High school religion teachers in Catholic schools are central to the mission of such schools and teach in every Catholic high school. Research on effective teaching has not traditionally included this subset of teachers. The overall purpose of this study was to research the best instructional practices for high school religion teachers in Washington State, explore how to best implement the best practices, and explore what opportunities for sharing best practices teachers currently have. The Survey of Instructional Practices (SIP) was created, piloted, revised, and administered in this study. The SIP provided information from high school religion teachers in Washington State about lessons deemed to engage students and enhance student learning, in addition to teachers' opportunities for sharing ideas on best practices for teaching high school religion.The participants in this study reported on a best lesson taught in a high school religion class and many key findings emerged. The best instructional practices included: (a) discussion, (b) application to real-world situations, (c) application to student's own life, (d) questioning by teacher, (e) cooperative or collaborative learning, and (f) identifying similarities and differences. Each of these practices is highlighted in the research on best instructional practices for teachers. Furthermore, four major themes emerged for how teachers can implement these practices, which included: (a) clear guidelines and directions, (b) students engaged, (c) student-centered, and (d) students working together. Lastly, participants in the study highlighted the opportunities for sharing best practices as being informal, yet helpful and important. Overall, the findings highlight two important themes for high school religion teachers: (a) the importance of collaboration, both for students and teachers, and (b) the importance of being engaged in the learning process.

With many of the Catholic student population disengaged from regular ritual experiences their working vocabulary of the prayers and knowledge of the Church is limited. A beneficial bridge for many of these disconnected students, specifically male adolescents has been the use of storytelling in connection to Catholic themes to lay the foundations of ritual and deeper concepts through a more familiar setting. Through media literary, multi-modal instruction and Scripture exegesis adolescents can begin to recognize, understand, and feel a connection with the severity of the sacrifice of the Apostles in following Jesus of Nazareth. This article will offer some insights that have proven to be beneficial to help male adolescents to engage the complicated and foreign concepts and topics of the new curriculum framework, in association with Peter Jackson’s vision of Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring.