I just taught the stupidest, most pointless and boring RE lesson ever.
It kind of went like this:
"God is like a mother hen. He loves us and looks after us. Um... Do your worksheets now. You have to circle 10 chickens. Okay you've finished? Good. Now we'll... I don't know... Sing another song?"
For the last 2 years I've had the freedom to teach my year 2's 'the bible in 10 easy lessons' (which Nathan's mum and dad wrote). It does the BT thing - creation, fall, abraham, david, solomon, exile, baby Jesus, cross, resurrection, new creation. Works really well - the kids get sucked into the story. Last year, apparently, the school's RE program got audited and it came out that we weren't using an approved curriculum. This year I've been given some stuff written for prep aged kids who can't read or write. My kids are very literate. The material is hopelessly inappropriate, so I took the liberty of asking for some older stuff and doing my own thing in the meantime. Today it became apparent that no new stuff was coming and I really needed to use what I was given. So I did. I've left things hanging with Abraham. How is God going to fix up the problem of sin?
Don't worry about that. God is like a mother hen. Next week, God is like a king. After that, God is like a gardener.
There are no stories to tell. Just these single lines.
I need to get imaginative.
That's really depressing!
ReplyDeleteAnd how proud my parents must be that their progeny is now producing this sort of garbage for children to consume...
ReplyDeleteActually, my mum confessed she now reads my blog for the stupid gadgets I post. That made me feel loved. More than just about any affirmation I ever received from them.
At our school we were allowed to use the really great CEP material until we were discovered using it and not the regulation (very watered down) stuff that you are probably being forced to use as well. I modify it heavily...read large amounts from the Bible, maybe do one of the prescribed activities, sing a LOT of Colin Buchanan songs that fit in with the theme (and happen to spend longer talking about the Colin song than the lesson) and so on. Have good courage. There are ways and there are ways! Go for it!!
ReplyDeletethanks guys.
ReplyDeleteNathan, I had tea with your folks the other night... you should have heard what they were saying about you!
Sounds as bad as the 'church is like a chocolate cake' kids talk we heard at one of the churches we were visiting while church shopping when we moved last year. The theme of the talk was 'church is like a chocolate cake - it has a pleasant aroma'.
ReplyDeleteTell me who audits the re program? Is there a committee or something? How do these things work? It's a bit different out here...
ReplyDelete