Inspiring RE, teaching tolerance and respect

This copyright presentation belongs to Lat Blaylock, RE Today, and is available to those who attended the Nottinghamshire SACRE conference, April 2008, for use in their own schools. Any other use is by written permission only. Please respect the gift.

Can RE teach tolerance?

• Yes – indirectly, through a quality learning experience in AT 1 and AT 2

• Authentic religious learning linked to attitudinal exploration linked to opportunities for moral development

• The NATRE database of pupils’ writing provides numerous examples to search and use in the classroom at www.natre.org.uk/db

Pupils’ work to show the way

• The next five slides show what pupils can do when asked to design a range of goods and create some prayers or meditations for the Week of Prayer for Peace between Religions

• Set your pupils this task too.

This is by a year 2 pupil, a vision of her own spirit. She said: ‘I like to be dreamy. I am all different colours in my heart. I chose purple because it’s my favorite colour. I am a calm person.’ Can she respond sensitively to questions of identity? Definitely.

This class peace collage is evidence of achievement in

a general sense for the group. Did this piece of

work enable pupils to identify a key concept in

different religion, a shared human value? I think so.

Nathan is a 6 year old boy. Asked to design good to promote the interfaith week of prayer for world peace, he came up with this mug. He chose the ‘peace’ symbols of globe, flower and human (in 2 colours) himself. Can Nathan respond sensitively to questions about values and living together? You bet.

Creative and Exciting RE for 5-11s

• Conceptual challenge

• Active learning

• Varied learning styles

• Authentically religious

• Imaginative skills in action

• Creative potential

God in my heart

By Josh Brown, 7

“We have not answered the question ‘where is

God?’ But we have suggested how to go about answering the

question. Seek and you will find. But watch out. If God was at the touch of a

button, would you dare click it?”

2. We noticed…

3. We can see…

4. We’re not sure about…

1. We think this picture is…

6. We want to ask about

5. It made us think

9. We also want to say

7. Our deepest thoughts about it are

8. Our best ideas about this are

4 things we noticed and 5 things we thought

An observation / reflection strategy

• This is good – you will only know how good by trying it out.

• It steps and scaffolds a process• Use it on the whiteboard, or with some

differentiated images, or in any of 20 ways• As an assessment, it can provide good

evidence of AT2. • You can vary the prompts in lots of ways

too.

The Commitment Game

• RE needs more interesting and interactive approaches – here’s one to try out.

Skilful RE for 7-11s • RE is sometimes narrowed down to facts

and information• Pupils need interesting learning

experiences as many are in ‘foreign territory’ with religion

• Good activities for RE 7-11 always take the thoughts and spirituality of the child into account

• This seminar offers a half a dozen very flexible examples

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 GameOn 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?

“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 it show?

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.

When you have played the game…

• Think about the character you have 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?

In practice, pupils take about 35 minutes in a group of four to play – this is purposeful talk, and listening. Encourage all to respond to each prompt in conversation.

Level 4: Pupils can apply ideas from religions to their own and others lives, thoughtfully

Why does this work?• Purposeful speaking and listening (RE

needs more of this)• Real spiritual engagement via questions• Challenging low standards, to make RE

interesting• Structured responses in writing build upon

the experience – gives evidence of achievement

• Outcomes add AT1 – learn about religion – to an AT2 starting point

RE to inspire your pupils

task setting that leads

excellence in achievement

• Presentations from the day – download them from the RE Resources site from next week (in the subscribers area):

• www.rsresources.org.uk

Religion: present but hardly visible

• How can RE connect to pupils’ own experience? (AT2 matters most at present)

• How can RE be real, reflecting the diversity, complexity, simplicity and good learning?

• How can RE be child-friendly, helping them to make sense of the world? Even change the world a bit?

Looking for religion around us

[Refer to the image in ‘Exploring a Theme: Religion around us, RE Today, £7.90)

From the picture, list 10 items you think are connected with religion. Compare your list with a partner and tick any you have both chosen. Talk about the others you have included and explain why you picked them.Underline: - in red any that are buildings

where religious groups meet; – in blue any that are to do with

people helping others; – in black any that are to do with

worship or special events in people’s lives.

Use your ideas to complete a paragraph starting with: ‘I think religion is...’

Take a tour– Imagine you work for the

Tourist Board. A group of Japanese visitors want to know more about religion in Britain today. You are asked to plan a walking route around the town to show the tourists as many different aspects of religion as you can.

– Look carefully at the picture. Think about:

• Where would you take them and why?

• Whom might they like to meet?

• What might they ask you?

Plan your route. Add any notes to your plan to help you answer any questions

Be a reporterImagine you work at the localnewspaper. Your editor wants a

special feature about religion in your local community. He has asked you to write it!

Look carefully at the picture. Make some note about:

• Whom you would interview and why.

• What questions you would ask.• What photographs you would

include.Tip: religion is about • what people believe, • how and whom they worship, • how they live their everyday

lives. Have you covered all these?

A community like mine?Not all towns and villages are

like the one shown in the drawing. What does your town or community have that:• is similar to this one?• is different from this one?

If you belong to a community with people of different religions, beliefs and customs – what are the best things about it?

If your community is very different to that in the picture, what do you think you would like best and least about living in the town in the picture? Make a list.

Look carefully at all the people in the picture - count them, guess their ages, suggest names for them.

• In a group of five, choose five people in the picture who you think would have something interesting to say about what they believe and how they live.

• If you could ask them to write about themselves for the town magazine, what do you think they would say? (You might need to find out more about some of them – how can you do this?)

• In your group, each member takes one character from the picture and writes ‘their’ paragraph. Put the paragraphs together into an article. Make into a booklet and design an appropriate front cover.

Where can we find ‘religion’?To understand what religion is and

why it is significant we need to look at:

1 A religion’s teaching2 The ways religion helps people live

their lives3 The stories of a religion4. The times when followers come

together for worship5. What a religion teaches about how

its followers ought to behave6. The ceremonies, rituals and

celebrations of a religion.In a group, look at the picture – can

you find any evidence for each of the above?

Make a poster to show your findings. Each member illustrates one or two of the above. It could show the six aspects linked together. Add your own thoughts in speech bubbles. Decide on an appropriate title.

Briony (4) has done something many adults have not, or even cannot – she has looked careful at things Islamic.

OFSTED long report on RE, 2007

“Pupils are required to support their views by referring to the teachings and sacred texts of Christianity and/or one or two other principal religions. These requirements appear intellectually demanding. However, assessment tends to encourage standard, mechanistic responses rather than thoughtful engagement with the issues.”

Learn about religion Learn from religion

88 Analyse / contextualise Justify views

77 Account for… Coherently Understand… Evaluate

66 Interpret Express insight

55 Explain Express views

44 Show understanding Apply ideas

33 Describe Make links

22 Retell Respond sensitively

11 Name Talk about

Level 3:Level 3: Describe… Make linksBegin to identify the impact… Recognise similarities / differences…Use a developing religious vocabulary… Describe three things Christians believe in, and say what difference the

beliefs make at Christmas. Describe the importance of two main Muslim beliefs, and say how they

are shown in pilgrimage to Makkah. Describe three ways Hindus celebrate or worship at home or in the

Mandir. Suggest what difference worship makes to life (for Hindus, Muslims or

Christians). Describe some symbols of belonging that Hindus, Muslims or Christians

use when they worship. Make a link between two Muslim artefacts (e.g. Qur’an stand and Prayer

mat) and the fast during Ramadan. Make a link between how a Bible story is used in Church, and how it

may have an impact on a Christian child. Make a link between a piece of Christian music and a Bible text that

inspired it. Recognise and describe three similarities between Divali and Easter.

This activity links to the healthy schools work, but focuses on values (AT 2 strand three). 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 values and making links between beliefs and lifestyle (I think she does) then there is evidence of an emerging level 3

From today…

• What have you thought about that you would like to use in the next few weeks?

• How will you share what you’ve thought about today with your team?

• What long term issues in your schools RE have emerged?

Copyright, Lat Blaylock RE Today