Beliefs in Life after Death

Here is my lesson plan for my Year 11 next week.

Starter - Guess the aim of the lesson/"Shark". A variation on hangman - the words of the aim (Explain why non-religious people might believe in life after death) will be marked with lines (instead of letters): _______ ___ ___-_________ ______ _____ _______ __ ____ _____ _____ Pupils will have to guess what words they think will be in the aim (they will be told it is an exam question, so should be able to guess words like "outline", "explain" and "agree"). If they are correct, the word will be filled in the correct space. If not, normally this would mean the addition of a piece of body on the gallows, but this will be a more kinaesthetic version, so instead a volunteer will take a step from the wall towards my desk. If he or she reaches my desk then they have fallen off the cliff and are eaten by sharks, and I win. If the class guesses the word before the victim reaches the desk, the class will have won (and will know the aim of the lesson).

Input - Three pictures will be shown, one at a time. I think they will be of a seance, a person looking in a crystal ball, and an image representing a Near Death Experience. Perhaps also a ghost. In pairs, the pupils will talk about each image. They will answer the questions, "What is happening?", "Why might this encourage a non-religious person to believe in life after death?" and "How might a Christian respond to this image?" (and perhaps also, "What might a scientist say about this phenomenon?") After we have discussed the pictures, there will be some feedback, and I will share a couple of Biblical quotes that warn against communicating with dead.

Demonstrate - Pupils will have to answer the exam question shared at the beginning of the lesson. However, to help them, they will first of all have to unjumble some sentences which will form the first half of the exam answer.

Plenary - Once the questions are unjumbled, pupils will need to write a further two points using PEE (point, evidence, explanation) explaining why some non-religious people believe in life after death. We could then have the answers read out.

So, there you go. A lesson on beliefs in life after death and the paranormal. Who knows, I might even mention my UFO encounter!