First time Catechist (6th Grade)

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mercygate said:
How’s the year starting out for all of you sixth-grade teachers?
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This will be short as I’m actually putting the final touches on my class lesson tomorrow. The topic has been on covenants so I’ll be describing them to the kids tomorrow. I’ll be using the CCC definitions along with providing quick summarizations of each covenant. I may use some of Scott Hahn’s book as well, “A Father Who Keeps His Promises - God’s Covenant Love in Scipture”.

What do you all think if I also talked about the Ark of the Covenant? Any ideas on how I can bring that in as well? I was mainly thinking about contrasting the OT Ark along with the NT Ark (i.e. Mary) using typology. I actually have one of my students recognizing “types and shadows” in my discussions. He’s one of the students from last year whose mom made a special request to have him in my class.

BTW - I’ve actually moved up with my daughter and am now teaching 7th grade. I was quite surprised that there were some parents who didn’t want their kids with anyone else but me. Wow, God is doing something great! “Here I am Lord, send me.” All for Jesus!

God Bless…
 
matthew1624 said:
This will be short as I’m actually putting the final touches on my class lesson tomorrow. The topic has been on covenants so I’ll be describing them to the kids tomorrow. I’ll be using the CCC definitions along with providing quick summarizations of each covenant. I may use some of Scott Hahn’s book as well, “A Father Who Keeps His Promises - God’s Covenant Love in Scipture”.

What do you all think if I also talked about the Ark of the Covenant? Any ideas on how I can bring that in as well? I was mainly thinking about contrasting the OT Ark along with the NT Ark (i.e. Mary) using typology. I actually have one of my students recognizing “types and shadows” in my discussions. He’s one of the students from last year whose mom made a special request to have him in my class.

BTW - I’ve actually moved up with my daughter and am now teaching 7th grade. I was quite surprised that there were some parents who didn’t want their kids with anyone else but me. Wow, God is doing something great! “Here I am Lord, send me.” All for Jesus!

God Bless…
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If I did that my DRE would chasten me for teaching “over their heads.” They don’t even want adults reading the Catechism: “That’s for bishops.”

Of course, I ignore them. And my kids love me, too!
 
A couple years ago our DRE decided to give each child their own envelopes to put in the collection at Mass. This was not for money but for checking Mass attendance! It worked very well.

Teaching over their heads???
I am teaching that way for my children. It isn’t over their heads. The less is more approach is part of why so many Catholics are so hopelessly ignorant. My cradle Catholic brother is muslim and sister is anti-Catholic bible Christian. That is also why we are homeschooling RE.
 
matthew1624 said:
BTW - I’ve actually moved up with my daughter and am now teaching 7th grade. I was quite surprised that there were some parents who didn’t want their kids with anyone else but me. Wow, God is doing something great! “Here I am Lord, send me.” All for Jesus!
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I am a new member here so I am getting in on this thread a bit late.

I am starting my fourth year teaching junior high religious ed. At our closing ceremonies last spring both the DRE and I were told by one mom and dad that their daughter would only be returning for 8th grade this fall if I were her teacher, so I know just how you feel. It is sure nice to know that you are really connecting with at least one kid.
matthew1624 said:
What do you all think if I also talked about the Ark of the Covenant? Any ideas on how I can bring that in as well? I was mainly thinking about contrasting the OT Ark along with the NT Ark (i.e. Mary) using typology. I actually have one of my students recognizing “types and shadows” in my discussions. He’s one of the students from last year whose mom made a special request to have him in my class.
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This is something I plan on doing this year, too. What I think will work well is to use an approach described by John Martignoni (www.biblechristiansociety.com) in one of his free apologetics downloads. What John basically does is to put various verses from 2 Sam 6 and Luke 1 side-by-side, showing how they are very similar. Thus, 2 Sam 6:2 (And David arose and went to Baale-judah [a **city of Judah in the hill country]) would be read along side Luke 1:39 (In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah.) Similarly, 2 Sam 6:9 (And [David] said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”) would be read along side Luke 1:43 (And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?)

There are five more sets of verses like this. At the end of this demonstration I feel there can be little doubt that Luke - and the Holy Spirit! - deliberately intended to show the correspondence between Mary and the OT Ark of the Covenant.

I’m going to try to do this with a Power Point presentation, using some of those fancy animation techniques my granddaughter has been showing me. If you’re interested I’d be happy to let you know how it goes.
 
Here is my latest brain child (this is for our High School group).

Are You Smarter than a 5th Grade-CCD-er

I have the Faith and Life books for each grade, 1-5 and we will use random questions from those books.

The kids will be in two teams, and will take turns answering questions.

The team with the most points at the end, wins.

Kids can pick the grade, correct answers score points correspond with the grade they picked (1st grade = 1 point, 2nd = 2 points, etc.)

Since we are Catholics and do not “cheat”, that option from the TV show will not be allowed 😉 Each team will get a certain number of “fellowship” cards to play during the game - and they can spend one of those and ask another member of the team for help.

This is scheduled for class a week from Monday, I’ll let you know how it goes.
 
mercygate said:
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.
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“There was nobody to take me.” Is a weak excuse? What are they to do if there’s no one to take them? I mean if the parents have no way to take them.
 
Tabitha said:
“There was nobody to take me.” Is a weak excuse? What are they to do if there’s no one to take them? I mean if the parents have no way to take them.
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If they live in a city, they live within walking or bus distance of a Catholic church - there is no law that states that we must arrive at Mass by car. 😉
 
Tabitha said:
“There was nobody to take me.” Is a weak excuse? What are they to do if there’s no one to take them? I mean if the parents have no way to take them.
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Not one of my students lives more than one mile from the church. This is a very safe community with temperate climate.
 
Tabitha said:
“There was nobody to take me.” Is a weak excuse? What are they to do if there’s no one to take them? I mean if the parents have no way to take them.
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I have 9 kids in a junior high class that meets Monday evenings and we are studying the life of Jesus this year. Looking through the textbook and the lectionary I found several instances where I could use Sunday’s gospel to kick off Monday’s lesson (I’m one who doesn’t mind jumping around in the textbook.)

WRONG!!

While all but one live within easy walking distance, it turns out that just one of my kids attends Mass weekly, one is there every other week, two others attend only when it’s their turn to serve, and the rest are Christmas-and-Easter Catholics.

The pastor and DRE have both tried various approaches with such families over the years, usually with little long term success. All we really do is to strongly encourage Confirmation in the 8th grade, which at least gives us some time to teach the kids something about their faith. As for the parents, …
  • DORCatholic
 
Just thought i might share. This is my 3rd year teaching CCD.
Started with 1st then 2nd and this year 6th.:eek:

Truly a world of difference. In the past month i’ve already gotten questions

About the rapture
homosexuality
divorce and remarriage
hell
war
original sin
hell
hell and more hell

At the beginning of the year i told them that there was nothing off limits to discuss, and everything i teach is only what the church teaches. That was all they needed, an invitation to ask and they sure do.

I try and keep a socratic classroom.🙂
 
Hi, I’m somewhat new to this website, and I stumbled onto this forum with much interest.
I’m now in my second year of teaching CCD to 6th grade. I wish I had read all your helpful hints BEFORE making many of the “I’ll never do that again” lessons I have learned. This year has been much easier, and I finally am starting to feel on top of things…sometimes. I plan, but there is always some side story I can deviate to which they find more interesting than the planned lesson plan. This seems to be what they remember best. I wish I had a better memory.
We teach old testement in 6th, and I am trying to come up with inovative ways to give it variety and make it come alive for them in a class that is 75 minutes once a week. Any suggestions?:
 
francesj said:
Hi, I’m somewhat new to this website, and I stumbled onto this forum with much interest.
I’m now in my second year of teaching CCD to 6th grade. I wish I had read all your helpful hints BEFORE making many of the “I’ll never do that again” lessons I have learned. This year has been much easier, and I finally am starting to feel on top of things…sometimes. I plan, but there is always some side story I can deviate to which they find more interesting than the planned lesson plan. This seems to be what they remember best. I wish I had a better memory.
We teach old testement in 6th, and I am trying to come up with inovative ways to give it variety and make it come alive for them in a class that is 75 minutes once a week. Any suggestions?:
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I envy your 75 minutes a week! I have 45 minutes every 2 weeks.

I keep 'em interested by moving from activity to activity and keeping a tight eye on the clock. I have crammed too much into my session and need to delete the homily discussion but here’s what we do (hope this does not duplicate what I might have said up-thread:
  • Sign of the cross & Lord’s prayer in Latin
  • 3 minutes to write out scripture memory verse
  • “Sword drills” (race to look up scripture verses to answer a question)
  • Discussion of last week’s homily
  • Saint story presented by student
  • Discuss textbook lesson
  • Work through the textbook lesson work sheet
  • Sign of the cross and Hail Mary in Latin
  • Put the room in order
  • Saint story student erases board & puts away candle & bible
 
francesj said:
Hi, I’m somewhat new to this website, and I stumbled onto this forum with much interest.
I’m now in my second year of teaching CCD to 6th grade. I wish I had read all your helpful hints BEFORE making many of the “I’ll never do that again” lessons I have learned. This year has been much easier, and I finally am starting to feel on top of things…sometimes. I plan, but there is always some side story I can deviate to which they find more interesting than the planned lesson plan. This seems to be what they remember best. I wish I had a better memory.
We teach old testement in 6th, and I am trying to come up with inovative ways to give it variety and make it come alive for them in a class that is 75 minutes once a week. Any suggestions?:
Click to expand...
Yes - focus on the “action” stories, and have them act them out. You can also do “talk shows” where you “interview” the various characters in the stories, and have the kids respond as though they were actually those people - sometimes, they really get into it - I remember one time we were “interviewing” Hagar, Sarah, and Abraham, and they all just started yelling at each other - it was great!! They really “got” that Hagar and Sarah were jealous of each other, and at the end of it, they understood why Sarah reacted to Hagar the way that she did, and why Abraham behaved in the way that he did.
 
With that much time (I too envy you, I have 50 minutes once each week)… Maybe Steve Ray’s “Footprints of God” DVDs?
 
Thanks for your replies, I think to be better structured with time is something I will work on,… in addition to some of the ideas you all gave me. My director of religious ed has some materials that are essentially plays of the OT stories. That along with things like the interview (of Abraham, Sarah, etc) would get them more actively involved in their learning. I read about the saints alot myself, and I try to find stories about saints that display their amazing virtues and Gods miraculous response. So far, St Catherine of Siena and Padre Pio are giving me lots of material. They will be picking confirmation names in a few years and it helps them if they are a little familiar with some saints.
Sorry it has taken me a while to respond. Class is tommorrow!
 
Hello everyone,

First of all, God bless you all for teaching the word.

I guess it’s pretty hard to share, or receive advise from close friends. I have a lot of friends who are active Cathecists.

I’ve been teaching for 2 years. I assisted 1 year. The first 2 years were pretty fun. I found lots of fun stuff we could do here and there. I teach 6th grade by the way.

I guess, I’m just tired of doing it now. I felt the calling a while back, but now it feels pretty empty. This year feels like baby sitting. I am a very optimistic guy. I’m very motivated most of the time.

I just wonder, is it ok to walk away from it after this year. I’m a Church every Sunday just about. But I think my ministry is not there. I did the choir thing, the cantor thing, youth group, Young adults, setup and take down for most events, and even help out once a while St. Vincent de Paul association.

I think I need to focus on my friends who are not Catholic or even familiar with Christianity.

I’m all ears, anyone have suggestions. It could be fun to hear something from a brother or sister in Christ that I have not personally met.

Peace be with you. Goto get ready for Cathecism in the Morning.
 
Hi Fangsifu,

Being a teacher - whatever the subject matter - isn’t for everyone an I’d be the last one to tell you to stick it out if you aren’t happy doing it. But if you’re interested in a couple of tips that have helped me get past the feeling that all I’m doing is babysitting, then I’m happy to pass them along.

I’m in my 4th year teaching junior high religious ed and one thing I’ve found that works pretty well is to get to know something about each kid, if possible. I’m talking about things like their favorite movie stars, favorite types of music, favorite sports teams, hobbies – that kind of thing. Then during each class I try to work a little bit of that in, asking a girl when the (insert her favorite band here) are going on tour again, or asking a boy how well he thinks the (insert his favorite baseball team here) will do this year. It “wastes” a minute or two, but it shows them that I’m interested in more than religion and seems to help get them “on my side.”

Another thing I do during the first class each year is to give them a quick, 5 minute overview of the material we will be covering and then I ask them what else they would like to learn about. Last year’s responses to that question were especially interesting. One girl asked, in essence, how we actually know there is a God. That prompted a boy to ask if I could prove to him that all this stuff in the gospels about Jesus wasn’t just a fairy tale. A third kid asked why God lets bad things happen to good people (that’s obviously paraphrased, but it’s what he meant). And there were also a couple of other pretty good questions.

Now none of these subjects were in the official curriculum (which was Church history), but they all became a part of one class or another. And I can guarantee you that those classes were some of the best I’ve taught, mostly, I’m sure, because there was a real interest there on the part of the kids.

Some DREs might balk at this, but mine feels that the best time to teach something is when interest is at its highest. (Of course, that’s the experience of a mother of four speaking!)

Hope this helps.
 
DORCatholic said:
Some DREs might balk at this, but mine feels that the best time to teach something is when interest is at its highest. (Of course, that’s the experience of a mother of four speaking!)
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That’s my philosophy, as well. 🙂
 
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