During week 2, we introduced ourselves and talked about what we'll be doing for the rest of the year. I explained that our school year will be divided into three parts--general teaching classes, Lenten project classes, and confirmation preparation classes. We will have general teaching classes whenever we don't have other types of classes. Our Lenten project classes will be a handful of classes dedicated to preparing for our participation in the worship service on Good Friday. Our confirmation preparation classes will be at the end of the school year and will entail preparing the students for confirmation.
For the kids who were still awake, I then went on to briefly explain my theory of learning. I explained that learning is not all that complicated. You have to be presented with knowledge and then internalize that knowledge so that you can use it in your life. For example, someone can show you how to play tennis (give you knowlege), but unless you internalize the knowledge, you will not be able to play tennis just because someone showed you how to play. I then tried to explain that to internalize the knowledge means to incorporate it into the way that you act and behave. Of course, that first requires that you are taught the knowledge and how to use it. I then finally explained what any of that had to do with our class. Our class is going to be about learning to be Catholic and hopefully internalizing Catholicism so it becomes a part of each student's everyday life.
I probaly also threw in that this class is about how to live your life. It's not just a math class or science class or football or soccer or music lessons. While those are important to know, they're just subjects--learning what it means to live as a Catholic is to learn how to live your life, I explained. Did I think that everyone understood what I was saying? My theory is that you have to try. I think some of them got it--whether they internalized it is another story.
I believe that I also told the students that we will be using one or two books to provide ideas and topics for us to discuss. Each week during the
| general teaching
classes, we will read from the book together and the students will
discuss the ideas presented and their interpretation and understanding
of the ideas. In theory, I am there to guide the discussion not
lecture, although as I'm sure that you can tell, I don't mind hearing
myself talk. But I do try to be conscious of my goal to have the
students think for themselves and develop their own ideas, lest they
will not internalize the concepts that are presented to them. So
ideally I will just try to ask questions about the material that we
read so that by thinking of the answers the students will thereby be
required to understand the material.
Amazingly, we still had time, so we then discussed the terms Catholicism and Christianity, and possibly religion (I can't recall whether we got to religion). I made a diagram on the board showing that Catholicism is a branch of Christriantity. I then asked what is Christianity, and we discussed that. I've been a little slow in getting the website up, so we're a bit far removed from the class (two weeks because we had a week off), so I can't recall the answers, but I'm sure that we made it clear that Chritianity (and Catholicism) is rooted in Jesus. If someone didnlt say it, I'm sure that I asked who is our religion based upon, and someone (or more than one) answered Jesus. Some said God, which is correct, but I think that I explained that we needed a bit more specificity. I don't think we yet got into what does God mean. We'll get there. It doesn't seem to me to make any sense to talk about God if no one knows what God means. I know that I also told the students that if they have any
questions about anything remotely related to class (such as what is the
devil, what is heaven, etc.) to let me know, and we will try to answer
the question.
In the coming week, we'll pick up where we left off, and we'll
try to get started with the book so that we get beyond my theories and
a bit more rooted in the gospels. I just feel that if the students
don't have a good background and don't know where we're headed, they'll
never be able to absorb and internalize the information in the
gospels. |