Monday, September 13, 2010

Catechist

Desperate times call for desperate measures, which in my case means that I started teaching second grade CCE yesterday. This wouldn't be so odd except that my kids don't go to CCE since we send them to Catholic school. They were running short on volunteers and after a plea to the church moms' group I originally signed up to help prepare crafts for the younger grades. Then our incredibly charming DRE told me about the twelve kids who were signed up for one of the sessions but had no teacher. I have never taught CCE before, but since I have already done Virtus training I am apparently fully qualified. The next cathechist training modules aren't scheduled until later this month so I went in with nothing but the teacher's manual and a quick prayer that I don't mess anything up too badly.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. My high school assistant had volunteered previously and knew where everything was in the classroom and how the sessions were typically run. The eleven kids who came today were sweet and earnest. Even the boys who didn't want to sit still were answering questions and paying attention. Only one boy tried to get the better of me, claiming that I didn't even know his name, so how could I let the DRE or his parents know if he misbehaved. I proceeded to point to each kid, calling them by their name, completely without my class list. He was suitably impressed and was pretty good for the rest of the class. Everyone else seemed pleased I knew their name already. I got through the lesson and everyone happily went home with their work in their folder. I enjoyed teaching and Christian enjoyed the time he got to spend with the kids. The only thing I am changing next week is to mix up where the kids are sitting so it's not one table of boys and one table of girls. Maybe that will give us a slightly calmer classroom.

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