LESSONPLAN

DEVELOP GREAT LEARNING HABITS AND EXPAND LEARNERS’KNOWLEDGE OF TODAY’S SPIRITUAL LANDSCAPE, WITH THIS

INTRIGUING LESSON FROM CRAIG WRIGHT...

RE | KS 3

WHY TEACHTHIS?

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SISTER ACT

This lesson aims to breathenew life into religiouseducation by harnessing thepower of mystery anddeveloping independenceand metacognition inlearners. Moving away fromthe traditional six worldfaiths, the session exploresthe foundations of a modernday religion through onecentral big question ‘howcan two girls change the world?’

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+KEY RESOURCE

As a secondary school RE teacher, I

often find that whilst the country’s

biggest religions are largely well

understood by teachers, those

outside of this are all too often

disregarded, despite their

relevance to hundreds of

thousands of pupils across the

country. The 2011 census, for

example, saw a 79% increase in the

number of Spiritualists in the UK

over the last decade; surely it’s

crucial that we equip our learners

to understand ‘new’ or ‘modern’

religions just as much as the

traditional big six world faiths?

Modern Spiritualism was founded

in 1848 when the two Fox sisters

claimed to be facilitating

communication with spirits of

people who had died in Hydesville,

New York. It attracted notable

followers such as Arthur Conan

Doyle and even sparked interest

from Queen Victoria and Charles

Dickens – and is now said to be the

eighth largest religion in Britain.

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LESSONPLAN RE | KS 3

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Task one:Once students have begun toconsider the goings on in theHydesville cottage, you shouldintroduce the big question andlearning objectives for the dayand explain to the pupils thatthey will be solving the mysteryof the Hydesville cottage. To dothis there will be three rounds ofcard activities, which will build upknowledge and understanding.The first set of cards will containpicture clues: the Fox sisters, amap of the New York area, thecottage, some passers-by etc.Learners are asked to startordering the cards to discoverthe story. The second round ofcards contain paragraphs of textsdetailing parts of a ‘rapping’evening; learners areencouraged to make linksbetween what they are readingand the pictures from theprevious round. The third andfinal round presents an array of‘witness statements’, which cangive a broad opinion of the Foxsisters and the Hydesville story –again learners are asked to fitthese alongside the cards fromthe previous rounds, to supporttheir evaluation skills.

Progress check:Together, learners clarify throughdiscussion what happened atHydesville and begin to considerwhy it is important forSpiritualists. Consider usingprompts or images to structurethe discussion. For example, can

MAIN ACTIVITIES

The lesson is based on GuyClaxton’s Building LearningPower theory, which is all aboutcreating a culture in classroomsthat helps young people becomebetter learners, both in schooland out. Centred around onequestion – ‘how can two girlschange the world?’ – the learninghabits developed in the lessoninclude ‘collaboration’ to solvethe mystery of the Fox sisters,and ‘use questioning’ to considerthe lesson’s big questions anddiscover the story of Hydesville.

As an introduction, when yourstudents enter the classroom, apicture of the Hydesville cottage,the family home of the Foxsisters, should be clearlydisplayed on the board and onprint-outs on desks. Leaners areasked to imagine what hashappened in the house andgenerate theories as to why itmay be the subject of study. Aftera few minutes of workingtogether, you should begin tocollate ideas. It is a good idea torecord these somewhere – onthe board or on sticky notes thatcan be referred to throughout thelesson. Learners are notexpected to know anything at allat this stage; it is aboutgenerating interest and intrigue,engaging them properly andmeasuring the starting points.

students make links betweendifferent images to fully explainthe story of Hydesville?

Task two:Learners are then shown animage of the Fox sisters in 1848.Introduce the big question againand discuss with the class: cantwo girls change the world?Explore the lives of otherremarkable individuals whobrought about change in theirteenage years and collate theideas on the main board. Tofurther develop the discussion,use maps of the world showingthe spread of Spiritualism todayand the UK census data thatshows the number of Spiritualistscompared to other ‘minorityreligious groups’. As well as theglobal spread of Spiritualism,learners could reflect on theirown local community or area and discover whether they havea local Spiritualist church or Lyceum.

Progress check:Encourage students to considerlearning habits that they haveused throughout the lesson.

Craig Wright is a teacher of

RE & sociology at Park View

School in Chester-Le-Street,

County Durham. Follow him

on twitter @cwright2209

ABOUT OUR EXPERT

INFORMATIONCORNER

STARTER ACTIVITY

One of my favourite plenaries involves using exit cards that ask

pupils to reflect on their progress throughout the lesson. You could

ask students to use a ‘PEE’ paragraph (point-evidence-explain) in

their evaluation to boost literacy skills.

Encourage them to identify which ‘learning habits’ they have boosted

during the session. For example, ‘Today I have used questioning. I

did this by asking my classmates what they thought happened at

Hydesville. I think I used questioning well because it helped me to

uncover the story of how Spiritualism began.’

SUMMARY

ADDITIONALRESOURCESTHE SPIRITUALIST’S NATIONAL UNION (SNU)HOLDS CHARITABLE STATUS IN THE UK ANDHAS BEEN LEGALLY RECOGNISED BY THEHOME OFFICE SINCE 1939 AS ANAPPOINTING BODY FOR SPIRITUALISTMINISTERS. THE SNU HAS DEVELOPED ACOMPREHENSIVE PACK FOR SECONDARYSCHOOL TEACHERS CONTAINING A FULLRANGE OF LEAFLETS, LESSON IDEAS AND ABOOK ON SPIRITUALIST PHILOSOPHY. THEPACK IS FREE AND SUITABLE FOR PRIMARYAND SECONDARY TEACHERS. IT ISAVAILABLE FROM SNU.ORG.UK.

Task three:As the religion became morewidely established, a set ofprinciples, now known as theSeven Principles of Spiritualism,were developed. Using the SevenPrinciples fact sheet (snu.org.uk),encourage pupils to sort them andsit them alongside their meaning.Consider which principle they feelmatters the most and why. Whichprinciple would be most difficult tolive by and why? Finally, ask pupilsto work in groups to create acolourful and striking poster thatshows one or more of theprinciples in action in the world today.

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