Contents Acknowledgements vi Introduction vii How to use this book ix Part 1: The background to RE 1 What is RE? 2 The pedagogy of RE 3 RE vs collective worship 4 RE CPD 5 Complete a Farmington Scholarship 6 The name of RE 7 RE associations
1 2 4 6 7 8 9 10
Part 2: Curriculum planning 8 Picking an RE curriculum 9 How many religions? 10 Drop-down days 11 Non-religious worldviews 12 Expanding boundaries 13 Not RE 14 Scripting in RE
13 14 15 16 17 18 20 22
Part 3: Raising the profile of RE 15 Host a philosophy evening 16 Get an REQM (RE Quality Mark) 17 The RE trip 18 Competitions 19 Open evenings
23 24 25 26 27 28
Part 4: Abrahamic faiths 29 30 20 How to teach the Eucharist (Christianity) 21 How to teach the Resurrection (Christianity) 31 32 22 How to teach the Trinity (Christianity) 34 23 Teaching about the prophets (Islam) 36 24 What is God like? (Islam) 37 25 What matters most? (Islam) 38 26 Celebrating festivals (Judaism)
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Part 5: Dharmic faiths 27 Mindfulness (Buddhism) 28 Impermanence (Buddhism) 29 The four sights (Buddhism) 30 Hukamnama (Sikhism) 31 Polytheism or monotheism? (Hinduism) 32 Puja (Hinduism)
39 40 41 42 43 44 45
Part 6: Complex or controversial topics 33 Extremism and fundamentalism 34 Dealing with death 35 Masculinity in RE 36 Introducing biblical hermeneutics 37 Introducing utilitarianism
47 48 49 50 52 54
Part 7: Resources 38 Which Bible to use? 39 A calendar of festivals 40 Buying RE artefacts 41 Storing and using artefacts 42 The odd one out game 43 Using tablets in RE 44 Using social media feeds 45 Using a visualiser 46 Teaching Humanism 47 Food in RE 48 Start with a picture 49 Dealing with loose paper 50 Using longer articles and essays 51 Wider reading 52 Knowledge organisers 53 Reduce, reuse, recycle 54 The RE-Definitions app
55 56 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73
Part 8: Interest and engagement 55 Managing a visitor 56 A virtual pilgrimage 57 Contact a religious believer 58 Using news articles 59 RE in the news 60 Quote posters 61 Careers with RE 62 Be the philosopher 63 Investigations 64 The disciplines of RE 65 The art of storytelling
75 76 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87
66 67 68 69 70 71 72
Parking questions Philosophy film club Ethical dilemmas Go local University links Patchwork thinking game Concept lines
88 89 90 91 92 93 94
Part 9: Literacy and oracy 73 A priori and a posteriori 74 Active listening 75 Etymology 76 Learning high-impact quotes 77 Collaborative writing 78 Word clouds 79 ‘Like’ ban 80 Organise a debate 81 Speed debating 82 Silent debating
95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105
Part 10: Assessment 83 Breaking down the mark scheme 84 Collecting exercise books 85 Marking for lots of classes 86 Multiple-choice questions 87 Good homework 88 Socratic questioning 89 Retrieval roulette
107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114
Part 11: Revision and exam skills 90 Effective revision in RE 91 The RE escape room 92 Being critical 93 Elaborate and develop 94 Cornell note-taking 95 Explaining the exam 96 Specification checklist 97 Writing RE exam questions 98 Live marking 99 Using exemplar answers 100 Agree or disagree?
115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126
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How to use this book
This book includes quick, easy and practical ideas for you to dip in and out of to help you deliver truly outstanding RE lessons. Each idea includes: • a catchy title, easy to refer to and share with your colleagues • an interesting quote linked to the idea • a summary of the idea in bold, making it easy to flick through the book and identify an idea you want to use at a glance • a step-by-step guide to implementing the idea. Each idea also includes one or more of the following:
Teaching tip Practical tips and advice for how and how not to run the activity or put the idea into practice.
Taking it further Ideas and advice for how to extend the idea or develop it further.
Bonus idea There are 18 bonus ideas in this book that are extra-exciting, extra-original and extrainteresting.
Share how you use these ideas and find out what other practitioners have done using #100ideas.
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IDEA 27
Mindfulness (Buddhism) ‘Investigating mindfulness brought a calm in my classroom – it helped students focus and really think about the practice and its uses.’ Mindfulness is central to understanding the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism. Try introducing students to the idea of mindfulness through the activity of eating. These ideas were suggested by Neil McKain, Head of Religious Studies.
Teaching tip Be aware that some students may not be comfortable with mindfulness due to its roots in religious tradition. Mindfulness may be promoted as a purely secular activity, yet it is clearly a Buddhist practice. It may be that some students will not wish to take part and their wishes should be respected.
Taking it further Allow students to consider other practices that could be done mindfully, such as mindful seeing (taking in every small detail from a window view) or mindful listening (practising engaged and active listening). A good question to ask students is: does being mindful help people to live a better life?
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People do many things without much awareness of what they are doing. A good example is eating: do we eat mindfully? Ask students: ∞∞ Do we consider what we are eating? ∞∞ Do we consider who has worked and suffered to provide us with the food? ∞∞ Do we focus on the taste and texture of the food, or do we simply shovel it into our mouths? In Zen Buddhism, mindful eating is a common practice. It can be attempted with a simple classroom activity. Pick a small food item, such as a slice of apple, a grape or a chocolate or sweet. ∞∞ Firstly, get students to carefully observe the item, thinking about its colour, shape and texture. ∞∞ Students then put it in their mouth, chewing slowly and carefully, focusing on its taste. ∞∞ As the food is swallowed, they should think of the people who have grown and produced the item. Is there something to be grateful for? Students then write up a short reflection of the experience, linking this clearly to the Noble Eightfold Path (‘how does mindful eating help Buddhists to follow the Noble Eightfold Path?’).
IDEA 56
A virtual pilgrimage ‘Pilgrimage is a very ancient tradition, but with the use of modern technology, places from around the world are just a few clicks away!’ A visit to a local place of worship is always a fantastic experience for students. However, it is also possible to visit key religious sites around the world for free!
Teaching tip After learning about a place of pilgrimage, it may be useful consolidation to ask students to explore a virtual pilgrimage site for their homework. Picking a specific link and sharing it with them is always a good idea.
Taking it further After experiencing a virtual pilgrimage, students could attempt to make their own virtual pilgrimages for each other to explore, from photos and videos they can readily find on the internet.
Using digital maps, within minutes students can be transported around the world to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, then on to the Great Mosque in Mecca and St Peter’s in Rome. Google Street View has even managed to take images inside some of these places to give an intimate and detailed experience. Alternatively, the ability to transform mobile phones into virtual reality headsets gives access to 360° and 3D videos posted to YouTube. However, careful consideration is needed to ensure that students get the most out of the experience. It may also be limited by access to technology within the school. A demonstration via the whiteboard from the teacher’s computer could be the most effective and efficient use of the technology. Another useful way of viewing places of significance virtually is to search for live webcams, for example, at the Western Wall, on the grotto in Lourdes, or above the Kaaba. This is helpful for students to see the ‘living’ nature of these places. It’s also worth remembering that many Christians have been carrying out ’virtual pilgrimages’ for a very long time via the Stations of the Cross, which is a recreation of the Via Dolorosa (‘Way of Suffering’) In Jerusalem.
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