I made a commitment this year in my religion classes that I would not give any tests/quizzes. I have been doing Youth Ministry or teaching religion since 2010 and I have not seen a single teen have a true conversion experience by making sure they were adequately tested on the Hypostatic Union or what it means for Jesus to be Consubstantial with the Father. I finally gave myself permission to put that aside and focus on lived experimental faith. #yasinnovation

So this year when I was teaching the Eucharist I knew I needed to mix it up. I see so many of my students watching and sharing YouTubers and Vloggers (James Charles?) that I decided that over Thanksgiving Break I would have my students make their own cooking vlog (this was also selfishly motivated by my deep desire to teach Home Ec.)

Here’s what the project was (in a nutshell):
They needed to document the following in a 10 minute video:
– Cook with someone (or a group of people) that they loved and felt comfortable talking about their faith with
-They could cook whatever they liked as long as it was made from scratch (more or less)
-They then needed to share the food/meal together
-They could work with classmates if they wanted
– Finally they sat down either by themselves or with their loved one and reflected about what they did. They were asked to talk about how their experience informed their understanding of Sacrificial Love and to speculate about why Jesus, on his last night on Earth, would choose to share Himself through a meal with his best friends. While Mass feels dead and boring to so many of them I asked them to think about Jesus’ original intention when He instituted the Eucharist in hopes that they would understand the way in which God wants to be connected to us.

What made this project SO great:
– Oh my gosh! I got to see my students in an entirely different light. Getting to see them learn to make Pancit with their mom for the first time was so special. Watching 3 students mess up a pie because they didnt know there was a difference between regular milk and condensed milk was HILARIOUS. During one student’s clip her 10 year old brother stopped to tell her how happy he was that she included him in the project and asked why they didnt cook together more. I could go on and on with stories…PURE JOY! Our students are SO creative.
– Their reflections were actually good! Often times religion teachers get canned answers to questions related to faith because they have been “doing religion” for 10 years plus. Having them speak from the heart definitely elicited more genuine responses than I am used to getting.
-I got to grade at the gym! Literally my life this semester consists of multitasking as much as possible. I got to watch videos on the treadmill for an hour before I started class tonight.
-They learned new skills in the Google Drive since they had to upload, share, and link their videos to a Google Form. Many did this for the first time.
-Students getting 2 extra days at home to work over break also elevated the quality of these projects I think

Drawbacks:
-Watching 10 minutes of footage per student is a lot – it can’t be graded fast. I am not even half way done.
– SO MANY TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES – so if flexibility isn’t your gift it’s probably not for you

I am looking forward to learning new ways to promote experimental learning – inspired by this project I am creating a “Choose you own adventure final” that I can’t wait to try out. More on that later, off to class.