Eleven Characteristics for Scripture Learning Years P - 3 and Years 4 - 10

Developed by Beth Nolen, Brisbane Catholic Education, drawing on pedagogy research from Professor Bev Fluckiger, Griffith University.

Yr P to 3 Characteristics of Scripture Learning.pdf

Yr 4 to 10 Characteristics of Scripture Learning.pdf

Religious literacy and dialogue

• Intentionally build opportunities for development of religious literacy (Scripture vocabulary; Scripture interpretation)

• Foster an environment of utilising literacy skills (reading, writing, oral) for critical interpretation of Scripture (comparing similar texts from different author; comparing different texts from the same author; identifying biblical themes; proposing deeper meaning from a text…).

• Construct deep critical thinking questions that can lead to rich dialogue about texts. Why might the author have written this story in this way? How might the author write this story for different communities today? I used to think…but now I think…. What is one interpretation of this text?

Explicit teaching:

Enable students to understand the purpose for learning about the text
Co-construct success criteria to enable the curriculum intent to connect with student abilities, interests and needs
Support the development of student goals (What else would I like to learn about? Where do I need to build my knowledge?)
Provide feedback that is affirming and assists to move the learning forward

Collaborative

• Model ways to share active thinking and reflecting about the text, the author’s possible intentions for writing the text, and the possible impact of the text in the author’s community

• Provide learning opportunities that are co constructed with students (what are some different ways we could learn about this?)

• Construct opportunities for peer problem solving and deep thinking about a text.

Investigating

• Inquiry tasks that enable students to learn through discovery

• Identify questions that promote student inquiry about a text

• Establish questions that promote student wondering about connections between texts

• Provide open-ended tasks and resources that foster creative thinking which could lead to the development of new insights into the meaning of the text historically and today.

Text focused:

• Promote wondering and thinking about the text:

I notice…

I wonder…

I think…

• Make connections between the text and the student’s own experiences

• Discover reasons why the text is important for people of faith and whether the text has universal importance

• Provide opportunities for students to create multi-modal texts

Learner orientated

• Develop learning opportunities that are linked to student cultural backgrounds, interests, learning needs and ways that students enjoy learning

• Encourage student feedback about the learning opportunities provided

• Apply feedback to move the learning forward

• Promote student ideas for how to create supportive learning environments for obtaining rich meaning from Scripture.

Learner responsive

• Find out about student interests, cultural and religious backgrounds to be attentive and responsive to the links between life, faith, culture and identity. Is there a family member who could be a guest speaker? What opportunities could be provided for students to share insights from their cultural or religious traditions?

• Consider how teaching may impact on students at the level of faith, life, culture and identity. Model ways of being respectful of student identities.

• Evaluate balance of student / teacher voice; student interest / curriculum intent; structured and open-ended activities and respond accordingly, ensuring flexibility of delivery to meet arising needs of students.

Scaffolded learning

• Skill development grows in complexity (Where will I find this text? How can I find out about this text? What can I find out about this text? What new insight about this text could I contribute?)

• Model different ways to apply research skills to find out about a text, increasing the skill level as the learning progresses (reading about a text; critiquing the trustworthiness of a resource…).

Learner agency

• Create opportunities for students to be involved in the decision-making process for how the learning will happen.

• Promote opportunities for students to identify how the text reveals God’s dream for our world, from a faith and a human needs perspective. Encourage students to identify ways they could begin to bring about that dream, at individual, class, school or local community level.

Construct a plan and put it to action (transformative learning).

• Facilitate opportunities for student voice to be heard and acted upon, so that learning opportunities for students and the community are co-constructed.

Imaginative and creative:

• Provide opportunities for students to enter into the world of the text through

dramatisation and imagination (interview characters; create a journal entry for a character; retell the story from a bystander perspective; conduct an interview with the author…)

• Translate to our context today (imagine the author was a member of our school community or our local area – how might the same story be written today, with the same meaning?)

Active learning

• Provide learning opportunities for students to learn through movement (constructing biblical artefacts such as clothing, housing; retelling Scripture stories through

movement and sculpting characters using materials such as clay or using body movement)

• Utilising different environments for learning • Plan independent, small group and whole group opportunities for learning.

Acknowledgement:

Pedagogies for teaching Scripture have been developed by utilising the research of Professor Bev Fluckiger and colleagues at Griffith University. https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/early-years/age-appropriate-pedagogies

https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/early-years/age-appropriate-pedagogies/characteristics

https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/earlyYears/Documents/foundation-paper.pdf

Other resources for developing critical thinking questions:

Marzano Taxonomy Question Stems:

Fourteen different types of critical questions to promote deep thinking:

https://www.lavc.edu/profdev/library/docs/promotethink.aspx

Ten activities that could be modified for Scripture learning in order to teach critical thinking:

http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/ideas-to-teach-critical-thinking/

Developed by Beth Nolen, Brisbane Catholic Education, drawing on pedagogy research from Professor Bev Fluckiger, Griffith University.