I'm doing a bit of work on the difference between religious imagery and kitsch (there be a thin line let me tell you) but there is very little debate surrounding what category the Ten Plagues Finger Puppets fall into.
Available from Amazon and several other stores what Pentateuch class could survive without these? All credit to the designer Yitzy Erps.
With the snow today it looks as if I'll be using my advent candles to keep warm! Myself and my sister are preparing for our Children's Liturgy of the Word on Satuday night and she found this brilliant resource on the Kandle website (the website of the Kildare and Leighlin Diocese) and I have to agree it is fantastic. Last year we made advent weath using salt dough but there are loads of good ideas here, as well as the usual colouring-in pages and puzzles. There's plenty of resources in Irish too and there's something there for all levels. I'm not sure who compiles this resource, but thanks to Maeve Mahon the DA for primary schools for putting it up.
I've been meaning to post a bit more on the wide subject of Bible and Film for a while now-it's such a large, and in my mind, underdeveloped side of teaching the Bible that it really needs some serious consideration. One thing that I’ve learned from giving second level in-services and teaching in a teacher training college for primary school teachers is that teachers are much more able to use multimedia in the classroom (times have moved on from no one being able to work the video machine in my day) but they’re not being given enough resources to use them.
In part of my workshop with the School Chaplains’ Association of Ireland in November 2009, I talked about the three ways you can use films in discussing biblical themes in the classroom. Have a look them in the selection of the PowerPoint slides I used during the workshop.
I’ll start with the easiest which is Films that Retell Biblical Stories:
Some of most ♥ loved ♥ and some you might not have thought of using-for example only one of the participants in the workshop had used Life of Brian (and he got a gold star for being brave!
Exodus transposes the events of the biblical tale to Margate of a dystopian future in which a Pharaoh dictatorial leader has declared war upon society's 'undesirables'. Drug abusers, refugees, criminals and the homeless are all considered equally worthless and entered into a restricted ghetto where they cannot leave. When Moses learns he was adopted by Pharaoh and is actually the son of an asylum seeker, he shuns his life of privilege to lead the ghetto's inhabitants in a revolt against his father.
An excellent film that was first shown on Channel 4. It shows how the biblical text is not only relevant today but in the future (the treatment of the Israelites in Egypt, compared to the treatment of asylum seekers today and in the future). The “parting of waters” scene is useful to start debate-where is God featured (if at all) in the scene? Does the water actually have redemptive, cleansing qualities rather than just being used for harm?
The Prince of Egypt (1999, U Cert)
The film was nominated for 2 Oscars in 1999 and won the Oscar for Best Music, Original Song. The lyrics for the song ("When You Believe" sung by the formidable duo of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey (which is sung at the end of the film in full) contains a section sung by a child in Hebrew-these are verses 1, 11 and 13 from Chapter 15 of the Book of Exodus.
And if you think the song sounds familiar, it was sung by the winner of the “X Factor” on ITV1, Leon Jackson. And no, the Hebrew wasn’t included on that release!
The film is a good overview of the Exodus event in general but also can be used as an exercise on comparing the biblical text and the film’s interpretation of it. Chapter 25 of the DVD on the parting of the Red Sea is especially useful. Firstly to get a sense of the magnitude of the event but also to see how it compares to Exodus 15 (The Song at the Sea). The Director’s commentary on the scene is useful here.
Yes, Ben Affleck is the voice of Joseph (don’t let that put you off!). This “sequel” to The Prince of Egypt tells the story of the Joseph from the book of Exodus. There’s not a lot to debate here but for weaker groups who have difficulty in grasping the context of the biblical stories it is an excellent tool. Also helpful if you want to avoid anything about Technicolor dreamcoats. (if you cannot resist the sing-along!)
This in an excellently produced and directed film released in 2006 that retells the Nativity to the point of the flight to Egypt. In general it is a good all round film which helps students understand that the stable wasn’t Ye Olden Times Holiday Inn and a more realistic portrait of the characters. I’ve successfully used it to debate the Catholic view of Mary (The actress playing her, Keisha Castle-Hughes, is never seen without full make-up and a serene smile) and I use it with the class discussion included in my presentation on Advent. One word of warning-make sure you use this DVD in a room you can darken easily-most key scenes take place in darkness and it’s sometimes hard to make sure everyone can see what’s going on!
There are very good high-res stills from the movie for download
A motion picture destined to offend nearly two thirds of the civilized world. And severely annoy the other third.
But it’s funny. And that has to be a good thing! The excellent depiction of the Sermon on the Mount (DVD Chapter 3) is a good starting point for the great discussion of “Is everything in the Bible true then?” Maybe Jesus really did say “blessed are the cheesemakers”! It is an excellent example of how oral traditions have passed on the “words” of Jesus and how the biblical text may have a shifted idea of what Jesus said. Check out the clip below but be warned about rather un-biblical language.
One day I'll get to teach an entire course on Genesis Creation Accounts and I'll still be stuck for time to fit all it! I found this great resource recently that will be great to use in comparing the Genesis creation accounts with other creation myths. The website is for supplementary use when you buy the CD ROM, but you can still access animated accounts (using Flash animation) of the Norse, Babylonian and Egyptian creation myths (among others) without having to pay. The animations and sound effects are excellent and fun to use. For example, the Babylonian creation myth has an animation (you need to use a next command to go through each slide so it’s probably more useful for individual use rather than in a classroom situation. There are segments on Babylonian culture and the Babylonian idea of the pantheon as well as exercises (which would be great for using with a younger group) and a handy word document of the presentation for use with a larger group. If you look under the Teacher’s Guide section, there are lots of hints and tips for using the programs in various classroom situations.
Other Creation Stories (for use with children) available:
This book review appeared in Intercom magazine (October 2009) and is reproduced here with the kind permssion of the editor.
Luke 11:1-“Lord teach us how to pray”
All Together: Creative Prayer with Children makes it clear from the outset that it is not a “last minute” resource that should be dipped into to help facilitate last minute prayer groups or assemblies, rather it seeks to nurture and deepen the prayer life of the adults involved with children and facilitating their prayer. While it is primarily aimed at those working in an educational environment, it is extremely useful for anyone involved in a parish situation and appeals to a wide variety of age groups and abilities that may participate in the increasingly popular children’s Liturgy of the Word.
If we as adults consider how we worship, it is often a linear practice-we do the same things at the same time, following instructions such as “Let us pray together” or “now we shall stand and sing”. This is the outer symbolism of how we as a community come together to worship God. Anyone who has worked with children of a primary school age knows that children seldom operate in this way. They are used to fulfilling individual tasks, often several at a time, or working in small groups. It is always recognised that children present with different abilities and levels of participation and the often packed schedule of a children’s Liturgy of the Word can often struggle to accommodate their individual needs. This book, written by experienced catechists encourages you in a friendly and supportive way to engage with the children in your group so that the prayer is their prayer and in turn, it is their hearts and mind that are raised to God. The group exercises and methods of prayer detailed under various themes lend themselves well to the interactive classroom and curriculum or to the group format most commonly adopted during a children’s Liturgy of the Word. The authors strive to highlight that “prayer can never fully be taught” (93). Those who engage with younger children need to understand that it is much more than a technique, or a time when we ask God for favours but rather a conversation we have with God, not just using words, but engaging our hearts and minds. Children embrace change and can easily bore of the same format and this book promotes the need to make prayer accessible for all children. Formats of prayer discussed include dialogue, litany and eye-witness accounts, examples of which are all provided.
The book is clearly divided into sections and it is fruitful to read them in sequence, as the initial section on the Foundations of Creative Prayer with Children underlines the basis for the entire book, including an explanation of the keeping prayer with children “real”, namely that prayer must emanate from their concerns and express these concerns so that it truly is their prayer to God. The text allows for excellent guidelines and principles for the adult to begin the positive, creative and engaging liturgy, encouraging a rooting of the prayer in scripture and to provide a respect for Tradition.
Section two contains insights, explanations and creative resources for various liturgical seasons and occasions such as Advent and Lent as well as foundations, ideas and resources for celebrating Mary and the Saints. These three chapters focus on praying together in a group situation such as class or an assembly time. The fifth and final chapter focuses on creative ideas for individual prayer and is appropriate for group and individual use. All of the exercises are adaptable to a variety of situations, as well as ages and abilities. Each exercise is clearly laid out with foundations for the prayer subject, for example the exercise on Sorrow and renewal of life (105) explains how prayer is a movement from us to God and from God to us and how this explanation can be illustrated with the image of a bridge. The children write on one half of a piece of paper how things are now and on the other half how they would wish god to make things. They can then make a simple (depending on skill levels) Lego bridge and imagine in prayer the crossing from one side to another. Due to time constraints, a children’s Liturgy of the Word cannot always be completed in the church and therefore some of the prayer activities described can be adapted for home use, possibly involving parents and other family members.
Main points for the religious educator to communicate with the children are clearly laid out at the beginning of each prayer theme. It is imperative that the educator fully comprehend the liturgical basis for the activities also allowing for their prayer. Children can adopt what they have heard in the children’s Liturgy and apply it to their own life, facilitating Christian practice into their everyday being. Activities such as Sin Bin and Sorry beads are eminently suitable for this purpose.
I sent out my "Happy Easter" card to all my Millltown students on Friday (They're all on holidays this week the lucky things). While composing the message I was struck by the lack of graphics that you can use for Easter Greetings-it's all either bunnies, or lambs or the "Sacred Heart" (and frankly frightening) depictions of Jesus:
I love art that makes me think so when I found the artwork of the famed Chinese artist He Qi I knew I was on to a winner. This is my favourite and is called "He is Risen"-I use it when I teach about the women and the Resurrection in the Gospel of Luke. I love the colours and the symbolism in the painting.
This picture below is typical of the kind of technique employed by He Si-have a look at the website for more examples from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament and do sent me on recommendations if you have any.
Some websites of resources for children that you could use for some downtime over the holidays or at your Children's Liturgy or Family Mass:
With the big day coming up on Wednesday I thought a few links to some resources for St Patrick's Day wouldn't go amiss. And not a green pint among them.
For general resources, if you can avert your eyes from the video of corned beef and cabbage (a video? Does anyone actually eat corned beef?) the History channel's website is a good place to look for videos on celebrations around the world.
Prayers and Hymns:
There are lots of prayers associated with our Patron saint, the most well known of which is St Patrick's Breastplate. Beliefnet incorporates this into a beautiful guided meditation. My guilty pleasure is belting out (loudness over tunefulness) the hymn "Hail Glorious St Patrick" at Mass on St Patrick's Day-these three seem to do it better though:
Myself and my sister Aine (sorry sis they won't let me do the fada!) help facilitate the Children's Liturgy of the Word in our home parish, Lordship and Ballymascanlon with our cousin Clodagh. Aine is a primary school teacher and Clodagh has three lovely kids so I tend to leave the crowd control to the experts and engage in my role as "theological advisor" and storyteller (I have bequeathed my large stack of Bible stories for children to Aine, we're just waiting for the Religion Inspector to comment how well stocked her library is!)
Some of the websites we use for resources such as pictures and colouring in pages (you can't go wrong with a colouring in page!):
The cypberfaith website is an excellent general resource for those who work with children. It graphically and in simple terms explains topics such as the liturgical year and gives a link to activities for each Sunday and major feast days. The resources are mainly an exploration of the topic in questions with reflections and discussions for both the adult and child. As this in an American website, the activities are categorised according to the American grade-school system in terms of age and ability, but nonetheless the site is very easy to navigate with colourful pictures and diagrams.
The subsection of the ever reliable Catholic Ireland website has a well-developed interactive prayer “corner” especially for children. The presentation is based on the gospel reading of the day, and encourages children to participate in prayer through bright and colourful cartoons that the child can personalise with their own name and the names of those they wish to pray for. While the application will not suit group work, it is relatively easy for children to use with supervision from their parents on their home computers.
Don't let the moniker put you off Sermonz4kidz is an essential resource for anyone working with children, whether in the classroom, home or parish. The site is very user friendly and has a good search engine. Each Sunday gospel reading is accompanied by a story that expresses the main themes of the gospel at a level that is adaptable to most levels, especially with the primary school child. In addition, there are pictures to colour in, word searches, and puzzles, all of which are easily downloadable (both in word and pdf format) and provide a helpful medium for children to engage with the Gospel. The page of links is also very useful as is the artwork by Henry Martin, which makes a pleasant alternative to clipart.
A subsection of the popular BBC website that provides an admirable resource for dealing with queries from children about Christianity and world religions that may confound the best of us. Every major world religion is referenced here, and the main feast days of each are simply but thoroughly explained with links to useful websites and classroom activities.
I've also started to get "fancy" with my blog thanks to my fool's guide that I've found.
TopMarks
Religious Studies section of this website provides links to larger websites (such as the British Museum). You can search by age group.
Biblical Art
Huge resource for biblical paintings and biblical art in general.
The EIKON Image Database for Biblical Studies is a faculty-library initiative at Yale Divinity School that provides digital resources for teaching and research in the field of Biblical studies.
NTGateway is generally viewed as the New Testament website and has been recently updated. Good section on films that can be used in class.
The St John’s Bible is the modern day equivalent of the Book of Kells-lovely pictures!
Links to bible maps which make for useful visual aids.
BibleMap
This site uses Google Maps in connection with the full text of the Bible to allow site visitors to make a customized map of every place name found in the Bible, both ancient and modern.
BibleDudes
Vernacular descriptions of terms associated with Biblical Studies. Good fun!
Busted Halo
Excellent online magazine. Worth a look if you’re stuck for ideas or for keeping up with current trends in religion and spirituality. Beware of the quiz (link at the bottom of the page)- you will get addicted.
World Prayers
A random prayer generator that is a lot more sophisticated than it sounds!
Daily prayers that you can download as MP3s. Very useful for playing via a laptop in the classroom.
ThinkingFaith
The online journal of British Jesuits.
The Way is an international journal of contemporary Christian spirituality, published by the British Jesuits.
My favourite website for buying "hard copy" resources. Though it is based in the US the shipping is quite reasonable and they offer good discounts on bulk buys.
Oprah
Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it! The link to "breathing space" provides some beautiful photos which may aid reflection and the section on "Pay it forward" deals with helping others. The site regularly updates the programmes required to view the content so make sure you have the updated version.
Ceist
Website of the trustee body for the voluntary secondary schools of the Daughters of Charity, the Presentation Sisters, the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, the Sisters of Mercy and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. The newsletter of this website is especially useful and well designed.
The American Academy of Religion. The religion in schools link under "Public Affairs" is worth a look for a different perspective.
Access to information, advice and opinion on Catholic education and Catholic schools in Scotland. The links for articles under "Article Folders" provides some useful articles as well as links to papal statements on various issues pertinent to education.
Website run by the Catholic Relief Services. Lots of resources for prayer services. Excellent links page.
Franciscan run "link site" that is well updated. Usually follows the Liturgical Calendar.
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The cypberfaith website is an excellent general resource for those who work with children. It graphically and in simple terms explains topics such as the liturgical year and gives a link to activities for each Sunday and major feast days. The resources are mainly an exploration of the topic in questions with reflections and discussions for both the adult and child. As this in an American website, the activities are categorised according to the American grade-school system in terms of age and ability, but nonetheless the site is very easy to navigate with colourful pictures and diagrams.
Don't let the moniker put you off Sermonz4kidz is an essential resource for anyone working with children, whether in the classroom, home or parish. The site is very user friendly and has a good search engine. Each Sunday gospel reading is accompanied by a story that expresses the main themes of the gospel at a level that is adaptable to most levels, especially with the primary school child. In addition, there are pictures to colour in, word searches, and puzzles, all of which are easily downloadable (both in word and pdf format) and provide a helpful medium for children to engage with the Gospel. The page of links is also very useful as is the artwork by Henry Martin, which makes a pleasant alternative to clipart.
