Essential Tips & Tricks:
- Catholicism must be a source of happiness. If children associate Catholicism with inpatient teachers, sin, or fear, they will not wish to practice their faith when they are older or raise their children in the faith.
- Live out your faith joyfully in front of the children.
Classroom Dynamics:
- Place younger children in the front of the classroom and older children in the back.
- Do not give children any handouts, papers, or toys until after class.
- Do not dismiss a child’s contribution even if they interrupted you, thank them for their contribution, and politely ask them to wait for you to finish speaking.
- Place girls on one side of the room and boys on the other.
- Have children stand up when giving an answer or contributing to the discussion to increase participation.
- Pick one of the older children to write notes on the board to increase classroom engagement.
- Use props to help illustrate the lesson.
- Adequately praise all children for their answers and contributions, regardless of the accuracy.
- Do not shame children for interrupting the lesson, but politely ask them to listen to the lesson.
- Institute a system for what the children should do if they need to use the restroom, such as raising their hand or standing under the classroom flag.
- If older siblings are tasked with watching their younger siblings, try to watch the younger siblings and allow the older child to enjoy CLOW.
Dialogue with Children:
- Make eye contact with the children and smile.
- Do not tell the children they are sinners but stress how we can be happy because Jesus forgives us if we are sorry for our sins.
- Stress the amount of joy and happiness which comes from the Catholic faith.
- At the end of the lesson, ask the children if they have any questions.
- Thank the children for their participation at the end of class.
Classroom Suggestions:
- Go to the Dollar Store and buy some fun toys for the children. When a child gets an answer right, they can pick a toy out of the prize box after class.
