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.
NEW 2018 Edexcel Religious Studies lesson following the new 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson focuses on the topic Living the Muslim Life and includes stretch and challenge activities as part of each task. The main task is based around an in-depth examination of sources of wisdom and authority from the Qur'an, which students are asked to annotate and analyse in relation the concepts of forgiveness, justice, reconciliation and peace-making. Students can work independently, in pairs or as groups (depending on your class) to build a detailed mind-map about the role of peace-making in Islam. Students are then asked to create a leaflet about how young Muslims today should respond to bullying based on the teachings used during the main task. This lesson is ideal to develop higher order thinking skills and critical analysis in students and gives students a wide range of sources of wisdom and authority to help them interpret how Muslims live their life today based on the Qur'an.
A revision summary of the topic ‘Christian Practices’ following the new ‘AQA Religious Studies A’ syllabus, which had its first exam during Summer 2017. The pack contains core content, condensed into student friendly bullet-points, along with reference to ‘sacred writing’ in the form of quotes. This is excellent revision material for students of all abilities. The content is presented in managable chunks of three key ideas for each sub-topic, supported by quotes, which allow the more able to go into more depth interpreting Christian beliefs and perspectives. The content can be applied to past exam papers, or students can create their own flashcards, quizzes, or graphic organisers in support of their revision.
A revision summary of the topic ‘Buddhist Practices’ following the new ‘AQA Religious Studies A’ syllabus, which had its first exam during Summer 2017. The pack contains core content, condensed into student friendly bullet-points, along with reference to ‘sacred writing’ in the form of quotes. This is excellent revision material for students of all abilities. The content is presented in managable chunks of three key ideas for each sub-topic, supported by quotes, which allow the more able to go into more depth interpreting Christian beliefs and perspectives. The content can be applied to past exam papers, or students can create their own flashcards, quizzes, or graphic organisers in support of their revision.
GCSE lesson on the Holy Trinity in Christianity, exploring Christian beliefs through quotes from the Bible. Follows the 'NEW' Edexcel GCSE specification.
Introduction to Christian denominations focusing on a comparison of conformist and non-conformist groups. Great as an introductory lesson for KS3 with the opportunity of a very creative lesson. Alternatively suitable for use as a GCSE lesson for students to form a fuller understanding of divergent Christian views. Also relevant as a KS5 revision lesson. Focusing on the Protestant and Catholic divide as well as introducing several non-conformist denominations including Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, Evangelicals and Church of England. Worksheet goes through some core beliefs so that students can pick out differences between each group.
NEW KS3 History curriculum on British Reforms following the NEW 1-9 grading criteria. This lesson focuses on four key voting Reforms from 1850 to 1900 and asks students to compare these to the People's Charter. The Reforms Acts covered are from 1867, 1872, 1884, 1885 and students get a chance to analyse and evaluate how far each Reform made an impact on gaining more equality for men and how they link to the campaign for universal suffrage outlined in the People's Charter of 1938. The plenary is designed to stretch and challenge students of all abilities, by asking them to create 5 quiz questions about Reforms and then swap with a partner and take someone else's quiz. All tasks are clearly differentiated and this lesson is suitable for all abilities.
NEW 2018 Edexcel GCSE in Religious Studies. Lesson on Religion, Peace and Conflict through Islam chapter 3, Living the Muslim Life. This lesson focuses on the nature, role, significance and purpose of Zakah and Khums in Islam. All tasks are differentiated to provide stretch and challenge for all pupils. Students start by considering the nature and benefits of charitable giving and follow this with an analysis of sources of wisdom and authority from the Qur'an to describe the purpose of Zakah in Islam. The main task involves students using an information sheet to complete a table of information on the role and benefits of Zakah and Khums for Muslims. Students then create a Venn diagram to assess the benefits of charitable giving to those giving and receiving as well as for society as a whole. Students apply their learning to an exam style question and self/peer assess using a student-friendly mark scheme. The plenary involves 10 statements students have to correctly identify as true or false.
NEW 2018 Edexcel Religious Studies lesson on the Hajj, following the 'Religion, Peace and Conflict through Islam' topic, section three; Living the Muslim Life. Following the 1-9 GCSE grading criteria with a practice GCSE exam question and a mark scheme for self or peer assessment included. Students start by thinking about a special occasion or event they have attended and explore why they wanted to attend and what they got out of the experience. This is followed by a HOTS task where students see a picture of the Ka'bah and have to respond by asking a question. The main task is differentiated by outcome and requires students to respond to an information sheet about the Hajj by writing a travel blog from the perspective of a Muslim. A stretch and challenge extension is based around sources of wisdom and authority from the Qur'an. Students peer-assess this work with reference to the learning outcomes for the lesson. Students follow on by responding to a GCSE style practice exam question, complete with sentence starters and a mark scheme. Students get to spin the plenary wheel for a choice of plenaries.
A GCSE or A-level lesson exploring four pro-choice arguments for abortion; personhood, women's rights, self-defence and the double effect doctrine. Students are asked to investigate and then respond to these arguments in terms of their moral and ethical value. This is a peer-teach lesson where students are split into groups and carousel from teacher to teacher to gather content. I usually pick the most able students as peer teachers and the whole class enjoys a 'day off' from their normal teacher.
A GCSE or A-level lesson exploring the Christian view on the purpose of life using sources of wisdom and authority including Aquinas' Natural Law, the Biblical creation story and the 10 Commandments. I have used this lesson to introduce the topic of abortion and euthanasia and get students to understand the underlying values and principles which shape the Christian beliefs on the purpose of life. There is plenty of scope to teach this lesson through class discussion which always goes down well on this topic.
NEW KS3 History curriculum on British Reforms following the NEW 1-9 grading criteria. This lesson focuses on the work of the Suffragettes (WSPU) and the tactics they employed to gain equal rights for women including getting the vote. Students get to practice the skill of chronology in assembling Suffragette tactics. Students then have the opportunity to write a piece of creative writing in the form of a speech from the point of view of a Suffragette. The teacher can choose students to sit in a 'hot seat' at the front of the class to read out their work (alternatively, this task can be carried over into a second lesson to give every student the chance to read out, or perform their speech). In the plenary, students vote in a secret ballot to decide if violent action helped women to get the vote. All tasks are clearly differentiated and this lesson is suitable for all abilities.
NEW 2018 AQA Religious Studies Specification ‘A’ lesson on ‘Buddhist Beliefs and Teachings’ following the 1-9 grading criteria. The lesson includes differentiated tasks for every activity, designed to stretch and challenge all students.
Students are hooked into the lesson by a picture of the Buddhist Wheel of Life and asked to ask a question about it, without any further context before engaging with the concept of ‘dependent arising’ through its definition. Students then complete a creative task, by adding key information to a diagram of samsara focusing on: samsara, kamma, nibbana, the three poisons, the nidanas and the various realms. This task can be done in a variety of ways, either as a poster, leaflet, mind-map, carousel task (and many more).
Students then use sacred writing to evidence Buddhist beliefs in dependent arising before applying their knowledge to a GCSE exam type question, including scaffolded sentence starters and a student friendly mark scheme, which can be used for self- or peer-assessment.
As a plenary, students attempt to answer their question about the Wheel of Life from the starter task.
A revision summary of the topic ‘Christian Beliefs’ following the new ‘AQA Religious Studies A’ syllabus, which had its first exam during Summer 2017. The pack contains core content, condensed into student friendly bullet-points, along with reference to ‘sacred writing’ in the form of quotes. This is excellent revision material for students of all abilities. The content is presented in managable chunks of three key ideas for each sub-topic, supported by quotes, which allow the more able to go into more depth interpreting Christian beliefs and perspectives. The content can be applied to past exam papers, or students can create their own flashcards, quizzes, or graphic organisers in support of their revision.
GCSE lesson on the Christian and Islamic responses to abortion. Includes reference to Christian teachings and sources of wisdom and authority as well as a GCSE exam question WITH a model answer in line with the Edexcel specification up to 2017.
A GCSE lesson introducing the concept of euthanasia and the different types of euthanasia. This lesson asks students to reflect on their personal views of end of life decisions and is taught through four case studies that allow students to immerse themselves into specific situations where euthanasia becomes an option.
A GCSE or A-level lesson comparing the UK law on euthanasia with the legal view in Switzerland and the Netherlands (where euthanasia is currently legal under certain conditions) as well as reference to the United Nations Human Rights and how they can be interpreted as part of the euthanasia debate. This lesson has been planned as group work with subsequent presentations to the class, but can equally be delivered as paired work and also works for independent work. Students normally respond very well to the variety of legal perspectives on euthanasia and I have typically found the topic of what would be the 'perfect' legal response to euthanasia an interesting option for further class debate.
NEW 2018 Edexcel GCSE Religion and Ethics through Christianity, with a focus on 'Living the Christian Life'. This lesson follows the new 1-9 assessment criteria and includes a variety of tasks, such as exam style questions with mark schemes for student self-or peer-assessment. A video from 'request' introduces the nature and purpose of pilgrimage for Christians today. Sources of wisdom and authority are given for students to respond to the history of Christian pilgrimage and modern day places of pilgrimage are given as case studies for students to examine the purpose of pilgrimage; Taize, Walsingham and Iona.
A KS3 lesson on the Jewish Kashrut laws with a killer starter task that students love every year. The kashrut laws are cut out into jigsaw pieces and the students have to assemble them correctly in teams, where only one person is allowed to touch the pieces and the rest have to give verbal instructions - AND the student assembling the jigsaw is blindfolded (N.B. this does require blindfolds of some sort!) This task really encourages team work and motivates even the most disengaged students, especially if the teams compete for a prize. Covering the main Kosher laws and with a main task where students are asked to create their own Kosher menu. A winner with the kids every time.
A GCSE lesson introducing Fair Trade and the ethical and moral issues it addresses. No previous knowledge of ethics or morality are necessary and the lesson is based around plenty of case studies for students to get their teeth stuck into. I have used this as a stand-alone lesson with KS3, or as the start of a Fair Trade project with KS4 and as part of a Business Ethics topic at A-level and found students to be very receptive.
