The Ten Commandments

In the fifth and sixth grade curriculum, there is an emphasis on The Old Testament. That said, I think that Moses and The Ten Commandments should be discussed in some capacity in every grade level. It is a rich story that links to many Catholic traditions, comes equipped with a terrific movie, and is an easy way to get kids talking about right and wrong.

When I taught The Ten Commandments this past year, I decided to put a more positive spin on it. I can't take credit for the idea, but I love the perspective of making The Ten Commandments about what we should do, rather than what we shouldn't. 

That is, I get my students to turn "Thou-Shalt-Nots" into "Thou-Shalts!"

In this lesson, I write The Ten Commandments in their most familiar forms on the board. (I might edit them slightly, for example, turn "goods" into "stuff" and "wife" into "spouse" because these can be annoying distractions if the kids constantly have to mentally translate. I would rather them focus on the content at hand.)

After writing them down, I have the students take a few Cookie Commandments out of a bowl that I have prepared beforehand. These are Milano cookies that I have broken in half and shaved down with a Microplaner until smooth so that they resemble Moses' tablets. I have written the numbers 1-10 on the cookies with relatively even distribution and throw in a few "wild card" cookies. I try to have the kids choose at least three cookies apiece, which is a good number for my group of 10 students. Obviously, this varies with your time constraints, class size, etc.

Each student then takes a turn, chooses one of their cookies and then reads the corresponding commandment on the board. I then ask them to flip the commandment to ask them how they would obey God by doing something positive, instead of just not doing something. Action vs. inaction.

Examples:

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's stuff."

"Thou shall be grateful for what you have."

"Thou shalt not have other gods before Me."

"Thou shall make God the most important person/entity in your life, giving Him time before anything else like sporting events or video games."

"Thou shalt not bear false witness ("gossip or lie") about thy neighbor."

"Thou shall speak only the truth or kind words about other people."

I feel that this is a really important lesson for the children because of an oft-cited criticism of Catholic culture. Lapsed Catholics often complain of "rules" and a feeling you're constantly guilted about what not to do. We know that this is not the beauty and essence of the faith. However, if that is a common perception, that in itself is a problem. It means that we as teachers need to do a better job emphasizing the "works" aspect of being Catholic--the example of following Jesus in healing and the fact that we are sent into the world to serve, not to merely refrain from bad behavior and call it a day. 

Now, you will note that not all of the commandments are "Thou shalt not...etc." The third ("Keep holy the Sabbath") and fourth ("Honor your mother and father") already come conveniently positive. For these commandments, I just ask the kids to give examples. Interestingly, Honor your mother and father tends to be the go-to choice for students when they receive a wild card cookie and get to select a commandment. This should thrill parents everywhere that their children are so ready and willing to come up with ideas to please them. 

One of the most challenging commandments tend to be "Thou shalt not kill". For the first, relating killing to anger and guiding the kids to challenging anger is a good way to go ("Take anger out in a healthy way" is a good one because it acknowledges that anger is a valid emotion and is often unavoidable to feel until a positive outlet is found.) The heroic option of "Help save a life" is another good one and you can help the students come up with even more specific examples, like going into a medical profession, consoling a depressed friend, or encouraging people to choose life when it comes to abortion. 

The most challenging commandment is arguably "Thou shalt not commit adultery." For this age group, "remaining faithful" or "appreciating your spouse/friends" or "do kind things to show your spouse/friends that you love them" are good choices in terms of fostering understanding and modeling positive behavior. I say "spouse/friends" so that the kids can see what positive behavior is expected of them as adults, but also that their relationships with their friends should carry the same dynamics. 

This lesson is actually the second in my two-part series on Moses. Prior to this, I do a lesson on Moses' biography with emphasis on The Plagues, which I'll be outlining in the next post.

The Resurrection Cake

This summer while class is not in session, I will be posting descriptions of some of my favorite lessons. Hopefully this will inspire some creativity in preparation for the new school year!

My favorite lesson of all time is The Resurrection Cake. I had been using food as part of the lessons for a few months when I created this lesson. I decided that for our Easter lesson, there was no better medium to use than Easter candy. One of the advantages of this usage is that it links the religious aspects of Easter with the secular symbols. Once you have the children associate these things, it gives religious meaning to the secular, which they cannot un-see! 

Also, as an avid fan of Marshmallow Peep decor, I wanted to capture this spirit of whimsy in the most joyous holiday of our faith. 

What you will need to prepare in advance:

*One simple, frosted sheetcake (box mix is fine). I usually frost in yellow to symbolize the sandy nature of Jerusalem, although this year I did green because it was convenient.

*One popover to symbolize the tomb. Ina Garten's recipe is reliable. Making popovers does tend to be an exact science, but if you follow the recipe precisely, you should be fine. I have found that a muffin tin does a fine job and an actual popover pan is not necessary. There is more information below on prepping the popover for its symbolic use.

*Blue, pink, green, and yellow Marshmallow Peeps, no more than a half-dozen of each color.

*Two containers of writing frosting--one white, one black.

*One jar of festive sprinkles

*One chocolate cross (for folks local to Vermont, Snowflake Chocolates was my source this year).

*Nine plastic eggs, an Easter basket, and slips of paper on which you have typed the story of Easter.

The whole point of this lesson is telling the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection. Some of my students over the years have expressed that they really dislike reading, so I have had to make the packaging interesting. Reading out of a textbook was their main complaint and why shouldn't it be? These kids are already in school for forty hours a week and my classroom might feel like the last straw of academia. So instead of having the students read the story of Easter out of a book, I package the story in a basket of plastic eggs.

Each egg is numbered so that the kids know the order in which to read them. The process goes that one student takes an egg and reads what it contains and then I select another student to create on the cake what has just been read. 

Here is how the story should go:

Egg 1: "When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.' They divided his garments by casting lots. The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, 'He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God.' Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine, they called out, 'If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.' Above him there was in inscription that read, 'This is Jesus King of the Jews.'"

At this point, I will have a student place the chocolate cross upon the cake. Then another student will write "INRI" in front of the cross (it wasn't practical to actually have them write it on the cross itself; some of these decisions are matters of artistic license, but I always inform the students as to the realities of the scene). After a student writes out the inscription, I usually take that time to explain that INRI is Latin, as those who crucified Jesus were Roman soldiers. I also explain that the inscription is intended to be a mockery, but ironically is true, given that Christ is King.

Egg 2: "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son!' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother!'"

I then have a student place one blue Peep for John and one pink Peep for Mary at the foot of the cross. (I do feel conflicted about not using a blue Peep for the Blessed Virgin and I am not strict on gender stereotypical colors, but to me this helps keep everything consistent since otherwise all Peeps look the same. Feel free to adjust to your discretion.)

At this point, I also ask the students where the other apostles are, guiding them to tell me that they are hiding in fear. I then have another student take additional blue peeps to place "in hiding" around the cake where they see fit. 

Egg 3: "Fron noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli lema sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Some of the bystanders who heard it said, 'This one is calling for Elijah.' Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge; he soaked it in wine and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, 'Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him.' But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." And when he said this, he breathed his last. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening and they said, "Truly this was the Son of God."

There are no decorative activities planned after Egg 3, but you have some options. Have a student use a dull knife to make a cut in the cake, symbolizing the earthquake and the destruction of the sanctuary. And/or have the students take a moment of silence to acknowledge Jesus' death. 

Egg 4: "When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was himself a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be handed over. Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in clean linen and laid it in his new tomb that he had hewn in the rock. Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance and departed."

At this time, a student takes the popover (the tomb) and places it on the cake. I have the students make one side of the cake the side of Christ's death and the other side that of His resurrection so as not to confuse too greatly the somber aspects with the joyful ones. I also might explain a little bit about cultural traditions, such as how the Jewish people needed to bury Jesus' body prior to the beginning of the Sabbath.

Egg 5: "When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, "'Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?'"

Here, a student selects three pink peeps and places them at the tomb to illustrate the women's arrival.

Egg 6: "And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow."

At this point, a student is asked to place a yellow Peep (like lightning) atop the popover tomb. (I usually suggest cementing him on there with a touch of extra frosting.) Since his clothing must be white, I then have a student take the white writing frosting and slather the angel Peep white until kingdom come. Whoever gets to eat this Peep really enjoys it.

Egg 7: "The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men."

One lucky student now gets to position two green Peeps (g=green=guards), passed out next to the tomb.

Egg 8: "Then the angel said to the women in reply, 'Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.'"

Since Jesus is now risen, the women must feel like celebrating! We can't actually have the Peeps run off the cake, or things will get messy very quickly. So here, I have a student throw "confetti", i.e., some variety of festive sprinkles, around the tomb to express the women's joy.

Egg 9: "And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him." 

At this time, I usually take a picture of the cake to document the students' excellent work. I then let them photobomb the cake as they wish. You can see the completed project below. But then, I tell the students that they have to go and look for Jesus. I'm a little reticent to represent Our Lord and Savior with a Peep, but I do the next best thing. The reason that a popover is used for the tomb is because they are hollow. When I remove a popover from the pan, there might be a tiny hole at the bottom. If there isn't a hole, I cut a small slit into the popover around the muffin top where the slit will go unnoticed. I then gingerly insert a piece of paper into the tomb, which states, "Jesus is risen, Alleluia!" or, "Alleluia! He is not here for He is risen!" All of this is done in advance of the lesson where the children cannot see. 

So the luckiest student gets to open up the popover tomb to reveal the message of Christ's resurrection. The kids can never figure out how I do this and always try to guess, but I never reveal my secrets in class! 

Every time I do this lesson, I end up adding more of the story that I feel can translate well to cake form. This has become important, depending on the number of students I have in the class. I like them all to have a "fun" part if I can make it happen. This year, I had nine students present, which was an ideal number for this particular lesson.

Teaching Philosophy

As a catechist, it is extremely helpful to develop a teaching philosophy, regardless of how many years of experience you have. I did not have one when I began teaching, as my first instinct was to survive. That said, I did have some principles that I worked to abide by, e.g., keep the kids engaged, don't rely solely on lecture, make the lessons fun. Over time and with practice, that evolved into a more formal philosophy, which I've shared below. It's given me a great deal of success and I hope that it works for you, either as written here or tailored to your own design. In some small way, I want you to make it yours!

1) Give the students a positive association with Catholicism 

Students attend CCD classes for a variety of reasons. For some, their parents want it to be the Catholic curriculum that is not accessible to them in public schools. These parents wish to enhance their children's religious education by having them take classes in a formal setting, reinforcing what they are teaching at home. CCD functions as enrichment, which is what it should be. For other students, their parents may not be sure how to approach religion. They have faith themselves, but may not be sure how to communicate it to their children or integrate it into home life. They may have been raised Catholic, but have a limited knowledge base and therefore may not feel confident to articulate the faith. So we may have children in our classrooms who have very little concept of God or do not know the name of Jesus before they come to us.

Make no mistake--both types of students are welcome and we celebrate that we have them with us! But we keep this variation in mind for a reason. Some students may prove to be lifelong Catholics whose faith will never waver. Others may choose not to set foot inside a church once they are no longer made to do so. As a wise person has said before me, religious education of any scope is not an insurance policy for faith or practice; we recognize the power of doubt and the inclination to rebel. And it is for this reason that we focus on giving kids a positive association with The Church. There may be a day a former student leaves the sanctuary, intent on never returning. But on a different day, they may have a nice memory of a kind teacher. One lesson made sense to them and reached their heart or revealed their soul. The way truth was presented to them felt like love that they could comprehend. Even unconsciously, this may be their pathway back into The Communion of Saints.


2) Make your lessons multi-sensory

People have different learning styles and different types of intelligence. That is, what works to demonstrate a concept to one person may not be effective for another, even if the same basic information is being conveyed. Bottom line: The package your lesson is wrapped in, matters.

In each lesson, I try to combine different methods so that hopefully during any given class, every child will be moved by at least some part of the experience. Lecture is a large part of what I do, but I also try to incorporate videos, music, themed food, crafts, reading, scents (e.g., myrrh), and games in some combination. In this way, you are more likely to get a concept across to a wide range of children, particularly because you don't have the advantage of getting to know them and what works for them on a daily basis like a regular schoolteacher. It has the additional effect of decreasing boredom--the children never know exactly what to expect if your lessons aren't formulaic. They maintain engagement if they know unpredictable, interesting things are to come.


3) Teach the subjects for which you feel passion

If you are excited about what you're teaching, the kids will get excited too. Conversely, if you are drudging through the story of a saint for which you don't feel devotion or a bible story about which you feel lukewarm--DON'T TEACH IT. You only get to see these kids only every week or two. I am confident that for that number of class periods you can come up with lessons about which you feel passion and are relevant to your faith life either now or at an exciting time in your past. If you must teach a subject because it is key and you don't find it inspiring, see the multi-sensory section above--make the packaging inspiring. Whatever moves you to be excited and proud to be Catholic in front of your students, you are going to see reflected back to you in their reactions.


4) Harness your strengths

We are all blessed with different gifts from God. Our hobbies and interests can be considered gifts too if we use them for the purpose of holy service. Tapping into your strengths will help you develop a teaching style and encourage you to love what you're doing. It will also help you channel your authority in the classroom so that you appear more confident and worthy of the children's respect. Here are some examples of my own strengths and interests and how I make them work to my advantage:

*I am an introvert. That might seem like it spells disaster to make myself the center of attention in front of a class, but it actually isn't! Being an introvert helps me empathize with the quiet and shy kids so that I minimize group work and am especially sensitive about not embarrassing anyone.

*Although I'm not a professional teacher, I did enjoy giving presentations in my former career and tailoring each one to my audience. If I view teaching through the lens of giving a presentation and tailoring it to 11-year-olds, I realize that I have more experience than I think I do and that gives me confidence. Having been a social worker is also valuable in that I have a basic background in child development. This has helped me immensely for designing age-appropriate lessons and working with special needs students. Every career has a skillset that is applicable to the classroom if you take the time to find the parallels.

*Writing is also a talent of mine--if you've read this far, you may not agree!--but I do like it. So I harness my writing talent to write myself "scripts" before lessons so that I have appropriate, non-heretical wording in front of me to refer to if I can't come up with the words extemporaneously. Many times I read from it, other times I merely skim it to remind myself of the concepts I need to cover. And occasionally, all it does is serve like Dumbo's magic feather just to help me believe in myself and my own knowledge base.

*Speaking of Dumbo, I am a shameless fangirl of Disney movies and other animated features. If I can use Disney clips to demonstrate concepts, I will jump at the chance. Kids see me getting excited about characters and the veracity of my opinions and they are right with me on discussing the morals of the story.

*Food. I love eating and I love baking. If I don't have time for the latter, usually there is a reasonably-priced vendor that I can rely on for help. I promise the kids that every lesson, they will receive an edible, but it always serves as part of the lesson. Examples include "Land of Milk and Honey" cupcakes when discussing Exodus, shamrock-shaped cookies to demonstrate The Holy Trinity, and pineapple soda and Mounds (coconut) bars when recounting the life of Hawaii's beloved Saint Damien of Molokai.


5) Show them how Catholicism is applicable to their own real lives

I love the motto of the Catholic Center from my university--accepting the challenge of a living faith in a loving God. Even young children need to be taught that our faith itself is living and growing and also teaches us how to live. It is very real in terms of using it to love and serve all types of people. We can teach kids in age-appropriate ways how to safely seize the opportunities that they have to love one another and reach out to the poor and suffering. Our natural instincts are often to protect children, to preserve their innocence from the knowledge that terrible things exist. But the reality is that kids see suffering. They know when their friends are poor. They see bullying at school. Some of the older kids may have had classmates commit suicide. They may relish an opportunity to talk about these difficult subjects and feel empowered to do something about them--to learn how to love by taking specific actions. Some of the best conversations I've had with my students are when we have talked about real examples of these types of challenges and how they can address them.

Welcome!

Thank you to everyone who has chosen to search the archives so far back! By way of introduction, my name is Meghan and I adore teaching CCD. I am coming up on my fourth year as a catechist and my second year as director of the religious education program at my parish.

My professional world did not always revolve around teaching. I have both a Bachelor's and a Master's in Social Work and spent seven years working in the social work field with older adults. I am grateful for the education, as I believe it helped me to be a better, self-aware, well-rounded human being. And my work with older adults was meaningful and has provided me with knowledge and a skill set that is extremely valuable in my personal life.

But after seven years, it was time for a change.

My husband and I are originally from Northern Virginia, aka The D.C. Metro area. Constant traffic and politics surrounded our existence. So when he finished his advanced degree and we had the option to move, we both enthusiastically said yes! So I quit my job and we moved to Bangor, Maine and steamed lobster for a year. Next, we moved to Tampa, Florida and went to Disney World for a year. At this point, we had experienced life in an exact geographical average of the entire Eastern seaboard of the United States. But New England was what we loved in terms of the culture, the pace of life and the change of seasons. So we aimed to move back as close to Maine as we could while my husband could still work a job that optimized his professional skills. And we found Vermont.

Almost as soon as we moved to Vermont, I wanted to get involved with my local parish. After years of moving around and never feeling quite connected to a church, I felt like I had to dive right in and establish my parish home. So about a month after we dragged all of our worldly possessions from the Deep South, I signed up to be a CCD teacher.

The first year was definitely a learning experience. I had six fifth graders that year and they saw me through a lot of experimentation. I made my share of rookie mistakes, but I also stumbled onto a lot of things that worked. Really well, in fact. And I found that with each lesson I taught, my own faith grew stronger. Soon, I began to realize that I was finding more joy in teaching CCD than in any other job I'd ever held.

I share all this to begin at the beginning so that as you continue to read, my perspective makes more sense. In the posts to come, this will matter because I am going to discuss how you don't need to have a teaching background to teach CCD, that your style of teaching should always be rooted in your strengths, and that finding your passion in faith is going to be the key for how to direct your lesson plans.