Engaging Faith

Allow at least thirty minutes of class time for the students to pray privately, though you may incorporate part of this prayer into a larger classroom service. Make sure each student has a prayer journal and a Bible. Follow these directions. Call to Prayer Pray in the following words or choose similar words of your own. After the prayer, pause in silence. Listen for God to speak to you in your silence. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time in your presence. I have learned about the unbreakable and sacred bond of marriage. Help me to begin to determine if I am called to married life. If so, help protect me from the temptations against chastity. Teach me to be a loyal friend. Allow me to be relaxed as I form new friendships with people of the opposite sex. Make me strong enough to keep the commitments you have entrusted to me now so that I will be able to keep the life long commitment of marriage if I am called down that path. And continue to offer your Holy Spirit to those married couples who are dear to me: especially my parents, grandparents, and others who have shared the graces of the sacrament of Matrimony with me. Remain with me always. I make this prayer in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Scripture Reading Slowly and carefully read the Scripture passage from 1 John 4:7–12. What is God’s word saying to you about a possible vocation to married life? A reading from the First Letter of John Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Reflection Questions Read through the entire list of questions. Then go back and choose one question to spend time with in greater detail. Listen to what God is saying to you. Write down your thoughts in a prayer journal. Choose another question and repeat the process. You can choose to do all or some of the questions. You can also form your own questions about marriage and write your responses to these as well. * What elements of my friendship skills can I bring to a marriage? * Can I put my career plans behind my marriage and family life? * How do I imagine my future spouse? * What would a typical weekday be like as a married person? weekend? * How many children would I like to have? * How would I fit in with my spouse’s family? How would my spouse fit in with my family? * What kind of parenting style will I have? * How does married life seem fun and exciting? * What will my wedding be like? * If I could tell my future spouse anything right now, what would it be? Prayer for My Future Spouse End your time of reflection with a prayer for a potential future spouse. Use this prayer or your own words. Holy God, watch over my future spouse if it is your will that I be married. Protect my spouse from harm. Keep my spouse chaste and pure as I promise the same. Lead us to each other and instruct us in the ways of friendship. As our love grows, let it be in your name. I commend this prayer through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, and through Christ our Lord. Amen. This prayer was taken from the textbook Marriage and Holy Orders: Your Call to Love and Serve (Ave Maria Press, 2007).

As the access to iPads, laptops, SMART Boards, and LCD projectors increases in Catholic schools, so does demand for engaging media to use as learning tools. In particular, many teachers are seeking out short videos to use in class to supplement their instruction. As showing videos in class becomes easier, it is important to consider how exactly those videos are being used as tools for learning. Consider these suggestions for the wrong and the right way to show videos in theology classrooms. The WRONG Way to Show Videos in Class Send students to the Internet to find videos themselves. Now that anyone can upload a video to YouTube, there is no telling what false information students will find and trust on the web. Before endorsing any video, you need to vet it for accuracy and point out any errors or misleading information that might appear in a video your students are watching. This is especially the case when dealing with videos about God and the Church. Assign a video without context or questions. When you have students watch a video be sure to connect it to what they have learned in class or read in their textbooks. Do not let them watch the video in isolation from what you are trying to accomplish in class. Give them the context of what they are watching and give them some questions to answer while they watch. Show long videos and documentaries without interruption. While a documentary may display valuable information for the students, they still need reminders about what is important or relevant to the lessons they have learned in class. Pause the video and clarify what you want them to remember. Then you can reference each part of the video in later discussions or lessons. Do not give the students the opportunity to talk. While walking out of a movie theater, people talk about the film they just watched. The same should apply to in-class videos. Give the students the opportunity to talk about the videos they watch in class. Give them some discussion questions or guide the discussion as an entire class. The RIGHT Way to Show Videos in Class Use graphic organizers. A graphic organizer is a visual way to represent and organize information. Graphic organizers are excellent tools to use while watching videos. You can create these graphic organizers yourself or search for common forms of them on the Internet. Use comprehension questions. Have students answer specific questions while following along with a video. This will enable them to know what is most important about a video before they even start to watch it. If they can't answer the question, then they can go back and watch the video again until they get it. Use discussion questions. Unlike comprehension questions, discussion questions are open-ended and require people to take a position or form an argument. These questions require critical thinking. They almost always start with "why" or "how." Refer back to videos later on. Students will remember the videos. If you refer back to them in lecture or subsequent lessons, you will help solidify the key take-aways in their minds. Have them recall key videos and build upon what they remember. Create your own screencasts. Use free or paid technology to record your lectures as videos that students can watch at home or during class. The key benefit is that they can rewatch the videos of concepts they do not completely understand. It also frees up class time to work on projects and assignments under your supervision. This is essentially the "flipping the classroom" approach to classroom instruction. Read more: "5 Ways Teachers Can Use Screencasts to Engage Student Learning". Use Videos to Supplement Ave Maria Press Textbooks To help meet the growing demand for high quality educational videos in theology classes, we have collected a number of YouTube videos to use in class with Ave Maria Press textbooks. In addition, you can find questions to gage comprehension or inspire discussion. Each video is connected to specific chapters and even pages of the textbook. Check out the latest videos for your Ave Maria Press textbook including: Meeting Jesus in the Sacraments The Church Our Story Sacred Scripture Jesus Christ: God's Revelation to the World (questions coming soon) Jesus Christ: His Mission and Ministry (questions coming soon) Jesus Christ: Source of Our Salvation (questions coming soon) Exploring the Religions of Our World Ave Maria Press also offers two documentaries to use in class along with free, downloadable teaching materials: Monseñor DVD Monseñor: The Last Journey of Óscar Romero Study Guide (English) Monseñor: The Last Journey of Óscar Romero Study Guide (Spanish) Dying to Live Migration and the Church Mini-Unit (photo credit: Dave Fancher)

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