Performance Task - Four Pillars

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Jesus Christ Superstar RAFT

We'll work on this short assignment today and tomorrow:

Jesus Christ Superstar RAFT


It looks like this:

Film RAFT

After viewing the 1971 movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar”  and after readings and reporting on two of the four main books of the New Testament, you will report on Webber’s interpretation of some biblical events.  This should help you to develop your understanding of the final days of Christ, as seen through modern interpretations of the Gospels.

·    Choose any combination of ONE “item” from each of the FOUR columns below.  Using one each from the RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic – get it?  R.A.F.T.?) you are to submit a work worthy of this Grade 11 Academic-level class.

ROLE	AUDIENCE	FORMAT	TOPIC
Jesus Christ	Rabbi	Statement or Song	I would like the healing to begin . . .
Mary Magdalene	Rolling Stone Magazine	Opinion Piece	The Palestinians should be given parts of Israel as their own land . . .
Judas Iscariot	Your extended family	Poster Board –style presentation	Christian sacraments are still important . . .
Pontius Pilate	Friends at a party	Quilt / Collage	We should remove the “God” reference from the Charter of Rights …
King Herod	Your parents	Website	Jesus was just a man, not a God . . .
Caiaphus	Your siblings	Scrapbook	Christian beliefs challenge the status quo . . .
Andrew Lloyd Webber	Your Science teacher	Editorial	Civil practices are influenced by Christian symbols . . .

You MUST include:

·    An brief autobiography of the person whose ROLE you have chosen to play.

·    Lyrics from one of the songs from the film.

·    Biblical quotes from the relevant parts of the New Testament.

·    Your interpretation of how Christianity remains relevant to today’s modern world despite some of its main precepts being based upon events occurring 2000 years ago.

This is very open ended and is intended to be fun yet challenging.

The main challenge arises in creating your character (Role), playing to your Audience appropriately, creating a suitable end product (Format), and drawing strong connections and points of significance from the movie to your topic.

Knowledge /20

Thinking /20

Application /20

Communic. /20

Categories	Level 1 (11 or fewer marks)(0 - 59%)	Level 2 (12 or 13 marks)(60 - 69%)	Level 3 (14 or 15 marks)(70 - 79%)	Level 4 (16, 17, 18, 19 or 20 marks)(80 - 100%)
Knowledge/   Understanding Accurate and informative in reporting on ideas and issues fundamental to a modern interpretation of Christianity.	Shows little knowledge of the ideas and issues that are fundamental to a modern interpretation of Christianity.	Shows some knowledge of the ideas and issues that are fundamental to a modern interpretation of Christianity.	Shows considerable knowledge of the ideas and issues that are fundamental to a modern interpretation of Christianity.	Shows thorough knowledge of the ideas and issues that are fundamental to a modern interpretation of Christianity.
Thinking/Inquiry Character’s perspective is reasonable and supported well.	Character’s perspectives are supported weakly in helping to support ideas about a modern interpretation of Christianity.	Character’s perspectives are supported with some effectiveness in helping to support ideas about a modern interpretation of Christianity.	Character’s perspectives are supported with considerable effectiveness in helping to support ideas about a modern interpretation of Christianity.	Character’s perspectives are supported with a high degree of effectiveness in helping to support ideas about a modern interpretation of Christianity.
Application Applies issues and ideas and quotes that are fundamental to support ideas on the relevance of Christianity in the modern world.	Identifies and explains the relationship between biblical ideas and issues and modern Christianity with limited effectiveness.	Identifies and explains the relationship between biblical ideas and issues and modern Christianity with some effectiveness.	Identifies and explains the relationship between biblical ideas and issues and modern Christianity with considerable effectiveness.	Identifies and explains the relationship between biblical ideas and issues and modern Christianity with a high degree of effectiveness.
Communication Clarity, expression, and visual / intellectual impact on audience. Correct language use including spelling, grammar, syntax.	- Communicates ideas with limited clarity and quality of expression. - Weak language skills including many poor word choices and/or errors.	-Communicates ideas with some clarity and quality of expression. - Fair language skills including many poor word choices and/or errors.	- Communicates ideas with considerable clarity and quality of expression. - Good language skills including many poor word choices and/or errors.	- Communicates ideas with a high degree of clarity and quality of expression. - Excellent language skills including many poor word choices and/or errors.

Holy Week in Christianity - the Most Important Week of All

Here's a link to the Holy Week Bible Assignment.

It looks like this:

Holy Week: The Gospels According to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (if you don’t have a Bible these readings are online and free)

1.  Briefly define these (complete these as you are reading):

Gospel: ________________________________________________________

New Testament: _________________________________________________

Holy Week: ____________________________________________________

2.  Choose any two of the following 4 sections (books) of the New Testament.  Complete the information below as you read.

1. The Book of Matthew: Chapter 21 verse 1 to Chapter 28 verse 10.

2. The Book of Mark: Chapter 11 verse 1 - Chapter 16 verse 8.

3. The Book of Luke: Chapter 19 verse 28 - Chapter 24 verse 53.

4. The Book of John: Chapter 2 verse 12 - Chapter 21 verse 23.

You may want to complete this in a table format like this (or not)	Book: _________________	Book: __________________
Who are the main people in each reading?
Briefly outline the first main event, e.g. “Jesus enters Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to the displeasure of the political leaders.” Then explain the significance of the event, e.g. “Jesus fulfils a prior prophecy (that He would enter Jerusalem on a donkey) thus beginning his messianic journey through Holy Week.  He also commands His disciples and they obey, He also predicts that there will be donkeys waiting and, perhaps most significantly, He creates great irony by riding a donkey, the lowliest of creatures, rather than a majestic camel or elephant, signifying that he is not interested in the trappings of humans much like the current pope!”
Explain each of the main events from both of your “books” in a similar way as the example.
Find 7 adjectives used in each section.  List them.  Why are the adjectives different between the two sections?
Supposing that Jesus entered Jerusalem on a Sunday, list the events that happened over the next week, i.e. Holy Week.  *NOTE: these events happened over the course of 8 days.
Identify the main differences between the two books that you read and explain why you think these differences exist.

Tradition ! ! !

Just wanted to share this photo of Sasha during her presentation on Judaism today - music is an integral part of every culture and Sasha did a great job with the piece, "Tradition!" from Fiddler on the Roof as part of her presentation today.

Foundations of Christianity Class Presentation

In my absence today you are to work on a collaborative class presentation - here's the link to the Christianity 101 Class Presentation - where you can all add to and continue to work on your own slides simultaneously along with the rest of the class working on their slides.

"Duplicate Slide" to add slides that are IN THE SAME FORMAT as the original one (your name upper right, title upper left, font size 14 white Arial, picture somewhere in the middle) and then immediately change the name to your own and the title, picture, words etc.

You need to figure out who will be working with whom and on what topics.  I've included the beginning of the presentation (link above) as a starting point.

Here are the topics:

1. Four Gospels of the New Testament
2. Sermon on the Mount
3. The rest of the New Testament
4. Schism between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Churches (1054 CE)
5. The Crusades (started around 1095 CE)
6. Martin Luther leads the Protestant Reformation (1517 CE)
7. King Henry VIII creates the Church of England, aka Anglican Church (1534 CE)
8. First Vatican Council (1870 CE)
9. Second Vatican Council (1965 CE)
10. Modern-day Protestant Churches (Lutheran, Calvinist, Baptist, Methodist, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness)
11. Modern-day Catholicism and the brand new Pope
12. Profile of a Great Christian Leaders of the Modern Day (2 only for the whole class, each to be done by one student only)
13. Cloning and genetic engineering - why is this an issue for many Christians?

For each you should focus on the facts and figures, the main events and then why it is all significant.  The significance to the "church" and to the history of the Christianity and to the modern day practice of Christianity as a tool for social justice and change should be your focus once you have set up the nuts and bolts of your topic.

I think 8 - 10 slides for each topic should suffice but you might need more.  Please limit the writing on each slide to the space available in size 14 Arial based on the first sample slide that I've included.  A sentence or three should suffice - this is to be picture rich, not too much text per slide.

You can work singly or in pairs (NO groups of three).  The entire class needs to spend five minutes, with the help of the supply teacher, picking topics and names for them.

We'll have a look at your work on Tuesday and then everyone can present, informally, your work for the class.

Christianity Terms and Beliefs

Some important terms in Christianity

apostle - Jesus chose 12 men to go out and teach the gospel to the world.

Ascension - the rising of Jesus' body up to heaven after his time here on earth (celebrated 41 days after  Easter).  

Resurrection - Rising of Jesus from the dead 3 days after his death.

baptism - Sacrament (action) of sprinkling water symbolizing washing away sins and entering the Church community.

confession - Sacrament (action) where a believer confesses their sins and is forgiven by God.

Crucifixion - Roman execution method of hanging (with rope and nails) a person to a large cross - Jesus was killed this way.

disciple - follow of Jesus during his ministry (it includes the 12 apostles)

Easter - the day that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven

gospel - "Good News", the teachings in the bible of the life of Jesus.

Eucharist (Communion) - Sacrament (action) of spiritual communion with God - often in the form of unleavened bread and wine.

Holy Spirit - one of the three persons in God, believed to bestow spiritual gifts upon people.

Judgement Day (Last Judgement) - Day of God's final final judgement at the end of the world - the faithful will go to heaven.

Messiah - The Saviour, the person sent from God to save all people - Christians believe this to be Jesus.

Original Sin - believe of our tendency to sin (Baptism will wash this away).

Purgatory - temporary stage in which souls of the dead are purified from sin.

Papal infallibility - The belief that the Pope (the head of the Catholic Church) cannot be wrong in matters of faith and morals in his role as head of the church.


BASIC BELIEFS
Creation - God created everything in the universe (no particular date, he just did it).

God - derived from Judaism, one god made up of three entities - the Father, The Son, Holy Spirit.

Salvation and Eternal Life - believers will be forgiven for their sins and will enter heaven for eternity.

Morality is derived from the 10 Commandments.

Gender Roles - men are priests (Catholicism), women are nuns.  But in most Christian denominations ministers can be either gender.


Further to our previous discussions, here's a list of various big ideas that we have been exploring: Questions Christians can grapple with.

Christianity Introduction - Meaning in Your Life?

We started today having a look at this information on the discovery (it was theorized in the 1960's but only proven last summer at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland) of the Higgs Boson - a particle that existed in abundance at the creation of the universe and, so the theory goes, the particle that gives mass to energy, in other words creating "something from nothing", a rather novel thing indeed!  And an appropriate point to interject into conversations about our origins in a religious context.  This little video explains how the Large Hadron Collider works.  

Brief introduction to Christianity including the birth of Jesus Christ in around 4-3 BCE and his subsequent crucifixion  about 30 years later.  Notice some strong parallels between Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  The main area of focus is on the human needs that we all have and how Christianity (and any other religion) addresses those needs.  The need we focused on today was the need to have rules to govern our lives and the need to live a meaningful life.

Then we had a look at the Nicene Creed - in the first three centuries after Christ died, the church found itself in a hostile environment. The Roman Empire was starting to crumble and in A.D. 312 Emperor Constantine won control of the Roman Empire in the battle of Milvian Bridge. Attributing his victory to the intervention of Jesus Christ, he elevated Christianity to favored status in the empire. "One God, one Lord, one faith, one church, one empire, one emperor" became his motto.

The new emperor soon discovered that "one faith and one church" were fractured by theological disputes, especially conflicting understandings of the nature of Christ, long a point of controversy.  To counter a widening rift within the church, Constantine convened a council in Nicaea in A.D. 325. A creed reflecting the position of Alexander and Athanasius was written and signed by a majority of the bishops. Nevertheless, the two parties continued to battle each other. In A.D. 381, a second council met in Constantinople. It adopted a revised and expanded form of the A.D. 325 creed, now known as the Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed is the most ecumenical of creeds. The Presbyterian Church joins with Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and most Protestant churches in affirming it.
The Nicene Creed is the most ecumenical of creeds. The Presbyterian Church joins with Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and most Protestant churches in affirming it. 

We listened to Bruce Cockburn's "Shipwrecked at the Stable Door" and examined the meaning of the lyrics to that song.  There are many references to capitalist, materialistic society and there are biblical references too.  We then began to work through Rick Warren's TED Talks lecture on bringing meaning to one's life.