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

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.

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.

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 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 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? 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.

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 (It’s called ‘Pathfinders, because we’re trying to find the best path to live life). I think it’s 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 I’m not good enough to be a footballer, then I’d like to work for Christian Aid, travelling in less developed countries to try and help people in need.

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.

We are a large family from London, and our faith makes a lot of differences to our way of life. I don’t go to a Jewish school (there isn’t 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 I’m the youngest in our family. I am a dancer, but sometimes I miss a performance if it’s on Shabbat. I don’t mind this, because it matters to me to follow the Torah. I want to be a professional dancer when I grow up.

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?

These two simple activities enable the children to show that they can apply the idea of commitment for themselves.

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

This pupil may be struggling with the literacy aspects of this task, but the thinking and response to challenge are really good.

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.

“The spiritual life. Music, humanity, rainbows, God’s good earth and people to love are the elements of my spiritual life”

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 don’t 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.”

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.

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 it’s 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.

This year’s competition Runs until 31 st July 2008Runs until 31 st July 2008 Small prizes for pupils and schoolsSmall prizes for pupils and schools 5 themes: ‘A fairer world’ ‘Searching for God’ ‘Spiritual Story’ ‘Giving Thanks’ and ‘Vision’5 themes: ‘A fairer world’ ‘Searching for God’ ‘Spiritual Story’ ‘Giving Thanks’ and ‘Vision’ Web gallery updated – keep lookingWeb gallery updated – keep looking All at at

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Level 4: uses religious vocab to show understanding of questions of meaning and belief. Applies ideas for himself

Level 6: interprets religious diversity, expresses own insight using a religious and spiritual vocabulary

Level 4: describes own beliefs, showing religious understanding, using correct voacbulary

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.

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