Dance Curriculum Toolkit

Title of Resource: Theology/Religion/Catholic Education Resources

 

Target Audience: Educators, Students

 

Description of Resource: This resource has the widest variety of lesson plans and activity ideas in regards to world religions that I have ever seen!  The religious topics included (but not limited to):

1. Judaism

2. Christianity

3. Mormans

4. Belief System in Asia

5. Indian Epics

6. Hinduism

7. Islam

8. Buddhism

9. Confucianism

10. Taoism

11. The Crusades

12. The Middle Ages

13. Galileo

14. Ptolemy

15. Capernicus

16. The Reformation

17. Freedom of Religion

18. Vatican

19. Historically Religious Figures

20. Historically Religious Events

I believe that this resource provides students with a wide wealth of knowledge and understanding of different religions in comparison to what religions they are used to studying in the past. 

 

Appropriateness for High School Students:  This resource is appropriate for high school students as it goes above and beyond the stereotypical religions that they have been exposed to and studied in school previously.  This resource allows teachers to educate students beyond the textbook about real-world ideologies that otherwise these students would be naive to.  Students in high school are mentally and emotionally ready to experience new topics as well as extending their prior knowledge of topics in new ways.  

 

Use of Resource in Classroom/Ways to Implement this Resource in my Classroom:  My ultimate goal of how to implement this resource into my curriculum is to introduce students to new information that they have not previously been exposed to.  Considering the numerous amounts of lesson plans within this source, I would implement these lessons into my classroom in accordance with the religious calendar.  The lesson plans overall that this site provides educators with are extensively enriching lesson plans.  There are multiple lessons for each religion, which is incredibly unique and really allows for me to provide students with an authentic experience no matter which lesson is chosen.  The lessons vary in terms of what aspects of the religion are explored making the process for students even more impactful.  I hope to expand my content knowledge of these world religions as well as enhance my curriculum throughout the year by supplemental material with these cultural lesson plans.  

 

Strengths of Resource as a Teaching Tool (Purpose, Value, Uniqueness, Positive Aspects):  The purpose of using this resource as a teaching tool is to uncover unknown territory for my students to expand their understanding of religion and culture around the world. Often times in high school, students are learning about subjects and topics that they have been previously exposed to in past years but now are expanding further.  The plethora of lessons within this resource makes this resource beyond valuable to educators.  So often, specific religions are studied in depth in schools while others are brushed over.  This resource allows for educators to teach beyond the textbook and reach new heights in terms of students understanding of world religions.  This resource is so extensive in the amount of information that it provides about the many aspects within the numerous world religions that exist.  Students will be able to bring their prior knowledge to these lessons as the foundational blocks with which they can build and expand their knowledge of how others in the world live culturally, religiously diverse lives and how that impacts their everyday life.  I am not looking to preach religion to my students but typically that only religious teaching students have in school is related to Christianity occasionally Judaism and Islam.    

 

Possible Modifications to Resource (Weaknesses, Limitations, Supplemental Resources):  A potential issue that may arise with how I have decided to implement this into my classroom is the issue of me being overly optimistic about what I can actually reasonably fit into the curriculum and what I cannot.  In all honesty, I will not be able to touch on every religion that exists within the school year into the curriculum alongside the other material that I need to make sure is covered throughout the year.  In my opinion, that way that I would compromise and solve this problem is to all of the religion based lesson plans on this website and cut them up into strips.  I would fold up the papers, place the strips in a hat and mix them up.  At random, depending on how my curriculum breaks down for the year, I will pick anywhere from 2-5 different strips from the hat and find where those religious holidays fall during the academic year and block off however many days I believe that it will take to complete the lesson and teach the lesson of that particular religion during those specific days.  Another concern with this website is that it is incredibly overwhelming with an extensive amount of information and lesson plans.  I think with time, I will be able to look closer over all of these lesson plans more thoroughly to be able to select lessons that are most beneficial for students as time is always limited.  

 

Resource Citation:

Theology/Religion/Catholic education resources. Retrieved from http://www.eds-resources.com/edthe.htm#worldreligions