Ever since my first year in college, we are trained to formulate lesson plans, which is very essential in teaching. We are trained how to make effective motivations, how to present our topics in a good way, how to do evaluation, how to choose measurable verbs for the teaching objectives, etc. I remember the first time we are asked to make lesson plans, nobody perfected it for the first try. I myself made three plans before it was approved for a teaching demo. But now after two years, I can say that I quite mastered in making lesson plans. I think I’m better than the rest of my classmates. Teehee!
Last Sunday I went to church (which I rarely do) for the afternoon mass and took a misalette (the printed material which somewhat shows how the mass will take place) that they distribute before the mass starts. I scanned the misalette and noticed that it is very similar to the lesson plans I’m very much familiar to. It has all the elements of a lesson plan.
In the classroom setting, the teacher doesn’t start teaching the topic at the very beginning of the lesson. He should catch the students’ attention and interest first by making a good motivation. The motivation could be games, songs, motivating questions, very short stories or poems, slideshows, etc. Of course, the motivation should be relevant to the topic.
After the motivation, the teacher should present or introduce his topic by connecting the motivation to what he will be teaching. The presentation is usually questions asking the students’ insights from the previous activity (motivation).
After the presentation is the lesson proper, where the topic is taught, the generalization, where the topic is summarized, and the evaluation where the students are tested and practiced for what they have understood.
All of these elements I have found in the misallete. The mass starts with introductory message, entrance hymns and prayers. After that we get to read the First and Second Readings. All of these things are very much similar to the class’ motivations; the students are asked to greet, sing, pray and read short stories.
The presentation is also very much the same as the mass’ “Alleluia” (it can be found after the second reading). The Alleluia states the very core of what was read in the First and Second readings parallel to how the presentation makes the students think of what they have learned in the motivation.
Following the Alleluia is the Gospel and the Homily. This serves as the mass’ very own lesson proper. The churchgoers read the Gospel which is the main topic of the mass and the priest further explains the topic through his Homily.
The rest of the mass are lots of prayers, the offertory and communion, and the concluding rite and dismissal. These are all identical to the class’ evaluation where the students practice what they learn; the people’s prayers are based from the Gospel, and the people offer gifts to God and accept the communion to live out what the Gospel taught them.
If the misalette is parallel to the lesson plan, then obviously the class is parallel to the Church (not just the structure but the whole community of Christians). We are the students in this class who are taught of the valuable lessons being taught by someone whom we consider as our headmaster who died two thousand years ago and inspired billions of people throughout the world. We belong in this class where there are no grade or year levels, where anyone of any age is enrolled as long as he is baptized. We are enrolled in this class, the most extraordinary class where we are classmates with our own family and loved ones. We study in the biggest classrooms in the world, situated in all parts of the planet.
In all of our years in our lives, we studied in this classroom. We will only graduate from this class when we die. And what do we gain from studying for so long? We get the most precious diploma in the world, to be with our Creator and experience everlasting happiness.
Lucky me.
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