Transcript Levels 3 – 5 – 7

Christianity:
Good Learning
Examples of strategies and
work that illustrate aspects of
high quality in RE for 4s - 13s
Lat Blaylock, RE Today,
Training materials for the Diocese of St Albans
Not to be copied. Thanks to all pupils and teachers
who helped with these ideas
These are the first four units of a
scheme that will be enhanced in the
coming year. The emphasis is on
methods that energise good
learning through exploration and
enquiry, creativity and spirituality.
RE in the
Church of England School
• These units aim to make an important contribution to the RE
curriculum in the Church of England school, connecting with the
intention that RE should be excellent by enabling the spiritual
development of all pupils. We hope to do this through a reflective
and thoughtful study of Christianity and of religious and spiritual
ideas.
• Quality RE in the Church of England school makes space for pupils
to explore questions and makes the resources of the Christian
tradition available to them. Learning about Christian ideas,
symbols and expressions connected with God is at the heart of this
work.
• RE takes the personal worth of every child, and the family culture
of each, seriously, seeking to explore religious ideas and emotions
in ways that are authentic and have integrity. The idea that every
child matters to God is explored with pupils.
• The units offer opportunities to children to think for themselves,
and to be broad minded and open hearted in their encounters with
faith, developing their own beliefs and ideas about God.
The aims of the
game include;
• Enabling 9-12s to
discuss commitment in
a structured and
profound way
• creating a conceptual
framework for the
understanding of
religious commitment
• providing for
excellence and
enjoyment in speaking
and listening through
RE.
The Commitment Game
On the board, a green square stands for things you are committed
to, a red one for the things you are not committed to, and an
orange space is for things you’re not so sure about.
Pupils must put the cards in a pile, face downwards, and play in
turns, around the group.
When it’s your turn, you must do three things:
1. Read out the top card;
2. Ask the other players where they would put it and why;
3. Ignore them, and put it where you think it goes for you.
When it’s your turn, if you want to, you can also move another
person’s card to a space that you choose: ‘Move one, place
one’ is the rule.
All cards must be in one space only – no overlapping is allowed.
When the cards are all out, play three more rounds, in which you
just swap two cards over. Say why.
Commitment
What does it mean?
Here are two definitions from
9 year olds.
“Commitments are things
that you care about very
much, that make a
difference to your life”
“A commitment is something
you take on, and then stick
to”
• What is a soldier
committed to?
• What is a police officer
committed to?
• What is Steven Gerrard
committed to?
• What is Angelina Jolie
committed to?
• How does commitment
show?
• Read the three slides that
follow, and work out the top
six commitments of these
three young people.
Me and my family live in Lincoln. I like football, and I
usually play every Saturday in the season. I like
Spiderman comics. I draw my own versions of
Spiderman stories when I have time. My religion is
important to me as well. My family go to worship every
Sunday, and I enjoy my group at Church (It’s called
‘Pathfinders, because we’re trying to find the best path
to live life). I think it’s important to pray and worship.
Jesus gave us life, and he gave his life for us, so I
want to give something back. When I grow up, if I’m
not good enough to be a footballer, then I’d like to work
for Christian Aid, travelling in less developed countries
to try and help people in need.
I live in Leicester, which is a city of
four religions. In my religion, we worship
different gods and goddesses. At home we
have a shrine to the god Shiva. There’s a
murti (you would call it a statue) and we
pray together there, all the family, in the
morning. It helps us to be calm and to think
clearly. I am learning to play rugby at
school at the moment. Leicester has one of
the best rugby clubs in Europe. One of my
commitments is to be vegetarian. We never
eat meat, because animals have lives just
like us, so it’s better not to kill them. When I
grow up, I’d like to run my own business,
and make enough money to travel to visit
my Indian relatives whenever I want to.
We are a large family from London, and our
faith makes a lot of differences to our way of
life. I don’t go to a Jewish school (there isn’t
one near to us) but we do lots of Jewish things
in our family and on Shabbat at the
Synagogue. We try to keep all the
Commandments of the Torah. I like the festivals
best, and my favourite is Pesach, because I’m
the youngest in our family. I am a dancer, but
sometimes I miss a performance if it’s on
Shabbat. I don’t mind this, because it matters
to me to follow the Torah. I want to be a
professional dancer when I grow up.
When you have played the game…
• Think about the fictional character
your group has been given been given
– what would his / her top
commitments be?
• Then think about the children on the
sheets – what are their commitments?
• Then think about yourself. What are
your commitments?
These two
simple activities
enable the
children to
show that they
can apply the
idea of
commitment for
themselves.
Level 4: Pupils can apply ideas from
religions to their own and others lives,
thoughtfully
This pupil may be
struggling with the literacy
aspects of this task, but
the thinking and response
to challenge are really
good.
This response shows
that the pupil is able
to show their
understanding of
their own
commitments, using
appropriate
vocabulary and
describing the impact
of these
commitments in
practice.
“The spiritual life.
Music, humanity,
rainbows, God’s
good earth and
people to love are
the elements of my
spiritual life”
Three Rockets: My Spiritual Life
Conor. Age 8
“My picture is based on the theme
of 'My Spiritual Life'. I chose to do
a picture of three rockets because
they are a powerful image. In
words on the rockets are how I
feel inside, but I don’t always do
the thing on the rockets. The
rockets are for truth honesty, hope
courage, friendliness and
gratefulness. I feel proud of
myself. When I am older I want to
be the sort of person that I think
that I am now and to be like a
rocket that everyone else can
see.”
A Spiritual Eye, Rosemary, 13
The pupil of the eye contains a silhouette figure of a human
being. Mysterious and not defined, it could suggest the soul.
The background black is the natural colour of the pupil: links
to our natural life. I have used blending paints for the iris, to
represent softness, gentleness and calm. The idea of two
colours blending pleasantly and perfectly together
demonstrates how parts of our lives are similar; they fit
together perfectly, they interlink and work together.
I used a collage effect for the white of the eye. Pictures
overlap in a random ensemble with uneven edges. Some
parts of our lives are unbalanced and negative and can go
wrong. Their eyelashes are made in a fading shading. Near
the eye they are solid black, representing the conscious
thoughts of the brain. They fade and pale to the outer edge,
suggesting inconsistent thoughts and sleep, the more
distant thoughts of our dreams. These thoughts are not real
or true, but make believe, whether happy or scary.
My Spiritual Life. Isobel is 12
This is a representation of me and my thoughts and beliefs. In the middle is
a photograph of me with different spiritual versions of myself coming out of
my main body. Each is holding the symbol of a different world religion Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism. There is no symbol for
Hinduism because the main feature itself represents a Hindu belief: God
appears in many different forms.
I show myself in different forms holding different religions because I do not
belong to one religion; I simply believe and agree with different aspects of
different religions. E.g. I agree with the Buddhist belief that you are reborn as
another living thing when you die and you could suffer due to wrong things
you have done; however I am not a Buddhist. I feel that today so many
people belong to different religions and I want to get the point across that it’s
OK to have mixed opinions.
To make my artwork I used computer graphics. I am proud of my work: it
truly explains and represents me. In the background there are photos of
different times in my life (my first day at school, me as a baby) all these
things in my life have happened and my surroundings and the people I know
have changed, but I stay true to my deep thoughts and beliefs. Different
friends in the pictures belong to different religions and help me learn and
understand about different faiths allowing me grow as an open minded
spiritual person.
This year’s competition
• Runs until 31st July 2008
• Small prizes for pupils and schools
• 5 themes: ‘A fairer world’ ‘Searching for
God’ ‘Spiritual Story’ ‘Giving Thanks’
and ‘Vision’
• Web gallery updated – keep looking
• All at www.natre.org.uk/spiritedarts
This activity links to ‘healthy
schools’ work / ECM 2, but
focuses on values. By
structuring the response in the
loaf of self and world, teaching
enables a varied response.
Jalpa shows here she is able to
respond sensitively to
questions of values for herself
[L2]. If you think she is here
describing her own values and
making links between beliefs
and lifestyle (I think she does)
then this is evidence of an
emerging level 3
This is Laura’s
simple record of
an enacted
wedding. Year
two pupils find
a sense of
occasion in
such activities
in RE.
Laura chooses the most important
words for a good marriage. She
responds sensitively to the
enactment, and expressing a sense
of meaning in the words by her
choices. A good task enables her
to build up her understanding
Halime is 10. This
poem enables him
to show his
understanding of
the text of the trial
of Jesus. He puts
the thoughts and
words into Jesus’
own role, catching
a particular
moment of the
story.
Nicole is 11.
Her multi
sensory poem
applies her
own ideas
expressively in
relation to the
meaning of the
crucifixion
story.
Lewis, 10, expresses his own values
in the light of his learning about
Christian values. His work shows he
can apply ideas for himself, and use a
religious vocabulary to show his
understanding.
Danny (9) creates four metaphors, three
drawn from Biblical ideas, but one more
original, for his own understanding of
God or his own belief. He shows that he
can apply ideas for himself, and thus
gives evidence that he is able to work
at level 4 on this topic.
In this piece of
work, the pupil
identifies four
feelings in his own
experience, then
the teaching looked
at how Peter,
disciple of Jesus,
felt at four
momnets in the
story of Jesus’
crucifixion.
This piece of work explores
the idea of Jesus as
inspirational, through some
brainstorming activities and
some classifying work. The
setting of the ideas about
Jesus that Christians hold
in the context of ‘heroes’
gives a starting point –
Christological titles can
follow.
Level 4: uses religious vocab to
show understanding of
questions of meaning and belief.
Applies ideas for himself
Level 6: interprets
religious diversity,
expresses own insight
using a religious and
spiritual vocabulary
Level 4: describes own
beliefs, showing religious
understanding, using
correct voacbulary
• This pupil can
describe the impact
of values. The
piece of work is
based on his own
view, and the task
asks for the skill of
application. Level 4
AT2 is shown
because he can
apply ideas about
rules for himself,
and explores the
consequences of
decisions about
values.
The task was to develop a
‘code for living’ after
reviewing such codes from
different faiths, and to explain
the selected guidance.
Susi is able to work at level 5
in this piece. She suggests
answers to questions of value
and commitment, explaining
influences and expressing
her own views.
Next steps might be to
consider her interpretation of
the challenges such codes
present to religious people