Feet were thumping, shoulders were rubbing, tube doors were slamming and minds were spinning with curiosity. This was what was going on in South Kensington at 9:00am on Saturday 28th of March. The day had finally arrived. The London RE Hub Conference was taking place all day at the Ismaili Centre nearby, and many people had turned up to see what it had to offer. It was a day for teachers, promoters and supporters of religious education to get together and share ideas. These big, beautiful concepts formed the underpinning of the whole conference, weaving together numerous minds to form a range of new and exciting possibilities.
There was a range of workshops going on throughout the day, each one with their own sense of passion and originality. There were religious speakers from the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and Humanist communities who teamed up with teachers to form collaborative workshops for the audience. The aim of all of these sessions was to raise standards of teaching about religious and non-religious worldviews – and the day did just that. There were also talks on religious literacy and special needs in religious education.
It was a particularly important day for the TrueTube team, because we were also collaborating with a teacher to do a workshop. We focused on using short films in religious education and how to use them to their full potential within a classroom environment. It was Kate Christopher from the London RE Hub team and myself who led the session. Months of planning finally sprung into action and the atmosphere was electric. Using one of our philosophical animation ‘Proving God Exists’ and of our key feature animations ‘How Islam began - in ten minutes’, we demonstrated different lesson activities which could make the film come alive and engage the students with their content. We also talked about how this could then lead to deeper subject knowledge, and gave room for the audience to discuss how they would personally use the resources in a lesson. By me and Kate working together, we were able to combine knowledge from the world of media and the world of teaching to produce a new wave of enthusiasm. This enthusiasm emanated from every session until the conference finished late in the afternoon. Feet thumped, shoulders rubbed, tube doors slammed and minds spun as everybody made their way home or for a celebratory pint at the pub. However minds were now spinning with fresh ideas, new connections and faith in the future. I know I speak on behalf of the whole team at TrueTube when I say we feel honoured to have been part of the big event and cannot wait to see what happens next.
There was a range of workshops going on throughout the day, each one with their own sense of passion and originality. There were religious speakers from the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and Humanist communities who teamed up with teachers to form collaborative workshops for the audience. The aim of all of these sessions was to raise standards of teaching about religious and non-religious worldviews – and the day did just that. There were also talks on religious literacy and special needs in religious education.
It was a particularly important day for the TrueTube team, because we were also collaborating with a teacher to do a workshop. We focused on using short films in religious education and how to use them to their full potential within a classroom environment. It was Kate Christopher from the London RE Hub team and myself who led the session. Months of planning finally sprung into action and the atmosphere was electric. Using one of our philosophical animation ‘Proving God Exists’ and of our key feature animations ‘How Islam began - in ten minutes’, we demonstrated different lesson activities which could make the film come alive and engage the students with their content. We also talked about how this could then lead to deeper subject knowledge, and gave room for the audience to discuss how they would personally use the resources in a lesson. By me and Kate working together, we were able to combine knowledge from the world of media and the world of teaching to produce a new wave of enthusiasm. This enthusiasm emanated from every session until the conference finished late in the afternoon. Feet thumped, shoulders rubbed, tube doors slammed and minds spun as everybody made their way home or for a celebratory pint at the pub. However minds were now spinning with fresh ideas, new connections and faith in the future. I know I speak on behalf of the whole team at TrueTube when I say we feel honoured to have been part of the big event and cannot wait to see what happens next.