I'm preparing for the fourth session of my CCD class tomorrow evening. I am charged with the religious education of 13 thirteen year olds. I have consulted with my brother (middle school teacher), sister-in-law (middle school teacher and catechist for similarly aged kids in her church) and now, this weekend, my Dad (New York State Teacher of the Year in 1987 ) and they have all confirmed the difficulty of the task: because of the relative disinterest of the students, because of the age and social circumstances of the kids and because of the infrequency of the CCD sessions themselves, coming only once a week as they do.
My mother has advised me that the most important thing to do is to show love and support of the kids, to encourage them and let them know they are valued and appreciated. And I do really like them already. I think they're good kids and I really want to help peel back the label the church and maybe even their parents have put on religion and connect them to the core human values that could actually help them deal with the ridiculous world they're going to have to begin to join over the course of the next few years of their lives. They're going to high school next year, poor babies...
Last week I came home and medicated myself with some Tullamore Dew (the Irish do take things to heart so much more easily and, I think, intensely than others [or maybe that's just ethnic pride speaking ] but it's nice to know they make such fine whiskey to compensate for all the heartache [read that last bit over again with your best Irish accent if you're able]). We'll see how tomorrow goes. I (bad) dreamed of CCD class last night so I felt I needed some therapy. Thus this post. If all goes unwell I'll post again under the influence about 23 hours from now.
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