I am curreny teaching across the Key Stages as the Head of Religious Studies in a comprehensive secondary school. Previously I have led a RS department in an inner-city school and also taught Humanities including experience of teaching Geography at KS3, as well as History at KS3 and KS4 and Sociology at KS5. I'm a Religious Studies and Philosophy specialist, having studied Philosophy at university and taught RS at KS3, KS4 and KS5.
I am curreny teaching across the Key Stages as the Head of Religious Studies in a comprehensive secondary school. Previously I have led a RS department in an inner-city school and also taught Humanities including experience of teaching Geography at KS3, as well as History at KS3 and KS4 and Sociology at KS5. I'm a Religious Studies and Philosophy specialist, having studied Philosophy at university and taught RS at KS3, KS4 and KS5.
NEW 2016 Religious Studies KS3 curriculum lesson on the Bible as a source of authority for Christians. A visual starter asks students to identify the content of the Bible through the interpretation of pictures to each represent certain elements, e.g. the life of Jesus. Sources of wisdom and authority are used through quotes from the Bible to suggest why it has such authority within Christianity, focusing on the elements of worship, the conscience, the nature of God and the creation story. Students are then asked to complete a diamond 9 activity in pairs, to evaluate a number of reasons why Christians consider the Bible as a source of authority. The plenary asks students to reflect on their learning through the PLTS (Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills).
NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lesson on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson includes differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students. Students identify different uses and abuses of animals and the environment and which are acceptable, as well as suggesting possible solutions to unacceptable treatment. Students reflect on their learning so far with a progress bridge linked to the learning outcomes. A YouTube video by Al Gore introduces global warming and students identify areas of pollution. Students then respond to sacred writing from both Christianity and Buddhism, followed by another progress bridge linked to the learning outcomes. Lastly, students respond creatively to case studies and information from Catholic Christianity, the Parable of the Talents and Buddhism and the Holy Isle project.
NEW 2018 Edexcel Religious Studies GCSE lesson on Living the Muslims Life, with a focus on Sunni and Shi'a festivals and commemorations. The lessons follows the new 1-9 grading criteria with stretch and challenge tasks built into every activity. The main task revolves around using De Bono's Hats to thoroughly examine four Muslims festivals; Id-ul-Fitr, Id-ul-Ghadeer, Id-ul-Adha and Ashura, including their origins, purpose and relevance to Sunni and Shi'a Muslims respectively. Students then get the opportunity to respond to sources of wisdom and authority relating to Muslim festivals, before applying their knowledge to a practice exam question. There is a student friendly mark scheme to allow for either self- or peer-assessment. The plenary allows students to reflect on their performance using Personal Learning and Thinking Skills as prompt questions.
NEW 2018 Edexcel GCSE Religion and Ethics through Christianity, with a focus on 'Living the Christian Life'. This lesson follows the new 1-9 assessment criteria and includes a variety of tasks, such as exam style questions with mark schemes for student self-or peer-assessment. A video from 'request' introduces the nature and purpose of pilgrimage for Christians today. Sources of wisdom and authority are given for students to respond to the history of Christian pilgrimage and modern day places of pilgrimage are given as case studies for students to examine the purpose of pilgrimage; Taize, Walsingham and Iona.
A lesson suitable for GCSE or A-level to introduce John Stuart Mill's development of Jeremy Bentham's concept of Utilitarianism. Introduces 'Rule Utilitarianism' as well as the notions of higher and lower pleasure and allows students to compare the 'Principle of Utility' with the 'Greatest Happiness Principle'.
A lesson suitable for GCSE or A-level Philosophy and Ethics to introduce Jeremy Bentham and his concept of Hedonism in moral decision making. Includes an introduction to the notions of Teleology, Utility and happiness in Utilitarian morality. Includes a 'peer teach' activity which always goes down extremely well with students - I usually choose the most able students in a class to become 'teachers' and ask them to relate the information to the rest of the class in groups, which then rotate from teacher to teacher every few minutes. (NOTE: at GCSE this PPT will take 2 lessons of 60 minutes, whereas A-level students normally manage in 1). There are also 3 moral dilemmas for students to apply Bentham's ideas to which engages even the most dis-disillusioned students.
A lesson suitable for KS3, KS4 and KS5 - in my experience all students love to try out meditative yoga, whatever age they are. The teacher input can vary depending on age and ability, but there is scope to delve deeper into the relationship between Atman and Brahman and Moksha and A-level students tend to give much more analytical answers when reflecting on their experience of the meditation.
This works best when the teacher gets the whole class involved and is also confident to participate in the meditation themselves (in my experience). On slide 2 it goes through the 8 stages of meditative yoga in Hinduism and I tend to attach a student action to each one, e.g. abstention involves them giving up their shoes or mobile phone, for the duration of the meditation. There should be no problem with 100% student engagement if this is the case - I always get fantastic feedback, especially from students who are usually difficult to keep quiet. Likewise, be confident to ask the whole class to get comfortable in a specific position and practice deep breathing. Most importantly, all students (and the teacher) should close their eyes during the meditation.
A lesson suitable for GCSE or A-level Hinduism, which can be adapted to suit KS3. A comprehensive examination of Dharma in Hinduism, ranging from Sanatadharma to Varnadharma and the role of the Atman in Hindu Dharma. Includes two very engaging video clips as well as diamond 9 activity and reference to sources of wisdom and authority. There is a lot of content (planned for a 100 minute lesson), so it may be suitable to split this into 2 lessons (if you teach 60 minutes). There is a chance for students to be creative by writing a diary entry from the perspective of one of the Varnas and an interactive plenary focusing on the Atman, This lesson is particularly relevant for high ability students.
A lesson suitable for KS3 about Jesus' miracles. Students explore the meaning of what a miracle is and miracles of nature versus miracles of healing are introduced. Students take on the role of police detectives who have to 'solve' the mystery of two miracles and decide if it is a genuine miracle or can in fact be explained by science. A great lesson to get students engaged and can be taught with students working individually or in pairs.
GCSE Edexcel Religious Studies lesson on the role of women in society for the topic Community Cohesion. The idea of gender stereotypes is introduced through a variety of posters and videos to engage the students and then followed by discussion of gender roles in society. A team work task with information about the legal and historical changes of the role of women in society is delivered through peer-to-peer 'experts' from each team sharing specific knowledge for students to fill in a worksheet. Finally, students can consider gender equality in the 21st century through their own experiences.
NEW 2018 Edexcel Religious Studies lesson following the new 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson focuses on the topic Living the Muslim Life and includes stretch and challenge activities as part of each task. The main task is based around an in-depth examination of sources of wisdom and authority from the Qur'an, which students are asked to annotate and analyse in relation the concepts of forgiveness, justice, reconciliation and peace-making. Students can work independently, in pairs or as groups (depending on your class) to build a detailed mind-map about the role of peace-making in Islam. Students are then asked to create a leaflet about how young Muslims today should respond to bullying based on the teachings used during the main task. This lesson is ideal to develop higher order thinking skills and critical analysis in students and gives students a wide range of sources of wisdom and authority to help them interpret how Muslims live their life today based on the Qur'an.
NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lesson on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson includes differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students.
Students are hooked into the lesson by considering if it is possible for humans to overcome suffering. Students then have the opportunity to consider how the life of the Buddha could link to him considering suffering to be a major problem that needs to be overcome.
Students then listen to the Rolling Stones song 'satisfaction' and link the message of the lyrics to Buddhism and suffering in particular.
Students then summarise the Four Noble Truths by responding to a definition of each and respond by giving an example of suffering that can be applied to the Four Noble Truths (model answer provided).
Students then consider evidence for Buddhist beliefs about the Four Noble Truths by analysing sacred writing, before summarising their learning as the plenary.
A revision summary of Christianity and Buddhism following the new ‘AQA Religious Studies A’ syllabus, which had its first exam during Summer 2017. The pack contains core content about Christian beliefs and practices, as well as Buddhist beliefs and practices. The information is condensed into student friendly bullet-points, along with reference to ‘sacred writing’ in the form of quotes. This is excellent revision material for students of all abilities. The content is presented in managable chunks of three key ideas for each sub-topic, supported by quotes, which allow the more able to go into more depth interpreting Christian beliefs and perspectives. The content can be applied to past exam papers, or students can create their own flashcards, quizzes, or graphic organisers in support of their revision.
A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on beliefs in the paranormal as a way to explore belief in the afterlife. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious and secular context. This is lesson 1 of the topic ‘Do you only live once?’
Students start by considering why some people believe in an afterlife and use the stimuli of several video clips to consider what evidence there might be for life after death.
Students then complete a diamond 9 activity about reasons why people might believe in ghosts, followed by applying the belief in ghosts to theist, atheist and agnostic belief systems.
NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lesson on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson includes differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students.
Students are hooked into the lesson by a picture of the Buddhist Wheel of Life and asked to ask a question about it, without any further context before engaging with the concept of ‘dependent arising’ through its definition. Students then complete a creative task, by adding key information to a diagram of samsara focusing on: samsara, kamma, nibbana, the three poisons, the nidanas and the various realms. This task can be done in a variety of ways, either as a poster, leaflet, mind-map, carousel task (and many more).
Students then use sacred writing to evidence Buddhist beliefs in dependent arising before applying their knowledge to a GCSE exam type question, including scaffolded sentence starters and a student friendly mark scheme, which can be used for self- or peer-assessment.
As a plenary, students attempt to answer their question about the Wheel of Life from the starter task.
GCSE lesson on the teachings of Jesus, including focus on the 'Sermon on the Mount' and the importance of Jesus' sacrifice. Follows the 'NEW' Edexcel GCSE specification.
A revision task for GCSE Religious Studies to help students memorise quotes from religious wisdom and authority. Students can identify suitable quotes and link them to specific topics/sub-topics. This is ideal for students to practise the overlapping nature of quotes and their divergent interpretations by a variety of religious groups within Christianity and Islam. Students also get the opportunity to practice exam questions by creating their own exam questions. Suitable for ANY exam board.
Excellent revision tool to use with GCSE and A-level students to stretch them in their written work and improve paragraph fluency, particularly in Humanities subjects.
A KS3 Religious Studies lesson, using an enquiry based approach to learning and based on Christianity as a way to explore belief in God. Following the 2018 Berkshire SACRE agreed syllabus with a focus on exploring the principles of ‘believing, belonging and behaving’ in a religious context and secular context. This is lesson 1 of the topic ‘What do I believe’ and asks students to differentiate between fact, opinion and belief and apply this to a discussion about theism, atheism and agnosticism. The key question for the lesson is; ‘Is it reasonable to believe in God in the 21st Century?’.
A Philosophy for Children lesson suitable for KS3, exploring the concept of philosophy and facilitating independent thinking about the origins of the universe.
Key words: God, Looking for God, who is God, did God make the world, philosophy, what is philosophy, the universe, who created the universe, the nature of God, KS3, RE, beliefs and values,
