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AIM AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
This lesson is aimed at a GCSE class and is one hour long. This theme is usually found in the ‘Equality’ unit for OCR Ethics GCSE KS4 – it also appears on the Edexcel and AQA schemes of work. By the end of the lesson the students should:
• Know what is meant by forgiveness and reconciliation
• Understand why Christians should forgive
• Be able to link a case study to Christian teaching, and form a personal opinion on the topic
Resources needed: the slide show can be downloaded from the Premier Youthwork website, a class set of Bibles (the school may be able to provide these), red and blue pieces of paper / card to be handed to each student upon entry.
UNFORGIVABLE!
15 mins
Settle students down and introduce the theme of the lesson. Introduce the ‘Unforgivable’ grid (slide three) and then show the students some emotive statements and scenarios (slides four and five). Students should discuss in pairs their feelings on the statement and how ‘forgivable’ they feel that scenario is. The categories for answers are:
• Yes, easily… it wouldn’t bother me
• Maybe after a while, once I’d got over it
• They would have to say sorry first
• Only if they made it up to me
• Unforgivable
An example statement is, ‘you are given a detention for something you didn’t do’. Students are only allowed between them to have one statement that is ‘Unforgivable.’ Feedback to the class which statement each group thought was unforgivable – this can lead into a larger discussion depending on the class.
Then ask the class what they think of when they hear the words ‘forgiveness and reconciliation?’ Ask the students to brainstorm as many ideas as possible in their books using one coloured pen. Ask students for feedback as a class discussion.
DEFINITIONS
5 mins
See if anyone in the class can give an appropriate definition for forgiveness and reconciliation, and then get students to copy into their books the definitions. The exam has one mark questions for definitions so this is important.
See slides six and seven for definitions. After explaining their meanings, ask students to work in pairs and discuss two questions: ‘What do Christians think about forgiveness?’ and ‘What do Christians think about reconciliation?’. This could be done on whiteboards if they are available, in their books, or verbally. This will be a useful task to assess quickly how much knowledge the class already has.
BIBLE WARS
5 mins
To give some Christian input, play a game of Bible Wars (you may wish to call it another name!) to get some quick impressions of biblical passages. Hand out Bibles to the class and ask students to place them closed on their heads. For added effect, ask them to put their hands on the table to keep the Bible balanced. Put the Bible verses on the screen (slide ten) and then challenge the students to turn to the verses as quick as possible. Once they’ve reached the verse, students are to stand up. Ask the first placed person to read out the verse to the class.
• Micah 7:18-19
• Matthew 5:24
• Matthew 5:44-45
• Thomas 16: 4-8 (it’s always nice to throw in a fake one to see how they cope)
• Matthew 6:9-15
• Matthew 18:21-35
• Luke 6:35-38;42
DISCUSSION
10 mins
Ask the group to discuss this question: is it possible to forgive, and should Christians have to? Ask students to draw on their own examples for this discussion, and share some stories where appropriate.
As it winds down, ask students to vote on whether Christians should have to always forgive or not, use the red card for no and the blue card for yes. Then ask students to return to their earlier brainstorm, and using a different coloured pen, to write down new ideas that they’ve learnt or thought of in the lesson. Ask students for feedback.
CASE STUDY: THE DEATH OF ANTHONY WALKER
10 mins
Give some background of the story of Anthony Walker and his death – information can be found online or on the slide show. If you have access to the OCR GCSE Ethics textbook, page 104 has more detail.
Click on the picture of Anthony (slide 13) to be taken to a six minute BBC video about his sister and mother choosing to forgive. It’s an excellent video so you may wish to download it separately in case it disappears. After the clip, read through the quotes from Gee on slides 14 and 15. Ask the class how they feel about Gee’s response in the story, and whether they could imagine doing something similar. Discuss in pairs and then feedback to the class.
Get students to make bullet points with the main points of the story of Anthony Walker and Gee’s response into their books. You may wish to give this out as a handout depending on the ability of the class. Ask students to vote on whether they could forgive in this situation or not, using the red card for no and the blue card for yes.
EXAM PRACTICE
10 mins
On the cards handed to them at the beginning of the lesson, ask students to answer this question: explain how Christians’ beliefs about forgiveness and reconciliation may affect the way they treat others (six marks).
Students should write on one of their cards three points following the PEE format (Point – who and what do they believe. Evidence – what evidence or examples are there? Explain – what does that mean?). They can’t write the same as their partner. Between them they should have six points and enough to get full marks on the question.
