RE: Memorable, Meaningful,
Motivating… a methodology!
Gill Tewkesbury
Farmington Fellow 2014-2015
RE: Memorable, Meaningful, Motivating… a
methodology!
Contents
Introduction
2
Methodology:
Questions
3
Learning theory:
Pedagogies of Religious Education
3
Memory and Learning
4
Deep Learning
5
Contemporary Theories of Education: Etienne Wenger
6
Contemporary Theories of Education: Howard Gardner
6
Interviews with children and analysis
7
Observations of other teachers
12
Planning
13
More interviews
16
Conclusion
18
Acknowledgements
20
References
20
Appendices
21
1
Introduction
Changing the culture of learning in the class. Learning is not a battle to be won but a journey with
obstacles along the way, and we have travelling companions who can help us out. The best kind of
journeys are memorable, meaningful and motivating!
RE can teach children a lot about what it means to be human. It is a subject that allows for deep
thinking- and for divergent thinking. It is generous in that it allows children to express opinions
without fear of being wrong. It shows them about the wider world and opens their eyes to
something beyond their own experience. This is especially true in North Devon, which is mostly
white working and middle class, and largely non-religious, although Christianity is represented to
some extent.
For my Farmington Fellowship, I wanted to see how I could look at ways that children learn
effectively, and plan lessons that made the subject memorable, meaningful and motivating. I chose
these three words in particular because, as I looked at the children in my class, it became clear that
three main issues came out.
First of all, there were a few children who struggled with remembering their learning, whether that
was (to use maths as an example) learning to count in 2s one day, but not being able to repeat it a
day later, or being so caught up in interests at home (Minecraft being the main example!) that
school learning was not “going in.” I decided to look at whether the way I structured lessons and
planned a variety of memorable activities would allow for “hooks” to trigger memory.
The second word- meaningful- came from my concern that children, having remembered facts
about stories and practices in religion, should start to make sense of it. I teach year 3 at a Church of
England Junior School. Our feeder infants’ school is not C of E and RE has a much lower profile. In
some ways, they are almost starting from scratch in terms of their understanding of RE as a subject,
and what to make of it. I wanted to look at ways to encourage children to look beyond the surface
and start to understand a little of the significance behind some of the events and practices within
Christianity.
Finally, for those children who were more able, I wanted to find ways to guide them towards deeper
understanding. I also wanted to equip them with skills that would improve their learning abilities
across the curriculum. This was perhaps the more challenging group as it involved trusting them and
helping them to work towards being able to lead their own learning, when in many ways they were
far from independent (a problem many year 3 teachers at a Junior school will understand!) By
“more able”, I looked at the children’s literacy-based academic aptitude, based on their reading age
and their ability to articulate clearly and thoughtfully.
The work I undertook was a response to REQM Gold standard expectation that all children make
exceptional progress in RE. How could this be achieved without recourse to extra adult support, on
an hour a week? What would exceptional progress look like, and indeed, was this even possible
given the diverse needs and abilities of this class? Is there a magic formula that, if I just happen to
work out, will allow all the children, regardless of ability or interest, to float effortlessly up the levels
(or whatever they are)?
2
Methodology
What follows is a description of the methodology that I used in my research, commentary on the
children’s learning and sample lesson planning which used ideas gathered from reading and talking
to children.
Questions…
With the encouragement of my university tutor, I created an enormous spider diagram. This allowed
me to ask as many questions as I could think of, and to categorise and prioritise my thinking.
Among my questions were:








What does progress in RE look like- what is significantly above average?
How can you evidence this?
What about children who have difficulties in their writing- how could they show evidence?
What about children who have cognitive and comprehension difficulties?
Is it possible for everyone to make above average progress?
Children work at different speeds, how can we plan for this?
How can we devise a pedagogy that is useful for teachers who don’t have the time to plan a
foundation subject that involves 3 or 4 way differentiation and seventeen different types of
resource?
How do children perceive their learning? What helps them to learn/ remember their
learning?
It was this last question that had a major influence on the subsequent study and although I started
my Fellowship with grand ambitions about devising a new pedagogy for RE it became much more
about me getting to know and understand my pupils better and what makes them good learners.
Learning theory
Pedagogies of Religious Education
First of all I read lots. My first port of call was Pedagogies of Religious Education, edited by Michael
Grimmit (2000), which to many who specialised in RE teaching in their training is, no doubt, very
familiar. However, to me it was new. It was fascinating to read of the varying and, in many cases,
conflicting views of how RE should be taught and indeed how children learn best. It did leave me
rather confused. Is there a “best” way to teach RE? However, a few of the theories resonated more
than others. I was interested in Michael Grimmit’s assertion that:
Learning is enhanced when the selection and presentation of content takes account of and is related
to the child’s feelings, acts, experiences, needs, questions, opinions, beliefs, values and
developmental stage.
In their chapter on The Children and Worldview Project, Erricker C and Erricker J (2000) write:
The secular basis of education reflects the institutional secularisation of society generally. As a result,
the teacher of religious education is often attempting to address the learning of pupils whose own
3
worldviews are secular in character. Pedagogically the inclusion of the learner’s experience within a
subject that, by definition of its content, has an opposing frame of reference, can often result in
unproductive learning. The teacher is trapped between the exclusivity of the content matter of the
subject and the issues of interest to the learner. This is not because there are no issues of interest to
the learner within the teachings of religious traditions, but because those issues have to be addressed
in relation to, or within the frame of reference of, the traditions. In other words, the enquiry has to
have a religious character.
This is a very pertinent argument and it is true that no matter how good RE is, there is still a
pervading attitude among learners about the relevance of RE because of their own background. This
does not seem to be the case when they learn about the Ancient Egyptians however! Erricker and
Erricker argue against a knowledge based, content-led subject and a move towards a more childcentred, existential approach to meaning-making. However, although current practice is moving
towards a more knowledge-based curriculum (and rightly so), it is appropriate still to consider the
experience and views of children and bring them into the classroom as a way of engaging them in
the process of learning.
Memory and learning
One of the most interesting books I read was Working Memory and Learning, by Susan E. Gathercole
and Tracey Packiam Alloway (2000). They talk about their research into children with poor Literacy
and Numeracy skills whose progress is considerably slower than that of others their age. They
describe working memory as the ability to retain information briefly and process it accordingly.
They say:
Not all children have the same working memory capacities…differences between individual children
can be very large indeed.
They contend that within a class, there can be as much as a six year gap in working memory capacity
between the lowest ability and the most able. This presents a challenge in how a lesson is taught. It
is clear that repetition and rehearsal are crucial for some, while others are able to process
information much more quickly and embed it into their working knowledge. As I considered how to
plan lessons, this became an important factor.
A series of recommendations were made as a result of Gathercole and Alloway’s research that has
had a big impact on my planning and teaching. It talks about the importance of regular repetition
and how patterns can help children to remember larger chunks of information and therefore help
them to start making links and increasing their understanding. The Department of education
Northern Ireland (2012) recommends the following:
1. Avoid giving them too much information at a time;
2. increase meaningfulness and familiarity of the material- use of pattern and meaningful
associations;
3. employ strategies that tailor repetition to the needs of individual pupils. Partner children
with WM difficulties with those with good WM;
4
4. encourage use of memory aids;
5. Develop the children’s use of strategies for supporting memory:
 Request help
 Rehearsal
 Using long term memory (what do I already now?)
 Place keeping and organisational strategies.
6. In terms of recording, avoid copying from the board; give them opportunities to employ
alternative methods.
Some children will need a lot of repetition
Deep Learning
Lyn Dawes (2008) cites Douglas Barnes, a reader in education at the University of Leeds between
1966 and 1989, in her book The Essential Speaking and Listening:
Most of our important learning, in school or out, is a matter of constructing models of the world,
finding out how they work by using them, and then by reshaping them in the light of what happens.
Each new model or scheme potentially changes how we experience some of our world, and therefore
how we act on it. Information that finds no place in our schemes is often forgotten. That is why some
pupils seem to forget so easily from one lesson to the next: the material that was presented to them
made no connection with their picture of the world.
His argument for a constructivist model of education is a strong one, but also challenging. So many
have no place in their life for the spiritual, how was I to present it in such a way as to help them
make a connection with their own world? This echoed Erricker and Erricker’s assertions and caused
me to wonder what does resonate with the children. Speaking to the children. I could see these
things emerge:





Story (children love TV, films, computer games, books- these all follow a narrative)
People (friendship, community, communication )
Experience (visits, novelty, drama, physical activity)
Visual image (this relates also to the “story” examples)
Technology
How could I hook the learning in RE on to these areas?
Contemporary theories of learning. Etienne Wenger:
As a learner myself, much more is retained and indeed developed if I have the opportunity to speak
to others. That is where the sparks are lit and the ideas burst into life. Speaking and interacting with
others is a powerful tool for helping to processing new information and helping to put it into a
context. This is backed up by Etienne Wenger’s writing (2009) on the social theory of learning:
5
The learning that turns out to be the most personally transformative turns out to be the learning that
involves membership in these communities of practice.
Learning as doing
Learning as
belonging
community
practice
Learning
meaning
Learning as
experience
identity
Learning as
becoming
Social theory of learning: Components of social theory of learning: an initial inventory. Etienne Wenger, p 211
Wenger’s diagram illustrates his theory of how learning takes place in social contexts and is
transformative. Much of our learning takes place almost unconsciously and is self-initiated, either as
a need to be accepted into a community (such as the rules of cricket), or because of personal
interest (how to get past the Creepers in Minecraft!) In the past it was the need for survival.
Sometimes it is just the result of living in the world. That is what makes it stick. How can we
incorporate these ideals into the classroom? Placing increasing emphasis on the idea of the
classroom as a community, we each know something that will add to the learning of others. Creating
a sense of community within the classroom is an important step in helping the children to develop
their identity as learners.
Howard GardnerI am not a keen adherent of the multiple intelligences theory and the heavily critiqued notion that
children be pigeon-holed according to a particular learning style. I believe that all of us have a variety
of abilities and preferences, in addition, I feel it is necessary that children be taught how to learn as
they will not find that every teacher throughout their life panders to their “style”! However, much
of what Howard Gardner writes, in his chapter on “Multiple Approaches to understanding” makes
sense. In my experience as a teacher I have seen that children respond differently to various stimuli;
there is no “one size fits all” model of teaching. As I touched on before, I recognise that things “stick”
when I can discuss them with others. Learning to drive showed me that I can’t retain long lists of
instructions, but practical demonstration and getting stuck in made the difference. The teacher that I
remember with most fondness was one who made the effort to provide her pupils with a wide
variety of opportunities and experiences within the class. There is, therefore, a good case for
6
listening to Gardner’s theory and ensuring that is applied in a way that allows for child- centred
learning as well as the chance to “learn how to learn”.
Gardner indicates six “entry points” to engaging the learner:.
These entry points are:






Narrative
Quantitative/ numerical
Foundational/existential
Aesthetic
Hands-on
Social
These all helped to consolidate my approach to planning and teaching.
Interviews
The first term was spent looking at learning theory (although in truth, this continued throughout the
whole time). The second term was about responding to my learning, planning and creating lessons
that were (hopefully) memorable, meaningful and motivating.
Middle ability group
Just before Christmas, I identified and
interviewed three groups of children from year 3
(two from each class in each group, of the three
broad ability levels (although obviously, each
class has 32 ability levels!)
First of all, I show the children a simple picture
of a class, as in the diagram here. I asked them
what each of the children were thinking. I was
interested to know what they understood was going on in a lesson and hoped to glean what their
own attitude were by association.
I asked the children what they thought they were looking at and what they thought was going on.
The answers were interesting. It told me a lot about the children’s perceptions of the class dynamic.
The commentary I have included are thoughts I had as I went back over the recordings of the
discussions I had with the children. The commentary text in black were my initial responses, and
those in red, later additions in the light of having trialled the ideas in class.
Green group (middle ability)
Teacher question
Show picture 1
What do you think this is?
What is it about the picture
children’s answers
The teacher teaching children?
Teacher commentary
Because the teacher is talking to
Children’s idea of what a class
7
that makes you think that?
the children, and the children
are answering questions?
looks like.
Also their perception that it is
the teacher that asks the
questions.
Child A said something about
that being the teacher. How do
we know it’s a teacher?
She is the only one who is
allowed to write on the board
and she is not (sitting) down
listening to the teacher because
she is the teacher.
Do children feel outside of what
is allowed to go on at the
front?. How can I get the
children more involved in
teaching and sharing?
You can tell she’s a teacher
because she is not (sitting) at a
desk or got any chore.
Teachers don’t work!
Are the children passive
recipients? How can we change
this? How can we change this
perception?
More opportunities for active
learning to be planned into
lessons.
Teacher is privileged.
Are you saying that teachers
normally stand up in class?
Yes, and they get whiteboard
pens and that.
Also, she is bigger than the
children, so you can tell because
teachers are meant to be adults.
Can we challenge this and have
some peer learning?
Need to ensure that this does
not lead to mislearning facts.
I directed the children’s attention to the expressions on the faces of the learners. They were fairly
unanimous in their opinion that the frowny face meant that that child did not understand and that
the smiley face knew everything. Three out of the four children in this group were also candid about
their difficulties in understanding their teachers (ie my colleague and me). This was very salutary- I
have been teaching years 4 and 5 for years and being in year 3 has been as big a learning curve for
me as it has been for the children coming up from a very nurturing infant school! On the whole, they
identified with the expressionless face, attributing a number of emotions, from confusion to
tiredness. Clearly, the children’s perception was that finding something easy makes you happy, while
struggle make you feel bad. This led me to wondering how we could challenge the notion that
struggle is bad. This is something that should influence a whole class ethos- no matter what the
subject, and indeed I regularly tell the children that “getting it wrong is the first step to getting it
right.”
From the outset, this group indicated that they were somehow removed from what was going on at
the front of the class, that they were passive recipients. This was backed up a little later, when I
showed them a series of screen shots from a Teachers’ TV lesson on RE and a photo from a lesson in
my class taken earlier in the term. I asked the children to choose the stills they would most like to
be in- which parts of the lesson they might enjoy most. The pictures showed various learning
opportunities, with some activities taking place inside and some outside. There was lots of
opportunity for pupil talk, there was storytelling and the use of visual imagery. Below is my analysis
of the children’s responses to this task. I have indicated in the table the activities displayed in the
8
stills from the Teachers’ TV video. I also tallied how many children from the group chose a particular
activity. The colour coding is intended to show types of activity chosen.
Analysis of the pictures from Teachers’ TV
Types of activity represented in each still
Doing
peer talking
Thinking
Writing
Listening to teacher
interacting with teacher
Types of
Content of picture
Number of children
activity
who indicated this as
represented
a preferred activity
in each still
Pic 1
………………
Teacher talking to her class in a circle outside
0
Pic 2
………………
Children working at desks in class
2
Pic 3
………………
Children listening to a story outside
1
Pic 4
………………
Children with heads on tables
3
Pic 5:
………………
Children working outside, sketching or writing. 2
Pic 6:
………………
Children looking at artefact closely
4
Pic 7:
……...………
Two girls talking together, looking at a picture. 2
Pic 8:
………………
Teacher talking to two or three children
0
Total number of tallies for each type of activity.
Doing
8 peer talking
6 Thinking
9 Writing
4
Listening to teacher
1
Interacting with
teacher
0
Interestingly, unlike the other two groups I interviewed, none of this group chose a picture with the
teacher in it. I noticed that at this stage, the children appeared to prefer teacher distance. They
liked working together, and were not keen on having to listen for periods of time. This particular
activity indicated that that thinking and doing were more important to them than other forms of
class task. The next part of the interview further clarified their views.
I gave the children a list of possible lesson activities that they felt they would enjoy. The results are
below. I have put the most popular choices in bold, and have added my later reflective comments in
red.
Analysis of the “I like lessons where we….” Answers
Type of activity
Number of children indicating preference
Move around
2
Do drama
All 4
Listen to stories
2 interesting perception- as they appear to enjoy lisening to the class
novel.
Talk with a partner
2 on reflection, later discussion indicated they are much more willing to
listen to the voice of their peers than that of a teacher!
9
Look at objects/ artefacts
Use or draw pictures
Make things
Use technology
Look at books/ read
Ask questions
Problem solve
Listen to music, sounds
Do writing
Extra: Do singing
2
3
All 4
1
3
3
1
2
All 4
1
I was very surprised by their assertion that they enjoyed and wanted to do writing! Interestingly,
when I interviewed the low ability group, I had a similar response. I had not expected this and
indicated my own prejudice and bias about the desire of medium ability and less able children to
write and it continues to challenge my ideas about how they might record their thinking.
It was also clear that RE needed to be a dynamic subject that caught their attention in order for it to
be memorable and meaningful.
Higher ability group
On the same day, I also interviewed the “more able” group. They were chosen for their ability to
articulate and ask questions. One child I chose from the other class was not the teacher’s first choice
because this pupil does not tend to take a great deal of care in his Literacy and compared to some of
his peers appears to be less able. However, having taught him RE on a number of occasions prior to
the interviews, I knew that he was a deep thinker and would add a lot to the group.
When talking about the bubble diagram, initially, they indicated similar ideas about happiness
equating to “easy” and sadness meaning “hard work”. However, they suggested that the
expressionless faced pupil was in the best place for learning: “The one in the middle is like “well, I
know a little bit of this but not much, but I’ll have a go.” They also recognised that being
overconfident can actually put a block on their learning: “He might be thinking “I’m not going to
listen to this, I’m not bothered because I know it.” There was a variety of attitudes in this group. One
child changed his mind about the sad face and suggested that he was actually bored, perhaps
because it was hard, or because he already knew it. Another child persisted in her opinion that
struggling made you sad and talked about her lack of confidence in maths. In this conversation, the
children had unconsciously touched on Vygotsky’s theory on the “Zone of Proximal Development”
and how, in order to move forward in one’s learning, there needs to be some level of struggle.
Some talked about how boredom can stem from repetition. This again was challenging as it
contrasts with the lower ability children’s need to have that repetition built in.
After this I showed children pictures as a reminder of what we had done in RE that term. They were
particularly taken with the photo of the children in my class investigating Hindu artefacts with
paintbrushes and mini magnifying glasses like archaeologists (another idea from Teachers’ TV). They
suggested that novelty was important. They also talked about what they would like to learn more
about. Interestingly, their perception of what they knew and the actual content of their knowledge
10
did not always match. During the course of the following terms, they came to realise that there was
a lot that they did not already know. However, they indicated that they were open to new learning
and this demonstrated something about their attitudes and abilities to learning itself, which, in turn,
suggests why they are more able than their peers in the first place.
On analysing the bubble dialogue, where children were given some stock phrases to attribute to the
different expressions, children came up with the answers above.
Interestingly, within the space of the interview itself, the children had self-corrected, moved away
Analysis of Bubble dialogue:


I am
I am enjoying

I wish we could
enjoying this
lesson-2 children
this lesson- 1 child
do maths: 1 child
I don’t understand this
I wish we could move
It would be better if we
lesson- 2 children
around more- 1 child
could move around
I really understand This is too easy -1 child more; this is too easyI am thinking really hardthis- 1 child
I really understand this 1 child
1 child
- 1 child
I really understand thisI’m thinking really
1 child
hard-1 child
from the idea that something being hard and challenging made you unhappy, to a more
sophisticated awareness of their learning: that difficulties were a necessary part of the process.
The children’ response to the Teachers’ TV lesson pictures differed to the previous group in that they
identified themselves more with the presence of a teacher. One of the children explained how much
she liked talking to an adult one to one. This stuck in my mind particularly. So often small group work
involves either the least or most able and whether it is desirable or not, middle ability children are
often left with a task while the teacher concentrates on pushing the “high fliers” or supporting those
who struggle. Again, this was area I wanted to address. Did it indicate the need for these children to
become more independent?
These are the tallies from this group’s response to the Teachers’ TV picture activity. I have shown it
as a simple table with the name of the activity and how many children in the group indicated that
particular activity as a preference.
Doing 6
Talking 4
Thinking 5
Writing 2
Listening 5
Interact with teacher 4
As with the previous group, I got them to tick which sorts of activities they enjoyed most as well as
add a couple of their own ideas. As before, in bold are the most popular.
Analysis of the “I like lessons where we….” Answers
Type of activity
Number of children indicating preference
Move around
all 4
Do drama
All 4
Listen to stories
3
Talk with a partner
0
11
Look at objects/ artefacts
Use or draw pictures
Make things
Use technology
Look at books/ read
Ask questions
Problem solve
Listen to music, sounds
Do writing
Extra:
Bake
Use special words
All 4
All 4
All 4
3
3
All 4
2
All 4
3
1
1
This group’s preferences seem to be much more wide ranging, although that might be because they
are more able to imagine themselves in diverse situations than the other groups.
The children are clearly eager to be active rather than passive in the lesson. This influenced my
thinking later on, as I sought to find opportunities for them to actively seek knowledge, as well as
making the lesson structure more dynamic.
The least able group made the same assumptions as the middle group: that struggle was bad and
that understanding something made you happy. They were concerned about expressing
uncertainties in class and were aware of their “academic hierarchy”. One child talked about other
children not being willing to help them, indicating a culture of “copying and helping is bad”. She also
said that she would like it if people worked together more. This connects with the Wenger writing on
social learning and gave me food for thought on what I gave value to in the classroom: achievement,
effort or collaborative learning. Does there need to be a distinction? Furthermore, in my planning,
how could I take myself out of the equation? (ie less listening to me, more finding out for themselves
from the variety of activities and resources)
Lesson observations
I felt it would be wrong just to rely on my own experience and practice so I observed a number of
other RE lessons, both in my own school and in others and from KS1, 2 and 3. In none of them did I
spot any noticeable differentiation. In some cases, that was because the standards were high and
much of the lesson consisted of good quality, well-resourced discussion that allowed for automatic
differentiation on the basis of the child/ student’s own ability and understanding. In a couple of
cases, there was a TA who was able to work closely with low ability children to help them
understand the language and stay focused. In one lesson, however, I noticed that a small group of
children grasped the symbolism of a Bible story more quickly than their peers and who may have
already been aware of it. Despite this, they were not given the opportunity to further their learning
and their follow up task was the same as others in the class. In this lesson they did not appear to
make progress and I identified how powerful group work could have been with those particular
children. Subsequently it has influenced how I structure my lesson and who I identify as “more able”.
I ascertain which children, within each lesson, are able to take their learning further when put in a
group work context, and this can vary from week to week. This might not be those whose Literacy
12
skills are strongest, but whose particular understanding and application are strongest, depending on
the issue being discussed.
From the observations, I identified some core principles that, while not new to me, were important
factors to remember:





High expectations are important.
Providing good resources allows for better engagement.
The task should help to further the children’s thinking and understanding of the topic.
Flexibility; not identifying a specific group as RE high fliers allows all children to become one!
Teacher questioning can make a difference.
Planning
The spring term was spent on looking at two main questions: What is prayer? and What happens at
Easter? As we are a church school, and much of the previous term had been focused on India and
Hinduism, I felt that we should focus on Christianity. My overall aim was to look at why Christians
pray and what difference it makes to their life. However, rather than write a complete scheme of
work, or depend on someone else’s before term started, I decided to make my planning responsive
to the children’s questions as well as use the ideas the children had discussed before Christmas.
In the first lesson, I did a simple baseline assessment: I wrote “What is prayer?” on the board, and
got the children to think for themselves what it might be, before discussing it with others. This
immediately threw up quite a gap between those that knew they knew, and those who either didn’t
know they knew or those who didn’t know at all! It gave us the opportunity to ask questions in order
to help us understand what we needed to find out, as well as a perfect way through the term’s work.
I built the planning around these questions. The following is how I used the children’s learning
preferences in the class, with the aim of making it memorable, so their learning could be relevant
and meaningful, and so they would be motivated to take their learning further:
Introduction: Art/ asking questions/ moving around: I used an abstract piece of art by Angu
Walters, called “Evening Prayer”, laminated it and cut it up so the children would put it together like
a puzzle. I felt this would enhance their thinking and help them focus on it more than just looking at
the picture. The idea was to get them looking closely and asking questions and commenting on
what they could see. I followed this up by putting a series of pictures around the room on the same
topic, getting them moving and again asking questions and getting them to notice what was the
same and what was different. The pictures came up in later lessons, as I felt they would act as visual
reminders as well as help the children to refer back and identify how far they have come in their
learning.
In this lesson, I sent off the more able with the challenging of looking online at a short video of
people talking about what prayer means to them. The hope was that they would come back and tell
groups of children what they had learnt. I think this will work better in year 4, as they struggled to
properly understand what the people meant and didn’t have much to feedback. This is also
something to bear in mind as I search for appropriate resources. It was also very early on and since
then they have been working better at learning independently.
13
What is prayer? Audio/visual/ thinking/ talking
I took a bit of a risk here. Although some of the focus group children had indicated that they were
not keen on listening, there are such a lot of great resources online, I got them to watch a video of a
monk talking about what prayer is from RE:Quest. Keeping with the visual theme, I gave the children
in groups of 2 or 3s a set of about 16 small pictures that I had found through a famous internet
search engine! The children were challenged to find 6 that would, for them, best reflect what the
man on the video talked about. They stuck them on to A3 paper, with a small explanation as to why
they had chosen them. The children were in mixed ability groupings for this. Not all of the children
wrote on the paper but they did contribute to the discussions and ideas. They saw the video 2 or 3
times to help them keep in mind what was said and to take the pressure off trying to remember
everything. Some children went beyond this and created a poster that answered the question: What
is prayer? It was clear that learning had occurred in this lesson.
Throughout my planning, I was aware that the structure of my lessons was changing and that it was
having an effect on other lessons too. I was moving away from the classic 3 part lesson so beloved by
all during my teacher training! It was something I had dipped into before but now felt I had
permission to do! In order to make a lesson more dynamic and meaningful, I found myself finding
more opportunities for shorter, focused tasks, with input and feedback scattered through the lesson
rather than just at the beginning and the end.
How and what do people pray? Watching/ listening/writing/doing: Learning as doing
In this lesson, I again used a video, but this time I got the children to take notes on a white board.
This they were all able to do to varying degrees. Some children drew pictures. They watched as
several people talked about how they pray. The notes they made were not copied up in neat, they
were photocopied and stuck in their RE book as a record.
I have thought deeply about the importance and strategies for recording learning. As an RE
coordinator I have often heard complaints that children’s best responses are verbal and often lost
when it comes to writing down for evidence. This could be a response to that: if they keep a
whiteboard on their table, if they say something in response to someone else’s comment, they can
remember it well enough to write it down as soon as they have said it.
Following the video, I gave the children a piece of string, some red plasticine and some dark brown. I
showed them a rosary and explained how, in contrast to the evangelical Christians on the video,
many Catholic Christians (and Muslims too, but in a different way) used a set of beads to pray.
Having thought about what people might pray for, they made 3 red beads and 3 dark brown beads
and placed them on the string as a type of bracelet. They then thought of three good things in their
lives that they might be happy about (and we talked about how Christians would give thanks to God
for those things). Then they considered three dark or unhappy things in their lives, or in the world,
that a Christian would ask God’s help for. This was a lesson that focused much more on individual
reflection rather than on collaborative learning, with children being asked to think for themselves.
Interestingly, when asked later on which of the lessons had been memorable and meaningful, the
less able did not cite this one, but the middle ability children did.
14
What, Where and Why do Christians pray? Moving around/ doing/ thinking/ learning as
experience
For this lesson I took the children to a local House of Prayer, set up by people involved with the 24/7
Christian prayer movement. All good RE learning needs to involve real encounters and it was good to
give the children the opportunity to meet people in their locality, other than those they see in
assembly, for whom prayer is powerful. The volunteers gave the children lots of reasons why
Christians pray, including evidence in the Bible. They also set up some simple activities for the
children to take part in. I took along some ipads and a few children made notes about what the
House of Prayer volunteers told them. The chance to take pictures and make recordings gave some
of the lower ability children a boost and helped them to focus on what was being said and done. It
also gave us lots of visual images for the next lesson. The more able were challenged to listen out for
specific language and Christian teaching about prayer.
Assessment: drawing, talking, thinking, doing, learning as belonging
Between the HoP visit and the end of the unit, I interviewed the children again. It was a child in the
“lowest ability” group that suggested the following:
As a rounding up of the children’s learning, I showed them the Prayerspaces4Schools website. Over
the next couple of lessons, they designed a prayer space and came up with some activities, similar to
those seen at the House of Prayer and the website. It was to be used by the rest of the school, so
had to be welcoming to all, and practical. I wanted them to feel like they were contributing to their
school community through their learning, and applying what they had learnt about the “what, why,
where and how” of prayer. The space itself was really successful, with lots of children across the
school deciding to use it. The very fact that this had been suggested by children in one of the focus
groups shows a number of things: a. how keen they are to be involved in their learning; b. that they
had made great progress over the course of the term; and c. that they were seeing RE as relevant to
their life and the life of the school.
Easter learning
Easter was presented in 2 different ways to the two classes: One class had a “walk about”, where I
took the children to different places around the school for each of the key points of holy week. I
used some simple props and got children to improvise certain events.
With another group, I gathered the children in a circle, had a large sheet of paper on the floor, and
gave them each a mini whiteboard and pen. As I told the events of Holy week, I drew a simple
picture at every key point in the story and got the listeners to do the same on their board, “talk for
writing” style. At the end, they had a series of prompts to remind them, in order to retell it to a
neighbour.
By this time in the year, children were becoming a little more confident as independent learners, so I
got the more able to come up with a series of questions for a Christian visitor. For them, it was the
opportunity to become more adept at asking questions as they realised, after a quick perusal of their
initial ideas by their teacher, that they wouldn’t get decent answers by asking things they already
knew the answer to (ie What happened when Jesus came into Jerusalem?). The question and answer
session was then written up in the style of a radio interview.
15
How do Christians say Goodbye?
During a set of lessons looking at Christian responses to death, I continued using the different ideas
trialled through the previous term’s work. I used a variety of “ways in”. On our first lesson, we went
to the graveyard and I got the children to look at names and dates as well as symbols and epitaphs;
this motivated those particularly interested in numbers and history, but also moved children who
discovered people with the same surname, or children who had died in early infancy. An autistic
child in my class refused to come on the initial trip, but on seeing the photos, decided to go with his
one-to-one TA on his own small pilgrimage up to the site. For him, that was great progress in his
understanding of the importance of place and how, contrary to his fears, it was not full of zombies
and ghosts.
Despite my initial intention that this be a very short two-lesson topic (especially for an article for
REToday), it developed further as the children needed more time to ponder the issues and be taken
deeper in their understanding of what it means to mourn as well as how belief in Heaven has an
effect on the living. Using the Disney/Pixar film “Up” was a great way of considering the influence
one can have on the life of another, and what happens when that life is taken away, without getting
too close to causing upset in the children. One of my low ability Minecraft-obsessed boys spoke
about a dog he lost some time ago. He was willing to talk to the class about it when asked and this
helped him to realise that others were in the same situation and started to open his eyes to the fact
that others have similar feelings to his own. Similarly, another child whose brother died at a very
young age, spoke about a yearly family ritual that occurs on the brother’s birthday, that acts as a
rather beautiful memorial. RE allowed her to share something very personal which I had not been
aware of before. Bringing these real experiences into class helps to turn RE into something more
personal and meaningful for the children.
More interviews (March)
In the second set of interviews, I spent some time discussing what they had learnt that term. Rather
than being an assessment opportunity, it was more to see if the children could differentiate between
what they had learnt (been meaningful) and what they had remembered about the lesson. For me,
these two are linked closely. However, I did not want them to remember that they had made a
bracelet but could not remember why!
The higher ability group indicated that they still thought of learning as a battle to be won rather than
a journey. They were better at remembering lesson content than the other groups and were able to
explain their learning in good detail. They showed a deepening understanding of the sacred nature
of prayer and a prayer space. Their learning preferences from the first interview were borne out by
their recollections of their learning from this term. They responded best to the visual and hands on
experiences although I feel that their best learning came from the interview that they devised and
asked the visitor. These children are quite academically inclined- although this is early on- the two
boys in this group struggle to work in a focused way and I believe this is down to their level of
maturity. On discussing this particular activity, they recognised the need to ask the right sorts of
questions. The learning here went beyond finding out more about Christian beliefs about the death
and resurrection of Christ, and touched on their own understanding of how to find out more!
Throughout the process, the children have become more aware of themselves as learners, such as
how working with different children gave them opportunities to learn or teach. On girl said: “I learnt
16
things with children in our class that I don’t really do stuff with like, I once did something with x and it
turned out to be really easy to work with someone I don’t usually go with”. (x is a low ability boy that
she (a high achieving girl) was paired with for a short while.)
One of the boys in the group was very succinct about what he enjoyed: “When you find out for
yourself, because it’s more exciting and you get to learn new stuff.”
The interview with the middle ability children was interesting and again caused me to wonder about
my own prejudices. A couple of children in the “Lower ability” group were much more articulate
about their learning than they were. Of all of the lessons, the one they found most memorable and
meaningful was the visit to the House of Prayer. They demonstrated that they had retained what
they had learnt. However, they also discussed how the variety of lessons was helpful. Interestingly,
some made a distinction between what they felt they had remembered and what they felt they had
learnt. When ask which lesson they felt they had learnt most in, rather than going for the House of
Prayer visit, they chose the lesson with the video and the small pictures. One reason for this might
be the fact that it involved collaboration, which resonated with my reading about Wenger’s theory
of social learning.
Our discussion switched to how they learnt how to play their favourite computer game:
One said: “When I first got my Minecraft game on my Xbox, I didn’t know the controls, so then (my
friend) lives near me, dashed down the road and he came round and he taught me, because he
doesn’t have an Xbox but R. does and he taught him.”
Another. backed this up: “At home, when it was my birthday I didn’t really know how to ….actually,
at my friend’s house and I’ve never used an ipad mini before, there’s this game on the ipad and I
wanted to play it and she said: “I’ll help you play it.” Because I didn’t know the rules.”
In the same way, the lower ability group described their strategies for learning, some of which
involved asking others for help. They described who they felt they learnt well with and are starting
to identify who would hinder that.
Outside of the class, the children have networks of support and learning, and it is seems driven by
the desire to experience and the need to belong (there is quite a large Minecraft community online
apparently!). One of the children in my low ability focus group who was not present for the first
interview demonstrates the ability to concentrate on the game for long periods of time and to
remember how to avoid the pitfalls he encountered last time. He also has the resilience to keep
going after being caught by Minecraft baddies over and over again, and is keen to work through it by
himself, without help. In the class, however, the teacher’s voice sends him into sleep mode. I am still
trying to work out how to harness these qualities in the class!
The children interviewed here were quite unequivocal in their feeling that they would prefer to be
taught by a peer than a teacher. In more recent lessons, this has become more of a feature, but at
this stage there are issues of policing what information is passed on and whether it is correct.
During the interview with the LA children, when discussing the term’s learning, they demonstrated
more of an empathy with the notion of prayer than the middle ability. They seemed to take the
learning on at more of a personal level (we are in Church school) and perhaps that is why they were
able to go into a little more depth. They were the group that made the suggestion for our end of unit
17
activity/ assessment. The group that I had deemed to need memorable RE had actually motivated by
it!
One of the children talked about the progress she felt she had made across the term:
“I think I learnt more in the visit because at the start of the term we didn’t really know much about
prayer and as we got closer and closer what it is and then we know quite a lot now.”
This was quite satisfying to know that she is becoming more aware of herself as a learner. She also
was able to explain what she liked: “I do like going out of the class and I like learning RE and when
you put it together it’s really fun.”
Like the middle group, these children indicated the video/picture lesson and the visit to the HoP as
being the lessons where they had learnt the most.
Conclusion and next steps
In many ways and (I am hoping) as in all good research, more questions were thrown up by the
process than were answered. A surprising outcome is my profound dislike of the term “deliver”
when it comes to talking about the process of teaching. To me, it suggests that curriculum content is
a package that must be posted at all costs even if you have to stuff it through the door, despite a big
sign that says “Do not bend!”
Some of the schemes of work that have been designed for year 3 in the past have been so full of
“stuff” and speaking to the children who were taught it in previous years, it is clear that they haven’t
retained it. The study has given me to confidence to go more at the children’s pace. It has also
reassured me that moving away from fixed schemes is positive and liberating!
In this study, RE became much less a question about how we record learning, and much more about
how to make it an event, something that raises expectations and enjoyment, where the learning
occurs because the children are involved with the process as well as, in some cases, the planning.
Differentiation is very much in evidence through (although this is still a work in progress) the use of
discussion and pushing children for more in depth explanations as well as through the increased use
of the language of metacognition and opportunities to ask more searching questions. In terms of the
“less able” I decided for many lessons to give them the same opportunities as the others, while still
being aware of their “entry points”. Differentiation for them came through the repeated use of
certain images throughout the unit; two children in the LA group suggested that we should take
videos or photos each lesson and have them at the start as a reminder of the previous week’s
learning. This has now become part of my regular practice. I also give the children opportunities to
teach and share ideas and collaborate extensively.
In order to help the children become more resilient and proactive in their learning, I put up a display
based on The University of Exeter’s RE:flect project and metacognition, to give them prompts to help
them through struggles.
What gave me great pleasure was to see children who had joined year 3 with little confidence, and
some difficulties in their comprehension (mostly of me!) start to become better at questioning and
identifying meaning and significance in the areas we have studied. Has progress been made? It most
certainly has. Is it all written? Not all of it - but rather than letting it worry me, I’ve recorded
conversations with the children on the ipad!
18
I started this project with the intention of finding ways to help the children make progress and
evidencing that. It turned into a study of how children learn. I discovered that many children are
more attuned to the voice of their peers than that of an adult, and that this can be a useful device in
terms of structuring learning activities. I also discovered that varying the type of stimulus and
learning opportunities was successful. Lesson structure was also influenced by the needs of the
class, with more opportunities for response, thinking, communication, moving around and the
repeated use of images to act as memory hooks for those who needed it.
Giving my focus group the opportunity to talk about how they learn allowed them the opportunity
to become more adept at using the language of metacognition and therefore recognise their own
progress as well as the things that help them to learn successfully. This is something I intend to
continue as a whole class. What was surprising was that the memorable/ meaningful/ motivating
idea seemed to apply across all ability groups, as the low ability group were motivated, having
remembered their learning and found meaning in it!
How could RE be memorable, meaningful and motivating?






Through the use of weekly recaps, varied stimuli and experiences.
Through opportunities for the children to engage with deep concepts, such as prayer and life
after death and starting to apply their thinking to their own contexts.
Through the chance to question people of faith and hear ideas they had never encountered,
stretch their knowledge and use of new vocabulary.
Through use of thinking skills
Through collaboration, creating a classroom community where learning is at the heart.
Through starting to consider their own role in the learning process and looking for how to
contribute to the planning.
The truth is, there is no magic formula and as teachers (if not government ministers) know,
children do not made the same amount of progress over a specific time frame in certain
subjects. It can be hard to make RE fit into the children’s frame of reference as mentioned,
religious traditions are often not easily learned “deeply” because they lack resonance on a
personal level, and associating religious truth claims or practices with popular culture can
sometimes belittle or confuse what is being taught. However, good resources, a development of
a positive and self-aware learning culture and flexibility on the part of the teacher in the way she
or he structures the individual lesson or entire unit can allow for wide ranging progress in the
class. In many ways, I might have been rather ambitious with this class in terms of the
expectations I placed on the more able. However, I hope I have started to sow the seeds for
them to grow as more reflective learners.
19
Acknowledgements
The Farmington Trust, Oxford
Karen Walshe, Exeter University
RE: flect Project Team, Exeter University:
Shirley Larkin, Rob Freathy, Giles Freathy, Jonathan Doney, Karen Walshe
Teachers from South Molton Junior School, Brayford Primary School, Pilton Bluecoat Academy, Combe
Martin Primary, Great Torrington School
Pilton Bluecoat Academy, Barnstaple, in particular the children of year 3
Michelle Greene, Wolsey House Primary, Leicester (Teachers’ TV)
References
Bastide, D (2007) Teaching Religious Education. Routledge
Bearne E et al (1996) Differentiation and Diversity. Routledge
Blakemore SJ and Frith U (2005) The Learning Brain. Blackwell Publishing
Dawes L (2008) The Essential Speaking and Listening. David Fulton, Routledge page 7 quoting Barnes.
Erricker and Erricker (2000) Pedagogies of Religious Education. McCrimmon Publishing Co. Ltd: The Children
and Worldview Project: A Narrative Pedagogy of RE pp192-103
Gathercole S.E and Alloway T. P. (2008) Working Memory and Learning. SAGE publications Page 21
Grimmit M. et al (2000) Pedagogies of Religious Education. McCrimmon Publishing Co. Ltd page 19
Jones D. and Hodson (2006) P. Unlocking Speaking and Listening. David Fulton Publishers
Illeris K. (2007) How we learn. Routledge
Illeris K. et al (2009) Contemporary Theories of Learning. Routledge
Powney J and Watts M ( 1987) Interviewing in Educational Research. Routledge and Kegan Paul
Rivett R (2007) A Teacher’s Handbook of Religious Education, Third edition. RE Today Services
Wall K and Higgins S (2006) Facilitating Metacognitive Talk . International Journal of Research and Method
in Education, 29.
Wenger E. (2009) A Social Theory of Learning, in Illeris K (ed.) Contemporary Theories of Education p212
E resource: Dept of Education Northern Ireland (2012) Understanding memory difficulties
http://www.deni.gov.uk/06_understanding_memory.pdf accessed 20th May 2015
20
What is prayer and why is it important to Christians? Year group 3 but also suitable for year 4
Syllabus Attainment Targets: Questions of Meaning, Purpose and Truth; Beliefs, Teachings and Sources, Ways of Living
How do Christians celebrate and live out their beliefs in their faith community/ their practices?
How do people express their beliefs, identity and experiences using signs, symbols and the wider arts, eg art, buildings, dance, drama, music, painting, poetry, ritual, and
story?
Objective/ key
Lesson suggestions
opportunities for assessment
Resources
question
(ref Level descriptors Devon RE
syllabus)
What is Prayer?
Give the children a short amount of time to create a simple spider diagram in their
Can they think of questions that Pictures eg
books outline anything they think they know about prayer. Feedback and decide on
show they have thought about
Evening Prayer Angu
some questions that would help them to find out more.
the picture, not just looked at
Walters’;
it?
Grace, Eric Enstrom,
Give out a copy of a “puzzle” (a picture that has been laminated and cut up). Angu
1918
Walters “Evening Prayer” works really well. What do they notice about the picture? Is
The Prayer Tree, Haiti
anything becoming clear? Have the picture projected on the whiteboard and get the
Bob Salo
children to point out what they can see. Encourage further questions and point out
Power of Prayer Danny
the face in the middle. Discuss what it might be.
Hahlbom
Stick pictures with a similar theme around the room. Give the children post it notes
and in mixed pairs get them to write “I notice that…” “ I think….” and a question
about each picture.
Using a smaller set of the pictures, children compare and identify similarities and
differences between the pictures. Discuss the children’s thoughts . How are they
similar to the original picture? What do they think is going on in the pictures?
What is prayer?
Recap on previous lesson.
Main: Show RE:Quest video “What is Prayer”? http://request.org.uk/life/what-ischristian-prayer/2013/07/08/prayer/ (Brother Loarne
Give children (in groups of 2 or 3) a set of about 16 small pictures that relate to what
is said. Get them to choose 6 that for them best represents the man’s answer to the
question. Get them to stick them on to A3 (if using coloured, laminated pics- bluetac,
then colour photocopy it after so that you have a copy for the children’s books and can
re-use the pics) and annotate with their reasons for choosing them.
They can then create their own piece of art or poster using these ideas.
More able: (if able to work independently) send them of with laptops or ipads to read
the text on the http://request.org.uk/life/what-is-christianprayer/2015/02/23/christian-spirituality-prayer-as-an-act-of-worship/ . Make notes
Can children give good reasons?
Can they identify someone’s
point of view?
Can they explain their own
views?
Level 2: ask (and discuss) what
happens to others with respect.
Level 3: Use religious words to
describe some of the ways in
which people show their belief.
Sets of small pictures
Some suggestions in
Appendix 1
RE Quest video.
A3 paper
bluetac or glue
Please note that I have
replaced the original
images with empty
boxes as I do not own
the rights to the pictures
21
What is prayer and why is it important to Christians?
and come back into class to share with small groups what they found out
How and what do
Christians pray?
Where and why do
Christians pray?
Start by showing the Angu Walters picture. Have they had any new ideas about it?
Show one of the other pics that might have captured their attention.
Show also a still from the video last time and get them to recall what was said.
Introduce question and discuss some possibilities have there been any clues so far?
Give children whiteboard to make notes during the video (either using words or
pictures)
http://request.org.uk/life/what-is-christian-prayer/2013/08/16/how-do-you-pray/
After the video, children use the notes to recap on what was said in pairs and what
surprised them most. (Make sure these aren’t wiped off, they can be photocopied for
the books as a record) Can they spot any similarities/ differences? Why do they think
the people are so keen to talk about it?
PE link: You could give some
children the opportunity to
respond to the statement about
using dance as a vehicle for
prayer
Level 2: Talk about some of the
things that are the same for
different religious people.
Level 3: Link things that are
important to me and other
people with the way I think.
that I found through
Google images.
plasticine/ modelling
clay- 2 colours, one
bright, one dark.
short pieces of string
RE:Quest videos
whiteboards and pens
Rosary
Get the children to sit or stand in a circle. Show them a rosary and explain how some
Christians (Catholics) use beads to prayer. Explain that this isn’t limited to Christianity
either as it is a common feature of Islam. Ask how they think they might be used.
Explain the use within both traditions.
Light a candle. Explain that they are going to make some prayer beads of their own.
Get the children think quietly of 3 things they are grateful for in their life, and make
three beads with the modelling clay to represent each of these things. Put them on
the string.
Now think of three things that you are worried about, make three beads from the
dark coloured clay and put them on the string. Once they are made, talk about how
this bracelet might be used if it belonged to one of the people on the video (ie the
bright beads would cause them to say “thank you” and the other would make them
say “please”!)
VISIT
If possible, take the children to a local House of Prayer (24/7 prayer rooms are
cropping up all over the country) Take along, if possible, ipads for children to take
photos and video things that particularly interest them.
More confident writers can take their RE books to make notes of what is said and
done.
As a follow up, provide photos for the children to note down what they remember.
Get those who wrote notes to share their writing in small groups, as a reminder for
others.
22
What is prayer and why is it important to Christians?
What does the
Bible say about
prayer?
Can I show that I
understand about
why prayer is
important to
people?
(Could take more
than 1 lesson!)
After a recap using images from the previous weeks’ lessons, set up the class room
“Godly Play” style, with a piece of fabric in the middle and some items to represent
the characters. Tell the story of Blind Bartimaeus, and his desire to call out to Jesus
even though others were telling him that Jesus wouldn’t hear among the noise.
Discuss how B would have felt when Jesus did stop and listen. Ask children how is
that, for Christians, like the descriptions of prayer we have be hearing
Discuss how this might relate to a Christian’s experience of prayer. Explain that many
Christians believe that Jesus still heals today. Could do some drama here-either
retelling the story, what happened next to Bart or retelling in a modern context
Some could use art to illustrate other Bible passages that deal with prayer, such as
Philippians 4:6-7, or the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, and include their thoughts about
what difference it would make to someone going through a bad time.
Level 2: Retell a religious story
and say some things that
people believe.
Level 3: Describe what a
believer might learn from a
religious story.
Level 4: I can make links
between the beliefs, teachings
and sources of religious groups
and show how they are
connected to people’s lives.
Godly play items
piece of fabric
Copy of the story of Blind
Bartimaeus
Show a slideshow of what has been learnt/ done so far. Give LA a print out of the
slides so they have time to process. Answer question: What is prayer?
Move about- children in an inner and outer ring. Some visual clues. 2 minutes to tell
neighbour what remember so far about prayer/ what we have done/ learnt.
Settle the class so it is quiet. Maybe light a candle or put a picture on the board to
encourage thought. Here might be an opportunity for guided visualisation if
appropriate, or a few well timed questions for the children to ponder in the silence:
eg, I wonder, if you had the chance to talk to God, what would you ask Him? If
someone could tell you the secret of the universe, what might it be….etc
Can the children show that they
appreciate the attitude that
Christians have to prayer and
the kind of space that is needed
for it?
Do they understand that
Christians believe you can pray
anywhere, but that silence if
often desirable?
Do they understand that prayer
has many different facets:
thanks, help, please, sorry, or
just a source of companionship
with God?
Resource sheet for HA
(appendix 2 or 3
depending on age/
maturity of children)
Please note that I have
replaced the original
images with empty
boxes as I do not own
the rights to the pictures
that I found through
Google images.
Give out whiteboards.
Able readers. Send off with the reading. Think about what someone would pray about
the world based on the reading. Highlight words they think are important.
Main input: What words do we associate with prayer? Discuss how someone might
feel when they pray. Brainstorm words and phrases on whiteboards.
Walk around the school, discuss which places make them feel like the words
generated.
Show them the website http://www.prayerspacesinschools.org.uk/home and discuss
similarities/differences between that and the HoP, discuss the commentary on the
site where children are talking about what they feel like when they go in. Explain that
they are going to design a place for the school where others can come and pray or
Level 3: I can describe how and
why prayer is important and
consider ways to create a
reflective space for others.
Level 4: Use the religious
language accurately to describe
Bible reference about
prayer:
Philippians 4:6-7
Matthew 6: 9-13
Psalm 17: 6
Mark 11: 24
Ephesians 6: 18
Reading text for HA from
http://request.org.uk/life
/worship-life/how-dochristiansworship/2015/02/23/chri
stian-spiritualitygrowing-in-arelationship-with-god/
23
What is prayer and why is it important to Christians?
reflect.
and compare
http://www.prayerspace
Main activity: Children use the ideas from the intro and the website to add to their
what…experiences may be
sinschools.org.uk/home
ideas for a prayer room. How would they make it accessible to all?
involved in belonging to …
LA Work with slightly more able children to create a powerpoint about prayer, with
religious groups.
ideas on it for the prayer room.
Guided work with most able. Discuss the text they have read, did they discover
anything they did not know before? If someone was praying for something, eg they
had a poorly relative, or they were praying about poor people etc, but it didn’t get
answered straight away, what might they think? Would it be easy to keep praying?
What might keep them praying? What would you say to them? (Make notes of their
answers) Use the resource sheet to record their own thinking and response.
Get children into small groups, with one HA reader to each group to share what they
read.
You could go on and look at the question: Are Christians the only people who pray? However, because of the length of the term, and the need to look at Easter, we ran out
of time!
24
Unit Plans: What is Prayer and why is it important to Christians? Appendix 1
Picture of three African
boys praying in a
classroom.
Painting of a man
praying before a meal.
Quote/ picture on Padre
Pio
Silhouette of shrugging
man with question mark
Picture of a heart
symbol.
Blue second world warstyle poster:
Silhouette of head in
profile full of coloured
speech bubbles.
Keep calm and pray to
God.
Photo of praying girl and
clouds
Picture of man,
kneeling, arms
outstretched.
Photo of leafless tree
covered in ribbons.
Tite: Prayer: A passion
for the presence of God
Cloe up of young girl
looking up.
Title: God is always
listening
Woman with a
megaphone.
Photo of adults (US
military?) praying,
hands on shoulders.
People lighting candles.
Picture of someone
prostrate, head on floor.
25
Unit Plans: What is Prayer and why is it important to Christians? Appendix 2
Here are some pictures that
someone might see on the news or on
Young child,
malnourished,
eating food off
floor.
the internet of different problems
around the world.
What might someone pray?
What would they be thankful for?
What would they be sorry about?
Picture of Children in
a bombed out street.
Picture of child
being bullied.
What would they ask God to do?
What would they offer to do for God
in their prayers?
26
Unit Plans: What is Prayer and why is it important to Christians? Appendix 3
Photo of young man in prayer
Using the ideas from
what you have just read,
what might this man be
It should include a
question.
praying and thinking?
27
How do people say goodbye?
Focus religion: Christianity
Year 3 or 4
How do Christians say goodbye? NB With due caution and sensitivity!
How do members of this faith/belief celebrate and live out their beliefs in the journey of life?
What feelings do people experience in relation to birth, change, death and the natural world?
What answers might be given by ourselves and by religions and beliefs to questions about life after death? What do other faiths say?
Objective/ Key question
Suggested lesson activities
Assessment opportunities
What is a graveyard like?
Visit the graveyard
Can they children explain how
IF TA available, get the LA children (with church’s permission)
others might want them to
to take rubbings of the some of the graves. Discuss with the
behave in a graveyard? Can LA
children why it is important only to do it of graves over 100
explain why it is better to do a
years old. Have a couple of children taking photos of the stones rubbing on an older grave
as well as other things of interest.
stone?
Get children to find names and dates as well as symbols and
messages on the stones.
Level 2: Talk about what is
Back in class feedback- what was most surprising?
important to me and to others
Get them to draw any interesting symbols on the whiteboard.
with respect for their feelings.
Level 3: Link things that are
important to me and other
people with the way I think and
behave.
To learn how Christians mark
At tables, give out a selection of the collected epitaphs and get Can children identify and
the passing of a loved one.
the children to choose their favourite three in pairs. Feedback
describe why a grave yard is a
and write specific words on the board. Make sure all children
special place for many.
To begin to consider their own
paired with a decent reader. Discuss meaning as a class of
Can they say why/ how it is
responses.
words such as “soul”.
beautiful and why people would
want it that way?
Having put together a slideshow of the photos taken on the
visit, run through as a recap. Discuss what sort of words are
Can they start to identify and
often associated with graveyards on TV or film and contrast
understand the language and
with their actual experience. Give the children opportunity to
symbolism associated with
share thoughts, feelings or recollections.
mourning and death?
resources
crayons
tracing paper
pencils
Data collection
resources
(appendix)
Copy of epitaphs
collected on the
trip.
Photos taken on
your trip.
28
How do people say goodbye?
As an individual activity, (or in pairs LA and MA) Complete the
activity that completes these statements: These things
surprised me:….because; Relatives might come to a graveyard
because….; A question I have is….because…; A message I liked
was…..; and these people believed that…. Because….
Guided Group work MA: look together at the messages- what
do you think it means? What are the clues? What do Christians
believe about what happens after death? How might that belief
help the relatives of someone who has died? Why might it be
important to them to have a funeral and a place to visit? What
do other people do (with sensitivity)
What happens at a Christian
funeral?
HA group could devise a set of questions to ask local believer or
vicar about some of the language on the epitaphs- ie to help
them understand more about what the more obscure words,
phrases and symbols mean.
Go through the visuals as a recap. Point out the gravestone that
says “Taken Home” What do they think it means?
Explain about the Christian view that Heaven is the real home,
rather than Earth
Talk about whether the children have lost a pet or someone
they loved- show a picture of own or known deceased pet, if
practical. Get children to share their experiences. Discuss what
they remember about them (if able!) and how they feel now
they are no longer around.
Recap on previous lessons using powerpoint.
Explain that funerals are often a way to celebrate the life of the
person and reflect things that were important to him or her as
well as a way to say goodbye.
Can children start to explain
what difference belief in the
afterlife makes?
Level 3: I can ask important
questions about life and
compare my ideas with other
people.
Level 4: I can discuss questions
about the meaning and purpose
of life and suggests answers that
might be given by me as well as
members of a religious
community.
Can children describe what
happens at a funeral?
Can they identify and explain
certain features and language ie
the use of colour, flowers,
elegies, coffin
RE Quest video
http://request.org.
uk/life/funeralslife/2013/07/10/chr
istian-funeralvideos/
Level 3 I can describe some of
the things that are the same and
different for people (ie for
people with and without a
Christian faith)
Watch RE:Quest video that looks at funerals. Children use mini
wbs to make notes.
29
How do people say goodbye?
What do Christians believe
about life after death? What
does the Bible says about
Heaven?
Make a note on large wb of the components of a funeral- point
out what colour the clothes are. Contrast with how some
people stipulate the wearing of bright colours at their funeral.
Explain that some people do not have a religious faith but
have a special way of being remembered and that other faiths
have different ways of saying goodbye.*see below
Get the children to create a guide for a new vicar for how to
conduct a funeral.
OR last week’s guided group can work with LA and record
themselves on the ipad talking about their learning.
OR Some children to look into a humanist ceremony.
OR some children could write a poem or song that could be
presented at a funeral.
At tables in mixed pairs, give children the epitaphs from the
gravestones along with pics of symbols etc. get children to split
into religious/ Christian and non-religious. Work in mixed pairs.
Feedback. What do the religious ones indicate about what the
person believed about what happens after death? Give LA
fewer to sort and simpler language. Use HA to explain what
they found out from their interview.
Feedback. What were the clues? What is not referred to in the
non-religious epitaphs? Why are they still meaningful?
On carpet
Watch first 7-10 mins of UP. Give children a set of stills from
the montage of the couple’s life together- put in order. Discuss
the events.
Retell the story simply, and at the same time use a Duplo block
to represent different parts of Ellie (the wife’s) life, where
different colours represent different emotions.
Explain that when a life is over, what they have achieved still
remains.
Level 2: Ask about what
happens to others with respect
for their feelings.
Level 3: Describe what a
believer might learn from a
religious teaching.
Level 4: Make links between the
beliefs, teachings and sources of
different religious groups and
show how they are connected
to believers’ lives.
Give thoughtful responses to
the way in which Christians, and
those without faith mourn as
well as start to consider their
own ideas about belief in life
after death.
Jesus Storybook
Bible
(near the enddescription of
Heaven)
Disney/Pixar film:
Up- first 10 mins.
Stills from the film
(with permission?)
Check
https://www.gov.u
k/copyrightlicencesinformation-forschools for rights
to screening.
Duplo ©/
Megablocks ©
30
How do people say goodbye?
Discuss what Carl might believe about where Ellie has gonewhy is he sad?
Brainstorm list of feelings as he looks back over Elle’s life. Write
on whiteboard. Show pic as he sits in the church after the
funeral- why are there balloons? What might he want to
remember/ think about?
Main: Create a scrap book of Carl and Ellie’s life together. It
must include “photos” and messages “to” Ellie about what he
remembers, his feelings and beliefs about where she is now,
from a Christian point of view.
Less able: use the Duplo to retell Elle’s story in pairs, stick pics
on the prepared scrap book and choose epitaphs from the
activity in the last lesson that Carl would choose for his wife.
Can they explain why they have chosen them? Include words to
do with feelings.
Guided more able: Discuss use of colour in funerals and in how
some Christians ask people to wear bright colours. What
difference might believing in Heaven make to someone who
has lost a loved one? Look at the description of Heaven found
in Rev 21: 1-6, as depicted in Jesus Storybook Bible pp346-347.
(More child friendly than the actual text!) and discuss how this
comforting/ joyful for believers.
When they do their scrap book they can add detail based on
their learning.
If working with older or more able pupils, you might want to contrast the Christian practices and beliefs with that of Hindus. Check the copyright issues,
but you can take a series of screen shots from a Youtube video of a Hindu funeral taking place in Chicago. Children could ask questions, identify specific
differences between that and the Christian funeral and consider how they might find out more (within limits, gauge sensitivity of your children) Look at
use of colour in funeral clothes and lead on to further study on the contrasting beliefs of reincarnation and Heaven.
31
Unit plans: How do Christians say goodbye? Appendix 1
32
Unit plans: How do Christians say goodbye? Appendix 2
Relatives might come to the graveyard because…
These things surprised me:
because
A message I liked was
A question I have is…..
I think the people believed
because
33
Unit plans: How do Christians say goodbye? Appendix 3
What happens at a christian funeral?
How do these things help someone say goodbye?
34
Unit plans: How do Christians say goodbye? Appendix 4 (Hindu funer
What I notice:
Series of stills from
Youtube video of Hindu
funeral in Chicago
(without view of the
body)
Series of stills from
Youtube video of Hindu
funeral in Chicago
(without view of the
body)
Series of stills from
Youtube video of Hindu
funeral in Chicago
(without view of the
body)
Series of stills from
Youtube video of Hindu
funeral in Chicago
(without view of the
body)
What surprises me:
What questions I have:
35
36