The Best Moments in RE
collated and introduced by Andy Lewis
Many RE teachers are passionate about their subject and what goes on in their classrooms. Some try to argue that religion is irrelevant and it would be better to not study it in the curriculum like in many countries around the world. Other realise the value, but don’t fully understand what goes on in modern RE lessons*. Andy Lewis asked RE teachers about their best moments in the classroom: “Y7 pupil took over lesson on God after saying 'I see God as a circle', facilitating discussion for rest of lesson.” @justBmoore “Students realising the importance of human rights in the UK.” Harry Barrett “A Y8 student with SEN explaining to rest of class why reading the Qur'an in Arabic is fundamental for Muslims. Then read the first surahs and translated them.” @MaryMyatt “Students experiencing issues around death and sharing experiences in class. Helping others and healing hurts.” Claire Doherty “Debating God's existence: religious Y10s leaving lesson wanting to question their beliefs more and coming back with stronger arguments after!” @MrsBurridge “Pupils developing their own spirituality and feeling comfortable talking about it.” Bella Carter “My Muslim PGCE student stopped her lesson following a pupil question on prayer to show the prayer positions to the Y9 inner city kids” @beckib77 “Y10 debating philosophical theodicies about the existence of God. These conversations carried on beyond the lesson into lunch time.” @mcclurebaker “When philosophical discussion gets so deep it leads to a wholeclass existential crisis.” @MissAVECarter “Pupils' genuine, inspired love for the subject which has changed their perceptions about others and also themselves. Seen more times than not!” @WaqarAhmedi “The best thing I see in RE classes, and I see it often, is minds opening through being challenged by religious stuff they never thought of before.” Lat Blaylock “A student: “I only picked RS as my 4th A-Level as I didn’t know what else to pick. I’m now going off to study it at university and I am thinking of becoming an RE teacher.” @iTeachRE “Where else on the curriculum do students discuss such amazing, thought provoking, life changing and ultimately preparation for life issues?” @wclou
“Miss my brain hurts, this lesson makes me think." @missdcox “When a 16 yr old boy put his hand up and said RE has made me a better person.” Tilly Hodson “Watching 30 normally noisy Y9s be completely silent for 20 mins in an experiential lesson on meditation as a last lesson reward.” Alison Bradley “Sat at the back of my classroom watching an ex-student return to his old classroom to embark on RE teaching himself” Daniel Hugill “A student [after reading Dawkins’ God Delusion], asking me if we could do more biblical studies as she wanted to have greater religious and cultural literacy” @iTeachRE “A Catholic and a Muslim discussing Pascal's Wager and the usually unengaged students engaging with them.”@deacontf “A very quiet Y1 pupil volunteered info on believers baptism in lesson on infant baptism saying “not everyone does that” before sharing their own personal experience” @CatrionaCard “Christian student arguing with teacher about problem of suffering, Muslim student joins in, both find common ground in their scriptures.” @LundieEducation “Big Bang, Evolution, creation, faith, purpose... Y8 lad, head in hands, "This is hard! It's driving me crazy! It's amazing!” @maxandtedteach “Gave a video project for a homework and a Y8 with SEN went home, drew pictures, videod them and put music to it. Kids applauded.”@Llennoco “A Y9 group experiencing a Muslim speaker cry with joy discussing how the words of the Qur’an make him feel. Truly unforgettable.” Matthew Vince “A student asking to study John’s Prologue in it’s original Greek as they had been doing poetry in English and wanted to compare it.” Anon “Hearing, after visiting a Jewish secondary school with my Year 9s, the joy and surprise about how much they all had in common”. @danielhugill
This selection of RE moments were collected via Twitter and the Facebook group Save RE. So often the RE community shares it concerns about the purpose, delivery and future of the subject, yet it is clear there is so much good going on in RE classrooms up and down the country. We need to look carefully at the future of RE (see Issue 19: July 2015), but as Tom Bennett said, “Taught well, it’s a genie’s goddamn lamp of wisdom and human life” bit.ly/uked15dec17 * I am not making the distinction in this article between the legal requirements of RE lessons and the A-Level/GCSE subject of RS.
ukedchat.com/magazine 19