Wiltshire RE Starter Stimulus Starter ideas for the following key question from the 2011 Agreed Syllabus: KS2 17 Who has made a difference to their world because of their faith? This resource aims to provide some stimulus images and ideas to help pupils begin to address the above question. It links to the following learning outcomes from p.65 of the syllabus: Pupils can: iii. use religious vocabulary to describe aspects of lives and teachings of inspiring leaders and inspirational people, giving examples of how these have influenced the lives of followers iv. ask and respond to questions raised by the stories from the lives of key religious figures and contemporary followers Many of the slides have notes to give suggestions for use. Look at the slide show in Normal mode and look for the notes at the bottom of the page. © Wiltshire Council Images © RE Today Services; permission given for their use in Wiltshire schools

Who inspires you? An athlete? A family member? What characteristics do they have? How do they inspire you to be? What do they inspire you to do? Who is this? What do you know about him? What is it about this man that people remember over 60 years after his death? Why was someone so moved that they made a film about him?

Learning about and from Gandhi The greatness of a nation....can be judged by the way it treats its animals Whenever you are confronted with an opponent conquer them with love. An eye for an eye and the whole world will be blind. I am prepared to die for a cause but there is no cause that I am prepared to kill for. Peace is the most powerful weapon of humankind. It takes more courage to try to talk things through rather than start a war. The world provides enough for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed. You must be the change you wish to see in the world It is health that is real wealth, not pieces of Gold and silver Match the quote to the value in the Quality Box!

Matters most Quite important Not very important Helping people who are poor My family and friends Feeling loved Feeling safe Having lots of nice toys Being fair Looking after the world Trendy clothes Being kind to animals Fighting Good things to eat Doing good things Caring for others Getting what I want Presents Sharing my toys Winning Looking nice Doing what I want Being kind to others

“It was Dec 1st, I was shattered, I had been up since 5 in the morning and working since 7. The constant staring at my sewing machine had made my eyes tired. I had also been up late listen to Martin Luther King talking about how we should peacefully stand up for equal treatment. Now I was waiting in line for the bus. I knew it was going to be a long wait because there were lots of white people at the bus stop and us. Black people could only get on if there were spaces towards the back of the bus.” Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

“Eventually a bus came along that had some space on it. As I boarded I could see a space on the fifth row of the bus, the first row that us blacks were allowed to sit on. I squeezed on taking the last of the four places. After a few stops the bus had filled up and the first four rows were full. Several white men came onto the bus. The driver asked me and the three other black people on the fifth row to move to as it was illegal for black and white people to sit on the same row. The other three black people wearily got up and walked to the back of the bus.” What do you think Rosa should do?

Standing in her shoes Montgomery Bus Boycott One row to explain to Rosa why she should obey the request One row should explain why she should refuse to move What would she say to the bus driver?

Excuse me sir, but I don’t believe that it is very fair to expect me to move. I am aware that Blacks and whites are not supposed to sit together but I don’t have a problem sitting near this white man. Will you ask him if he has a problem sitting next to me? Rosa should say, I am fed up of being treated as not as good as white people – us black people are people too. We have feelings. I don’t want to be treated like this. I am going to get off this bus and walk rather than be disrespected in this way. I would say this to the driver. It says in the bible that you should love your neighbour. I don’t think it is a very loving thing to treat one person better than another. I am not going to move. Some pupils wrote these responses from Rosa:

This is the end of the story: “It is difficult to say why I refused to move on that day I was tired but no more tired than usual. Many years before I had been made to get of a bus and re enter through the back door, before I got to the back door the bus drove off. I had recently attended a course on race relations. I’m a Christian who believes in both the example preached by Jesus and the non-violent protest used by Gandhi. “As you can imagine I was arrested. “After that everyone in my community was so incensed that they began the Montgomery bus boycott. Jo-Ann Robinson gave out hand-outs asking black people to stay off the buses on the day of my court case. Despite pressure and even violence against them black people stayed off the buses. Over a year after the beginning of the boycott segregation on the buses was declared illegal and black people returned to the buses.”

How might Rosa Parks have been inspired by Martin Luther King? Dr King followed the teaching of Jesus to love God and love your neighbour. He took seriously Jesus’ teaching that we should love our enemies. "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.” "Love is the only cement that can hold this broken community together. When I am commanded to love, I am commanded to restore community, to resist injustice, and to meet the needs of my brothers."

Next steps: 1. Ask pupils to imagine the conversation between Revd Dr Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks after the bus boycott. What would they say to each other? What about a conversation between Revd Dr Martin Luther King and Gandhi? 2. Ask pupils to think about examples of unfairness in the local, national and global communities now. How might the actions of Gandhi, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King inspire them? What would they be prepared to do to stand up for justice? Are they doing anything? What will they do? Explore some issues a little further. For example, Fair Trade issues may link well with work in Geography; lack of clean water in many parts of the world is being addressed by several charities, such as AquAid (see ) Ask pupils to choose a project to support. What can they do to make a difference? Go for it!