Archive for the ‘Learn Together’ Category

Spiritual Leaders and Authority lesson 5th and 6th Class

respect-my-authority-police

Spiritual Leaders and the concept of authority

There are 3 curriculum objectives for this strand unit.

  • Explore the concept of authority as exercised by religious leaders.
  • find out how these leaders are chosen.
  • identify any common features which may exist between religious leaders.

The main emphasis in these objectives are giving the children time and methods to discover their own answers to the concept of “religious authority”. These objectives will work brilliantly if the class is encouraged to debate the issues, construct arguments after they have found the information. It is integral that the children can get access to the internet for these lessons.
The first objective is tricky enough, the child is being asked to explore the concept of authority. It is very important that you do not impose any particular opinion on them, either from the class or your won. They need to revisit the information that they have learned over the last years in this Strand. They also need to be given time to think and discuss these issues, without necessarily coming to any particular answer. Many of the English Oral Language objectives and skills can come in here. The SPHE curriculum also has some excellent exemplars that will facilitate the child’s own learning and decision. They include
Open ended statements like using a statement where the children can play around with it- “Authority is like being in power because….”
Brainstorming- Children can express their thoughts on the subject of “authority”. These thoughts can be collected in one place, you usually set rules like no negative input or put downs. This way, every idea can be counted and the creative ones are not immediately jumped upon!
Agree or disagree-Children have the opportunity to say whether they agree or disagree on a discussion point like “Authority” or the various scenarios you might create. Posters with the words “Agree”, “Disagree” and “I don’t know!” can be used and children can write their name or move to the chosen word. Make sure that you give them a closed statement like “Religions need someone who is in authority.”
There are many more great exemplars on the NCCA website.
Because, the children are more mature, this subject can be covered by doing a project or presentation. They can work in groups, pairs or indivduals depending on their learning style or preference.
They can use any form to present-video, digital camera, presentation, digital recorder, book, magazine, leaflet, song or question and answer style session.

Lesson: Religious leaders-How they are chosen, common features and authority.
Learning outcomes:
Child will be able to define what the words “power” and “authority” are when asked, either by discussion or written.
Child will be enabled to complete a project/presentation on the subject of 2 of the given religious leaders.
Child will be enabled to compare the 2 religious leaders by giving 5 common features.
Child will be enabled to write/say/draw a diagram/presentation/written report that details the method of how their 2 religious leaders have been chosen by their community

Learning Activities
Introduction:

Talk and Discussion, brainstorming, KWL- Look at the 2 words “Power” and “Authority” In their pairs, get them to find out and discuss what these words mean. How does this link with the religious leader like the Rabbi or the Vicar? Write their suggestions around these words and leave them there for them to explore throughout the lesson/s.
Power is the capacity or ability to do or accomplish something.
Authority is the power to command, determine, influence or judge.
Begin a “think/pair/share” session.
Give students one minute to think about how to answer these questions.. Then have students pair with the person next to them and answer the questions together:
What job or role does this leader have that puts them in a position of authority?
How does this leader influence others?
Can you think of any other authority figures in your school or community?
How do/did they use their authority?
Development
1. Introduce this scenario:
The principal comes over the speaker with an announcement that no one is to play in on the football pitch today as they are repairing the area.
a.     Ask the following questions:
Does the principal have the authority to make this announcement?
How did he/she use to influence others to not use the yard?
b.     Have students share responses and hold a whole-class discussion on the qualities of authority.
2.   Introduce a second scenario:
Later in the week, when the pitch has been completed, the principal allows students to play on the football pitch again, a small group of students went out to play. A big Sixth Class student blocks their way and said that no one but he and his friends were allowed to be on the pitch that day.
a.   Ask the following questions:
Does the Sixth Class student have the authority to keep others from playing where they want?
How did this person use to influence others?
How is this person’s power different from the principal’s?
Have students share responses and hold a whole-class  discussion about bullying and why it is unfair.

(https://dnet01.ode.state.oh.us/ims.itemdetails/lessondetail.aspx?id=0907f84c8053181b- These above ideas were taken from an American website, a lesson that covers authority and politics, I’ve adapted it slightly for age and religious leader content.

Project work
Because, the children are more mature, this subject can be covered by doing a project or presentation. They can work in groups, pairs or indivduals depending on their learning style or preference.
They can use any form to present-video, digital camera, presentation, digital recorder, book, magazine, leaflet, song or question and answer style session.
After, their presentation/project, ensure that the child can define “authority” or that they’ve begun to think about it. Can they answer the questions for assessment below? You can use a test or an oral discussion?
Assessment
Have the children completed a project/presentation on their 2 given Religious leaders?
Can the child tell you or write/draw what the word “authority” means for a religious leader?
Has the child compared their religious leaders in 5 ways?
Does the child know how their religious leader was chosen by their community?
Differentiation
Less able students may have difficulty in defining authority. Spend more time with them in smaller groups to discuss these words. Give smaller groups further study or homework including picture books, videos, news clippings, real-life scenarios, etc.
More able or faster students can write about real-life situations of authority and research religious authority figures using biographies, videos, news clippings, and/or create questions to interview authority figures such as principal, CEO, police inspector, Vicar or Priest.
The students will be able to work to their own level when carrying out project work.

This article concludes my work on “Belief systems”. I’ll be moving onto another section so keep checking back!

Spiritual leaders and authority lessonplan

Sacred Books and religions

torah1

Sacred writings and their stories

Interestingly, if you look at the 3rd and 4th Class strand units for the Key Figures strand, 3 words jump out at me!
The curriculum objectives use 3 specific learning verbs, identify, know and understand. If you have read my article on Bloom’s taxonomy at

http://www.anseo.net/2010/10/mr-bloom-and-an-honest-look-at-how-children-should-be-learning/, then you be aware of the theory of learning and the hierarchal learning domains of Bloom.

These objectives are only really focusing on the first 2 levels of thinking and learning. the children need to be able to remember the knowledge of this lesson and to understand the relevance of each sacred book in the given religion.
I’m going to focus on the 6 Key Religious figures as mentioned in the last lesson for 1st and 2nd class as it allows the child and teacher to expand on the learning that occurred then.
To prepare this lesson, you may need to recap on the story of each religion’s Key figure from Infants.

Sacred Writings Lesson
Learning outcomes:

  • to write the name of the sacred writing underneath a given picture.
  • to tell the story of how the sacred writing emerged in writing, words or pictures.
  • to explain the importance of these sacred writings in the various traditions

Resources

  • The internet as always- a Great link for learning about Sacred Texts is http://www.schooltrain.info/re/books/books.htm
  • http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/homework/religion/sikhism.html
  • Stories from the 1st lesson for Infants on Key Religious Figures
  • Vocabularly- a good dictionary or online one will help you, first of all, understand the new words that occur in the Sacred Writings Factsheets.
  • Sacred Writing Factsheets-I’ve made some factsheets to go along with this lesson. They are just one way to get the information across and should be used in conjunction with some/all of the learning activities below. Feel free to edit and adjust. I’ve credited any photos used for classroom use only.
  • Test for End of unit assessment-Again, this is 1 way in which you can assess. There are other ways that I speak about below.

Differentiation
Depending on the level of the children, each child should be able to access the activities below.
For the more able children and if you want to enhance their learning and thinking skills, you could use the presentation, role play and hot seating as differentiated activities for the more able.
Collaboration using ICT is another differentiated activity for the class here. Using a class or school blog, the children can collaborate in groups/pairs to use the knowledge and understanding of the topic and apply it. A digital recorder/microphone, digital camera/camcorder or flipcam are all that is needed to share and begin a conversation with children in their school or a video conference in another multi-denominational school who may have been learning about the Sacred Texts.

Learning activities

First of all, all the children need to know the names and stories of each sacred writing. They will have touched on these in 1st and 2nd Class. Most of these methodologies are about children looking at the facts, stories and information and helping them to remember  and reproduce them.

Storytelling
This knowledge giving session can be done in a number of ways from the traditional approach of the teacher/child telling a story to watching the story on the net. Revise the basic premise of a story with the children. Opening setting and character. the character encounters a problem. The problem is solved. End of story. This will give them a framework.
Flashcards
Get the children to design flashcards to sequence their story and to assist their oral presentation at the end of the unit.
Blog publishing
The children can blog their story and add pictures for the class/school blog. They might work in pairs or groups and make a paragraph on 1 of the sacred writings, they should be able to tell the story in a couple of paragraphs.
Mindmaps
Concept mapping is a great way for visual and the more chatty learners to illustrate their knowledge of a topic. They can put the name of the sacred writing e.g. The Bible in the middle of a page or white board and make connections in this way. show them how to make a good mind map.
Diary entry
To show understanding of the importance of these books in each religion, the children could be asked to write a short diary entry for each religious leader. Some of the children might need sentence starters like:
I am a Hindu Priest.
The Vedas are the name of my special book.
The story of the Vedas can be told in this way…
The Vedas are important for us because…

Presentation, project work and oral debate.
The children can work in groups or pairs and present on 1 of their religions and sacred writings. They should be warned that you will ask questions after. It can be good to give them an idea of the type of questions that you might ask before they present. Questions that focus on the first 2 levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy should include questions with the words like:
Tell me the name of the special book that the Jewish people have?
List all the religions that use the special book, The Bible?
Name the book that is connected with the Church of Ireland community?
Bringing the assessing up to the next level, use questions like this to explore:
Describe the special book that the Sikh Granthi uses? Tell me one thing about it.
Can you give me 1 difference between the story of the Bible and the story of the Vedas?
(This is getting the children to make a contrast)
Give them a statement to Discuss like The Old Testament is important to the Jewish Rabbi- why?
Predict-when the children are telling the story, stop them and ask the class to guess what will happen next. Get the children to read out a description of the sacred book and the key religious figure and predict which book and key figure they are referring to.
Hot Seating or Role play
Give the children a different key religious figure to role play or to hot seat. Get the children to make up questions in groups. Talk to the children about the learning outcomes, make sure that they link their questions to these outcomes as much as they can as that is what you will be assessing.
Quiz
One way of assessing if the learner has taken in the knowledge is to get them to make a quiz based on their chosen book and religion. Brainstorm about the different ways to make a quiz or test-multiple choice, fill in the blanks, crossword, puzzles, question and answer, draw a picture of the story in your words and so on. Children really enjoy making their own quizes, they forget they are retaining the knowledge.
Use a worksheet or a program like Literacy Activity Builder to make a game to write the name of the Book with the religious figure.
Assessment
Ask yourself:
Can the child write the name of the book under the picture on the Final test?
Can the child tell the story using pictures, words or oral prompting?
Can the child give 1-3 reasons( depending on their level) of why each sacred book was so important to the key religious figure?

Paper test-I’ve made a short test for the end of unit.
Teacher observation-through class discussion/drama
Diary entry
Mind maps can tell you how much a child has actually learned. Get them to complete a mind map after their knowledge session and then again at the end of the unit. Compare the 2. Have they gained more knowledge of the sacred book, the story and key religious figure?
Project work
Assess their product on the blog, flashcards, written and oral story. Do they know the story of each sacred scripture?

AS always, I love hearing how you find these lessons in the class, please leave your comments below? or email me at rozz@anseo.net

3rd and 4th sacred writings lesson

end of unit test sacred texts

The Bible Catholics

The sikh people Guru Granth Sahib

the muslim people the Qur’an1

The Bible Church of Ireland

the hindu people the vedas

Teaching about Religious Leaders and their special books

religiousleaders

1st and 2nd Class: Religious leaders


I’m moving right on up to 1st and 2nd Class and the “Key Religious Figures” in 1st and 2nd Class.
The Infants strand unit in the “Key figures” is based around the stories of the key figures. In the 1st and 2nd Class strand unit, we have to cover a lot more, focusing on religious leaders, their role in the community and the books associated with certain belief systems.
The first objectives mentions certain religious leaders like a Catholic Priest, Church of Ireland Vicar, The Hindu Priest, the Jewish Rabbi, the Muslim Imam and the Sikh Granthi. Their titles and style of dress is particularly important here.
At this level, I think it is sufficient to help the children understand and discuss their role in their communities as well as making them aware of the special books they use like the Bhagavad Gita, The Bible, The Dhammapada, The Qur’an and The Tanakh.
In terms of assessment, it is clear that the children must know the titles and religious dress of these leaders, discuss their roles and be aware of the books they use.

School plan: Depending on your school plan, your school plan may want to cover different religious leaders as children may be from different religious communities. The objectives have named 6 religious leaders and I will use these as an example.

Learning outcomes

  • to know what each religious leader(6) wears and is called.
  • to be able to discuss the role of their leaders in their communities, if applicable.
  • to know the special books that are associated with each religious leader.

There is a lot involved in this, you could teach this over a series of days as a project with the final day  being a test of some sort. You can assess this a number of ways-observation would be tricky and time consuming. A knowledge lesson like this would be assessed easily in a multiple choice type test, which I’ve attached. I’ve also included some other different ways for the children to learn about the key religious leaders of each particular reason. What you choose to use is dependent on the make up of your class, time constraints etc.

Possible Resources

A good broadband connection!
Religious figures fact sheet-I’ve designed and attached this at the bottom, it’s a word file so feel free to adapt according to the reading level of your children.
A whiteboard-the non interactive type will do fine! Write a list of the needed vocabulary for this lesson.I’ve bolded them in the fact file. It’s important the children know these before you begin the learning in this unit.
Multiple Choice Test for the assessment at the end of the unit.
Real religious leaders are an added element for interview type lessons.

Learning activities

Research-project work-groups- Children work in groups for this. They are given a key figure and they have to research the following at home or in school. Name of the leader and religion. Clothes that they wear when they are doing their job. What they do in their community? What is the name of the special book that they use?
They should find the best photo or picture that represents their particular key religious leader.
Fact sheet
I have designed these character profiles as simply as I could but only including the information that is relevant to this learning task- clothes, role and special books.
Key language needed: Community- what does it mean to belong? Why do the leaders do so much for their community? Any new vocabulary  is in a bold font. You can help the children understand the meaning of these by making sure you are comfortable with them. A notice board for this strand might be a good idea, the children could make their own cards with the vocab on them .
Diary entry-Ask the children to write some sentences about their each religious leader. Those who not able for this can draw what they want to say and then tell the class about it. Get them to imagine they are this leader and ask them to write about the following:
Getting dressed, my special book and what I do in my community( at least one thing-the more able can write as much as they can)
Real interview-If you can invite any of the religious leaders you know or the children/parents might know to come in and speak to the children. If you can get the leader to wear their religious clothes and special book, it would be great! Make sure the children put together their top questions to ask, based on clothes, their role in their community and the special book.
Multiple choice test
I have made a very simple multiple choice test for use at the end, if you choose. It is a great way to assess what they really know. I’ve included a label the religious leader too.
Visual Arts
Using any of the strands of the VA curriculum, the children could work in groups, pairs or individual. Get them to respond by making a representation of their chosen religious leader with his/her special book. Ask them to try to show how he is feeling when he/she is working in the community every day.
Advertisement
This would link in brilliantly with English. The children would have to know what an advertisement is and have seen examples of it. Get them to imagine that each religion is recruiting for a leader for their community. Get them to make an advertisement for each job-they should include 3 qualities that the applicants must have. they should include a picture of the special book you will have to use if you get this job. They should also include a drawing of the style of dress the leader will have to wear.
Internet research
There seems to be much more available for children in the area of Christianity. I’ve included some websites that I have found useful. I’m sure there are millions! If you have found any more, please add them to www.mash.ie for all of us to share!

Church of Ireland

http://www.request.org.uk/main/churches/anglicans/vicar02.htm- Dress the vicar game-perfect for dressing up the vicar! Man or woman!

(http://www.theage.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1057179161871_2003/07/04/05BISHOP,0.jpg)

http://www.reonline.org.uk/ks2/tt_nframe.php?topiclist.php&3-51&http://www.educhurch.org.uk/pupils/themes/church_leaders.html See this website for the roles of the Vicar in his religion

Catholic

http://www.request.org.uk/main/churches/catholic/catholic06.htm- what a catholic priest wears- sequencing-make a presentation

General

http://www.teachers.tv/videos/ks2-re-teacher-guide-to-islam

Judaism

http://www.refuel.org.uk/ks2/rabbi/ link in with 2nd objective- a day in the life of a Rabbi
http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/synagogue/rabbi.htm interview a rabbi-questions and answers session
http://www.reonline.org.uk/ks2/tt_nframe.php?topiclist.php&8-157&http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/sacred/wwoleaders.html general info re rabbis

Hindu
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/religion/hinduism.htm A good informative website with some information about the Hindu Priest and the sacred texts. There are many special books in Hinduism but the Vedas is the most sacred. For 1st and 2nd Class level, this is sufficient for them to know for now.

Muslim
Again, it is difficult to find information on the Muslim religion for children, but the Woodlands primary school in the Uk has the following.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/religion/Islam.htm#8

Sikh Granthi

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/homework/religion/sikhism.html

Assessment
What are you assessing?

Link back to your original learning outcomes.

You need to find out do the children know the religious leaders and the dress associated with them? You can assess this in different ways, through picture, matching, paper test or oral interview. Can the child name at least 1 job that this religious person does in their community? Can the child name the special books that the religious leader holds in importance? As, you can see this is a very much knowledge based lesson though the discussion of roles may bring up some interesting statements!

Good luck and please send me any links or resources you have found useful for the teaching of this unit.

Catholic Priest factfile

Church of Irelandvicar

hindu priest factfile

Jewish Rabbi factfile

muslim iman factfile

sikh granthi factfile

religious leaders 1st 2nd class end of unit assessment

Teaching the story of Buddha to Infants

buddha

Educate Together is a multi-denominational, Irish, primary school system. Catholic Schools have their “Alive-O” religious curriculum, Church of Ireland have the “Follow me” programme and Educate Together have their own unique one too – “Learn Together.”

The Ethical Education curriculum was launched in 2004. This curriculum is underpinned by Educate Together’s key principles. These are:
Multi-denominational
Co-educational
Child Centred
Democratic

I don’t want to focus too much on these principles as a great deal of work has already been done on these. Instead, I want to take a look at the ethics curriculum in detail and explore ways it can be practically and creatively used in an Irish classroom. I know the pressures that schools are under so I will try to do this as cheaply as I can!

Belief Systems-1 of 4 strands
When, you speak to anyone about Educate Together, they almost always mention the teaching of belief systems. The Belief system strand is 1 of the 4 strands I will be looking at.

In this lesson, aimed at Junior and Senior Infants, I’d like to look at the story of Buddha. It’s a tricky one as the level of the story has to be hugely adapted for the infants. I’ve edited this story, which would be suitable for Junior and Senior Infants. Visuals would be useful here as the infants may find it hard to concentrate! I’d probably tell this story over a week, revealing a part of it every day. That way then, at the end of the story telling, you can assess if they remembered the story or not.

Learning outcomes:
If you are teaching this story in an Educate Together school, you will have to be very careful with your learning outcomes.

  • The child will be able to retell the story of Prince Siddharta and how he became Buddha.

This objective is pure knowledge of the Key Figure of the Buddha.

Extension and resources:
It was difficult to source versions of the story suitable for 5 year olds on the Internet. There are some books available on Amazon that you will find useful for your own knowledge but you will probably have to adapt them for infant use. The first one is Prince Siddhartha: The Story of Buddha and the other one is The Barefoot Book of Buddhist Tales. You will at least, be able to use the pictures to tell the story or if you have a visualiser, you can show them to the whole class.

One of the best websites I’ve found for the story of Buddha is the buddhanet.net one. Everything is free and very teacher and child friendly! The second objective of this lesson can be helped along by this website. Beautiful songs here. You’ll just need broadband connection or there is an option to download the full song as MP3. The children can even try it in karaoke version too.

Here is a nice story, which extends the Buddha them well for infants.
It’s called the Wind and the Moon and the theme of friendship is covered.

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/tale001.htm

They also have some wonderful, free e-books which extend the theme of Buddha, a particularly nice one is here: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/rahula.htm.

Click on the flash version to view and help the children to read along if you have an IWB or projector.

There are hundreds of parable like stories of Buddha’s teachings here http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/budtale1.htm and in fact, you may never have to leave this website!

Lesson plan: The story of Buddha

Objectives:

  • Child will be able to retell the story of Buddha by drawing a picture or by helping you sequence the story orally.
  • Child will be able to listen to and sing the song of the story of Buddha.
  • Child will be able to draw/paint a picture of Buddha under the Fig Tree.

Resources:

Some images to accompany the story: Buddhist Images*

You can use these images on an IWB flipchart or in a PowerPoint presentation.

Introduction:

KWL
Begin the lesson with a statue of Buddha. Have any of them seen a statue like this before? Do they know who Buddha is? Do a quick brainstorm of what they know already about Buddha. You can write the key words on the whiteboard for them in a simple language. Ask them what they want to find out about Buddha. Write some of the questions down.
Introduce the children to the character of Buddha, explain that he was not always called Buddha. He had a different name. He was called Prince Siddhartha.
Get some predictions from the children about why they think he changed his name. They may be silly answers but their minds should be searching!

Development
The story of Buddha (Possiblequestions to ask children are in bold italics)
Prince Siddhartha Gautama, was a Prince who lived in India.

He had a Mammy and Daddy who loved him very much.
He had a wife and a beautiful baby boy.
He has lots of servants to do everything for him.
He had the best clothes.
He lived in a palace but he was not happy.

Ask the children why he was not happy?

What makes you unhappy?

He was sad when he saw that other people were hurt and unhappy.
One day, he met a monk.
The monk was very happy with his life. The monk did not have a palace, nice clothes or money.
The Prince wanted to be happy like the monk.
He ran away from his palace with all its money.
The palace was not making him happy.
He travelled for a long time, all over India.
One day, he was sitting under a fig tree.
He started to think.
He thought about happiness and all the sad people.
He made some rules for people to be happy. There were 8 rules.
This was a special day.
He started to have a new name.
It was Buddha. Buddha means “Awakened One”
If people followed his rules, they would be happy. He called rules, the Eightfold path.
They teach us how to be a good person.
Buddha was happy at last.
He travelled everywhere in India, telling people about his Rules for Happiness, the Eightfold Path.
People who liked his rules became followers and monks.
They had a message.
The message was to love each other.

Did you like the story?
What message would you send to Buddha?
Why was Buddha happy now?
What made Buddha sad?
What rules do you think he made up?

You can link this with your own classroom rules and why we have rules-to be happy!

Conclusion:
Play the song that you have downloaded from the buddhanet website. Play it through a few times. Ask the children to tell you the story, use the framework of beginning, middle and end. It may take you the week to assess if they know the story.

KWL: Ask them what they have learned about Buddha. What do they think of the statue know? Why is the Buddha laughing, do you think?

Extension
A Visual arts lesson on this would involve a simple look and respond.
•    discover the relationship between how things feel and how they look texture in natural and manufactured objects texture created using paint, brushes and found objects in a variety of ways. (Curriculum link-Infants Visual Arts Curriculum, 2000, NCCA.)

Introduction/Stimulus
Using these pictures of anything similar to these would do. A picture a fig tree and a picture of a fig. Try to find some figs to bring in, they can be fresh or tinned. You could even show them Fig rolls! If they want to have a taste, that’s great (always get parental permission) but the main thing you need them to do is to feel, touch and look at the fig. What patterns can they see? How does it feel? Does it feel like anything they have felt before?

Development
They can use any sort of colour media, paint is probably the best if they have had some experience of it. Drawing pencils, crayons, chalk and pastel could be left on each table for them to choose themselves. Ask them to close their eyes and imagine they are sitting under the fig tree with Buddha. What can they see, hear, touch? When, you’ve stimulated their imagination, let them off to make their own response to the story. They can draw Buddha anyway they like. Remind them everyone will draw Buddha differently.

Conclusion
Bring them all back when the paintings are dry. Get the children to talk about their favourite one and why? What is their favourite Buddha? what can they see in the pictures? What colours so they like?
Afterwards, show them some different pictures of Buddha under the Fig Tree. What do they think now? Would they change anything or are they happy with their picture?

* The images uploaded from Buddha.net. If the owners of this web site wish for us to remove these images from Anseo.net, we will do so straight away

This article was written by Rozz Lewis, she can be contacted at rozz@anseo.net