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Engaging Faith

Practical Lesson Ideas and Activities for Catholic Educators
Archived - May 2013

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A Simple Approach to Teaching Religion

What is the single most important thing for my students to learn? We often overlook this important question. Our textbooks have so much information. The curriculum is very demanding. The days, weeks, and months we have to do actual instruction in class seem to be getting shorter and shorter as time goes on often interrupted by assemblies, sports, and other school events. There is just too much to teach and not enough time. Then exam time comes and we find our students can barely remember a thing we taught them months ago. How is this possible? They studied it. We reviewed and reinforced it again and again. How could they possibly forget? Let's cut our students some slack. They have a lot to remember and learn well beyond our subject areas. It is a lot to take in for anyone. So what can we do as religion teachers to plant in their minds and hearts an enduring memory of the concepts we are teaching? Keep it simple, stupid! That's right: simplify. It is extremely hard to do for many of us, but it is the best way to create a long-lasting memorable experience of you as a teacher and of your subject. How to Simplify What You Teach Try answering these two statements: If they learn nothing else, they must learn . . . The single most important thing for students to learn is . . . Ask yourself these questions at the beginning of the school year, at the end of the school year, while you are planning each chapter/unit plan, and each lesson plan. You can easily transform these simplified statements into your lesson objectives or unit goals. Or, if you use the Understanding by Design system, turn these statements into your enduring understandings (big ideas) and essential questions. Simple Quotes to Help Keep Things Simple "Plurality is never to be posited without necessity." —William of Occam (Occam's Razor) "It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer." —William of Occam "It is superfluous to suppose that what can be accounted for by a few principles has been produced by many" —St. Thomas Aquinas "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." —Attributed to Albert Einstein "Nature operates in the shortest way possible." —Aristotle "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" —Leonardo Da Vinci "Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. —Jesus to his Apostles (Mt 10:16) This simple post is an adaptation of "Day 23: Simplify Your Lesson" from 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator by Jared Dees. Get your copy here at Ave Maria Press.

Trinity Sunday

The Sign of the Cross is a sacramental, that is, a sacred prayer, object, or blessing. It has been a universal sign of Christianity since the very early times of the Church. In the third century, Church Father, Tertullian, wrote: "At every step and movement, whenever we come in or go out, in dressing or in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at table, at the lighting of the lamps, in going to rest, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the Sign of the Cross." This coming Sunday May 26 is Trinity Sunday. Refer your students to Tertullian's words about the Sign of the Cross as a reminder of the central mystery of faith, the Holy Trinity. Use the following discussion questions as a a warm up discussion or journal entry for any lesson this week: Questions If you were asked to explain the Trinity—one God in Three Persons—to a young child, how would you do it? The Holy Trinity is a "community of love." What is a human example from your own life that helps you with this understanding of the Trinity? What are concrete ways the Word of God is in your mind? on your lips? in your heart?

What Is in a Name?

Every year, the U.S. Social Security Administration compiles a list of names that new parents gave their children that year, coming up with a top 10 and a top 20, and so on. The SSA just this week released the list of most popular names for 2012. What is in a name? We all know that first names are meaningful and that parents choose them carefully. It is interesting to note how many parents choose biblical names or saints’ names whether they choose them for that reason or not. Interestingly, more parents give their sons biblical or saints’ names than they give their daughters. Looking at the top twenty names for 2012, sixty percent of the boys’ names are also in the Bible: Jacob (1, most popular), Noah (4), Michael (8), Daniel (11), Matthew (12), Elijah (13), James (14), Benjamin (16), Joshua (17), Andrew (18), David (19), and Joseph (20). On the girls’ side, however, only two names are clearly biblical: Abigail (7) and Elizabeth (10). A little bit of research yields that Mia (8) is a nickname for Maria or Mary. Natalie (17) comes from the Italian word for Christ’s birth. Sophia (1) is the Greek word for Wisdom. In the year that some of the current ninth grade students were born (1997), there were several biblical names in the top 10 of American boys’ names: Michael, Jacob, Matthew, Joshua, and Andrew. Fifty percent of the top 20 boys’ names in that year were biblical. For girls, however, things were a bit different. Only four names from the top 20 for girls in 1997—Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth, Rachel,—are biblical. Here are a few activities you can do with your students around this information. * Give the list of names from a given year to the students and ask them to identify the biblical names. (You could also try doing this for saints’ names.) If you give lists from different decades, students can compare the use through recent history. Verify whether your students’ names match the popularity assigned to them for the whole country. Why might the class reflect those trends and why might they be different? How many students know why they have their names? Were any of the students named specifically for biblical characters or saints? Why do students think that boys are more likely to have biblical names? Can students explain why “Jacob” has been in the top 20 names for boys for two decades? Would your students name their own children after biblical figures or saints? Why or why not? If your students have been confirmed, ask them how they chose their Confirmation name. If Confirmation is in the future, what kind of thought would they give to the name? Do biblical and saints’ names play a role in evangelization? The SSA also categorizes babies’ names by region. It might be interesting to see how your own region compares to another area of the country. If you are interested in a complete list of over 10,000 biblical and saint names, check out a new release from Ave Maria Press, The Catholic Baby Name Book by Patrice Fagnant MacArthur.

Confirmation Discussion

As Pentecost nears, May is also a primary month for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Begin by sharing Pope Francis' homily suggestions to confirmandi to "swim against the tide" of culture in their practice of the faith. Then use the following questions to facilitate a discussion about Confirmation, either in a high school classroom, a Confirmation preparation meeting, or between sponsors and candidates. Questions for Discussion Share an occurrence from the past twenty-four hours in which you recognize the Holy Spirit's presence. Recall your own Confirmation (or tell about your anticipation for Confirmation). What are the effects of Confirmation? How do the effects of Confirmation take root in a person's life? What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Which gift of the Spirit would you most like to possess? How do you imagine participating in the Church in ten years? in twenty years? What type of Christian vocation can you see yourself in? What are some things you can do now to prepare for your vocation? How do you imagine Heaven?