Boredom is the enemy of education. These resources aim to give students an engaging, fun way into topics that are relevant to their lives, including awkward ones like sex education, and informing about issues that are shaping the world and their future. My hope is that they help be an effective tool to the teacher to wake up a hunger for knowledge in students, and that everyone in the classroom would have a more enjoyable and enriching experience because of their use.
Boredom is the enemy of education. These resources aim to give students an engaging, fun way into topics that are relevant to their lives, including awkward ones like sex education, and informing about issues that are shaping the world and their future. My hope is that they help be an effective tool to the teacher to wake up a hunger for knowledge in students, and that everyone in the classroom would have a more enjoyable and enriching experience because of their use.
9-11, ISIS and The Truth and Reconciliation Trials. Here are 3 examples of terror and a lesson about moving forward, past the cycle of retribution. A highly rated resource with over 6000 downloads in the past, and now monetized as they are a three in one pack! Includes a trimmed down version of what caused 9-11.
This small bundle of resources is designed to help students revise together and independently so they really know what embryology, cloning, IVF, surrogacy, human experimentation and transplants and transfusions are, as well as the key terms essential for a good grade.
Learning objectives are:
Be more confident about the topics involved in Medical Ethics
Have a more fluent understanding of the religious issues raised by these topics.
Have begun to evaluate the various merits of different opinions about modern medical procedures.
This lesson has a hotseat starter which covers many key terms from Medical ethics (i.e. sanctity of life) as well as an interactive treasure hunt plenary for those of you with the luxury of smart boards. Learning Questions include:
What is Cloning?
What are the different kinds of cloning?
What are religious responses to it?
Extension: What quotes do you know that could apply to this topic and how?
There is also a roleplay opportunity included here, as well as a variety of youtube links and a cover lesson linked to the sixth day which can be rented or bought on youtube (It’s no gattaca, but has some interesting ethical issues raised and debated in there). Differentiated by outcome, with extension task included with the learning questions.
With Brexit being a ubiqutous and fairly exhausting topic in the news, I made this to try and teach my KS3 and 4 students about and explore their opinions on it. Mostly, students respond to the first learning question with ‘Brexit means brexit’ which has about as much substance as the middle of a doughnut. Not the jam ones.
Learning questions:
What is Brexit?
What is the EU?
What are the different Brexit options?
What are the arguments for and against it?
Stretch and Challenge:
After weighing up both sides of the argument, what is my opinion?
Some differentiation included, with a brief summary of the seven main brexit options available.
There is also a critical thinking extension which explores a claim that the PM’s deal meets all requirements, which is produced by a thinktank. Students will be shown how to use google power search’s ‘WHO IS’ function to find out who the director of that thinktank is, and how they have conservative leanings, hopefully boosting awareness of bias and independent thought.
There are group tasks as well as individual work and opinion line activities included. Also attached here are the ‘four corners’ posters which can be stuck on the four corners of the room so students move to that area depending on their opinion.
An assessment to see how much students have engaged and learnt from this scheme of work. There are two options, with differentiated questions to answer one after the other or a creative assessment option where students create something of their choosing (poem, rap, painting etc. which answers the questions in their own way).
It comes with printable questions and levelled marking grids to help you mark in a time efficient, clear way.
Enjoy :)
This lesson aims to explore the seder meal with students, and includes the necessary information to run your own mini seder meal in the classroom if you so choose. It is part of a scheme of work where students create a booklet about Judaism, and hence one of the objectives is about creating the relevant chapter of that booklet.
Objectives include:
To know what Seder is, and the main signs and symbols that are used
To prepare for Project Chapter 5
To think about the importance of Festivals in our own lives
There are differentiated activities in this KS2-3 resource, and ideally there would be some role play that the powerpoint and teacher would facilitate with groups of 6. Lesson plan, song, youtube links and powerpoint iuncluded. Enjoy!
This lesson explores who is to blame for the Shoah/Holocaust. It endeavours to introduce nuance and deeper empathy into students’ understanding in that the Shoah cannot simply be Hitler’s fault: millions of people collaborated, agreed and perpetuated anti-semitism, including some Jews in the Ghettos who faced making impossible decisions in desperate circumstances. Activities are differentiated, with youtube videos of survivors testimonies (which are a little quiet), and the lesson is perfect for religious studies, PHSE, citizenship and SMSC. It’s perhaps a bit personal for a history lesson, but may be used to augment existing scheme’s of work to help engagement.
Learning Questions include:
Can I describe the different things that were lost in the Holocaust? (level 4-5)
Can I explain my opinion on who was responsible for different things in the Holocaust? (5-6)
Can I evaluate different opinions on who was to blame in specific situations? (level 6-7)
There are also extension tasks which include footage of Otto Frank after his loss of his entire family.
All feedback gratefully received.
9 seperate lesson resources which constitute an entire scheme of work. Totalling £27 separately, this quality resources include independent study tasks, documentaries, youtube clips, printable resources, worksheets and differentiated tasks (for both SEND and more able students). Can be spread out to last 9 lessons, or compressed into 6.
Including youtube links, independent learning activities, discussion activities and plenty of information, this lesson is about exploring the 'snoopers' charter' culture of the NSA and GCHQ, Edward Snowden's role as a whistleblower, and if we should allow our governments to spy on us. Particularly good for citizenship, sociology, RS and Politics this lesson is engaging and interesting to students.
Did you know facebook's new privacy policy allows them to use your microphone and camera? AI notes down everything we say via their app...1984? Or safety procedure?
Differentiated activities by outcome and task design, there's plenty here to stretch and challenge as well as scaffold.
This lesson also includes a debate and information which can be used like a treasure hunt activity. 26 slides of high quality teaching material.
Learning questions are:
Why is privacy important?
What is a whistleblower and what were Wikileaks?
Is the internet a force for increased freedom, or increased surveillance?
Which is more valuable, freedom or safety?
At the school where I work we do 'Beliefs and Values': PHSE, Citizenship, Religious Studies and SMSC all rolled into one. These 2 lessons, one for KS4 and one for KS3, explore what SMSC is and why it is important. There is a lot here, so plenty for you to pick and choose from, all exploring the following learning outcomes:
All of you will be able to explain what SMSC is.
Most of you will be able to explain where we learn about SMSC
Some of you will be able to evaluate why we teach SMSC in our school community.
As always, feedback and recommendations warmly received. :)
A whole Holocaust/Shoah scheme of work with videos, worksheets, wordsearches, youtube videos, embedded videos that include real survivors talking about their experience. I've taught and tweeked this over 6 years, teaching it perhaps 30 times, adding a real dimension of Jewish faith and how the Holocaust/Shoah challenged and strengthened different people's faiths. Excellent resource for higher achievers: level 7-8 is quite common with the scafolding here. It starts historical, and then becomes increasingly integrated with the effect on Jewish Faith.
There's really loads here, including 34 files in total, so plenty to chop and change.
Lesson 1: Introduction: 6 258 673
Lesson 2: Propaganda and Indoctrination
Lesson 3: Timeline and Gradual Change in Nazi Germany
Lesson 4: The Ghettos
Lesson 5: Jewish Identity
Lesson 6: The Concentration camps and Anne Frank
Lesson 7: What was lost? Who's to blame?
Lesson 8: Rescuers
Lesson 9: Fight Back! The Bielski Brothers
Lesson 10: Lessons from the Holocaust
Lesson 11: Assessment
UPDATED from last year with more detailed exploration of all topics. A Resource written, compiled and edited by yours truly which should cost about £1 to print in school. Students can hopefully buy this from your department, and it is a good middle ground between the official revision guide and, well, nothing at all! :) My students have found it very helpful. Covering Islam and Christianity, mainly, with a smattering of Buddhism.
Also includes the most challenging exam questions from past papers on the last pages, as well as an overview from AQA.
What are religious Laws in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism? How have they influenced society? Is it time we got rid of all religious laws? Should we tolerate a plurality of religious laws in one society?
These are all questions this resource explores. Plenty of scope for more able students to thrive as well as some scaffolding for students who struggle more.
Video embedded in the PPT, as well as an opinion line plenary.
Enjoy!
Suitable for year 6 and up, this is a single lesson, complete with clips and independent activities, to explain to your students what the refugee crisis is, how it happened, and if we should help. These can either be teacher led activities or student led, using a carousel system or marketplace. It therefore lends itself well to differentiation, and can be adapted to be an assembly too.
2 video clips included in this pack.
This is a resource to help tackle un-nuanced views that Christians are homophobic. It looks at some examples of welcoming Churches, and has a broad variety of resources for you to choose from including: debates, youtube videos, written evaluations and a choice of plenaries too. It's therefore well differentiated.
There are two lessons here: one focusses more on the westboro baptist church, whereas the other is more general. There is some repeated material in the two lessons, but plenty for you to pull two or even three lessons out of.
WARNING: The drama-documentary has some scenes of self harm at the end of it so could be a potential trigger for some students and should be skipped for younger year groups.
A powerpoint, worsearch, timeline, video and youtube video about how Nazi Germany gradually slid into more and more extreme versions of anti-semitism. It chronicles the dates of some of the 2000 laws passed against Jews in the years following Hitler's election in 1933, and attempts to answer the question HOW did normal people allow, and participate, in the Holocaust. It attempts to answer this to help students understand how vigilance in any society, and the trends within it, are something any healthy citizen should take part in.
The Key Learning Question is:
How did the Holocaust happen?
Activities are differentiated, and extension activities are included. Resources suited for yr.6 (10yo) and up.
A small bundle of resources that explore the life and work of Thich Nhat Hanh using a marketplace, with a factfile on his life including quotes and history. Enough here for a few lessons.
Learning Questions include:
Who is Thich Naht Hanh?
How does he interpret Buddhism?
What is my opinion of ‘Engaged Buddhism’?
A video included which is an interview between him and Oprah which is quite powerful and insightful for understanding the man behind the religious robes.
Activities differentiated by outcome, especially if Kagan seating plans are used.
This powerpoint and worksheets provide a range of differentiated activities as well as video clips that explore how propaganda and indoctrination was used in the Holocaust to Brainwash people. It includes embedded videos, youtube links, examples of propaganda posters, team work and independent work activities as well as discussion topics.
Fine for use from yr. 6 (10 yo up)
The learning questions are as follows:
How did people let the holocaust happen? (Level 4-5)
Explain why is it important to think for yourself. (Level 5-6)
Can you evaluate the effectiveness of Nazi propaganda? (Level 6-7)
There are also a myriad of extension tasks, including examples of modern day propaganda around Islamophobia and Immigration.
A lesson that explores what Humanism is, including descriptions, embedded videos, exploration of controversy surrounding Richard Dawkins and independent learning activities and discussions. Also, for the creatives out there, an extension which involves writing a rap.
Learning questions include:
What is Humanism?
What do Humanists believe?
What are the challenges of believing in Humanism?
Extension: Is Humanism a religion?
This is intended to help students explore and think with nuance about Humanism, the role of religion in the modern world (if indeed it has any), and is differentiated in its tasks: each question gets increasingly difficult and there are differentiated targets for video clips and activities.
A 3 page glossary with gaps with brief definitions of ALL the words in the AQA religious studies B Unit 3 specification plus 10 key quotes. Also included an answer sheet.
This is a really useful summary of the whole of the ethics exam for helping them answer those shorter and longer questions i.e. "Hospices are a better alternative to Euthanasia" (6 marker).
My kids really liked it, so they inspired me to put it up here. Took about 3 hours to make mind, and about an hours worth of teaching included once all the questions and ideas are recapped. It's a great place to highlight weaknesses in their knowledge too.