Comparative World Religion: Traditions, Philosophy, & Cultures for Teens

This class is taught in English.

1. Articulate with a sympathetic understanding of the dimensions of several major religious worldviews: history, geographical areas of influence, ritual practices, doctrinal beliefs, ethics, and expected experiences.
2. Have the ability to describe the function of religion in sociological categories.
3. Have the ability to describe and interpret the relationship between the religious aspects of culture and individual behavior.
4. Have the ability to describe the experiences of religious groups as expressed in literature, art, and music.
define basic concepts of the discipline of religious studies.
5. Describe and compare the discourse, practices, communities, and institutions of all religious traditions.
6. Provide examples of both diversity and continuity within religious communities and traditions.
7. Analyze historical and contemporary political issues around the world in terms of their connection to religious discourse, practice, communities, or institutions.
8. Demonstrate understanding of political, social, and cultural dimensions of the world's religions and spiritual paths.
9. Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental concepts of a discipline examining the social world.

I have a doctorate of philosophy in religious studies and have been teaching Introduction to World Religion for ten years in high school and in college. This subject is very interesting and refreshing. It is a broad and hands-on approach to learning. 

How I teach:

I have taken several EDU college credits while obtaining my undergraduate degrees and have earned a graduate degree in education. These classes have taught me how to teach using education-based constructiveness, humanist, realism, and idealism theories as well as brain-based learning. As a professional educator, I do the new approach of teaching as it has been thoroughly studied by scholars and based upon statistics and has been extremely successful for brick and mortar schools as well as virtual schools. This is also how we are taught to teach in my master's and doctoral programs in higher education. We do a "flipped classroom" model where students do assignments first, and then each student becomes the "teacher" in the live meeting by sharing what new things they have learned, things they found interesting, and things they feel are important for other students to know about. During this time other students can raise their hands to ask questions or make comments to ask the student who has shared their information, as well as ask me questions too. I also interject comments with important and additional information while students are sharing, so I am also actively participating. This is all known as the "open classroom" method where we're all in this together, as one big group with a common goal: learning and having fun while learning. We discuss what has been learned, analyzed, and concluded from the assignments together in the live meeting as a whole class. Finally, I give a brief introduction and guidance for the next week. As professional educators of academia, we no longer give long lectures of "teach" in live meetings which is an older style of teaching. Students don't assimilate much information during long educator lectures, they prefer to interact with one another plus the educator. We educators are taught to be more like coaches, guides, and mentors to our students, individually and as a whole class. We sometimes help to facilitate meaningful discussion by asking particular questions of the class in live meetings while the students are sharing their new knowledge. I ask the right questions at the right time during the class discussion to make it a great teachable moment.

These academic courses are a bit advanced and accelerated and students will need to practice good time management skills and be very motivated to learn. I not only teach the material through homework such as the chapter questions, projects, and review quizzes but also through lectures, videos, and instruction and discussion in our live meeting, but I also teach students how to learn. Sometimes when I am asked a question, I will ask a student to do some internet research to find the answer. I help them to find answers using legitimate online resources. I sometimes do the same thing when students turn in their homework I may ask them a few more questions that aren't found in the textbook, but by doing light internet research. By teaching using these methods I have found it strengthens students' ability, and desire, to learn and how to learn as adults. They have control over their education- which is a great power if taught how to use this power correctly.

The homework listed below might seem tedious and overwhelming at first glance, but it truly isn't. Please read this next section very carefully and if you have any questions about it please don't hesitate to ask me by sending me a private message here through Outschool. I am delighted to make accommodations as needed or wanted for each individual teen's needs and abilities!

The homework due dates are scheduled to be flexible for all students. Each week students are asked to do as much as they are able to do, but not all of the homework is expected to be completed because students should not feel stressed or overwhelmed whatsoever in any of my classes and I understand that each student has different needs and different abilities. Students are also not expected to fully read the chapter assigned each week. By skimming and scanning through the textbook to answer assignment questions and the project questions they will pick up the bulk of the material and we will be sharing and discussing each student's new knowledge, what they found interesting, and what they find to be important to discuss in our weekly live meeting while I add additional points. Students are able to choose a different combo of work each week:

Combo 1: Chapter Introduction Videos, Two Assignments, and the Current Event.

Combo 2: Chapter Introduction Videos, One Assignment, the Chapter Project, and the Current Event.

Combo 3: All of the posted work for the week.

The Chapter Introduction Videos are due on the 4th day of the week, all weekly Assignments are due by the 5th day of the week, and the weekly Chapter Project is due by the 7th day. This allows students to do the work on their own time and on their schedule. If a student can't complete all of the work or starts to feel stressed, overwhelmed, or frustrated at all, that's okay, I understand and I'm very flexible to each student's needs and abilities and we can certainly make any changes needed if they send me a private message. Students will need to be self-motivated to learn and practice time management skills.

Weekly Assignment Homework: 
Each week students will read/scan and review the one chapter assigned. They are not expected to fully read the entire chapter. Along the way, I will have two short assignments which are questions about each chapter posted to the classroom on Tuesday and students will need to review their textbook, contemplate the question asked, and give their answers by Saturday. Sometimes they may be asked to create a chart or graph or write a short essay that will require students to save a word document as a .doc, .docx. or .pdf file as links to Google Dcs and other online word programs are not allowed. At other times students may be asked to create a slideshow or virtual poster using Adobe, Canva, or Google Slides to add variety, creativity, and self-expression in their responses to the assignment questions, and these will be attached as files. Slideshows are saved as a .MP4 files and photo collages are saved as .jpg files. In the live meeting when I give instruction, we will review the assignments and have a meaningful and guided discussion about them along with a question and answer session. Students are not expected to do all of the assignments; however, the more they do, the more they learn.

Part of my philosophy of teaching is to help students how to learn. In many of the assignments, students may be asked to answer a few extra questions based upon their original answers which will require them to do their own research on the internet and share their findings.

Weekly Project Homework: Submitted privately to the teacher
The projects will be posted on Tuesday and due by Monday night. The small to medium weekly projects should be done after the weekly assignments. The projects can be done by writing a proper essay or creating an Adobe, Canvaa, or Google Slides project along with meaningful photos or clip art. Assignments require a student to go a little more in-depth with the most important aspect of the chapter, sometimes adding additional information from relevant sources via internet research. Students will receive meaningful feedback from me and they will need to respond to it. In the live meeting, we will review and discuss the project and what has been learned from it. 

Weekly Current Events:
Students will be asked to research a particular topic assigned by me each week using the internet and their oral report along with a simple 2 to 3 slideshow to share via screen-share on Zoom will be due by the following week in the live class. The event can be anywhere in the world. It is important that the news resources they use are as unbiased as possible. NPR is the most unbiased and up-to-date source to use; however, other sources such as their online, local newspaper, ABC News, CBS News, PBS, NBC News, local news stations and newspapers, The Washington Post, and other primary, unbiased sources are also allowable.

Students need to read the article they chose carefully, double-check that it's within the assigned topic, and answer these simple questions in an oral report at the following live meeting: "Where, When, Who, What, Why, and How" along with their slideshow of relevant images.

Current events help to keep students informed of new developments in our world and are an important part of any Social Sciences class. It also helps students learn how to do research and learn for themselves as adults.

We also play a Kahoot game in just about every live meeting and it's just for a fun review!

I am ALWAYS available and ready to help every single student in the live meetings and every single day of every week through private messaging!

The amount of work a student puts into the class dictates the amount that they will learn from the class (smile). This class is condensed and slightly accelerated per the homework schedule listed above. The due dates are set to help students keep on track. With that being said, I am flexible with the due dates and the amount of work posted weekly for each individual student's abilities and needs. This is known as differentiated instruction and assessment. After all, we're not in school, we're OUTschool. If this applies to your student I ask that you reach out to me via private direct message after trying the schedule out for the first week. We can then have a productive conversation about what will work best for your student for their maximum retention of the material, having fun, and not feeling stressed or overloaded with work. I want all students to enjoy the learning process without feeling overloaded so I will make specific changes for your student if needed. I do not expect all students to do all of the weekly assignments. The number of them I post is to add variety and choices for students to pick from.

Students will need to have good time management skills as well as be self-motivated to learn the material even though I am always here to answer questions, give guidance, give additional help via private messages, and request private one-on-one live video meetings. The class is a little advanced and somewhat accelerated.

I give one full year of homeschool credit and an overall grade for this class with a certificate of completion if requested via private message by the parent towards the end of the class. Depending upon your homeschool laws or charter school requirements you can use this class as a year-long credit since the class is accelerated. We don't necessarily have to think of high school in terms of a full year, long semesters, or even by time at all. A lot of time is wasted in this manner. Try to think of it in terms of grade levels and credits only instead. After all, high school credit is awarded by the amount of work and knowledge gained and not by weeks, months, or years. By doing this we can accelerate a teen learner. Keep in mind that you still must follow your state's home education laws since the parent is legally the teacher in the eyes of the Department of Education, but don't forget all of the freedom and flexibility you have too. You can copy, paste, & print out the weekly schedule in the Class Description AND in the Learning Goals sections to show what your teen has learned. The overall grade is based on the following:

1. Amount of participation in the once-weekly live video meetings (or watching the recording).
2. Amount of participation on the weekly assignment combos and their reply to my comments on their answers.
3. Amount of participation and thoroughness of their work and research on the weekly project (if assigned) and their reply to my comments on their project.

The certificate of completion will have the student's first name, "Outschool", name of the course, the end date of the course, my full name and title as the OS teacher, one credit, and a final letter grade between A and D-. I do not fail any students because regardless of how involved or not involved they are in the class I know they have learned something from it. 

A = Excellent
B = Great
C = Satisfactory
D = Needs Improvement

45 minutes per week in class, and an estimated 4+ hours per week outside of class.

All sources are independently scholarly peer-reviewed, based on truth and facts, highly researched by the teacher for truthful evidence, and are unbiased. This especially includes the textbook.