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EDRE 101: Assessment Task Two

Integrating Theory and Practice

Name: Sinead Tynan Student Number: S00077026

Email: s00077026@myacu.edu.au Mobile/Ph No.

Bullet Point One (100 words)

Melbourne Curriculum Document: Ballarat Awakenings Unit

Unit of Work: Jesus Tree Title: The Life Of Jesus

Year Level: 2

Key Understanding: The story of Jesus and his way of life is recounted in the Gospels.

The Christian faith is positively presented as a meaningful and relevant way of life. This is achieved by bearing witness to the teachings of Christ in all aspects of the junior primary curriculum. Through formal and informal study of the Scriptures, students are encouraged to know about the God-given guide to living a Christian life. Focusing on the stories of Jesus and his way of life found in the Gospels allows students to explore personal beliefs and develops an awareness of spirituality, presents the Christian faith as a meaningful and relevant way of life and enables students to discover ways to make their lives relevant to the Bible, rather tan making the Bible relevant to their lives.

Bullet Point Two (300 words)

Theological Background for Teachers:

Characteristics of Jesus as a person through story:

Jesus reflects on his own humanity and relationship with God and others through story. Jesus could connect with both the poor and lowly as well as the rich. Students can explore some of the main events that took place in Jesus’ life which will further their understanding of the stories Jesus told and the numerous personal characteristics of Jesus. The parables of Jesus are intended to amaze his listeners and force them out of their customary ways of thinking towards God and the world. For example, the parable of the Good Samaritan confronts the Jewish prejudices towards the hated Samaritans. The story about the labourers who come at the eleventh hour and receive the same wages as those who laboured all day indicates how Gods justice differs from human justice. Jesus’ parables indicate to students how he was a man of intelligence and insight and how he was connected to the reality of life surrounding him. As the Gospel narratives about Jesus unfold, his qualities are revealed. It is evident in Jesus’ stories that he is patient as his disciples are slow to learn, he shows compassion for a widow who is faced with the death of her only son and he weeps at the death of a close friend. Jesus is also courage’s as he confronts those who misuse power and he stands up to a self-righteous crowd eager to stone to death a women who was taken in adultery (Ballarat Awakenings Unit Outlines, 2007).

In this unit students will explore a range of events concerning Jesus’ life. Based on one of these events, they will identify, describe and analyse a unique characteristic that Jesus portrays. Students will then have the choice to draw, write or create an image or portrait of Jesus Christ representing their selected characteristic, which will provide the opportunity for students to further develop their current image of Jesus. These images will then be used as ornaments and hung from a branch of the classes ‘Jesus Tree’.

Bullet Point Three (100 words)

By the end of the lesson students will be able to;

Cognitive:

o Identify and describe a range of characteristics presented by Jesus in various Biblical stories.

o Compare and contrast the range of Gospel portrays of Jesus.

o Analyse and interpret Jesus’ actions/responses in various Biblical stories.

o Explain the characteristics of the image of Jesus that the student has chosen or created as his/her preferred image.

o Value godly standards and practices in their lifestyle.

o Grow in the knowledge of God and learn the major doctrines of the Bible.

Affective:

o Appreciate the story’s of Jesus found in the Gospel.

o Reflect on the characteristics of Jesus which are most important and why.

o Develop interpersonal, and group participation skills.

Spiritual:

o Create a personal symbol or image of Jesus Christ.

o Suggest and reflect on reasons why selected characteristics are important and how we can incorporate these qualities in our own lives.

o Cooperate with others and find pleasure in shared experiences.

Bullet Point Four (700 words)

Students learn in a variety of ways so it is vital for teachers to develop students' eight intelligences and teach basic skills through multiple modes. Howard Gardner, a professor of education at Harvard University developed the theory of multiple intelligences a little over 10 years ago. The theory serves as a template in constructing strategies for student success. Teachers can improve education by addressing the multiple intelligences of their students. The intelligences, briefly described, are: Linguistic: the intelligence of words, Logical-mathematical: the intelligence of numbers and reasoning, Spatial: the intelligence of pictures and images, Musical: the intelligence of tone, rhythm, and timbre, Bodily-Kinesthetic: the intelligence of the whole body and the hands, Interpersonal:  the intelligence of social interactions and Intrapersonal:  the intelligence of self-knowledge.

Through linking the lessons instructional objective to words, numbers or logic, pictures, music, the body, social interaction, and/or personal experience each student, regardless of their preferred learning strategies each individual can gain information from the lesson.

The verbal/linguistic intelligence will be reinforced within the lesson through reading, writing and speaking about various stories of the Bible. The teacher can also enhance their students linguistic intelligence through encouraging discussion about the various characteristics Jesus portrays within the Biblical stories studied.

Through analysing and interpreting why Jesus responds in specific ways within specific stories of the Gospel will allow for students to explore their logical-mathematical intelligence. The teacher may also include critical-thinking activities based on various stories from the bible to further include this stage of intelligence.

Students who adopt the visual/spatial intelligence learn most readily from visual presentations. The teacher should incorporate visual aids while reading aloud the selected stories of the Bible to the class. Providing the opportunity to draw or paint a personal symbol or image of Jesus Christ will allow students to express their feelings and moods through art.

To help encourage students' musical intelligence the teacher can play a calming CD (such as environmental sounds) to the class as they work, this may also assist in generating positive reflection in students as they discuss how to incorporate optimistic qualities/characteristics into their own lives.

The teacher can encourage the growth of interpersonal intelligences by including group work and by planning cooperative learning activities for students. Students will communicate and interact in small groups while comparing and contrasting the range of Gospel portrays of Jesus.

The teacher will assign a reflective activity to exhibit strength in intrapersonal intelligence. Students will work along in their own space to give thought to the reasons why selected characteristics are important and how we can incorporate these qualities into their own lives.

The types of intelligence that a person possesses (Gardner suggests most of us are strong in three types) indicates not only a students capabilities, but also the manner or method in which they prefer to learn and develop their strengths. Through the recognition of students individual learning needs and styles the class will successfully achieve each learning outcome to the best of their ability (Armstrong, 1994).    

With an understanding of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, the teacher can better understand their students. The teacher can allow students to safely explore and learn in many ways, and they can help students direct their own learning. Teachers can assist students to understand and appreciate their strengths, and identify real-world activities that will stimulate further learning (Gardner, 2006).

Bullet Point Five (200 words)

Resource: Picture Book of Bible stories. - The Parabels of Jesus’ by Tomie dePaola.

A Bible Story book containing bright colourful illustrations will be used to introduce the lesson. This resource may be more beneficial for younger students because even though children’s Bibles have their place, the size can often be daunting. Picture story books enhance classroom learning as they engage students and stimulate their ideas for work later in the lesson and the visual reference of the resource also increases student retention for complex themes and concepts.

Before the book is read to the class, the teacher will lead a discussion about the cover, the title and some of the illustrations, and ask students what they imagine about what is to come.

Utilising ‘The Parables of Jesus’ by Tomie dePaola in this lesson will allow students to respond to the literature and participate in a discussion regarding the alternative interpretations of Jesus within the text. This resource also supports visual literacy, which is important in order to help children take meaning from text as well as develop aesthetic understanding. The illustrations in the text are extremely beneficial for visual learners as they do not have to solely rely on the text to interpret the message as the story is also told through the pictures. The teacher may also further engage the students through labeling pictures or describing events as dictated by the illustrations.

Incorporating this resource into the lesson will enhance students understanding and reading of the Scriptures, strength students appreciation of the Scripture and Tradition and promote critical thinking and reflection on life experiences and faith. (Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean, 2002).

Reference List

Armstrong, Thomas (1994). Multiple Intelligences: Seven Ways to Approach Curriculum, Educational Leadership

Ballarat Awakenings Unit Outlines, (2007). Level 2, The Life Of Jesus.

Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean (2002). Tell it again! The New Storytelling Handbook for Primary Teachers + cassette. Harlow: Penguin English

Gardner, Howard (2006) Changing Minds. The art and science of changing our own and other people's minds. Boston MA.: Harvard Business School Press.

Hyde, B., & Rymarz, R. (2008). First steps in religious education. Ballan, VIC: Connor Court Publishing.

Smith, Mark K. (2008). 'Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences', the encyclopedia of informal education

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