Teaching World Religions

[Chuck Williams]

Hello World History Group,

I'm beginning to teach world religions and beliefs systems and am looking for something a little more interesting than a PowerPoint, etc.

I'm thinking about using this episode from This American Life:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1163

Does anyone else have any interesting and relevant techniques or ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Chuck Williams

[Dan McDowell]

For my AP World History class, I use the following WebQuest:

http://questgarden.com/q/beliefsystems

Good luck!

Dan McDowell
ahistoryteacher.com

[Ryan Goble]

Dan,

Thanks so much for sharing your web quest. BTW always feel free to make links to stuff on your blog. We want everyone to be connected to your great work!

Ryan:)

[Ryan Goble]

Chuck, I wasn't going to leave you hangin' on this one. I haven't heard that TAL but it looks great. You might also get a kick out of showing "West Bank Story" - it based on West Side Story and features Arabs and Israelis.

This summer, when I was glued to the MJ memorial I remember performance for "Heal The World" was loaded with screen backdrops reminiscent of this famous logo:

Watch the background of the performance here:

This does beg the historical question "have we ever been able to Coexist?" You could do something where you give students a bunch of images / passages that have to do with major world events and you can ask them to guess what religious issues relate to those images (a la the Album Cover game from '07 if you remember that).

This would get you into a discussion about symbols and meaning ...

Also, Performance Education has a GREAT ABC's of Culture Poster/Unit. Those are available via download.

FWIW here are the ABCs of culture they look at:

A- Appearance: color of skin, types of head coverings, clothing styles and materials, hair styles and lengths, types of jewelry and kinds of materials used in making jewelry, make-up (men and women).
B- Beliefs: types and kinds of religion and practices. Also include superstitions, types of ceremonies, etc.
C- Communication: what kinds of communication technology is used, how do most people get their information. What languages are spoken, what is the official language.
D- Dates: important historical dates and/or holidays.
E- Economy: trade partners, imports and exports.
F- Food: preparation of food, special occasions when certain foods are served, who prepares the food, spices used, how food is stored and eaten, foods that are typical to the area.
G- Government: type or kind of government (a brief description will be necessary)
H- Human-Environment Interaction: what does man do that changes or alters the environment (good or bad)
I- Information/Education: what is the literacy rate, who attends school and for how long, are there places of higher learning.
J- Jobs: what do people do to make a living (economic activities)
K- Kinds of environment or physical features found in the region, this will include water features also.
L- Location of the country or area (absolute and relative)
M- Movement: of people, goods and ideas. This could also include migration information, colonial expansion, and immigration of people. Also include how the common person gets around.
N- Nationalism: what people, places, and things spark feelings of loyalty and patriotism
O- Organizations: is the country a member of a major world organization such as OPEC, ASEAN, European Community, etc
P- Population: ethnic groups – numbers and details
Q- Quality of life: birth and death rates, medical care, life expectancy
R- Resources: what kinds or types of natural resources are found in the area.
S- Shelter: describe the types and kinds of homes, dwellings, and buildings typically found in the area.
T- Taboos: what behaviors are not acceptable in the culture.
U- Urban/Rural: what is the population distribution and density for the area. Percent urban and rural.
V- Vacation/Recreation: what do people do for fun
W- Weather and climate regions
X- Xeriscape: what is the natural vegetation like in the climate region(s) described
Y- Yearly income (per capita)
Z- Zoology: what kinds of animals are native to the area

And they have a neat idea bank (e-toolkit) on World Regions that will give you a BAZILLION IDEAS. They also usually go out of their way to include role play activities which are always fun.

See also Map and Timeline of World Religions Poster.

If you want to creep kids out you can show clips from Devil's Playground - but that might get you fired:)

But seriously, you could make graphic organizers for a series of film clips showing world religions in action (pagan practices from HBO's Rome, of course). Have students to a lot of similarity / differences work around that stuff.

I also think Dr. Cooney's Out Of Egypt does a great job of connecting Egyptian ideas and beliefs to all the other world religions - esp. the "afterlife" ideas:

I noticed National Geographic just created a new special issue on the Holy Land:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazines/pdf/103109/Binder1.pdf
https://secure.customersvc.com/maitrd/ngs/holyland/joinin.html

Didn't you hip me to this website? The interactive map...
http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html

Lastly, you can have the students start a holy war. Just a thought. It WOULD be an authentic assessment.

Hope these help give you some ideas!

As-Salāmu `Alaykum

Brother Ryan :)

[Kathryn]

The West Bank Story seems like a great resource to add to my unit on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The English curriculum lines up so that they're studying Romeo and Juliet the same time we're studying the Middle East in World Affairs, so the West Side Story/ Romeo and Juliet theme could carry through.

Also, I like the idea of using the COEXIST logo as an intro at the beginning of the year to the major religions, and posting it in class (or student variations perhaps) as a reminder throughout the year...

[Ryan Goble]

West Bank Story is great for your interdisciplinary idea - could be a great "connector"