Stillness and silence
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain how silence is used by different religious communities.
Key learning points
- Silence can be found in many religious traditions.
- Most Quakers use silence as the centre of worship. Quakers talk about the idea of waiting for God.
- For some people, silence is a way of connecting and finding the divine in worship.
- For many people, silence allows time for listening.
- We can understand different Christian, Muslim and Sikh perspectives on silence by interviewing and speaking to them.
Keywords
Meditation - being calm and focusing the mind
Contemplation - thinking deeply about something
Silence - the absence of sound or noise
Stillness - the absence of movement or sound
Common misconception
Worship always involves talking or music.
Worship can be silent.
Teacher tip
Include silence in RE. ‘Think’ in Think-pair-share demonstrates how silence leads to deeper thinking. ‘Silent debate’ uses silence in a traditionally vocal activity - pupils write ideas and challenge others on big paper without verbal discussion. Appreciate the silence before and after music.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Nasheeds are songs that praise ...
Q2.Some Muslims use voices and to feel close to God.
Q3.Which branch of Muslims often use music to worship Allah?
Q4.Why might some Muslims avoid the use of music in worship?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.In many religions, helps people pray, or feel peaceful.
Q2.What do Quakers do during worship?
Q3.Silence gives people time for ...
Q4.What kind of worship might include silence?
To help you plan your 3 religious education lesson on: Stillness and silence, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 3 religious education lesson on: Stillness and silence, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 religious education lessons from the Spirituality: How do music and silence express beliefs? unit, dive into the full primary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.