 
Normally it would be a mixed class, but this is a small community and I only have six kids, which all happen to be girls. I think one of my biggest issues is why does it always seem that the kids don’t know anything? By the seventh grade I’d think they should be able to do more things like the bible study you mentioned. I was given a list of the “major goals” that we are supposed to be teaching these kids. Now mind you, this is the goal for the entire year!

Kindergarten-Sign of the cross & Glory Be

Grade 1-Our Father & Hail Mary

Grade 2-Act of Contrition

Grade 3-Apostles Creed & Nicene Creed

Grade 4-10 Commandments

Grade 5-Sacraments & Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Grade 6-Beatitudes & Night Prayers

Grade 7-Rosary & Works of Mercy

Grade 8-Stations of the Cross

Some of these seem more like they should units, not the whole class. And I am sure that the teachers didn’t spend the whole year on them. I agree that we should be setting up the kids for what the will learn the next year, but I don’t really see a logical progression here.

I too, thought of playing games, and have started making plans with the eighth grade teacher to do some trivia style class against class games. As for tests, they never even asked. It was assumed that they’d never have any apparently by the shocked looks when I gave them the first one. :eek: (We’ve only had three classes so far.) By the way, it was only the downloadable chapter review for the first chapter, and I let them take it home to do, open book. Two of them never brought it back yet. I am not against having fun, but I think we worry too much about making it fun so the kids will want to come to the exclusion of teaching them real stuff. Who are we fooling? The kids don’t want to come, or at least would never say so. I want to teach them the real deal of their faith so that later when they are questioned, they have an answer, or at least know where to look. I think I have a lot of making up to do with these kids before they are ready for the kind of study you have listed.

I just feel frustrated because I am always backtracking over stuff they don’t know yet.

to be continued…
 
continued…

In defense of the workbook series, I understand our church just started using this series a year ago. So perhaps if the kids had gone through the whole thing, they’d know more. The series title for this year is Liturgy and Morality, which would lead me down the path of applying to our daily lives, etc. So maybe I just started in a bad place. I think I will have to go back to the Catechism and make up a lot of the basics with these gals. I know the diocese offers workshops periodically, but I have a full time job, two kids, am on Parish Council, am a musician for mass, in the choir, and generally really involved. I have a hard time getting to workshops, though I attend several a year, on various topics for the different ministries I serve. And I understand we have a hard time getting teachers to stay from year to year. I think we would do better at that if we gave them some training, but if we can’t get them to volunteer in the first place, how can we get them to training?

Prayers are always welcome, and I hope I don’t sound too negative. I am just really frustrated. :banghead: I want to do a good job and give these kids something worthwhile. I don’t want them to feel as I did- what a waste of time for eight years!
 
It doesn’t sound like you are a “lousy” Catholic! You want to teach and you are concerned about the children’s faith. Your community is fortunate to have you.

In our program, catechists are held to high accountability We have regular meetings with our priest and D.R.E. as well as special events such as retreats and bonding activities. They encourage us to also take advantage of the learning opportunities offered by the diocese. Many classes and workshops for both the laity and for catechists specifically are available.

Have you spoken with your parish priest about your concerns? There are steps you could take for further education and edifying yourself, but I feel your concern is larger than that and you’re right. Your program sounds insufficient.

Good luck with your seventh grade girls! That’s the larger portion of my class this year as well. We need to be well-informed and prepared or they will chat through the class!

God bless.
 
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TAS2000:
Prayers are always welcome, and I hope I don’t sound too negative. I am just really frustrated. :banghead: I want to do a good job and give these kids something worthwhile. I don’t want them to feel as I did- what a waste of time for eight years!
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You don’t sound too negative! At the bottom of it all, I talk with these girls like they were my nieces (no daughters for me). I too work full time - 50 hours is a usual work week, with a 3 hour round trip commute each day - sometimes I wonder WHY I volunteered to give more of what small bit of “free time” I have for CCD. This past weekend, it was clear. I’d been sick on Saturday - real worn out and sick. I thought that I’d just call in on Sunday and have them put my class in with another, go to evening Mass and REST. That morning, the thought of seeing those girls energized me - I realized that they mean much to me, and that the light in those faces was the best medicine.

Of course, 5th grade girls are MUCH sweeter than 7th grade girls :D, so, you have EXTRA prayers from me!

Keep up the faith.

Kage
 
OH MY! I thought maybe it was just me, but “chat through class” doesn’t cover it. They never shut up! I had to stop class three times last week because they were holding side conversations!
 
TAS2000

I may be off base here but it sounds like money may be an issue for this parish since they did not provide any books. If that is the case, an option like Faith and Life (my favorite series so far) might be too costly.

I recommend a book called 100 Activities from the Catholic Catechism. It contains reproducible acitivities for numerous levels.

The Baltimore Catechism series is inexpensive and a good starting point. It seems like your kids are starting almost from the beginning so I would get BC 0. That’s the First Communion version and it is very nice and colorful, not overwhelming but has depth. I use it for my First Communion class as their text for half of the year.

Also cruise the internet. Two sites with good stuff are catholiccatechist.com and catecal-resources.com. Some diocese put thier Religious Ed guide lines on line too. For that matter, call your diocese directly and ask for the guidelines for each grade. Our DRE never gave us any but I went to a diocisan workshop where they were mentioned. Turns out our DRE had them all in a binder on a shelf but had never handed them out.

I had to develop the Kindergarten curriculum one year when the DRE forgot to order the workbooks. I got a lot of the material from the internet - cathecist and homeschool site.

Good luck.
 
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TAS2000:
… I think one of my biggest issues is why does it always seem that the kids don’t know anything? … I think I have a lot of making up to do with these kids before they are ready for the kind of study you have listed.
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Trust me, mine seemed not to known anything either. That’s why I started with Genesis. I found that once they knew there was going to be some substance to the classes that they decided to make the most of it and entered into the spirit of the class. I still see some of these kids at Church today and they are grwon up now, one was a Marine on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf when
the war in Iraq started. I was also confident that the Eighth grade teacher was also doing something of sustance the following year and felt these kids got at least two good solid years of instruction from us. We were the only too men involved in CCD and we did not act like we were their mothers on a field trip. Tough love was the order of the day. I still feel good about those years. Now I work with a team in family RCIA.
 
I know you are concerned that your kids don’t seem to know anything about the faith, and I know that that is frustrating!

Honestly, I can’t think of any better ways to teach the faith than by participating in it! I think that the focus of 7th grade that you listed (the works of mercy and the rosary) would be an excellent way to introduce them to the faith concept…and what says “why be Catholic” better than the rosary and the works of mercy.

I would take each week and teach about one of these things. If you can get the kids interested in participating in the faith, it would probably cut down the side conversations (I have to admit, I was bad about talking on the side during school because I was always bored!)

So, decide to start with either the rosary, the spiritual works of mercy or the corporal works of mercy (I’d start with the rosary or the corporal works of mercy personally) Take one part of it each week and explain it to the girls.

OR, start each session praying a decade of the rosary together…it really helps give the kids a little more focus (we did this last year with our “remedial” sacrament class of 6 hyper boys ranging from 3 to 6th grade!)

You could discuss one day the history of the rosary, then the prayers of the rosary, then the mysteries of the rosary.

After that, you could go through each work of mercy and discuss them and then go do them(particularly with the corporal works)! (Have your kids do a food drive for feed the hungry, write letters to prisoners for visit the imprisioned, go visit the nursing home patients for visit the sick, etc.)

Of course, you’d also want to cover the spiritual works, but I personally think that the corporal works would get the kids excited, and make them more receptive to the spiritual works.

In our parish, we have a Jr. High Youth Group instead of Catechism classes for 7th and 8th grade, and they seem to like the more social approach of the youth group concept, but we are also a very small rural parish, so it probably started that way out of lack of teachers!

I know it is scary to do your own thing, but if you aren’t satisfied with how things are going, it may be the best option for you!

Good luck, and you will have my prayers!
-Lori
 
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