Devising Your Religious Lesson Plans

By Jose McDonald


People who have positions as teachers in faith-based or private schools as well as people who volunteer to teach Sunday school once a week are required to create religious lesson plans to teach their students. When you are unsure of how to create such outlines, you might wonder what factors to take into consideration and how to make an impact on the pupils in your class. Using these guidelines, you could create lessons that your students can understand easily. You also can impart the more important facets of the faith or church doctrine that your students are expected to learn this year in school.

If you are teaching very young pupils, such as those from kindergarten through third grade, your instructions may center on teaching them the basics. Prayers, creeds, the names of saints or deities in your religion, and other fundamental components can be taught to young students in a way that they can remember them later as they progress through the catechism instruction. You could even make learning these facts a game and have them play to see how many they can remember each class session.

Younger students also can learn basic movements that might be affiliated with your faith. For example, if you are teaching Catholic kindergartners up to third-graders, you may show them how to make the sign of the cross and genuflect with their right knee. These movements allow them to participate in the Mass.

Teaching older students can be a challenge and require that you be ready to confront questions and debates according to church doctrine. For example, high school pupils may want to know why it is wrong to engage in premarital sex or to smoke marijuana. You must be ready to answer those questions as outlined by the catechism and also in a way that does not deter their faith.

If you are teaching adults, you may need to reach them through instruction without offending them or causing them to think that they are not worthy of being part of the church. Divorced adults may want to know why their divorces were bad, for example. Your superiors might tell you to refer to the church doctrine and catechism before tackling such issues.

If you yourself do not know how to accomplish this based on your own knowledge of those tenets, you might wonder where you can go to find the information that you need. You could go online to do your own independent research. Many faith doctrines are now available to download and read at your leisure.

You may find the catechism online today. Many churches have uploaded their basic tenants to the Internet. You also could refer to websites dedicated to faith-based teaching. These online examples could be incorporated into your own teaching.

Devising lesson plans that are religiously based does not have to be a challenge. You might make it easier by using these tips. These directions also could help you reach out to people of all ages who otherwise might be unclear about the principles of the faith or the church with which you are affiliated.




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