As reflective practitioners and life long learners, over the the next few weeks, the Early Years team will be investigating different approaches to teaching Sacred Texts. Working as a team, we will critically analyse elements of these approaches with a view to how we can improve our RE planning for Semester 2.

As we all know, teaching scripture in an Early Years context at St X's can be daunting. Most of our students do not have any prior knowledge of Catholic Christian traditions and sacred texts. They have had limited exposure to religious language. Our role is often to introduce, as well as facilitate an exploration and investigation of Sacred Texts. Using our main lens' of the Three Worlds of the Text, our goal as stated by Brisbane Catholic Education is to "educate all to live the gospel of Jesus Christ as successful, creative and confident, active and informed learners empowered to shape and enrich our world." (BCE, 2013, pg 10) But in order to "live the gospel" of Jesus Christ, our learners must first know how to access and understand the Word.

Today we will be looking at Jerome Berryman's method of Godly Play (Berryman, 2009) to critically review if elements of this approach would be able to be implemented at St X's in a way that would enhance our teaching of Sacred Texts.

Many of us have an idea of what 'Godly Play' is about - but in the interest of being critical evaluators, let's have a closer look so that we can ensure we have a shared understanding of the approach and can then effectively consider what the implications for teaching and learning using elements of this method are.

Godly Play was developed by Jerome Berryman in the US. Whilst an undergraduate at Princeton in the 1960's, Berryman was unsatisfied by the models of religious education for young children that were being discussed and implemented. Berryman felt that the models were designed to tell children what to think - rather than to allow them to "construct their own personal meaning." (Berryman, 2009, pg.14)

Berryman went searching for different ways to think about the spiritual development and religious education of children. His search led him to Italy.

Berryman found inspiration in the work of Maria Montessori - who "believed that each child is born with a unique potential to be revealed, not as a "blank slate" waiting to be written upon." (Ryan in Grajczonek and Ryan, pg. 33 in 2007).

As early years educators, we are all familiar with Montessori's ground-breaking efforts to make learning environments child-centred, to provide learning opportunities connected to nature and using natural materials, and a focus on the child constructing their own knowledge, however probably what is less known to us, is that as a product of Catholic Italy at the first half of the 20th century, Montessori was also approaching religious education in a unique way.

Berryman found her practices inspiring. He shares in his book "Teaching Godly Play" that in one of Montessori's schools, children preparing for the Eucharist harvested the wheat, ground the flour and then "stamped the rolled-out dough they had made with a personally chosen Christian symbol." They then "baked their personal communion hosts" for their special day. (Berryman, 2009, Pg 29) What a way to take ownership and responsibility for your full and active participation in a sacrament!

Building on what he learnt from the work of Montessori, Berryman was influenced by Sofia Cavalletti, a student of the Montessori approach who during the 1950's in Rome, started to "develop Montessori's ideas into an approach to catechesis for young children" (Ryan, 2007 in Ryan and Gracjzonek)

Her research regarding the "religious potential of the child" informed the development of "The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd" - a faith formation approach that is used in many Brisbane Catholic parishes today. (Cavalletti, 1973)

Cavalletti's ideas and approaches were designed for use in a Catholic liturgical setting - where the child already had an exposure to and some level of understanding of the 'language' of their faith and where the aim was more about formation than education. "Catechesis is a process of faith sharing in which all who participate are seeking faith development. (Grajczonek and Austin, 2007 in Grajczonek and Ryan, 2007, pg 214)

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd includes guided exploration of scripture text, concrete materials and play based on Montessori's ideals.

Berryman's work builds on that of Montessori and Cavalletti. Whilst he was designing resources for an Anglican (Episcopalian) audience, there are many similarities between Cavaletti and Berryman's approaches.

So what exactly is Godly Play?

In Berryman's own words - it is "an imaginative method for presenting scripture stories to children."

Godly Play takes place in a Worship Education Centre. The centre has "classrooms" and lessons are facilitated by a qualified Godly Play educator. The structure for each session remains the same.

- Welcome - participants are welcomed at the door and asked if they are ready to take part.
- Building the circle - each participant is welcomed into a circle and asked to get their body ready for the lesson.
- Presenting the Lesson - the lesson is presented by the facilitator as a monologue without eye contact. The facilitator uses concrete materials to tell the story and uses a script based on scripture.
- Wondering - each lesson ends with questions posed by the facilitator inviting participants to wonder about the story they have just heard.

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS SLIDE

Response - participants are invited to respond to the lesson artistically using art and craft material or the concrete materials used to tell the story. This takes place respectfully and in silence. It is time designed to help the
- The Feast - participants are asked to pack away their art/craft materials and share crackers and juice. The participants are invite to pray grace togethe.r
- Saying goodbye - the lesson is brought to a close in a formal way with the faciliator saying goodbye to each participant individually. (Berryman, 2002, pg. 12-17)

NEW SLIDE
Link to Video: https://youtu.be/o09dkXo_jYU

Here is just a 30 second taste of what Godly Play looks and sounds like. The pace is slow - reverential the delivery is purposeful. The facilitator does not make eye contact or engage in conversation during the telling of the story. There is a focus on 'setting the scene' and the sacredness of the story. At the end of the story the facilitator poses the "I wonder" questions that are critical part of the process.

I've brought along some scripts that align to the various year levels mandated texts. Take 10 mins now to read through these together. Is there any parts you could use? What interests you about the script? What concerns you?

Whilst not appropriate for us to use as intended or as a holistic approach - it is definitely work considering how can we use the wisdom of Jerome Berryman (and really...Montessori and Cavaletti) to help us teach Sacred Texts more effectively in the Early Years here at St X's? What tools can we adapt to help our students gain an understanding of these ancient words?

Key considerations for us as we analyse Godly Play and it's implications for teaching and learning at St X's are:
1. Our requirement to teach both of Moran's dimensions of Religious Education - to teach people about religion as well as how to be religious in a particular way. (Moran, 2007 in Grazjczonek and Ryan, pg. 256-257) Our context is that of an educational rather than strictly a faith-forming setting.
2. Our multicultural context requires that we are mindful of being inclusive of all cultural and faith contexts as well as teaching about the Catholic tradition.
3. The agreed lens for investigating Sacred Texts of the Catholic tradition in the Brisbane Archdiocese is through the Three Worlds of the Text. (BCE, 2016) As such, use of strategies from Godly Play must support this exploration not go against it.

Now that we have a deeper understanding of the intentions of Berryman, his reasoning for this approach and how the program was intended to be used - and a clear statement about our own context and lens for exploring Sacred Texts - we are better equipped to make judgements about how to interpret Godly Play and make it relevant to our students and the Religion Curriculum here at St X's.

How could the Godly Play approach be used to inform and improve our teaching of Sacred Texts?

And one major learning I think we can take from Jerome Berryman's approach is that we need to become great story tellers. We need to think deeply about and prepare how we are going to present these sacred stories in a way that engages the students - we need to become expert sacred storytellers!

The basis of Godly Play is the scripted lesson which is a version or retell of certain parts of scripture and not direct text. In our context, the scripts are not appropriate resources to take and use. These scripts have been written and designed for participants in a faith forming setting who already have a common religious context. It is interesting to look at the content and draw some ideas however, from a curriculum perspective, it will be more beneficial for our students if we first research the worlds of the text ourselves - and then invite them to explore these worlds with us.

By considering our role as that of a sacred storyteller, well informed by research into the worlds of the text - we can work towards sharing sacred texts in a way that invites our learners in and inspires them to seek to find out more.
By sharing the text first in an accessible, multi-modal way - it prepares the students for exploring the words of the sacred text directly.

As with the Early Years Curriculum in other key learning areas, the use of concrete materials when sharing the Word is very powerful. For example, the sand of the desert makes the story of The Exodus, that we had a quick look at, take on a different dimension. It encourages students to connect to the Worlds of the Text model of exploring Scripture preferred by Brisbane Catholic Education by highlighting the world before the text.

In our multi-cultural and multi-faith context, the use of concrete materials also provides more clues for the learner in regards to what the story is about and helps them to develop a greater understanding than in the story was only delivered orally.

Another element of Berryman's approach that can be adapted to our context is the importance of setting the scene. The sharing of a sacred story needs to take place in a sacred way that demonstrates to learners this is not just a standard part of our day. It's setting up a liminality - or sense of moving into another place - to hear with our ears - but also with our hearts. The use of stillness and silence - as well as pauses within the telling of the story encourages places (and space) for wondering and contemplation. Whilst some critics of Godly Play argue that we can't be prescriptive about programming time for 'wonder', in a busy curriculum this is a gift and a way to bring focus to the importance of this teaching and learning experience at our school.

In Godly Play, each participant is welcomed and farewelled personally. Whilst this is not appropriate in a classroom setting, it is important that there is a clear sense that everyone belongs and has a place in the circle.

And finally one area we can definitely look to include more in our religion curriculum is to allow time for play. Play is how our students make their own meaning and connect to the Sacred Text.

The ability to engage in a hands-on way promotes exploration and ownership of the story as one the child has access to. It does not just belong in the bible or to the teacher who has spoken the Word.

Berryman's idea of free expression is a good reminder to us that we don't need colouring in templates and worksheets to support exploration of biblical texts. If we have been great storytellers and supported the student's investigation of the Three World's of the Text - there should be an abundance of material for them to draw from creatively and express in different ways.

There are many well documented challenges to using Godly Play within the current Religion Curriculum of the Catholic school. Grajczonek & Truasheim, (2015) highlighted that the approach is in conflict with the Visible Learning framework currently being implemented in all Catholic Schools within the Archdiocese of Brisbane. Grajzonek & Truasheim questioned how teachers can "provide the most optimal learning experience if they are unaware of the intentional learning?" (Grajczonek & Truasheim, 2015 pg. 12.)

However it is not our intention to suggest that this method be adopted in it's entirety - merely to use the best of the strategies and techniques to enhance what we already do.

I also think though that there is a concern that if we limit religious education to only that which can be planned with learning intentions and measured by success criteria that we may lose something of the 'otherness' that we create when we make part of our teaching and learning sacred. Berryman (1997 in Hyde, 2013) argues that there are "three types of knowing" involved in religious education - "knowing of the body by senses, knowing of the mind by reason, and knowing of the spirit by contemplation". We don't really use the third type in our other key learning areas but does that mean we shouldn't in religious education? What do you think?

To finish, I thought we'd share with you a quick case study of how one Year 1 class is already using elements of Godly Play in teaching about the Birth and Youth of Moses - a mandated text in the Religion Curriculum.

Using the Godly Play kit available through Brisbane Catholic Education's ResourceLink service, the teacher first told the story of the Birth and Youth of Moses using materials from the kit in a way that emphasized the sacredness of the story. A circle was formed, children practiced breathing and meditation techniques to prepare to listen to the Word before hearing the story.

An investigation into the world before the text and the world of the text was facilitated and led by student questioning.

Once the story was shared and explored in this way, students were invited to return to their desks in silence to "listen" to the Word in silence and to use their pencils to "listen" as well.

As they listened to the direct text from Scripture, the children were invited to draw the characters and elements of the story. Whilst more prescriptive than the Godly Play traditional setting, the students expressed their understanding of the story through their creative interpretation.

The students were given materials and time to then explore the story on their own. Many student's turned their drawings into stick puppets and colloboratively created settings to retell the story. Some students used dress-ups to act out the story.

One clear difference between Godly Play's approach and the classroom was that the exploration and play was not silent or reverential. It was filled with language and students co-creating.

Thanks for listening today. I'm looking forward to hearing about the other approaches and working together to improve learning experiences for our students. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what elements of the Godly Play approach you think you could use in your classroom. Or to hear your thoughts on what you think wouldn't work and why?
I wonder... what message this session has had for you?

Ha ha!!!

References

Berryman, J. (2006). The complete guide to Godly Play. Volume 1. Denver, Colo.: Living the Good News.
Berryman, J. (2009). Teaching Godly Play. Denver: Morehouse Pub. Co.
Brisbane Catholic Education. (2013). Religious Education: Archdiocese of Brisbane. Brisbane: Catholic Education: Archdiocese of Brisbane.
Brisbane Catholic Education. (2016). ResourceLink. Brisbane: Catholic Education: Archdiocese of Brisbane. Retrieved 13 June 2016, from https://kweb.bne.catholic.edu.au/ResourceLink/Pages/default.aspx
Cavalletti, S. (1983). The religious potential of the child. New York: Paulist Press.
Grajczonek, J. & Austin, H. (2007). Revealing the Early Years' Religion Program through Classroom Interaction. In J. Grajczonek & M. Ryan, Religious Education in Early Childhood (1st ed., p. 214). Hamilton: Lumino Press.
Grajczonek, J. & Truasheim, M. (2015). Implementing Godly Play in educational settings: a cautionary tale. British Journal Of Religious Education, 1-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2015.1110112
Hyde, B. (2013). A category mistake: why contemporary Australian religious education in Catholic schools may be doomed to failure. Journal Of Beliefs & Values, 34(1), 36-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2013.759344
Hyde, B. (2010). Godly Play Nourishing Children's Spirituality: A Case Study. Religious Education, 105(5), 504-518. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2010.516215
Jubilee Catholic Parish,. (2016). Image of Parish Atrium. Retrieved 13 June 2016 from http://www.jubileeparish.com/ministry/sr-mary-de-ricci-atrium
Moran, G. (2007). Understanding Religion and Being Religious. In J. Grajczonek & M. Ryan, Religious Education in Early Childhood (1st ed., pp. 256 - 257). Hamilton: Lumino Press.
Ryan, M. (2007). Theorists Informing Early Years Religious Education. In J. Grajczonek & M. Ryan, Religious Education in Early Childhood (1st ed., p. 214). Hamilton: Lumino Press.