Y7 RE: 'The most important thing Moses did for the Jews was to give them the 10 Commandments from God"

[erebus]

"- Give 3 supported reason why one might agree with this statement.

• Give 3 supported reasons why one might not agree."

DS has come up with 3 reasons in agreements (eg Establishing the moral code for the Jewish people, establishing his right to be their leader, establishing a moral framework on which modern British laws are based)

But as for disagreeing- well, I'm no Biblical scholar (and, far more to the point, wasn't sitting in the lesson, but...!).. the only one DS has come up with is: Leading the Israelites out of Egypt was the most important thing Moses did.

What do you think?!

Erebus - I know, drives me nuts. DS is forever making godawful ugly powerpoints about stuff for homework, and no ones ever taught him how to make a non-headache inducing slideshow (and he won't take my word for it that less is more when it comes to rainbow backgrounds and jazzy transitions).

I don't think schooworkl should be 1950s style boring, but sometimes they seem to try to make it interesting by adding frilly presentation rather than thinking about the really interesting questions.

Yes, himalaya, indeed. I feel that demonstrating a solid knowledge of the subject matter can be lost beneath the fonts, designs, transitions etc. In the pamphlet design thing, naturally he had to chose what facts to put in and which to leave out- but how does a teacher know that certain facts aren't there because a DC has made a value judgement regarding their exclusion- or because the DC didn't know the fact in the first place?

I have got to the point where I am hinting at DS that you can get away with style over substance!

lol johanna ! "Real 'killjoy' "

Please ask the teacher...

I always tell the dc that substance is vital, but if it is presented in a way that is pleasing to the beholder, they will be predisposed to like it more. Common sense, no?

I agree, hully BUT the pamphlet thing required DS to be economical with his facts for the sake of the 'punch' required and for artistic reasons, thus the homework didn't really test his knowledge of the issues surrounding the building of the motorway. I'm all for teaching good presentation skills, but imho it should have been a separate lesson, esp in Y7, perhaps asking them to design a pamphlet about, say, why you should send your child to this school- something they all know the content of, thus the LO of the lesson is just presentation skills.

I think DS will join a line of people asking for help from the teacher! Mainly the conscientious girls, mind!

I think Johanna's just summed it all up!

No help on the RE thing but in relation to the pamphlet, I think the way it would have been done in my day (tee hee, I'm only 29!!) would have been either to prepare a pamphlet for each side of the argument, or else (or perhaps as well as) a class debate to be held and not to know in advance which side you would be required to speak for.

I generally used to hate having to present things in any style other than text, and used to drive me mad spending lesson time designing brochures, pamphlets etc (unless in art!). Luckily I found a career as a lawyer where sparkly borders and funky layouts aren't really called for...!

Posters.

Lazy lazy homework setting.

Ah, the posters I have 'helped' design!

And this at the top-performing comp in the county!

Do teachers do it to fill their walls with colour to dazzle OFSTED inspectors and prospective parents?!

I agree, chessy. I'd far rather 'design', as such, was left within the Art dept. A 'for' and 'against' discussion or 2 pieces of written work would have been a better option! And age is no barrier to this 'common sense'- I'm 48! I can remember Moses at school!

Yes, for the walls.

dd is one academic year behind ds. Oh the joy when she comes home with the instructions to make a poster on the properties of metals...and insists it 's different to his.

3 for and 3 against is getting them in training for answering GCSE questions, especially the 'd' questions if they do Edexcel. Start 'em young and they have the hang of it by the time they're 16!

One might argue that getting the Jews out of Egypt safely so they could establish Israel was more important.

One could also argue that a moral code is internal and innate and not influenced by external factors such as the decalogue.

'I can remember Moses at school' - thought you'd have had to be more than 48 to remember him at school - what did he have in his packed lunch?

unleaven bread sarnies.

ds's struggle (and therefore mine- sigh-) is three reasons disagreeing with the statement, really. Without knowing how much depth they've studied Moses, Egypt etc etc, and bearing in mind they're 11, I can't think what they might come up with as to why receiving the 10 Commandments wasn't Moses' greatest act!

I can see that getting the Jews out of Egypt was a biggie in itself, thank you. I'll put that to DS.

Moses is generally credited with having been the author of the first 5 books of the Old Testament, so perhaps you could argue that writing down Genesis, Exodus, etc was important fo rthe Jews at it records their history?

The question of why it is believed Moses was the author of the Pentateuch/Torah is a whole university course in and unto itself, really. The historiography of the OT is fascinating.

'unleaven bread sarnies' precursor to the wrap then, or was it a pitta and hummus?

Well, receiving the 10 Cdts wasn't really an act of Moses, it was an act of God to Moses. Moses was passive here not active, he was merely a conduit between God and the people. Also, if he hadn't got the Jews out of slavery, the decalogue wouldn't have been much use.

Of course your son could really put the cat amongst the pigeons and point out that the entire Exodus thing never actually happened and that these alleged events in the OT are redactions written hundreds of years later in an attempt to put a spin and/or gloss on the history of the early Jews to make themselves sound far more important than they actually were in comparison to the contemporary societies that surrounded them.

There will be some sort of set answer the markers want and hopefully if it's for something like common entrance exams they'll be helped in school to know what the markers are after. I know some of mine are tempted to write RE answers disputing the existence of God but resist because that's not what is expected within the answers.

Xenia: What? Surely your children are studying Religious Education not endorsing theological dogmas? Why can't a candidate dispute the existence of any deity in the exam?

If the candidate prefaces their answer by stating that, "X religion believes or has faith in blah blah blah" surely no examiner should mark them down for it? Or is this another example of religion being given preferential treatment?

Ok - other things that could have been the most important things Moses did for the Jews ( taking the story at face value):

Listening to God at the burning bush and then getting Pharaoh to set the Israelites free.

Listening to God and raising his staff so that the Red Sea parted, thus allowing the Israelites to escape Pharaoh's army.

Establishing social structure and order within the tribes and health and hygiene rules (appointing people to deal with disputes etc). Having been slaves for so long they would have not been used to having a structure within their society.

Establishing worship practices by directing the making of the Tabernacle and the Levites as priests, plus details of how sacrifices were to be made etc.

Interceding with God when he wanted to destroy the Israelites when they worshipped the golden calf.

I suspect some of these papers taken at that age want particular answers not some child going off at a tangent saying Moses never lived or God doesn't exist although I'm always delighted when my children have a wide range of views on things. However you have to be realistic if exams are concerned. If you went into A level Chemistry and wrote an essay about why the study of science was pointless I don't think you would get much of a mark.

It would depend on the question though...

'If the candidate prefaces their answer by stating that, "X religion believes or has faith in blah blah blah" surely no examiner should mark them down for it? Or is this another example of religion being given preferential treatment?'

As long as the question on the paper (as opposed to the question the candidate would like to be on the paper is answered, then examiners have no problem with an answer beginning as outlined above.

We do not 'mark down' at GCSE at any rate. I do have a problem when a candidate starts an answer about a religion other than Christianity (and that's because there are a variety they could study for the exam) by writing that 'Catholics believe x...' Nul points for that one then. I also can't give marks for drawings like the one last year of a pair of hairy balls and an erect cock with the words Religious Education erupting from the top. That candidate evidently ran out of time to complete whatever else was going to come out of the tip!

The common entrance RE paper I think does cover other religions but majors in Christianity, I think. I've not looked very closely. All I'd want to avoid is some clever dick child of mine thinking ah I can avoid writing anything by making his answer say "I do not believe in God so am unable to answer the question" (if indeed they don't).