How it Works
We are humbled and grateful that you are considering implementing the El Camino Catechesis Curriculum. Our curriculum is structured to facilitate easy internalization and effective implementation.
While we strongly believe in the quality of the content, a quality curriculum does not guarantee quality teaching. Please review this page carefully to comprehend and fully maximize the curriculum. Using evidence-based best practices, we incorporate internalization exercises that leverage and honor the catechist’s expertise without sacrificing the content.
Curriculum Components
Over several years, multiple experts have designed, revised, and affirmed the structure of the El Camino Catechesis Curriculum. This includes:
Grade-specific Standards
The foundation of the El Camino Catechesis Curriculum is the sequence and strength of specific content standards. These standards are organized into six specific domains of content knowledge: Old Testament, New Testament, Ecclesiology, Morality, Liturgical Life, and Prayer. The standards are meant to spiral and scaffold in complexity and specificity over time. You will note that none of the standards are skill-based, meaning that no standard will tell you how students should learn or perform, but only what students should know or understand. This was purposeful to allow for contextualization by implementers.
Grade-specific Scope & Sequence
The standards of each grade level have been appropriately “bundled” to leverage specificity and depth over breadth. Additionally, we have organized each year’s learning into three specific, replicable modules: Know Thyself, Know Christ, and Become Christ. By organizing the standards and learning sequence into these three modules during each year, students and catechists can deepen their relationship with God and their understanding of the faith in an accessible way.
Unit Plans
Each module is broken into units that separate specific learning experiences into consumable roadmaps. The unit plans are vitally important for catechists and internalization is essential to the quality of implementation. We offer specific internalization practices to assist the catechist. The unit plans convey the Essential Questions, primary learning objectives, and aligned assessments of a learning experience, providing the necessary “big-picture” for the catechist.
Lesson Plans
Each unit plan contains multiple lesson plans. Lesson plans are the daily guides for implementation and include key, relevant information that must be transmitted to the students. They are meant to be internalized through specific protocols to help students and teachers interact with their faith in communion with one another. Without internalization time and structures for lesson plans, the quality of instruction will diminish. The lesson plans included in this guide outline the destination, aligned questions and prompts, recommended activities, and significant assessment.
Supporting Materials
Certain unit plans and lesson plans contain supporting resources such as graphic organizers, student handouts, rubrics, and performance tasks. All materials are hyperlinked within lesson plans and grouped on the unit overview pages. While the sresources are aimed at supporting the high-quality implementation of the curriculum, catechists are encouraged to supplement or differentiate these resources for the needs of certain students.
Curriculum Unpacking
When internalizing and unpacking the El Camino curriculum, thoughtful consideration should be given in the structure and sequence of analyzing materials. Starting with the bigger picture and then working backwards with a narrowing perspective will provide a catechist with the most complete understanding of the materials. Below is a timeline of recommended curriculum unpacking structures to best ensure quality implementation and fidelity. Materials and professional development should be offered and/or created to assist in accomplishing tasks.
Time Frame
Recommended Task(s)
Corresponding Materials
Prior to
Annual Launch
- El Camino Catechesis Standards review and unpacking
- Grade-level meetings to discuss and review Scope and Standards
Two Weeks Prior to Launch of Unit
- Unit Plan unpacking to review key ideas and main assessment takeaways
- Create teacher examples of Assessment Mastery
- Unit Unpacking Protocol
One Week Prior to Launch of Lesson
- Catechist individually completes lesson internalization plan
- Internalization Guide for Lesson Plan
Day Prior to
Launch
- Teach-back with teaching partners/instructional coach to practice lesson delivery
- Teacher & Student materials inventory
- Not applicable
Three Days After Unit Assessment
- Review and analyze student work samples
- Looking at Student Work Protocol
Plan Templates
Below, you’ll find a sample setup of a unit plan, lesson plan, and corresponding lesson internalization guides. Lesson internalization and preparation should take approximately 10-20 minutes per lesson, depending on the catechist’s familiarity with the specific content knowledge. Internalization is a critical element in preparing for lesson delivery. Additionally, specific materials and the “how” of executing a lesson is partially determined by the catechist. The samples below outline the steps and reflection questions catechists should follow and answer as they prepare for high-quality implementation.
We organize our materials with a specific nomenclature to make managing them easier. You’ll see a few numbers. The first is the grade, the second is the module, the third is a unit, and the fourth (if application) is the lesson number. So a file with 1.2.3.5 is referencing grade 1, module 2, unit 3, lesson 5. If you plan to print these resources, download our Nomenclature here.
Unit Plan
The Unit Overview provides a general description of the main content and Catechetical Alignment.
Download and unpack the complete Unit Plan about two weeks before starting the first lesson.
Every unit is connected to specific elements of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The anchors of every Unit Plan are the El Camino Catechesis Standards, Essential Questions, and Enduring Understandings.
End-of-Unit Performance Tasks measure disciples’ mastery of standards and Enduring Understanding. Performance Tasks are included in the last few lesson plans of units.
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plans begin by naming the objective and unit overview.
Catechists should answer the Assessment for Mastery Question at the conclusion of their internalization process.
Any aligned assessment questions that are relevant would be included.
Lesson Plans include Teacher actions (what the teacher should do).
Underlined text is a Key idea for catechists to “stamp” for disciples.
Lesson Plans include questions and prompts catechists should use to check understanding along with correct response in bold, purple font.
Independent practice and closing include similar elements to the Hook and Guided Practice. All closings require informal or formal data collection from students to ensure progress towards standards achievement.
Internalization Guide
The Internalization Guide is the critical component to lesson success. Within each portion of the lesson plan, catechists should spend time mapping out the details of “how” they will teach the lesson to meet the expectations of the standards
Within the Content Notes section of the Internalization Guide, catechists should jot down their own key takeaways of the material covered, emphasizing and building their own understanding. Under misconceptions to address, catechists should include questions to ask students to ensure they are mastering any difficult or complex concepts beyond the CFUs listed in the lesson plan.
Within the Instruction Notes section of the Internalization Guide, catechists should identify the critical instructional moves/strategies to help execute the lesson. They should include any strategies under differentiation notes that help students make progress towards the lesson objective and identify the MVP of instructional strategies.
