I am curreny teaching across the Key Stages as the Head of Religious Studies in a comprehensive secondary school. Previously I have led a RS department in an inner-city school and also taught Humanities including experience of teaching Geography at KS3, as well as History at KS3 and KS4 and Sociology at KS5. I'm a Religious Studies and Philosophy specialist, having studied Philosophy at university and taught RS at KS3, KS4 and KS5.
I am curreny teaching across the Key Stages as the Head of Religious Studies in a comprehensive secondary school. Previously I have led a RS department in an inner-city school and also taught Humanities including experience of teaching Geography at KS3, as well as History at KS3 and KS4 and Sociology at KS5. I'm a Religious Studies and Philosophy specialist, having studied Philosophy at university and taught RS at KS3, KS4 and KS5.
GCSE lesson on the teachings of Jesus, including focus on the 'Sermon on the Mount' and the importance of Jesus' sacrifice. Follows the 'NEW' Edexcel GCSE specification.
A GCSE or A-level lesson introducing the Hindu deity Brahman and the concept of unity under one God. Includes a visual starter for students to analyse pictures of Hindu deities to understand Brahman's characteristics through symbolism. Main task focuses on the use of sources of wisdom and authority from the Upanishads. Students then get a chance to be creative and practice their persuasive writing by creating a 'letter of application' from Brahman's perspective for the position of God.
NEW 2018 Edexcel GCSE in Religious Studies, following Religion and Ethics through Christianity and using the new 1-9 grading criteria. Students have to respond to a number of sources of wisdom and authority to investigate the history, nature and purpose of evangelism. Students then suggest ways in which Christians could evangelise through a number of different situations, e.g. education. Anglican and Catholic attitudes to evangelism are explored through case studies including the ALPHA course and students are asked to make links to why Christians would engage in evangelism today.
KS3 lesson on Situation Ethics and using the new 1-9 GCSE grading criteria. The lesson introduces students to the nature of Situation Ethics and asks them to respond to its core principles by analysing and examining sources of wisdom and authority. This is followed by a class discussion (this can also be done in pairs, teams, or individually if that suits your class better) on a number of different moral principles to live by and an evaluation of how far Situation Ethics has got it right when it promotes Agape as its core moral principle. I like to give students contribution tokens to ensure that all of them contribute and no-one dominates the discussion. It also avoids students going off topic as they only have a fixed amount of contribution tokens to use before they run out and have to stay silent for the rest of the task. The tokens also promote student's listening as they have to be able to respond to comments made by other students. Finally, students explore a moral dilemma using Situation Ethics.
NEW 2018 Edexcel Religious Studies GCSE lesson on Religion, Peace and Conflict through Islam, topic three; Living the Muslims Life. The learning outcomes follow the 1-9 grading criteria. This lesson is intended to be taught across two 60 minute sessions and asks students to use information from the first half of the lesson to respond to a 12 mark practice exam question. Sentence starters and structure for the NEW Edexcel 12 mark question are included, as well as a model answer and a student friendly mark scheme. The lesson focuses heavily on collaborative learning through working in teams, however, it can work equally well working in pairs or independently as students can access the information in a number of ways.
Students are hooked into the lesson by considering the concept of giving up something important to them, linking this to fasting during Ramadan. As the main task for the first session, students get into 5 teams and each analyse a different source of wisdom and authority, as well as team investigating non-religious views on Sawm. There are information sheets included in the PPT for this. The teams are then mixed up, so that 5 students who have researched information are matched up to peer-teach each other and collaborate on creating a poster detailing Muslim views on Sawn, Ramadan and the Night of Power.
In the second session, students use the information gathered in the first session to answer a 12 mark GCSE practice exam question, using a scaffold of sentence starters and overall writing structure. Students then respond to a model answer and the mark scheme (this can be printed out to allow students to annotate) by improving their own work through self-assessment.
Finally, students reflect on the progress they have made, their strengths and weaknesses.
NEW 2016 Religious Studies KS3 curriculum on Christian worship including 5 lessons on; Christian denominations, the Bible, Church, Worship and Prayer and Religious Symbols and Artefacts. Also includes an assessment lesson, with two different assessment task options. Planned for Year 7 as a precursor to the NEW 2016 Edexcel Religious Studies GCSE curriculum following Christianity.
NEW AQA GCSE Religious Studies 2018 assessment criteria. A PPT with templates for the new GCSE style questions (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) for use during lessons or assessments with students at KS4. There is a clear and student friendly breakdown of the new question types, including tips for how to answer each question as well as sentence starters. There is also a student friendly mark scheme for each question, perfect for use as peer- or self-assessment. There are also basic instructions for how to write in PEE paragraphs as well as a student friendly overview of the requirement for both AO1 and AO2.
Also included is an information sheet with the assessment criteria, brief instructions for how to answer each question (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) and a breakdown of marks for every question, which has been extremely useful for students to use either as revision, during an assessment, or as a self- or peer-marking sheet.
A Philosophy for Children lesson focusing on the nature of evil and suffering, including the concept of both moral and natural evil and evaluating the Christian concept of God as omni-benevolent.
GCSE lesson on scientific views on the origins of the world, focusing on the Big Bang including an activity sheet with evidence for the Big Bang. Follows the 'NEW' Edexcel specification for the 2017/8 GCSE in Religious Studies.
A revision task for GCSE Religious Studies to help students memorise quotes from religious wisdom and authority. Students can identify suitable quotes and link them to specific topics/sub-topics. This is ideal for students to practise the overlapping nature of quotes and their divergent interpretations by a variety of religious groups within Christianity and Islam. Students also get the opportunity to practice exam questions by creating their own exam questions. Suitable for ANY exam board.
GCSE lesson on the attitude to divorce in the UK, including the legality of divorce as well as viewpoints from Protestant and Catholic Christians. Should be used with the worksheet and information PPT. Follows the 'NEW' Edexcel GCSE specification.
GCSE lesson on the use of different types of prayer in Christianity, with specific focus on the difference between extempore and formulaic prayer. Incorporating the 'Lord's prayer' and a creative activity where students can create their own extempore prayer.
Information sheet on Islamic views of divorce which can be used by students to describe, explain, compare, analyse or evaluate Muslim beliefs on family life. Suitable for GCSE courses covering marriage and family life or studies of Islam.
NEW GCSE Edexcel RS specification lesson on the purpose and importance of marriage for Christians. Comparison of Christian and non-religious views regarding the importance of marriage in the UK today.
NEW GCSE Edexcel RS specification. A lesson focusing on the use of sources of wisdom and authority to explain the role of women in the Christian family with divergent Christian views including a video clip about how men and women should divide work and family life.
NEW GCSE Edexcel RS specification on Matters of Life and Death. Lesson focusing on sources of wisdom and authority from Christianity concerning attitudes to and belief in life after death. The main task is a practice GCSE question following the new specification requirements with a broken down student-friendly mark scheme for self- or peer-assessment. Plenary includes a plenary wheel with eight possible plenaries which always goes down really well with students.
A quiz about Hinduism with 5 rounds of 6 questions each, covering; history, religion, culture, worship and deities. A fantastic visual and competitive revision tool for all Key Stages covering the main aspects of the religion to engage and stimulate all learners. Can also be used as a refresher activity or an introduction to the topic. With KS3 this should take a full 60 minute lesson. With KS4 and KS5 plan for 20-30 minutes max.
A lesson exploring the relationship between the Tri-Murti and Brahman in Hinduism focusing on the characteristics of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in relation to Brahma as a whole. Suitable for all Key Stages - but especially effective at GCSE or A-level. Video clip to play in conjunction with slide 4 - what is a mum?.
A lesson suitable for GCSE or A-level to introduce Jeremy Bentham's Act Utilitarianism. The main focus is on Bentham's 'Principle or Utility' and how it can be applied to moral decision making. The lesson gives a comprehensive introduction to action based Utilitarianism and includes several moral dilemmas for students to apply to the theory. The main task gives students a range of essay based questions to choose from to argue either in favour or against the 'Principle of Utility'.
A GCSE or A-level lesson focusing on the nature of Brahman in Hinduism based on sources of wisdom and authority from the Puranas, Upanishads and Vedas. A creative main task for students to compose their own hymn to Brahman.