Religious Education of the Young - Multifaith Resource Series no.1

Our goal in religious education is to create spiritual, moral, cultural and social beings. Religious education concerns learning about and from traditions including our own. Source: The consultation statement

Online Resource:
~~~~Questions and Learning Objectives in Religious Education

Abstract: RECALL QUESTIONS: Ask pupils to remember information they have learned previously e.g. What was the festival of Purim about that we looked at last week?; COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS: Ask pupils to express ideas in their own words major elements of a piece of writing to make them more accessible. e.g. If you believed literally in the Genesis account of creation how would it affect your attitude to global warming?; APPLICATION QUESTIONS: Apply a general principle to a new situation e.g. how is prayer similar and different between Hindus and Christians? ; ANALYSIS QUESTIONS: Break down the subject matter into parts and study the relationship between those parts e.g. Why do the gospels of Matthew and Luke open in different ways?; SYNTHESIS QUESTIONS: The pupils build a new idea, plan or experiment e.g. How might the play/film Jesus Christ Superstar affect your attitude to Christianity?; EVALUATION QUESTIONS: Pupils make judgements about quality: What kind of issues might arise, if any, for a Christian/Muslim living in your area ?; Amended from: Turney, C, 1997, Sidney Micro v Skills Series 2, University of Sydney, based on Bloom’s (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives; Questioning can become more sophisticated by giving pupils a series of questions about, for example, a picture, and then asking questions about the questions e.g. which of the questions can you answer with certainty? Which questions assume the answer is an expert? Which questions restrict you to giving factual information?

----Religious Education Directory:

This electronic version of the RE Directory is designed as a 'first stop' reference point for all who are interested in Religious Education. ... has been developed by Culham Institute for The RE Council of England and Wales. Categories under which content is organized include, Faith Communities, Organisations Concerned with RE, RE Curriculum Resources...

Print media:
~~~~Religious education and human development. The relationship between studying religions and personal, social and moral education Grimmitt, Michael. Great Wakering [England] McCrimmons c1987 . See details at Amazon.com

Item Notes: Includes indexes ~ "Contains a common core RE Curriculum for PSMD and GCSE with 120 Curriculum Units, for classroom use illustrated by Schemes of Work on Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism."

~~~~Days of Significance : A Curriculum Resource & Other Curriculum Documents. Toronto District School Board, TDSB Equity Department.

The Equity Department develops and distributes curriculum documents and activity booklets. Materials do get updated and revised to serve better the needs of staff and students. Currently, the following materials are available to TDSB schools free of charge and upon request.

Multimedia:
~~~~Trust Me : Shalom, Salaam, Peace. A Film by Ros Fruchtman. Wellspring Media. [videodisc (60 min.)]

Abstract: Trust Me Shalom, Salaam, Peace, is a funny, inspiring and deeply moving film about overcoming prejudices and fears at an interfaith summer camp.; An emotional chronicle of 33 children attending a North Carolina interfaith summer camp for Christians, Muslims and Jews, Trust Me was filmed in the wake of the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Rob Fruchtman, producer and director, follows 33 Christian, Jewish and Muslim boys, ages 9-13, who arrive at camp with some trepidation and preconceived notions about the children of other faiths.; The film tells the story of the boys, as well as the staff, as they engage in typical camp activities and in the process, forge strong bonds. The week culminates in one of the most stirring moments of their young lives.

~~~~Online video: how artists portray religious figures.

[Extract: What they did:
As part of a unit of work with Year 6 on major inspirational religious figures in both Christianity and Buddhism, a teacher used the free online resource 'Draw the Buddha's Face' to explore the key question, 'What can we learn about inspirational religious figures from the way artists represent them?' The resource includes video sequences that show artist Andy Weber sketching, in traditional Tibetan Buddhist style, a head of the Buddha. Clear instructions accompany each video clip, and straightforward information panels explain what is being shown. note: The web links in this document require the RealPlayer plug-in. (RealPlayer clips will not store offline.) You might also like to explore CLEO MagicWall, which offers pages from the resource mentioned in this article, in a format that can be downloaded for use with a digital projector, with or without an electronic whiteboard.

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Multifaith demo in Oxford:We were a small yet powerful sight in Oxford City Centre. A diverse group, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, and Spiritualists met together to show the public that we, religious people, care about the plight of animals. We started on Cornmarket Streets, decked in robes and red sashes, the first six people carried, simple yet elegant animal coffins while everyone followed behind, moving slowly and silently. Listen to the Talk by Dharmavidya, Multifaith Service

Forthcoming Multifaith Resource Series - Workplace diversity; grief and bereavement; death and dying; praise and prayer; scripture & sacrament; rites & rituals; dress & diet; interfaith dialog, etc.

PS. While this series is a brief exposure to the vast resources, any one who is interested in the above, or other than the above facets of Multifaith practices, may please contact me: mt2222 at yahoo dot com.