By Lauren R. Kerby
This time of year, teachers and students alike may be in need of some light-hearted fun with an educational purpose. Our religious literacy-themed Scattergories game is here to help! In each round, students list as many terms as they can think of that start with the chosen letter and exemplify a key idea of religious literacy, such as internal diversity, change over time, or cultural embeddedness.
By Lauren R. Kerby and Mary Perez
When Amy Coney Barrett was nominated to the Supreme Court, her religious identity as a conservative, charismatic Catholic immediately became a subject of intense scrutiny. The public conversation about Barrett’s identity reveals the internal diversity of how American Catholics think about what it means to be a Catholic woman, mother, and even feminist. Drawing on a varied selection of recent news articles, this lesson offers an opportunity for students to 1) practice recognizing internal diversity and 2) ask new questions about a topic as a result.
By Lauren R. Kerby
On September 8-9, 2020, academics across the country, including faculty and staff at the Religious Literacy Project, are participating in teach-ins for racial justice known as the #ScholarStrike. I assigned these readings from James Baldwin, Patricia Hill Collins, and Tressie McMillan Cottom to my students at Harvard Divinity School to start our semester studying the history of education and religion in the U.S. For others interested in these questions, I offer them as resources for thinking about how critical pedagogy can serve the goals of racial justice.
By Lauren R. Kerby
On September 8-9, 2020, academics across the country, including faculty and staff at the Religious Literacy Project, are participating in teach-ins for racial justice known as the #ScholarStrike. As part of our contribution, we offer this lesson plan about American Christians’ responses to Donald Trump and the George Floyd protests as a resource for teachers seeking ways to connect religion and race in their discussions of current events.
By Lauren R. Kerby
At the Religious Literacy Project, a fundamental component of how we teach about religion is what we call the nondevotional approach. For many people, this is a new way of talking about religion. Unless you’ve taken a religious studies class, you may have never been asked to observe and discuss religion in this way. And it can be confusing! But one thing that can help is to focus on what kind of conversation you want to have.
By Kristofer Rhude
As we prepare for the next school year, it is likely that many teachers will be returning to an online format. Here at HDS, we will be online again ourselves. The RLP has experience creating online classrooms through Harvard Extension and HX for several years, and we are here to support you as you rethink what it means to teach in this new way. We’ve put together a few preliminary thoughts for you to consider as you prepare for next year, and we welcome further conversation.
