Christianity: Good Learning

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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

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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.
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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.

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• 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.

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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 youre not so sure about.
• Pupils must put the cards in a pile, face
  downwards, and play in turns, around the group.
• When its 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 its your turn, if you want to, you can also
  move another persons 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.

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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.

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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 (Its called Pathfinders,
because were trying to find the best path to
live life). I think its 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 Im not good enough to be a
footballer, then Id like to work for Christian
Aid, travelling in less developed countries to
try and help people in need.
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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. Theres 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 its better
not to kill them. When I grow up, Id like to run
my own business, and make enough money to travel
to visit my Indian relatives whenever I want to.
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We are a large family from London, and our faith
makes a lot of differences to our way of life. I
dont go to a Jewish school (there isnt 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 Im the youngest in our family. I am a
dancer, but sometimes I miss a performance if
its on Shabbat. I dont mind this, because it
matters to me to follow the Torah. I want to be a
professional dancer when I grow up.
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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?

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These two simple activities enable the children
to show that they can apply the idea of
commitment for themselves.
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Level 4 Pupils can apply ideas from religions to
their own and others lives, thoughtfully
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This pupil may be struggling with the literacy
aspects of this task, but the thinking and
response to challenge are really good.
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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.
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The spiritual life. Music, humanity, rainbows,
Gods good earth and people to love are the
elements of my spiritual life
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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
dont 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.
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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.

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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 its 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.
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This years 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

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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
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• This is Lauras simple record of an enacted
  wedding. Year two pupils find a sense of occasion
  in such activities in RE.

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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
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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.
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• Nicole is 11. Her multi sensory poem applies her
  own ideas expressively in relation to the meaning
  of the crucifixion story.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Level 4 uses religious vocab to show
understanding of questions of meaning and
belief. Applies ideas for himself
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Level 6 interprets religious diversity,
expresses own insight using a religious and
spiritual vocabulary
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Level 4 describes own beliefs, showing
religious understanding, using correct voacbulary
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• 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.

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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
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