We will be closed for Christmas break from December 23–January 3. We look forward to serving you on January 6! Merry Christmas!

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Lesson Planning Chart

A sample lesson planning chart.

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Sample Lesson Planning Chart

A sample of a week's lesson planning chart

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Sample Lesson Planning Chart

A sample chart of a week of lessons.

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Lesson Planning Chart

A blank chart to be sued for a week of lessons.

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Handout: Being Catholic

Being Catholic: Beliefs, Practices, and Attitudes.

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Roman Missal Overview

This resource is intended to assist you in preparing young people for the implementation of the new missal.

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Learning about Learning

A student review of the process of learning unit material.

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Chalk Talk

Steps on how to facilitate a silent conversation in writing in response to a topic or question posed.

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Introducing Biblical Criticism

An article on introducing biblical criticism in the classroom.

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Bloom's Taxonomy

A short reading where the six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain are explained.

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Informal Assessments

A reading on methods of informal assessment.

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Using Final Performance Tasks to Assess Understanding

A reading on using final performance tasks in the classroom to assess students' understanding.

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Teaching Individuals with Differing Abilities

A reading on teaching and talking to students about differing abilities, along with several reinforcing activity ideas.

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Expert Groups

A reading on how expert groups are a valuable classroom instructional strategy that helps to build student confidence, class collaboration, and expertise in chosen topics.

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Using Graphic Organizers

A reading on how to use graphic organizers as learning tools to deepen understanding.

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Creating a Quick Assessment

A reading on creating a quick assessment with Clickers.

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Using Learning Stations

Instructions on how to effectively use Learning Stations in the classroom.

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Using Video in Your Classroom

A reading on why using video in the classroom is beneficial.

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Using a Mind Map

A reading on using a mind map, which is a creative way to introduce a concept.

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Using Multiple Intelligences in the Educational Process

A reading on using multiple intelligences in the educational process, including a chart on ways to use each intelligence in religious education.

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Using Music in Teaching

An article on incorporating music in teaching.

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The Whip Around

A reading on a quick and participative assessment tool called the whip-around.

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Note Taking in Two Columns

An article on the two-column note-taking method.

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Understanding by Design

An article on Understanding by Design.

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Blooms Taxonomy and Understanding by Design

An article on Benjamin Bloom's concept of taxonomy and understanding by design.

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Hevruta: Learning Together

This article is from the Living in Christ Series. It explains the classroom discussion method of Hevruta, an ancient Jewish practice of reading aloud and discovering that each text has several layers of meaning. It can also be used with …

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Critical Questioning Method of Engaging with Texts

This article is from the Living in Christ Series. It discusses methods for encouraging students to engage texts they are reading on a deeper level to benefit their learning and the classroom dialogue.

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A Gallery Walk - Discussion Technique

This article is from the Living in Christ Series. It is an instructional article for teachers to learn how to administer a "Gallery Walk" discussion technique.

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Building Scaffolds for Learning

This article is from the Living in Christ Series. It discusses the notion of structured teaching methods through the model of scaffolding.

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November, National Child Safety Month: Preparing for safe and sacred places

Preparing for Safe and Sacred Places Some experts predict the presence of at least one abuser and one victim of abuse anytime there is a gathering focusing on this topic. Someone in your community might be experiencing abuse of some …

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November, National Child Safety Month: Preventing Abuse

Ongoing Prevention and Education Your community can do several things to inform, prevent, and respond to sexual abuse. The following are essential strategies you will want to incorporate into parish- or school-wide ministries: • All young people need to know …

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November, National Child Safety Month: Considerations in Ministry Planning

CONSIDERATIONS IN MINISTRY PLANNING All adults who work with children and or young people must be capable of exercising good judgment and wisdom in their ministry. We recommend that you consider the following questions when planning any activity involving children …

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Religious Diversity in Catholic Schools

Pluralism of religions is a reality in the United States. We see it in the newspaper, and we encounter it in our own classrooms. Through television, the Internet, and the changing religious landscape of our own country, our students encounter …

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Maturing in Faith

Have you ever heard a parent say something like,"People should decide for themselves how to express their faith and what church to belong to. So we don't make our kids go to Mass on Sunday. When they get old enough, …

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The Late Great Catholic High School

"Jesus is everyone's department!" That is what I found myself exclaiming as I argued with a fellow teacher and friend about why she only wanted the religion teachers in our high school to offer extra credit to students if they …

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Undergraduates and Theology: Why Bother?

They seemed happily unaware of traditional teachings.... I thought them unchurched. The invitation to spell out what I see happening today in theological education for undergraduates is too good to pass up. I’ve been teaching undergraduates for nearly 30 years. …

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Fighting Catholic Amnesia

I was a high school junior before I learned that the Catholic faith was something more than Mass, folk songs and the Bible. Father Corry turned me on to Church history in his religion class. He showed me how our …

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The Spirituality of Work

Teachers who structure justice into their workday lives model a moral vision for their students. I requested a review copy of all religion textbooks used in Catholic high schools some years ago and scoured over 30 books looking for references …

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Seven habits of highly effective Catholic college graduates

Evidence of a total Catholic education may be found in persons who have cultivated these principles of action. The title of Stephen R. Covey's long-running bestseller The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Simon & Schuster) kept circling in my …

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Peace: The Countercultural Value

Ours is a violent society. Furthermore, evidence strongly suggests that we are learning to accept violence as normal behavior. As a people, we appear to be increasingly indifferent to daily images of warfare, racial hatred and ethnic cleansing. Murder and …

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A Multiple Intelligence Approach

Helping students discover how they are smart should be the goal of assessment. Is multiple intelligence instruction the way to proceed into the 21st century? Many educators in Catholic settings with whom I have worked remark that the theory reminds …

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Fruit from the Vineyards of Faith Community

Participants in this summer's workshop "The Catholic High School as Faith Community" offered one another insights from their experience in the "vineyards" of Catholic high school teaching and campus ministry. We are happy to pass some of their "fruit of …

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Gospel Values Across the Curriculum

Given the current educational climate in our country, most schools are making a concerted effort to create a clear vision for education that will carry them into the twenty-first century. That forward-looking "visioning" and "refocusing" for the future includes an …

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Committing to Your School's Catholic Identity and Mission

A group of fifty-four religion teachers, campus ministers, and administrators from thirty-seven Catholic high schools across the United States gathered in June 1995 to share dreams, struggles, and moments of grace around the theme of building faith community in their …

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Lessons from an Inner-City Parish High School

Saint Paul High School in San Francisco, where I teach, is an inner-city parochial school. It is a school that, for all its shortcomings, has much to teach other Catholic secondary schools, precisely in view of the two attributes cited--namely, …

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Curriculum Offerings of Theology Departments

For a couple of years, Saint Mary’s Press sponsored a listserv discussion group online. Discussions on a variety of topics were pursued via e-mail. In this section of the web site, I summarize some of the highlights from these old …