WORLD RELIGIONS Geography & History Resources for Middle School
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Teaching About Religions in the Public School Classroom
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Do make sure you are teaching the academic standards / objectives laid out by the school district. In world geography and world history classes, teaching about religions is normal. If you’re teaching about religion in math class, well, that’s another matter.
Do learn about the interplay of culture and religion across civilizations if you teach geography or history. Culture shapes religion and religion shapes culture. Learning more about this will give you a stronger foundation from which to teach about world religions. Do make sure you and your principal are on the same page. You do not have to agree on everything, but your principal needs to have your back, in this area as on any other, if a student or parent gets bent out of shape. Do show respect for any religion about which you teach. It helps me to think, “Would it be okay for me to say or do this if a student from this religion were in my classroom right now?” And remember that they might be! Saying it must be difficult to be a woman in Muslim culture or how strange it must be for Jewish kids to not celebrate Christmas can only make those students feel more alienated in a school where they are probably in the minority already. Do find out what religious institutions are present in your community. It will help you anticipate what contact your students may have had with these religions previously. It’s sometimes surprising what kind of background knowledge students bring with them. I had a Christian student who had participated in some events at a local mosque with a Muslim friend. I had another Christian student who had participated in a Passover Seder with a Jewish friend’s family. Do remember that there are students who come from a totally nonreligious background. Statements like, “The important thing is that all the major religions believe in God” may be well-intentioned. But it is not only inaccurate (since Buddhism does not require any belief in diety) but may get you into hot water with students from nonreligious homes. Do put your students first – not your need to reinforce your own belief system. As public school teachers, we are Constitutionally bound to be unbiased in our teaching about religion in the classroom. |
Don’t assume you only need to know what’s in your textbook. As with any topic, students will ask questions about the different religions you study. It’s good if you already know some of the answers.
Don’t let students mock others’ belief systems – even if no one in class is part of that belief system. Don’t have students act out religious rituals or try on religious clothing as part of instruction. There are two really good reasons for this. First, it pushes the instruction too close to teaching religion instead of teaching about religion. Second, it tends to caricaturize valued aspects of the religion being studied which can offend followers of that religion. Don’t single out a minority-religion student as an authority on that religion. Kids - especially middle school kids - rarely like their differentness pointed out. If the student decides to talk about it, fine. But it’s not our job to put them on the spot. Don’t tell students why they should or should not believe a basic belief of a religion. (After I explain the concept of reincarnation, I often have a student who asks, “Is that really true?” I tell them that the answer they receive depends on the beliefs of the person they ask. I’ve also been known to tell them that I haven’t been dead yet so I don’t have all the details. But find an answer that works for you and remember that we don’t teach religion, we teach about religion.) Don’t be surprised if students ask nosey questions about your personal religious beliefs and practices. They are middle school kids after all. They ask inappropriate questions all the time and don’t realize it! I’ve had kids ask if I’m a Christian, if I’m a Muslim, and what church I go to. I’ve found that dodging those questions leads to suspicion on the part of students (and then by parents). Check with your administration, but find a way to answer those questions without compromising your academic role. Don’t assume students already know about their own religion. I know that sounds strange. But I’ve had so many students who thought Jesus was a Christian and that the Ten Commandments originated within Christianity. I’ve also had Muslim students who did not know how there came to be Sunni and Shiite Muslims. |
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This simple chart is a way for students to compare / contrast major world religions.
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Click on the world or United States map to go a HIGH RESOLUTION version of the map.
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While Christianity is the most common religion throughout the United States, this map from the Washington Post tells us where other religions are the second most common within the US.
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links on world religions
Click the site logo to go to that web site.
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United Religions Initiative has a lot of information about different world religions on their web site. This link will take you directly to the page with classroom lesson materials. You can navigate to different pages of their web site from that page if you wish.
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World Religions for Kids has detailed information on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. In addition to information, the site includes video clips, interesting photographs, and an animated timeline showing development of major world religions as well as related historical events. The site also has some great pages on ancient world cultures.
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This link is to a web page that gives great information about Tibetan prayer flags. Students can make their own prayer flags. It may be important that students understand that these prayers are not intended to be sent to any god. Buddhists believe that the prayers are spread out to the world to encourage peace compassion, strength, and wisdom.
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