Unruly Catechism Class - HELP

[Mel_Stones]

1. Speak your Rel. Ed. director and get a assistant.
   Lets began with a prayer. Always began and end with prayer. Some the “ususal” and introduce a few new ones. Look for religious games to play. Not for the entire class, but as a reward for GOOD BEHAVIOR!

Some parents don’t like this next idea but I did it for many years.
I told the kids at the first class what my expetations were, and that it WOULD BE work! So when I work, I get paid, and I think you should too.
You can earn a piece of candy for every question you answer, and 2 pcs if you get it right, or however you choose to set it up.
I had the bowl of candy on my desk, and it was on the honor system. They got paid at the end of class.

The other thing you need to do is be over prepared for class, including praying and asking for Divine assistance.

You can’t just lector kids this age. You have to get them involved. Search the “net” for ideas and materials. See what a sister parish is doing, don’t be afraid to ask and emulate.

I have an assistant but she didn’t show for the first two classes so I’m guessing she isn’t going to be of much assistance.

I think I will start and end with prayer next time - although I admit I’m not about to close my eyes in that group .

I’m pondering what to use as a reward system - now that I have established my authority, no one really wants to talk. It isn’t that they are afraid of me or anything. I think half don’t want to learn or give the right answer and the other half are afraid of getting it wrong or showing interest in front of their peers. I like the candy idea - I might try that.

I really need to find something that will get them more interested while still having learning take place. I feel like there is so much spelled out in the teacher’s manual, there isn’t enough time to make things more fun.

Is it alright to stray from the manual as long as the lesson is still learned?

Divine assistance is HUGE - I was on my knees before class (and fully plan to be again) asking the Holy Spirit to guide me and speak through me. I love feeling Christ standing next to me as I teach that He is our friend .

Thanks for the advice and thank you for your work in teaching our youth.

 

[KarenElissa]

I’m pondering what to use as a reward system - now that I have established my authority, no one really wants to talk. It isn’t that they are afraid of me or anything. I think half don’t want to learn or give the right answer and the other half are afraid of getting it wrong or showing interest in front of their peers. I like the candy idea - I might try that.

One idea I saw in a class was giving points for right answers. She did more points for harder questions, less for easier ones. You could also give a point just for trying to anyone with a serious answer. The teacher did boys against girls and kept track for the whole year. At the end of the year, she gave bigger prizes to the group that won and smaller prizes for the group that lost.

You could also turn it into more of a class cooperation by setting a goal of however many points and bringing in something special, cookies, prizes, whatever, when they reach it.

 

[NHInsider]

A couple of observations-

I never had desks for religious ed, only big tables with kids all around, so the “assigned seat” thing wasn’t doable. But I would on occasion insist that an unruly kid come and sit right next to me. Or I’d go stand behind him and rest a hand on his shoulder while talking to the class.

Candy rewards are time-honored, but I got in trouble for them last year - apparently there is a “no-food-ever in class” policy due to the possibililty of allergies, parental objections to sweets, etc. (And I was teaching sophomores in high school . . . ) On the other hand, points on a wall chart, which can be earned by good participation and lost by disruptive behavior, can be surprisingly motivating even without a prize at the end. Just being the winner is sometimes motivation enough. Teams are even better (then they put pressure on each other to behave).

A word-search or crossword puzzle is a good “beginning of class while every is arriving” activity. There are some nice programs online that will let you make your own, you can (name removed by moderator)ut words that have to do with the lesson.

You cannot assume that your students actually do know how to sit still and be quiet. Many school classrooms now are pretty noisy. And unlike the public school teacher, the RE volunteer doesn’t know which of her students is “coded.” (My worst year was a fourth grade class, 14 kids, I think 5 girls, of the boys 3 were “coded” in school, and there I stood with the whole lot of them bouncing off the walls. I think the DRE figured since I’d been a school teacher I could handle it. I wound up telling one child’s mother he couldn’t come back to class unless she came, too. She did, and it did help (it won’t always, sometimes the parents are part of the problem). I didn’t find out until more than a year later that that particular child had a full-time one-on-one aide in the school. He really couldn’t sit still. Another possibility if the class is really impossible is to ask the DRE to sit in.

Try lowering instead of raising your voice. Rising voices raise tension and increase chaos. Speaking in low tones and remaining calm sends an “I am in control here” message, even when you don’t FEEL like you’re in control.

And yes, pray before, pray during, and pray after class! (Mostly I mean praying silently as you’re teaching, but sometimes asking the kids to stop everything and taking a minute to ask the Holy Spirit to be present among them can re-boot the class.)

 

[Mel_Stones]

A couple of observations-

I never had desks for religious ed, only big tables with kids all around, so the “assigned seat” thing wasn’t doable. But I would on occasion insist that an unruly kid come and sit right next to me. Or I’d go stand behind him and rest a hand on his shoulder while talking to the class.

All I have is big tables too. I just set up the exact number of chairs and taped their name in front of the seat I wanted them to sit in.

Even though my church just built a beautiful education center with many new classrooms, the room seems quite small with 2 big tables, 16 chairs, and 10 energetic 4th graders - I don’t do much walking around.

A word-search or crossword puzzle is a good “beginning of class while every is arriving” activity. There are some nice programs online that will let you make your own, you can (name removed by moderator)ut words that have to do with the lesson.

That is a good idea - there are several such activities in the student workbooks. One problem though, the students are not to write in the books this year so as to ‘save paper’ and reuse the books next year. It seems I’m making copies of about every page though so I don’t really think any paper is being saved.

You cannot assume that your students actually do know how to sit still and be quiet. Many school classrooms now are pretty noisy. And unlike the public school teacher, the RE volunteer doesn’t know which of her students is “coded.” (My worst year was a fourth grade class, 14 kids, I think 5 girls, of the boys 3 were “coded” in school, and there I stood with the whole lot of them bouncing off the walls. I think the DRE figured since I’d been a school teacher I could handle it. I wound up telling one child’s mother he couldn’t come back to class unless she came, too. She did, and it did help (it won’t always, sometimes the parents are part of the problem). I didn’t find out until more than a year later that that particular child had a full-time one-on-one aide in the school. He really couldn’t sit still. Another possibility if the class is really impossible is to ask the DRE to sit in.

:sad_yes: Too true - many kids don’t seem to know how to sit still and be quiet. But I don’t expect little statues. By “coded” I assume you mean diagnosed ADD, ADHD etc. - I think it might be impossible to escape the rampant diagnosis of such. That isn’t to say no child has such problems, its just soooooo many seem to now adays that I think there must be a better answer than to give the excuse of such a diagnosis.

My niece (4 years my junior) was the first person I knew who was diagnosed ADHD. There were times she was a little terror, there were time she was an angel. One day she was behaving beautifully, I was really having fun playing with her then I said we were late for lunch which made her realize she hadn’t had her pill yet. She was instantly a little terror, hugging a lamp-post refusing to go home and yelling that she was misbehaving because she needed her pill. I’ve no doubt a placebo would have worked fine for this 7 year old.

Try lowering instead of raising your voice. Rising voices raise tension and increase chaos. Speaking in low tones and remaining calm sends an “I am in control here” message, even when you don’t FEEL like you’re in control.

And yes, pray before, pray during, and pray after class! (Mostly I mean praying silently as you’re teaching, but sometimes asking the kids to stop everything and taking a minute to ask the Holy Spirit to be present among them can re-boot the class.)

I’m not much of a voice-raiser anyway. I am a martial arts instructor by trade so I have been working on my ‘I am in control here’ voice for a few years - still needs some tuning up though .

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut - I’m considering between candy/treat and fun price reward systems.

 

[VivienneJ]

I’m not much of a voice-raiser anyway. I am a martial arts instructor by trade so I have been working on my ‘I am in control here’ voice for a few years - still needs some tuning up though .

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut - I’m considering between candy/treat and fun price reward systems.

Just a thought Mel, I have no experience with Catechism classes, but am a regular school teacher (if there is such a thing) to help with the voice down, but getting class to pay attention, I teach my class at the beginning of each year “One, two, three…look at me” - you can do the 1-2-3 at whatever speed is appropriate and within I short time all I need to do is the 1-2-3 and by 2 their eyes are on me, the room is quiet and we can go on.

Reward systems are the best, decide before your next class what you are going to do and enjoy using your system.

 

[Mel_Stones]

Just a thought Mel, I have no experience with Catechism classes, but am a regular school teacher (if there is such a thing) to help with the voice down, but getting class to pay attention, I teach my class at the beginning of each year “One, two, three…look at me” - you can do the 1-2-3 at whatever speed is appropriate and within I short time all I need to do is the 1-2-3 and by 2 their eyes are on me, the room is quiet and we can go on.

Reward systems are the best, decide before your next class what you are going to do and enjoy using your system.

Might give something like that a try. May work - reminds me of sixth grade when if the teacher raised his hand we were all to look at him, shut up, and raise our hand.

I like that you added “enjoy using your system” - I really want to enjoy this whole experience and help enlighten the minds of our youth.

 

[CountrySinger]

I teach 3rd graders (I was going to teach 7th, but no… they took that away from me). So I got stuck with the worst group (at least in our parish). I personally think that these kids are Satan. The only thing that works is candy. Is it May yet?! I LOVED my 7th graders!