Experiential RE supdocs.indd - SfE
Experiential RE supdocs.indd - SfE
Experiential RE supdocs.indd - SfE
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<strong>Experiential</strong> <strong>RE</strong><br />
Teaching <strong>RE</strong> with the Theatre of Learning<br />
Sue Phillips<br />
Here you will see me teach a group of 22 mixed ability Year 11 pupils in a double lesson on a<br />
Thursday afternoon at the end of November.<br />
Bognor Regis Community College, where I have developed this method of teaching over the past<br />
ten years, is a school of 1500 pupils on a split site. 40% of its pupils have special educational<br />
needs. It is currently a school facing challenging circumstances having recently come out of<br />
special measures. The active experiential methods we use meant that the <strong>RE</strong> department was<br />
graded one for ‘behaviour’ and ‘attitude to <strong>RE</strong>’ during the inspection that placed the school in<br />
special measures. These methods have seen our results rise from 15%-32% A*-C to 60%-75%<br />
A*-C.<br />
The class you will watch are learning about Religious Experience for the Edexcel paper,<br />
Christianity and Philosophical Perspectives. At the time of filming, they are due to take their mock<br />
exam in two weeks time.<br />
They have already completed the topic on Religious Experience. Today they will reinforce their<br />
learning with a re-enactment of Orthodox worship, which they have not done before. They have<br />
prepared for this lesson over the previous three lessons, learning about the features of the church<br />
and this style of worship, with the set representing the church in the classroom for them to see.<br />
The re-enactment that you will see them take part in to sum up their learning is their first handson<br />
experience of Orthodox worship. This lesson, taken from Teaching Christianity with the<br />
Theatre of Learning, normally takes place in a candlelit classroom which is otherwise completely<br />
darkened to represent the death of Jesus on Good Friday. The highlight of the lesson comes<br />
when the doors of the iconostasis open and the “priest” brings the single lighted candle to the<br />
waiting “congregation” whose candles are all lit from his, gradually filling the classroom with light<br />
to represent the resurrection of Jesus on Easter day. It was not possible to film in the dark, so an<br />
important element of this powerful lesson is unfortunately missing.<br />
This DVD shows two lessons; the first is an experiential lesson which sums up a period of<br />
learning about Religious Experience. The aim of this is to reinforce not only the memory and<br />
understanding of what happens in order to prepare for the examination but also, and very<br />
importantly, to enable the pupils to evaluate religious experience. In this case, the religious<br />
experience is that of worship, and it is evaluated through this religion neutral exercise. How much<br />
more ably will they be able to discuss the effect of worship on a believer after a lesson like this?<br />
The second lesson is designed to prepare the pupils to write an essay on Religious Experience.<br />
In this lesson they revise previous knowledge and are introduced to the concept of verification. A<br />
series of fun and engaging practical activities prepare them to write a Caterpillar essay. My thanks<br />
go to my colleague Julie Woodward for developing this idea. This essay will enable pupils to<br />
organise information into a well structured argument using response levels to raise achievement.<br />
It will provide a useful revision aid and a structure for planning on the day of the exam. It uses<br />
active and spoken literacy concluding with a traffic lights discussion. This is more fully described<br />
in my article in <strong>RE</strong> Today, January 2007.<br />
Traffic lights discussion and Caterpillar essays are explained in more detail in Teaching<br />
Tolerance, published by Tribal in 2007.<br />
2 <strong>Experiential</strong> <strong>RE</strong>: Supporting documents