Ideas for Engaging Students

Turn and Talk

This technique is very effective in getting children to verbalize and internalize their learning. It also eliminates the problem of several students always answering the questions while others stay quiet.

  1. Pose a question, i.e. “What do you think the important message is in the Story of the Prodigal son?”
  2. Tell the students to “turn and talk”!
  3. Students turn to the person next to them and ask/discuss the question, so the whole class is discussing in pairs.
  4. Teach students to be polite. If you see that some on doesn’t have a talking partner, ask them to join you (a discussion with 3 is OK). You will need to practice!
  5. You may want to assign “turn and talk” partners to make it easier.
  6. After students discuss for 1-2 minutes, give a signal and everyone stops talking. Ask several students to share what he/she and his/her partner came up with.
  7. Use often!

Table Talk

This technique allows for several points of view, ideas in a discussion. It helps build community, and helps students realize that everyone’s contribution is valuable.

  1. Present a question, problem to be solved, or situation, i.e. “What could we do as a class to help with the Food Pantry stock shortage?”
  2. Assign someone at each table to ask the question or present the situation to the group.
  3. Optional: have someone be the “recorder” to write group members’ responses.
  4. Choose someone who will share their group’s answer with the class at the end.
  5. Practice taking turns speaking and validating other people’s responses by saying “I agree because…..”, “I don’t agree because….” “What if….”, etc.
  6. Give table groups sufficient time to discuss, analyze, solve.
  7. Give a signal to bring groups back together as a class.
  8. Ask each table to present their answers.

Learning Stations

As an alternative to teaching whole class, you may want to split students into groups, where each teacher is leading a different “station.” This gives students the attention they often seek, and makes teaching more manageable for the catechists. After a given time period (approx. 15-20 minutes), students switch to the next station. For example:

Teacher #1 - Reads text pages to students, or has students take turn reading the text. Discuss readings and answer questions.

Teacher #2 - Works with students on a craft or a skit

Teacher #3 - Practices prayers or says the rosary

If you only have 2 teachers, one group can be reading or working on an activity independently.

Make sure you designate adequate space for each station activity.

Use VBS or other Song/Move Videos

Music is a good motivator, and many of the videos we have allow for movement. Please use them as often as you like. Once students are familiar with the movements and songs, they will join in and have fun while praising God (and the Adults will have fun too!)

Response Boards

We have plenty of response boards (small white boards that look like a paddle) for students to use, along with dry erase markers and erasers. These can be utilized in many ways. Use them for short responses, use them for yes and no questions (write yes on one side, no on the other), or they can be used to write or draw when paper is not necessary. You can use them for reviews or “quizzes”, or be creative and think of your own ideas (or ask students for their ideas!)

Games

There is a list of items available for games in your “Children’s Religious Education Guide and Policies.” Be sure you are relating the games to something the children are learning in class. Be creative and have fun!

Tic Tac Toe

A simple way to review concepts is to play tic tac toe on the board as a class. Draw a tic tac toe board. Divide the class into two teams; one will be X’s, the other O’s. Ask the first team a question. If they can answer (you can ask individuals or the whole team), they get to put an X anywhere they want on the board. Then ask the other team a question. If they get it correct, they put an O on the board, and so on. Play until one team gets “tic tac toe, three in a row.” They are the winners.

Go Outside

If the weather is nice you are certainly welcome to take your children outside to the courtyard or to the Prayer Garden to read or do an activity. Please leave a note on your door to let us know where you have gone, and make sure children are supervised at all times.

Go to the Church or Chapel

You may bring your students to the Church or Chapel at any time. However, if Maintenance is busy cleaning or setting up the Church, you may want to go to the Chapel, and vice versa. Children must be quiet and respectful when they are visiting either sacred place. Once again, please leave a note on the door to let us know where you have gone, and make sure students are supervised at all times.

Act It Out

Children enjoy acting out stories. We have costumes that you can request to make your skits more fun. Have children act out Bible stories, relevant situations (i.e. making good choices), or vocabulary words.

Word Fun(you can use white response boards for many of these ideas)

  • Have a spelling bee with vocabulary (Catholic Faith Words).
  • Read a definition and have students choose which word it is
  • Read or write a sentence with a blank, and fill in with the correct word
  • Play Pictionary, where a student is given a word, and has a time limit to draw clues on the board while his/her team tries to guess the word
  • Name a Catholic Faith word and see how many times you can find it in the chapter
  • Name a Catholic Faith Word and see who can find it in the glossary first
  • Give students a word and have them colorfully illustrate it

WEBSITES

The St. Ann website catechist page has many resources for you, including games and icebreakers, tips, policies, and emergency procedures.

The Our Sunday Visitor Alive in Christ(our new curriculum) website has many features, including Catechist Training and Lesson Planning. To sign in, click on Register, and use your catechist manual ISBN number on the back of the manual.

Catholic Mom.comhas articles, games, activities and resources for teaching our Catholic faith to children.

The Catholic Toolbox has activities, worksheets, puzzles and resources for catechists/teachers/parents.

The Catholic Icing website has fun activities and crafts for elementary aged children.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops websites is a wonderful resource for prayers, Mass readings, and current Catholic issues.

The Diocese of Dallas website has good information about events, issues, and guidelines for our own diocese.