First time catechism teacher. Help!

[aicirt]

God bless you all for teaching. I did many years ago - we had a very poor program and I felt like I was teaching 9th graders what they should have learned in 3rd grade. In my area confirmation is in the beginning of 12th grade - very hard to keep them going that long. I had a problem with the teacher who had my oldest son (confirmation class) she refused to let him make his confirmation - the next year the nun taught him personally and could not understand what the issue was. I asked a good family friend who had been in his class and she told me that my son asked questions and basically the teacher didn’t know how to answer them. She said the teacher would say something like abortion is wrong - my son would ask why??? Apparently she had problems explaining why abortion was wrong – that was just one example. I hope you will all be prepared for the child who wants to know more or wants to make sure you know what the answer is - my son knew the answer but his teacher didn’t and didn’t want to hear from him. Fortunately we now have a much better program - just very few kids.

I love teaching my kids. Some are like sponges. They just soak it in. And it is great when they ask questions because you know they’re thinking. If I don’t know, I tell them I don’t know but will research it and get back to them next week. We’ve done a Jeopardy game which they enjoy but I just don’t have the time to do that as much as I would like.

 

[PJM]

=Dietrich;10233664]Ok, this is going to take a minute to unpack. If you want to skip to the end, I understand, but I just want to give a complete assessment of the situation so your answers might be calibrated accurately.

For years my family and I have denied any opportunity to get involved with parish life. No KofC, no parish council, no doughnuts, nothing. We go to Mass, we leave. Period. That seemed like a tidy arrangement and we had no big complaints. Part of the reason, I should add, is that we move quite a bit so it’s been hard to put down roots.

However, a very sad thing happened to some close, close friends recently, and to make a longer story shorter, my wife and I resolved to become more involved as a result of what we witnessed in them.

I contacted my parish religious ed teacher and said I wanted to become more involved, and it didn’t take her long to offer the position of catechist for young people preparing for confirmation. I said I’d talk to her the next day, and when she and the other catechists gathered before the class (which I thought I’d just be observing) she pointed me out to the group and introduced me as the new teacher for the confirmation candidates! I was pretty surprised, but took it as a sign from God and just had to laugh a little.

Now, here’s what I’m walking into and why I’m asking for advice. When I got to the class, I saw it was being taught by an 18 year-old Junior College freshman, and occasionally assisted by a 19 year-old former high school seminary student. They were doing this with great courage and generosity because their previous teacher, who was twenty, became overwhelmed and quit. Not an ideal situation and I can see why I was so eagerly accepted. These two teachers were trying very hard, and were knowledgeable, but could not control a room of (basically) their chatty peers nor provide a coherent framework that will get the kids from here to confirmation with any degree of confidence.

In this meeting it became clear to me that there was almost no structure to the classes, no lesson plan, and the students (at least some) lacked basic understanding about some very basic stuff, asking questions about whether a saint has to first die and such.

I have no idea where to start, but I’m thinking a good idea would be to take a basic assessment of everyone in the class and then go from there. They need to know what the seven sacraments are and the fundamentals that I can’t believe the majority of them would possess.

My question: does anybody here have a similar experience? If so, what did you do to overcome it? Finally, what do I focus on to ensure they’re at least halfway prepared to receive this indelible mark on their souls? How do I come into this midstream and try to wrestle for control?

For your information, they parish is ‘using’ the Faith & Life series. They also have several YouCats lying around. So the material is there, and solid, but where to go from here?

Thank you and may God Bless you,

Dietrich

I wish I had found your post eariler. I’ve een faith-sharing for about 5 hpurs and I’m pooped out.

Heres the short list from a guy with 15+years of expriece including 3 years DOING what your gonna do

1. MUST have a teacher an an assistant for “crowd control” Be friendly BUT FIRM that this is SERIOUS STUFF! I’m going to take it that way and that is what I EXOECT FROM EACH OF YOU
2. MUST be Over prepared for each class. [ALSO DAILY MASS THE DAY OF CLASS IF POSSIBLE?] a great help!

DO ALOT OF Q & A TO KEP THEM INVOLVED.

USE THE BIBLE AND THE CATECHISM OF THE CC

Do they have an agenda outline for you?

1. Here are some of the things that must be taught [agenda or not]

The Comandments

The Creed

The Mass

The Sacraments. ESPECIALLY sin/ Confession and the Eucharist; Baptism and of course Confirmation

I have materials that I can send to you for each of these to get you started if your interested?

Let me know how I can be of help to you?

God Bless,
pat PJM here on this Forum

 

[kkollwitz]

Re #1 above, yes you must have a bouncer, one who is blunt and non-nonsense when necessary.

 

[Dietrich]

Hi Everyone,

To all of you, thank you. It was a great (half) year working with the kids, and your advice was of great value. It was a much more interesting, engaging, and rewarding experience than I imagined it would be. I think it was ultimately edifying for all involved.

Thank you all again and may God Bless you all.