First time Catechist (6th Grade)

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Okay, after about 6 years of studying scripture and theology, and a lot of time dedicated in apologetics I thought it was about time to get involved in religious education. My wife and I will be teaching 6th grade and for now our patron Saint for the Year will be St. Jerome and our motto will be “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.” I plan on challenging them through the year in getting to know their scriptures really well. The Finding God book (assigned by the DRE) for 6th graders will be focusing primarily on the OT. Another theme I’ll be bringing in to the classroom is St. Augustine’s quote regarding both Testaments, “The New is hidden in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New…” I’m looking forward to teaching but I have to admit that I’m not sure what to expect. Based on what I’ve shared so far, do you think I’m on the right track? Do any of you have any experience in religious education, especially teaching 11 and 12 year olds? Any suggestions or comments as to what to expect would be appreciated.

God Bless…
 
God bless you for responding to this call of the Holy Spirit. In my humble opinion as a DRE still scrambling for catechists, in a parish with some of the most well-prepared well-educated adults in the diocese, and adult who has the knowledge and background and does not participate in formal catechesis, evangelization or apologetics in his parish or diocese is reneging on his baptismal promises and will be judged on it.

sigh, as i catch my breath after that rant. Especially the idea that you and your wife will work together is excellent, a wonderful idea especially for this age group. Kids in jr high need to see examples of good strong Catholic men, and good strong Catholic couples.

usually 6th grade is based on Salvation History as revealed in the OT, 7th grade on the fulfillment of the Covenant in Christ and life of Christ, and 8th grade on the Church and church history.

there are some good links here on typology, which our kids really get into. check out the scripture forum.

there are many ways to use drama, skits, journals, songs, art and other activities to draw out and reflect on the message in the Bible story, but don’t forget to begin with the proclamation of the story from the actual bible. some kids never make the connection between readings at Mass or in their textbook, and the Bible which is their source.
 
I taught 6th grade for the first time last year. My pastor gave me advice: Assume nothing.

Well, NOTHING is exactly what they knew. Some of 'em didn’t know how to genuflect (or why) or how to make the sign of the cross. Forget about confession: once a year, when it was arranged through CCD.

Our program is called Parents and Children Together. My parents were invisible last year. This year, I will pass a sign-up sheet around at the first session when they all attend andI ask that one parent attend each class [one parent total; not one parent from each family each week], and I will also **go over in class **a written guide on how to behave in church. We will also review the written RULES OF ENGAGEMENT for class sessions: homework assignments are to be signed by a parent, and anyone unprepared will not participate in class discussions.

Sixth grade has GREAT material, and my kids were pretty enthusiastic about it last year. Last year I had each kid bring his own Bible, but that was awful (Precious Moments Bible? Gideon Bible? . . .) Our DRE is going to buy them all St. Joseph NAB student bibles this year.

We will begin each class with a quiet moment in which the students will write out the Bible memory verse assigned for that week. We will also do find-the-verse Bible drill games to help them learn to find their way around the Bible.
 
our jr hi catechists have asked for the little pamphlet The Bible and You from Channing-Bette which is a good, easy intro, books of the bible, timeline etc. We will use that, plus a short video for middle grades called What is the Bible from Oblate Media the firstt 4 weeks as we learn to navigate the bible. Every month for the rest of the year we will cover one main segment of OT salvation histor-creation, noah, abraham, jacob and joseph, Moses, David etc.
 
JMJ

As a fellow catechist of 6th and 7th graders, let me offer you this advice: your plan is good, bu don’t plan on it. 😉 I know that sounds quite odd, but as excited as you (and hopefully all us catechists) are about sharing the faith, we must remember that the children must be heard. Answer their questions most of all. I think you will find after a few weeks that they have so many questions about everything that you will be struggling to answer them all and keep on track.

They will ask you things that might make you uncomfortable. It happens. But always remember that you are the voice of Christ to them, if you don’t explain, someone else might, and it most likely will not be what they need to hear.

Also, I second mercygate. Many of them know precious little about the Church because their parents either don’t know, or don’t care to teach them anything. I always start my first class with a tour of the Church, explaining what things are and what they mean. It’s very hard to expect them to show an apprecitation for the Mass when so many of them do not understand anything about it.

Well, I seem to be writing a novel now, so I will end here. Good luck, and God Bless!
 
Pong said:
JMJ

As a fellow catechist of 6th and 7th graders, let me offer you this advice: your plan is good, bu don’t plan on it. 😉 I know that sounds quite odd, but as excited as you (and hopefully all us catechists) are about sharing the faith, we must remember that **the children must be heard. Answer their questions most of all. I think you will find after a few weeks that they have so many questions about everything that you will be struggling to answer them all and keep on track. **

They will ask you things that might make you uncomfortable. It happens. But always remember that you are the voice of Christ to them, if you don’t explain, someone else might, and it most likely will not be what they need to hear.

Also, I second mercygate. Many of them know precious little about the Church because their parents either don’t know, or don’t care to teach them anything. I always start my first class with a tour of the Church, explaining what things are and what they mean. It’s very hard to expect them to show an apprecitation for the Mass when so many of them do not understand anything about it.

Well, I seem to be writing a novel now, so I will end here. Good luck, and God Bless!
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Just a caution about questions. YES! We need to answer questions – even stupid questions. But beware. Sixth graders can be extremely deft at spinning a line of questioning out endlessly in order to take the teacher’s mind off the lesson at hand. You need to balance it out. The kids need to learn this material, which is some of the most important they will ever encounter in their lives. Don’t shortchange them by allowing a deviation into why can’t women be priests . . . IOW: MANAGE your class.
 
They are going to encounter that argument for women priests- where else are they going to learn to defend the truth? Sometimes the real issues at hand, as in how their faith fits in to the real world, are as important if not more that the regular classroom material. And yes, manage your classroom of course, I am a career teacher, I can tell you that this is vitally important.
 
Thanks for your comments so far. Tonight was the first night of RE. Boy, breaking the ice was very difficult. Hopefully it is just because it was the first day. I was very impressed by a few of the students who were participating rather well. That was a great feeling. We didn’t get our workbooks so I had to wing most of the class. I covered some basics about the bible, i.e. how many books compose the bible, what’s the difference between the OT and NT, what is prayer, and what does the word Catholic mean.

Hopefully they went away with something worth sharing.

If anyone else has any more comments or suggestions please feel free to offer them.

In Christ…
 
matthew1624 said:
…If anyone else has any more comments or suggestions please feel free to offer them.
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I taught 6th grade PSR a few years ago. Awesome experience.

After examining and having serious misgivings about the “assigned” text, I went to the priest and asked if I could use the old Baltimore Catechism. He gave me the thumbs up. I used Number Twoand it was great! Bought each kid a copy they could keep as their own (they’re cheap). We did a lesson or two a week.

My opinion - you’ve got to give them the meat and potatoes of the faith first - the basics and the foundation of the faith. Most of them haven’t got it yet. I’m talking basic truths about who God is, who Jesus is, what the Bible is, what the Church is, what sin is, why the Redemption was necessary, what a Sacrament is, etc. etc. etc.

Good luck and God bless!

DustinsDad
 
mercygate said:
Sixth grade has GREAT material, and my kids were pretty enthusiastic about it last year. Last year I had each kid bring his own Bible, but that was awful (Precious Moments Bible? Gideon Bible? . . .) Our DRE is going to buy them all St. Joseph NAB student bibles this year.
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Are you concerned about the footnotes in the NAB?
 
bigdawg said:
Are you concerned about the footnotes in the NAB?
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To some extent, I am concerned about those footnotes. But I felt it would be less confusing for the kids to be reading the same words for class that they will be hearing at Mass. I would prefer the RSV-CE (which I am recommending to parents via my “resources” list ). I will be warning the parents about those footnotes.
 
I sent my son to CCD last year. He said he learned nothing. At the end of the year when I got his workbook I found that it had none of the lessons done in the book. This year I signed him up for CCD but I will simply go get the book and do the CCD with him myself.

In our home study for him (6th grade) we read the readings together for the following Sunday and told him to go prepare a homily on the readings. He had a difficult time coming up with a homily. So then we talked about what a homily was and why we have homilies at Sunday Mass. His homework assignment was to listen to the readings at Sunday Mass and listen to the homily and then to give a homily to us the following week. Unfortunately, the priest who gave the homily was German and you could hardly understand a word of his homily - especially for a 6th grader.

The next lesson he gave us a homily. It was beautiful. He had been able to understand the priest afterall and he reviewed the readings again. He really did get the message and was able to explain it better to me than I could have myself.

This is an activity I would recommend to use at the 6th grade level. It really got him involved in the Mass and thinking.
 
How’s it going with 6th grade CCD?

I was disappointed to learn that only 3 of my 8 students had memorized the assigned Bible verse and written out the brief homily report. The other 5 gave no excuse for not memorizing the verse nor and 4 of the remaining 5 had not attended Mass, giving no excuse.

One of my parents thinks her son should be exempt from the homily report because he visits his grandparents at the shore on Sundays and they’re Catholic but they don’t think going to Church is important.

Sigh.
 
mercygate said:
How’s it going with 6th grade CCD?

I was disappointed to learn that only 3 of my 8 students had memorized the assigned Bible verse and written out the brief homily report. The other 5 gave no excuse for not memorizing the verse nor and 4 of the remaining 5 had not attended Mass, giving no excuse.

One of my parents thinks her son should be exempt from the homily report because he visits his grandparents at the shore on Sundays and they’re Catholic but they don’t think going to Church is important.

Sigh.
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Mercygate,

So far it is going great. The students started out not knowing how many books were in the canon, how many comprised the OT and NT and also not knowing how to navigate the bible. After four weeks they now know the above including which books begin and end the OT and the NT. Although they didn’t know the information above I can see that they are familiar with most of the stories I’ve shared so far. I have assigned each student a scripture passage for the year but I haven’t quized them on it yet. I had them make bookmarks with their assigned passage to help them out. I’ll start quizing them on it next week. I have noticed that not all students are making it to Sunday mass. I’m not sure what to do about that. On the other hand, there have been a few students who are really impressing me with their willingness to learn. You can see the desire in their eyes to learn. I’ve got an incredible responsibility on my hands. Please pray that I will be an effective catechist…

“A great responsibility has been imposed on us, and woe to us if we do not preach it” 1 Cor 9:16

In Christ…
 
matthew1624 said:
Mercygate,

So far it is going great. The students started out not knowing how many books were in the canon, how many comprised the OT and NT and also not knowing how to navigate the bible. After four weeks they now know the above including which books begin and end the OT and the NT. Although they didn’t know the information above I can see that they are familiar with most of the stories I’ve shared so far. I have assigned each student a scripture passage for the year but I haven’t quized them on it yet. I had them make bookmarks with their assigned passage to help them out. I’ll start quizing them on it next week. I have noticed that not all students are making it to Sunday mass. I’m not sure what to do about that. On the other hand, there have been a few students who are really impressing me with their willingness to learn. You can see the desire in their eyes to learn. I’ve got an incredible responsibility on my hands. Please pray that I will be an effective catechist…

“A great responsibility has been imposed on us, and woe to us if we do not preach it” 1 Cor 9:16

In Christ…
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We’re just at week 2. I had them repeat after me all the names of the books in the Bible so they would know how to pronounce then. We do “find it” drills, and they really enjoy that. I know what you mean about the eagerness in their eyes.

They LOVE it when we recite the sign of the cross in Latin together!
 
I love hearing about other CCD classes esp 6th grade. I and a co-teacher teach 17 6th grade boys. About a third are alterboys. Smart kids keep you on your toes. I would hazard a guess that many an adult would be stumped by their questions.

The boys do like my weekly saint readings…especially Sts Joseph of Cupertino and Herman the Cripple.
 
mercygate said:
We’re just at week 2. I had them repeat after me all the names of the books in the Bible so they would know how to pronounce then. We do “find it” drills, and they really enjoy that. I know what you mean about the eagerness in their eyes.
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It is good to ask them to repeat all the Bible book names and do a drill. I have typed out a list - “The Order of the Books of the Bible” and made copies. I will use it along with the idea of reading and drilling for my 7th grade CCD class.

This is my first time to teach 7th grade. There are 22 in my class.
This year’s theme is “Jesus in the New Testament”. We are supposed to cover one book for each class; therefore, very intensive. Each week I type out my lesson plan in details, and figure out how many minutes for each section. So far the time control is good, I can usually cover all the planned topics.

I usually start with a prayer, ask the class if they attended Sunay Mass, and if they can recall the contents of the homily. It is disappointing that usually only half of them went to Mass.
Some kids can recall part of the sermon. Then I will summarize the key points of what Father has preached.

I also often emphasize the real Presence of the Eucharist.
The first time I asked if they knew about the real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, only one student raised his hand. This has to be repeatedly explained and emphasized.

They also have never heard of Eucharist Adoration and had no idea what that was. So, this Sunday evening in the beginning of the class, we will go to the Chapel for a short Adoration, followed by teaching of Rosary.

I try to have them play one faith related game each time, such as
un-scramble faith related words, solve word puzzles, or act out a Bible story, etc. If any of you have any game to suggest, it is most welcome. Thanks.
 
InLight247 said:
It is good to ask them to repeat all the Bible book names and do a drill. I have typed out a list - “The Order of the Books of the Bible” and made copies. I will use it along with the idea of reading and drilling for my 7th grade CCD class.

This is my first time to teach 7th grade. There are 22 in my class.
This year’s theme is “Jesus in the New Testament”. We are supposed to cover one book for each class; therefore, very intensive. Each week I type out my lesson plan in details, and figure out how many minutes for each section. So far the time control is good, I can usually cover all the planned topics.

I usually start with a prayer, ask the class if they attended Sunay Mass, and if they can recall the contents of the homily. It is disappointing that usually only half of them went to Mass.
Some kids can recall part of the sermon. Then I will summarize the key points of what Father has preached.

I also often emphasize the real Presence of the Eucharist.
The first time I asked if they knew about the real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, only one student raised his hand. This has to be repeatedly explained and emphasized.

They also have never heard of Eucharist Adoration and had no idea what that was. So, this Sunday evening in the beginning of the class, we will go to the Chapel for a short Adoration, followed by teaching of Rosary.

I try to have them play one faith related game each time, such as
un-scramble faith related words, solve word puzzles, or act out a Bible story, etc. If any of you have any game to suggest, it is most welcome. Thanks.
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I agree that the kids’ not going to Mass is a big drain on my effectiveness. I also put in a plug for Confession in almost every session. They have hardly a clue what that’s about.
 
God bless you for your work with these kids, who need you so much!!!

I teach 2nd graders, so don’t have a lot of helpful hints for 6th graders…but your love and enthusiasm will be evident to them, which can’t help but be a positive influence for them.

Know that I am praying for you and your classes!
 
Each week, I ask the kids to submit a couple of lines based on the Sunday homily. I am getting what I consider to be extremely weak excuses for not attending Mass from two-thirds of my class:

We did the walk for diabetes. I was at my Aunt’s and she doesn’t go to Church. There was nobody to take me.

Any suggestions on what positive steps I can take to encourage parents to take this obligation seriously?
 
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