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I taught 2nd grade Catholic religious education for 3 years, and I assisted them same for many years before that.
Like regualr school, only more so, kids don't generally like going to "church class"- unless the teacher engages them. My kids always loved me, because I looked at them from a position of opportunity, not authority. I saw the chance to educate young minds, not shove my dogma down their throats because I had the power to do so.
Unfortunately, I seemed to be in a minority in those beliefs. Many other teachers were hated or just disliked, because they simply didn't seem to care beyind trying to shove the material at their students.
My students were happy to be there, happy to learn, because they wanted to learn. I made an atmosphere of "i don't want to be here" into an important part of their maturation both in the church and in their personal lives. My kids always knew all their stuff, and were proud to be able to recite their prayers, or tell you about what they'd learned. I was very sad when I had to step down.
The question I'm always asked (after "if you hate kids do much, why did you teach sunday school to second-graders?") is why I stopped. The answer is, unfortuntely, the politics. They were happy with my results, and wanted me to do older groups. I did not want to do older kids, I wanted to keep my (very important) grade 2. I was great at that grade. I could teach the whole book from memory. I had activities, thoughtful asides to explain certain hard-for-an-8-year-old-to-grip ideas, and they gave me shit for the entire year, my third year, about taking another grade the next year. They finally said that if i stayed on, i would not get 2nd grade again, because they wanted me to help "straighten out" the older kids. Going "where you're needed" is one thing, but the best way to fight it isn't by attacking the eighth-graders into submission, it's by properly educating the 2nd-graders to begin with, so they grow properly from the start.
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