Buddhist Dingbats

This a fun little Dingbats (or Pictionary?) quiz I made for my Year 10s today. Can you guess the twelve Buddhist key terms from the words and pictures above?

You can download the question sheet here and find the answers here. 

RS Question of the Week - Ched Evans

Recently, I've been sticking a few questions up in and on the door to my classroom to prompt a bit of discussion and give me an extra starter task if I need it. This week, I've used the Ched Evans news story as the basis for the questions.

The questions and the story prompted some really good contributions from some of my Year 10 and 11 students, and I was pleased that they were keen to share their thoughts (and their own questions) without me having to prompt them. In fact, one of my students brought along a question from one of her friends, who I don't even teach!

The questions I used were:

1. Do all criminals deserve a second chance?
2. Does it matter if they haven’t apologised for their crime?
3. Should criminals be allowed to work in jobs where they could earn £1000s every week?
4. What is a "role model", and why do we expect sports starts to act as role models?

If you want to use the questions in your own classroom, you can download the poster here.

  

Euthanasia - A Few More Resources Added

I've added a few more resources on euthanasia to the Religion and Contemporary Society Resource Page. Added since last time are some worksheets on the sanctity of life and Christian views on euthanasia, plus supporting video and web links. I'll hopefully get the rest of the unit, plus an outline scheme of work posted up in the next week.

Euthanasia Lessons

I've been meaning for a while to start to post some materials and lessons related to the Religion in Contemporary Society AS module for WJEC, with a view to (eventually) building up a fairly comprehensive set of resources to support teaching the whole unit.

Things get in the way (as they do), so I've not made much progress towards so far, but the first couple of lessons on euthanasia, plus an introduction to RICS, are now up. You can find them on the Religion in Contemporary Society Resource Page.

Matrix Jesus Bingo

My Year 12s are currently studying the A2 topic on Religion and Film, and we've just started looking at the theme of religious ideas in film, using the Wachowskis' The Matrix.

I've put together this little game to help my students spot some of the many Neo/Jesus parallels between The Matrix and the gospels.

Created at bingo.saksena.net/

Usual bingo rules apply: students tick off each parallel on their card when they spot it on screen. Instead of calling "house", the winner has to shout out "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"

Incidentally, I was surprised to find out that only one of my students has actually seen The Matrix before, and most of them seem to think that a film made in 1999 is  virtually prehistoric.

This makes me feel very old.

The Complete Incomplete PowerPoint on Life, Death, and Beyond

I've been gradually putting together this PowerPoint for the AQA's synoptic unit on Life, Death and Beyond.

It's still not complete: One of the four topics is missing and I've not quite had chance to add in some extra notes I've got in other places, but students studying the unit might find it useful for revision ahead of their exam on Thursday.

Good luck!

RS Honours Board Classroom Display

Outside my classroom I've put up a display board that celebrates some of the successes that students have had in the department over recent years, including GCSE pass rates, A*/A grades, and students who went on to study RS or Philosophy at University.

I think it's worked nicely as a talking point for students and recognition of their hard work, and as way to promote the department to prospective students and parents. A couple of other departments have used it as a template for their displays... although our Maths department has forgotten to remove the religiousy praying figure background, which raises a grin every time I walk past it!

I've uploaded it here (with names of my students changed, of course) for other RS teachers to use and adapt. 

I hope you find it useful. If so, you might also like my Celebs Who Studied RS posters.

Features of Fundamentalism Mnemonic

Mnemonics are ways of remembering complex chunks information by linking them to simpler or more memorable words, phrases or images. If, like me, you learned the points of the compass through the phrase "Never Eat Shredded Wheat", that's a good example of a simple mnemonic.
 
Below is an acrostic mnemonic I've come up with to help remember and revise some of the key features of religious fundamentalism:

If you've already studied fundamentalism, then most of these should be fairly familiar, but if you're not, then here's a brief explanation of each feature:

Science - Rejection of scientific views when they conflict with sacred texts. However, many fundamentalists have made effective use of modern technology to promote their message.
Elect - The view held by some fundamentalists that they are part of a spiritual elite, chosen by God for a particular mission. In some cases, this may justify violence.
Patriarchy - The view that men and women have different roles, with women subordinate to men. In fundamentalist groups this is seen as being ordered by God, not the product of culture or history.
Authoritarian - Blind obedience to authority, as opposed to individual freedom and conscience. This may involve obedience to the teachings of a religious text or a religious leader.
Reaction Against Modernity - Fundamentalism is seen as being a reaction against the modern world. Fundamentalists view themselves as being distinct from, and separate to, modern secular society.
Apocalyptic - The view that we are living in the last days, and that the world as we know it will shortly be brought to a sudden end.
Texts - Belief that a sacred text is inerrant (contains no errors). Fundamentalists hold that their sacred texts are literally true, and are hostile towards attempts at historical or literary criticism of them.
Ethically Conservative - The moral commandments of religious texts are seen as being binding for all time. In practice, this tends to lead to a conservative moral position, for example opposing homosexuality.
Dualism - Dividing the world into clear categories of good and evil, right and wrong, "with us" and "against us". There is little room for ambiguity or grey areas in fundamentalist thinking.

Some of the above might be open for debate, and some scholars might include other characteristics, but if you can use the SEPARATED mnemonic to remember these characteristics, and can explain and give an example of each, you should be well on your way to getting a decent grade in a Part A question on the features of fundamentalism.  
 
I've also put together a short PowerPoint that (if you're a teacher) you could incorporate into a revision lesson.

Christian Ethics: AQA "A" Spec Revision Workbook and Checklist

I've come across a workbook I put together for the AQA A Specification  GCSE unit on Christian Ethics. I no longer teach the A spec (and to be honest I completely forgot that I'd made the workbook), but somebody out there might it useful.

Looking through the workbook, it's mostly made up of candidate sample answers for peer assessment, plus some past paper questions and a set of key facts to learn.

There also a revision checklist for four of the six topics in the GCSE (I might have put it together for mocks rather than the final exams), which might also be of some use.

You can download the checklist here and the workbook here via google docs.

I am, of course, still hunting for the Year 12 revision booklet I was actually looking for when I found them...

Life After Death Revision Checklist

Photo credit sxc.hu/fanginhoon

I've put together a revision checklist/topic self assessment for the AQA unit on Body, Soul, and Personal Identity. You can download it from Google Docs here.

If you're revising for your GCSEs or A levels right now (and if you're following these tips on how to get an A, then you should be!), using checklists can help you identify the areas you need to target in your revision, and avoid the temptation to simply go over the parts of a topic you're already most comfortable with.

I've put together checklists for most of the AQA GCSE and A level syllabuses for RS. If you'd like any others for particular topics, then please post a comment below.

Life, Death and Beyond - Draft Scheme of Work

I've put together a rough draft of a scheme of work for the AQA A2 synoptic unit on Life, Death, and Beyond, which I'm teaching for the first time this year. It's something of a hybrid, using the AQA Spec, a WJEC textbook, and a template scheme I nabbed from OCR!

If you teach the synoptic unit, then like me you might find the lack of resources and schemes of work a bit of a headache. Any suggestions on how to improve the SOW (or extra resources to include) would be much appreciated! You can download the scheme of work from here.

Edit: If you found this resource useful, you might also be interested in this not quite complete PowerPoint on Life, Death, and Beyond.

Top 20 Celebrities with Degrees in Philosophy and Religious Studies

One of the teachers at my old school had in his classroom a set of posters of celebrities who studied History at university, including such luminaries as Gordon Brown, Michael Palin, and Shakira.

I thought the posters were a great idea, and was impressed by the amount of time my colleague had obviously spent putting the posters together. So, deciding that it was time for the RS department to step up to the plate, I set about creating my own set of posters of celebrities who'd studied Philosophy or Religious Studies. I was right about it being a time consuming business: It took me hours to track down the names and create the posters.

To my slight annoyance, my colleague later told me that he'd found all his posters on the internet. History teachers eh? Always cutting corners...

Anyway, I still think that knowing that there are a few celebrities who've studied Philosophy or Religion is a good way to help students think about the question "what could I do with a degree in this?" So in no particular order, my top 20 famous people who studied Philosophy or Religion at university are:

Win Butler - Musician (Arcade Fire). Studied Religious Studies at McGill University.
Bill Clinton - Former US President. Politics, Philosophy and Economics, University of Oxford.
Iris Murdoch - Author. Philosophy, University of Oxford.
Katy Brand - Writer, comedian. Theology, University of Oxford .
Ricky Gervais - Comedian. Philosophy, University College London.
Christy Turlington - Model and businesswoman. Comparative Religion and Eastern Philosophy, New York University.
Aung San Suu Kyi - Burmese politician and Nobel Laureate. Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford.
Yvette Cooper - Shadow Home Secretary. Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford.
David Cameron - Prime Minister. Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford.
Miles Jupp - Writer, comedian. Divinity, University of Edinburgh.
Ed Miliband - Labour Party Leader. Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford.
Martin Luther King Jr - Civil Rights Leader. Theology, Boston University.
Matt Groening - Creator of The Simpsons. Philosophy, Evergreen State University.
Bruce Lee - Actor and martial artists. Philosophy, University of Washington.
Moby - Musician. Philosophy, University of Connecticut.
Yann Martel - Author (Life of Pi). Philosophy, Trent University.
Justin Vernon - Musician (Bon Iver). Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Mike Brierley - Former England cricket captain. Classical and Moral Sciences, University of Cambridge.
JB Gill - Musician (JLS). Theology, Kings College London.
General Sir Richard Barrons - Commander, Joint Forces Command. Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford.

There are a number of other names I could have added: There are dozens of other politicians with Oxford PPE degrees, but I'm not sure our current crop of MPs are the best advert for the study of Philosophy. Footballer Joey Barton is studying Philosophy at Roehampton University, but I've left him off my list because, well, he's Joey Barton. Another footballer, former Charlton Athletic defender Richard Rufus, apparently studied Theology, but doesn't appear because I can't find the details of where he studied or at what level. There  also seems to be a bit of doubt about whether Bruce Lee actually attended Washington, but the rule of cool keeps him on my list.

I'd be keen to hear about any other names I could add to my list, particularly if they are well-know in the UK, female (not enough on my list at the moment), or from a field that isn't currently represented.

The original set of posters I created can be downloaded here (you'll need a TES login).

Young Catholic Minute

I've been trying to put together some resources for the AQA Religion and Contemporary Society course I'm teaching for the first time next term, and I remembered the Young Catholic Minute website, which I though I'd share here.

The site is run is run by and for young people, and has a number of short videos giving Catholic views on issues of ethics, politics, and relationships. When I've used them in class students have found them pretty amusing (perhaps not always intentionally) - click the video below to get an idea.

The Jesus Compass

The Jesus Compass is a little acrostic I've used with some of my GCSE classes to help them respond to ethical questions from a Christian perspective by thinking about the different ways that individuals could be influenced or inspired to behave. The acrostic stands for:

Jesus - Are any of Jesus’ sayings or actions relevant to the question?     

Church - What are the teachings of different Christian churches / denominations?

Obey Conscience - What might an individual Christian’s conscience tell them to do?    

Ministers & Priests - How might a minister or priest advise a Christian to act?

Prayer - How might praying help a Christian to make moral decisions?    

Agape - What is the most loving thing to do?

Saints - How might the lives of famous Christians inspire others to behave?        

Scripture - What Biblical quotations or teachings are relevant?

Partly it's a revision crib to help students remember some of the religious teachings and individuals they have studied who could be relevant to a particular ethical question, and partly it prompts  students to include the religious perspectives that are needed to access the higher grades.

Some of the "points" of the compass are meatier than others of course, but referring to - say - the conscience or agape might be enough to shift a student from a level 3 to a level 4 in the AQA mark scheme. For more able students, it also encourages them to consider a wide range of possible sources of evidence and select the best from them. It's worked well with the GCSE classes I've used it with, and even with the A2 class I've used it with, so I thought I'd share it here.  

I've posted a generic revision sheet for it, and a worksheet version that students can use to focus on a particular question. You can download these as pdfs here and here, or if you have a TES account, as MS Office documents here.

Virtue Ethics Key Word Games

Some more word games today, this time they are for the Virtue Ethics topic of the AQA A Level in Religious Studies.

You can download the games from here, or if you have a TES account, from here.

I've also previously uploaded vocab games for Religious Language and Psychology and Religion. 

Psychology and Religion Key Word Games

I've uploaded a couple of word games you can use to build and revise your vocabulary for the Psychology and Religion topic of the AQA A Level in Religious Studies.

You can download the games from here, or if you have a TES account, from here.

Religious Language Revision Games

I've uploaded a couple of word games you can use to revise your vocabulary for the Religious Language topic. If you find you have a few minutes in your busy half-term schedule of revising, writing essays, and in-depth background reading, why not give them a try?

The games are Key Word Pairs and Key Word Articulate. You can download them here, or if you have a TES account, from here.

You might also want to take a look at this post on the Via Negativa.

Enjoy your break!

Socratic Thinking Resources

Apologies for the slightly longer than expected period of dormancy over the summer: I've been busy with house moves and getting my brain around being head of my very own RS department. I should hopefully be able to blog a bit more regularly from now on.

I've recenly uploaded a couple of resources to the TES website, based around the idea of Socratic questioning. If you teach RS or Philosophy, you might find these useful as a way of extending the thinking of your students. If you're a student,you could use them as a prompt to help you start an internal dialogue to help you improve your answers to essay style questions.

Links to the resources are below, you'll need a TES account to view them:

Socratic Question Cards

Socratic Question Matrix