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Jesus in the
Gospels
A Group Activity
Religion: Christian Purpose:
to explore the life and teachings of Jesus as reported in the Gospels Cognitive
Skills: synthesis Learning Styles: active,
verbal Intelligences:
linguistic, interpersonal Use:
in class For: small groups Estimated
time: 30 - 40 minutes Materials
needed: Bibles (New Testament) and handout
(students can be invited to bring their own Bibles, any version [except
paraphrases]) Notes:
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This activity uses "jigsaw" grouping, wherein students work
together in one group and then groups are shuffled so all students benefit
from the work done by all groups.
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Teachers may take the
liberty of selecting their own preferred passages and/or themes for students
to look at beyond those on the handout.
The
Activity:
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Distribute handout
with themes, passages to read and questions to address.
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Divide the class into
six groups, assigning each group to a different theme (different passages to
read and questions to answer). Give groups at least 15 minutes to review
suggested passages, discuss questions and note answers to the questions.
During this time the
teacher should circulate to check on the progress of the groups.
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Regroup the
students so that each new
group has a representative from the original groups (this is best done
by counting off, all one's are in one group, all two's in another, all
three's in a third group, etc.).
In the case of an
odd numbering, some groups may have more than one student from the
first grouping. Just make sure that in the second set of groups, each
group has at least one person from each of the first groups.
Again, the teacher
should circulate and check progress of groups.
Alternative
possibilities: any discipline with complex combination of themes
within a given reading can be divided in a similar fashion for students to share
the task of analysis with teacher guidance (a handout identifying what passages
to read and what questions to answer based on the reading).
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