Year 9 RE - Media and Religion
The unit of Media and Religion was an excellent opportunity to focus on how to make content relevant to students. The media aspect of the course allowed me as the teacher to gain outcomes of knowledge and understanding of New Testament themes through the vehicle of contemporary media and resources.
I developed a kind of 75%-25% split of lesson material, whereby I would teach 75% of a topic in one lesson, and conclude with the remaining 25% and summation in the following lesson. This framework worked well for these students as they were required to practice their skills of recall to link lessons together, and by having two topics concluded and commenced within the same lesson they developed an understanding of the underlying themes and logic that connected each of the lesson topics together.
I developed a kind of 75%-25% split of lesson material, whereby I would teach 75% of a topic in one lesson, and conclude with the remaining 25% and summation in the following lesson. This framework worked well for these students as they were required to practice their skills of recall to link lessons together, and by having two topics concluded and commenced within the same lesson they developed an understanding of the underlying themes and logic that connected each of the lesson topics together.
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector - VIDEO RESOURCE
I used this video as stimulus for discussion about the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. The students watched the video and understood the message of valuing heart-felt intentions and honesty above meaningless actions for the sake of fulfilling a quota of "good deeds".
Materialistic Values vs the Value of an Everlasting God - VIDEO RESOURCE
I used this video in conjunction with a handout of lyrics so that students could listen, watch the images, or read the lyrics - offering opportunities for various learning styles and ways to experience the song.
Symbols of Hope, Heroes and Jesus the Hero - VIDEO RESOURCE
For this lesson I created a powerpoint presentation of superhero symbols for the students to guess which superhero belonged to each symbol. The students were also asked to draw any Christian symbols on the board that they knew of. This kinaesthetic moving and drawing activity worked very well with these students, especially as it gave some students the opportunity to engage with volunteering information in a way other than having to say an answer to the class.
For this lesson I created a powerpoint presentation of superhero symbols for the students to guess which superhero belonged to each symbol. The students were also asked to draw any Christian symbols on the board that they knew of. This kinaesthetic moving and drawing activity worked very well with these students, especially as it gave some students the opportunity to engage with volunteering information in a way other than having to say an answer to the class.
Year 10 RE - Catholic Church History
In the four weeks that I taught year 10 we covered the Black Death, Martin Luther and the Reformation, the Catholic Church in Australia post 1950s and the events and effects of Vatican II. This was a challenging class to teach as the students were not very interested in the content and were at times exhibited oppositional behaviours. I used a stringent behaviour management program, using the theme of indulgences to draw parallels between behaviours, rewards and forgiveness. Thus their very classroom behaviour expectations became an illustration of the concepts they were learning about in the unit. When behaviour became too disruptive I changed the monitoring of behaviour to a class-monitoring system, rather than a teacher-monitoring system. A Class judiciary system was established based on a vote of how many warnings were appropriate and what the consequences would be. This was a very successful teaching strategy that facilitated lessons being able to progress.
Whilst we did not watch this movie, the trailer for Martin Luther gave the students an audiovisual introduction to the upcoming content of the unit. I found that after watching this preview the students were engaged and interested in the life of Martin Luther, appreciating that they were allowed to pose their own challenges and critiques of the nature of the Catholic Church in Martin Luther's time. |
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