This document provides ideas for teaching religion in an engaging way using technology. It suggests starting the day with music, using movies to teach history, creating illustrated timelines and counting ropes, researching and presenting on Marian apparitions, and using apps and mentor texts to teach about the Trinity. Other ideas include having older and younger students partner for activities, writing and sharing original prayers, and using tools like Wordle, Symbaloo and Google Forms. The overall message is to evaluate methods, create quality projects, integrate new ideas with old, and have fun teaching religion in an EPIC way.

1. Religion:
An EPIC Experience!
Shivaun Davis
Donna Bolton
St. Jude the Apostle School

2. Why EPIC?
• Evaluate
- Are the materials / methods you are using really
engaging your students?
• Produce
– Are your projects worthy of keeping or sharing?
• Integrate
– Old ideas and new technologies
• Create
– Have fun!

3. Start the Day with Music
• Country, Progressive Rock, Contemporary Christian,
Gregorian Chants
• Why not?
• Music Study
– Listen
– Discuss
– Reflect / Meditate
– Write
Rascal Flatts “Bless the Broken Road”

5. Selecting A Pope
• Movie – Shoes of a Fisherman
• Anthony Quinn – 1968 – Academy Award Winner
• “God Winks” - Parallels of movie and Pope John Paul II
• Teaches process and history
• Shows inside of the Vatican
• Virtual Tour using IPad – Vatican and Sistine Chapel
– http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/
• Daily check of information gained– InfuseLearning
– What signals the death of the Pope?
– How many coffins is the Pope buried in?

7. Knots On A Counting Rope

8. Knots On A Counting Rope
• A “mentor text” (who knew???)
• Reading Rainbow book – video on YouTube
• Teach the timeline of the Bible – Old and New
Testament
• Teach Jesus’ family tree

9. Related Projects
• Illustrated timeline
• Personal counting rope
• Oral history
– Record with Flip Camera or Ipad

13. Marian Apparitions
• Research
• PowerPoint
• Poster
• QR code to market the project

14. Pictures of Mary Posters

17. Kibeho
MiraculousMedal
Fatima

18. Teaching the Trinity
• Audience PK – 1
• Mentor text: 3 in 1 A Picture of God

19. Educreations
• Holy Trinity - Ice Cream
• Holy Trinity – Braid
• Holy Trinity – Apple
• Holy Trinity – M&M

20. Sharing Our Gifts
• Mass Buddies – Kindergarten and 8th grade
– Ongoing activities reading, writing, crafts
• Rosary Retelling – PK / K and 7th grade
– October : Month of the Rosary
– Explain the mysteries
– Record it for naptime
• Stations of the Cross retelling – Kinder and 8th
Kid friendly words – “nickel” words

21. The Rosary…
The Fifth Joyful Mystery is about something that happened to Jesus
when he was a little boy. He got lost on a trip he took with his
parents to Jerusalem. But they found him and were happy to bring
him home. Can you imagine how worried Mary and Joseph were
when they thought their little boy was lost?
The Stations of the Cross…
Station VI – Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
Jesus was so tired and so sad. He was in a lot of pain. A lady
named Veronica wanted to do something to help him. She wiped
his face with a cloth she had. As a way to say “thank you” for being
so kind, Jesus gave her a picture of his face on the cloth. What a
special gift!

22. Maps of the Heart
• Mentor text
– My Map Book by Sara Fanelli
– “heart maps”
– Love lesson
• Phileo (friendship)
• Eros (romantic)
• Agape (unconditional)
– Valentine project
– 8th grade end of the year memento

24. Original Prayers
• Used with morning announcements
• Read by student authors
• Written by grade level – bound into a book
• Written at retreats – bound into a book

25. Back to School Prayer
• Dear Father, please be with us as we start our
new school year. Even though it is hot and we
really don’t want to be here we come together
with a purpose. We come together to see old
friends and make new ones. We come to
learn about the love you have for us and the
love we have for others. Help us to be the
kind of boys and girls you want us to be.

26. Wordle Example

28. Symbaloo
• www.newadvent.org
• www.catholiconline.com
• www.americancatholic.org
• http://www.americancatholic.org/features/sai
ntofday/
http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayerofthed
ay/
• http://bustedhalo.com/

30. Google Forms
• Student surveys
– Mass attendance
– Sacramental participation
– Moral decision making
• Email addresses
• Family info

31. Develop your own PLN
• Professional Learning Network
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Blogs
• Follow/Connect/Share with other
professionals all over the world.
• Great ideas are all over the place!

32. Strive to be EPIC!
• Evaluate
- Are the materials / methods you are using really
engaging your students?
• Produce
– Are your projects worthy of keeping or sharing?
• Integrate
– Old ideas and new technologies
• Create
– Have fun!

33. Questions/Comments/Ideas
• Shivaun Davis, MS Religion
– sdavis@stjudebr.org
• Donna Bolton, MS Technology
– dbolton@stjudebr.org
Thanks for coming!