teaching religion

Fuinseog

is it a doss subject?
are there any activities you would recommend? teaching first years is a doddle but after that it becomes more difficult. I know some teachers just slap on a video, but thats not always possible.

frozenfrozen

Philosophy is always interesting both to teach and be taught. If you feel like slapping on a video there are plenty of very interesting videos on youtube just waiting to be used for education on the subject.

Fuinseog

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Philosophy is always interesting both to teach and be taught. If you feel like slapping on a video there are plenty of very interesting videos on youtube just waiting to be used for education on the subject.

I cannot show a video every class and youtube is blocked, why I would love to know, in most schools. I am currently looking for fun activities for second years

raytray

Fuinseog, I know this is off topic but if you have youtube clips that you would like to show in school but can't because it is blocked there is a website called Zamzar that you should use. At home, you can convert the youtube video into an AVI file, save it and then can play it in school

spurious

AFAIK you can get YouTube unblocked if the Principal writes to the NCTE and says your school wants it unblocked.

boogle

If your school pc has real player, just download the youtube vids at home (download a youtude download software for free) and bring them in on a memory stick.

I'd agree with the philosophy angle. Get some discussion going. A class period spent in discussion is not a wasted one when it comes to a non-examinable subject.

byhookorbycrook

spurious wrote: »

AFAIK you can get YouTube unblocked if the Principal writes to the NCTE and says your school wants it unblocked.

You can, but this can cause more problems than it solves...zamzar is a good idea as it saving clips to player at home.

tvnutz

Lots of interesting stuff you can do. Moral issues like the Death penalty,abortion etc can always get good discussions

I did Cults with 2nd years a few years ago and they loved it.

rainbowtrout

Fuinseog wrote: »

is it a doss subject?

....
I know some teachers just slap on a video, but thats not always possible.

Is it just me or did this not annoy anyone else? No offence Fuinseog, but if that's the first question you're going to ask about the subject, and I'm assuming you're not qualified in it and have had religion landed on your timetable, then kids are going to pick up that attitude as well.

It might not be an exam subject in most schools but it's on the curriculum and has to be taught and there are plenty of resources to do so.

http://www.curriculumonline.ie/uploadedfiles/PDF/jc_religion_sy.pdf

http://www.curriculumonline.ie/uploadedfiles/PDF/jc_religious_guide.pdf

http://www.ress.ie/junior_res_eng_c.html

Surely there's more to the subject than slapping on a video three times a week for three years. I know the subject gets a raw deal in a lot of schools (mine included) and anyone who posts here with a religion qualification is usually aggrieved that they can't get a job because of the way that it's farmed out to anyone and everyone in a lot of schools, but I'd say any religion teacher reading your post will be really pissed off. Me personally, I wouldn't have a huge interest in teaching the subject - nor am I qualified in it - but how many of our students know anything about other major world religions aside from Catholicism, not even Christianity, because I doubt many students at school could tell you the difference between Protestantism, Catholicism and Christian Orthodox, not to mind anything about Buddhists, Jews and Muslims. There is tons of stuff you could be teaching them that is not only on the syllabus but would enlighten them a little about the world around them and let them know there is more to life than the bubble they live in.

rainbowtrout

tvnutz wrote: »

Lots of interesting stuff you can do. Moral issues like the Death penalty,abortion etc can always get good discussions

I need Cults with 2nd years a few years ago and they loved it.

We did cults when we were in second year and were completely absorbed by it. At the time we had a nun who had spent 20 years teaching in Texas and had just returned to Ireland. This was only a few months after the Waco massacre, which we had all seen on TV, so naturally we wanted to hear the 'first hand account' from someone who was living in Texas about David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. It was really interesting.

looksee

Regardless of whether you have any interest in religion from a belief point of view, it is a subject that has absorbed people's interest from the beginning of time. It has been one of the greatest contributors to war, civilisation, culture, ethics, morals, art, literature, music, justice and injustice, humanity and inhumanity, social structure, politics, education, the domination and subjugation of people, the list is endless. And that is before you even start on different religions and belief systems. There are endless possibilities of areas to discuss and explore.

gaeilgebeo

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Is it just me or did this not annoy anyone else? No offence Fuinseog, but if that's the first question you're going to ask about the subject, and I'm assuming you're not qualified in it and have had religion landed on your timetable, then kids are going to pick up that attitude as well.

It might not be an exam subject in most schools but it's on the curriculum and has to be taught and there are plenty of resources to do so.

http://www.curriculumonline.ie/uploadedfiles/PDF/jc_religion_sy.pdf

http://www.curriculumonline.ie/uploadedfiles/PDF/jc_religious_guide.pdf

http://www.ress.ie/junior_res_eng_c.html

Surely there's more to the subject than slapping on a video three times a week for three years. I know the subject gets a raw deal in a lot of schools (mine included) and anyone who posts here with a religion qualification is usually aggrieved that they can't get a job because of the way that it's farmed out to anyone and everyone in a lot of schools, but I'd say any religion teacher reading your post will be really pissed off. Me personally, I wouldn't have a huge interest in teaching the subject - nor am I qualified in it - but how many of our students know anything about other major world religions aside from Catholicism, not even Christianity, because I doubt many students at school could tell you the difference between Protestantism, Catholicism and Christian Orthodox, not to mind anything about Buddhists, Jews and Muslims.

Yes, as a religion teacher, the original post really annoyed me. :mad:

dambarude

If secondary RE is taught well it's one of the subjects the students will get the most out of. I remember far more of what I did in Junior Cert Religion than Junior Cert History or Woodwork, and in ways what I remember is of more use.

Many people in Ireland are completely ignorant of other religions, and I'd probably be pretty ignorant myself had I not learned about them in secondary school. The fact is that the Alive O programme which 90% of primary schools follow does almost nothing on world religions (that's a matter for another thread). If a secondary teacher doesn't do it students will never learn anything about them! World religions are INTERESTING so it shouldn't be that much of a pain to teach.

I did the JC exam in Religion, so I suppose was forced to pay attention to what we were doing, but it's only now I realise the worth of it. I'll be teaching Islam on TP in a few weeks time, and most of what I'm doing will be guided by what I learned in second year of JC.

Sorry OP, but the attitude shown in your original post shows a terrible disregard for the subject.

happywithlife

as a matter of interest does anyone have a contact address/email etc for an R.E. subject association?
I teach R.E. and would love to get more involved in it.

rainbowtrout

happywithlife wrote: »

as a matter of interest does anyone have a contact address/email etc for an R.E. subject association?
I teach R.E. and would love to get more involved in it.

Here's their website:

http://www.rtai.ie/

Fuinseog

looksee wrote: »

Regardless of whether you have any interest in religion from a belief point of view, it is a subject that has absorbed people's interest from the beginning of time. It has been one of the greatest contributors to war, civilisation, culture, ethics, morals, art, literature, music, justice and injustice, humanity and inhumanity, social structure, politics, education, the domination and subjugation of people, the list is endless. And that is before you even start on different religions and belief systems. There are endless possibilities of areas to discuss and explore.

true, very true, now to convince a group of fourteen year olds.

PeeWe

It's an attitude such as yours OP that does nothing to improve people's opinions of such an interesting and engaging subject. This attitude really annoys me. Would you put a thread up asking if Maths or History is a doss subject? Why should RE be any different?

This attitude also really undermines the hard work many RE teachers put in to delivering the syllabus or module they are teaching. I certainly don't know any RE teacher (or Maths/History teacher) who just sticks on a film.

How unfair and condescending of you

Fuinseog

dambarude wrote: »

If secondary RE is taught well it's one of the subjects the students will get the most out of. I remember far more of what I did in Junior Cert Religion than Junior Cert History or Woodwork, and in ways what I remember is of more use.

Many people in Ireland are completely ignorant of other religions, and I'd probably be pretty ignorant myself had I not learned about them in secondary school. The fact is that the Alive O programme which 90% of primary schools follow does almost nothing on world religions (that's a matter for another thread). If a secondary teacher doesn't do it students will never learn anything about them! World religions are INTERESTING so it shouldn't be that much of a pain to teach.

I did the JC exam in Religion, so I suppose was forced to pay attention to what we were doing, but it's only now I realise the worth of it. I'll be teaching Islam on TP in a few weeks time, and most of what I'm doing will be guided by what I learned in second year of JC.

Sorry OP, but the attitude shown in your original post shows a terrible disregard for the subject.

maybe I do show a disregard for the subject, something which I have simply been allocated and am no more qualified to teach than the cat.
I also teach CSPE and with first years its grand but the parents could not really care less if their off spring is doing well or failing in the subject. i fear it will be the same here.

dambarude

Are you teaching exam or non-exam RE Fuinseog?

rainbowtrout

Fuinseog wrote: »

maybe I do show a disregard for the subject, something which I have simply been allocated and am no more qualified to teach than the cat.
I also teach CSPE and with first years its grand but the parents could not really care less if their off spring is doing well or failing in the subject. i fear it will be the same here.

That's no excuse. Many of my students parents don't give a fcuk if their son or daughter is failing science, a subject which is generally seen to be important, that doesn't mean I just treat it as a doss or stop chasing those students for homework etc. Parents' attitude should not have an effect on how you approach a subject. How can you expect your students to have any respect for education if you don't have any respect for the subjects you teach, regardless of whether or not you are qualified in them. If you were handed a maths class this year would you be taking the same attitude?

PeeWe

As a teacher I believe you have a duty of care towards your students; to teach them to the best of your ability. How would we be fixed if we all said "Sure the parents won't give a crap if they fail therefore I dont either".

This suggests more about your attitude to teaching than the subject you are teaching

Fuinseog

PeeWe wrote: »

As a teacher I believe you have a duty of care towards your students; to teach them to the best of your ability. How would we be fixed if we all said "Sure the parents won't give a crap if they fail therefore I dont either".

This suggests more about your attitude to teaching than the subject you are teaching

its nice to be so idealistic. you are obviously a very young teacher.

I did not say i do not give a crap about the subject. it is an uphill struggle when neither parent nor pupil care much for it. even more so when it is not an exam subject. I agree with those who point out the validity of the subject in terms of human development, but it is difficult to make a fourteen year old see it that way.
Originally, I was looking for a few ideas which some people here have been gracious enough to contribute.

rainbowtrout

Fuinseog wrote: »

its nice to be so idealistic. you are obviously a very young teacher.

I did not say i do not give a crap about the subject. it is an uphill struggle when neither parent nor pupil care much for it. even more so when it is not an exam subject. I agree with those who point out the validity of the subject in terms of human development, but it is difficult to make a fourteen year old see it that way.
Originally, I was looking for a few ideas which some people here have been gracious enough to contribute.

It's nice to be so condescending to another poster who does care about their job, when you are just finding excuse after excuse to take the easy way out in Religion and possibly CSPE. It's irrelevant if parent and pupil do not care, I'm sure most students will tell you they have no interest in Irish, exam subject or otherwise, and Irish teachers up and down the country have to battle with them every day to do some work, but you don't hear them making excuses.

I expressed the same opinion as PeeWe but that doesn't sit right with you because I've been teaching for long enough and I still think that the subject should be taught properly. Or do you consider someone who has been teaching for 11 years to be too young and idealistic as well?

Really, how hard is it to read the syllabus, find out what is on it, use the resources made available by the RESS and teach some lessons based on that?

Remember students might view a subject as a doss subject, certainly they can view a subject in any way they want, but it's the teacher that determines whether or not it's a doss. If you want to slap on videos for the rest of the year, go ahead, it'll be a doss class for you and your students, if you are actually interested in teaching them something and maybe educating yourself and your students in a subject with which you may not be so familiar, you can also take that route. It'll be a harder route, but the students will probably gain something from it and respect you more for actually teaching them something.

It might sound idealistic to you, but for me the teacher who has no interest in broadening their horizons and continuing to learn throughout their career has a limited role in teaching.

Toto Wolfcastle

Right, that's enough. The OP is looking for ideas and activities for his RE classes. Let's keep the personal stuff out of if.