Lesson video

Hello, and welcome back.

I'm Mr. Hutchinson, and we are learning all about Sikhism.

We're studying religious education.

In our last lesson, you worked really hard.

I'm still really impressed with you.

You should still feel proud of yourself because you spent a long time writing down everything that you've learned, jotting down everything you've learned to note form.

Organising and grouping your ideas together in a plan ready to write a full essay.

And in today's lesson, we're going to write that essay.

So, it's going to look something like this.

Also, first of all, you're going to need your equipment ready to go, because you've got a big job to do, writing your essay.

So, you should have an exercise book or a few different sheets of paper.

I recommend at least four or five sheets of paper.

In the past I've had children writing up to nine or 10 pages in these essays.

Wow.

Something to beat maybe, but make sure you've got plenty to write on.

Make sure that your brain is feeling focused, engaged, distractions away, ready to write a really wonderful essay.

We're going to, first of all, think about what the introduction to our essay will look like.

Then we will.

I'm going to show how I would use a plan to write a paragraph, to show you that process.

We'll finish with the sort of steps to success, and then you'll have a chance to write your conclusion at the end.

So, a reminder.

This is our question.

This is what we're answering.

This is what our essay is all about.

How is Sikhism unique? You will need an introduction to your essay.

All essays need introduction, where they're basically telling the reader, this is what the essay is about.

This is what I'm going to do in the essay.

So I'm going to show you sort of how I would start my introduction to give you an idea.

I would say something like, Sikhism is a unique religion.

Can you see how straightway I'm talking about the question, is Sikhism unique? How is Sikhism unique? So I'm answering that question straight away.

Sikhism is a unique religion, distinct from many other world religions.

What makes Sikhism unique? In this essay.

So a little rhetorical question to sort of set it up.

That's what we're answering.

In this essay we will, and then you could choose.

You could write explore, examine, consider.

And then I'm going to list very quickly, the different things.

In this essay we will explore how Sikhism began, some of the major beliefs, as well as the gurus who set out the hymns and scriptures that the faith is based on today.

I'm just going to very quickly give people a flavour of what's going to come in the essay.

So, you can borrow some ideas from that if you want, or you can just write your own introduction, but pause the video and write your introduction now.

Great.

Well done.

Already got your introduction down.

Now it's just going to be a matter.

You did all the hard work in the last lesson.

It's just going to be a matter of pulling the ideas together from your notes into a full paragraph or a full section.

So let me show you how I would do that.

I've got my plan here.

So you see this plan is that the first box of my plan.

All about how Sikhism began.

So I've got that there already and I'm basically ticking off different bits as I write full sentences about it.

Important obviously to start with the title.

You have taken a look at that picture of all of the religions and using that to write a sentence.

There are many religions around the world.

That's coming from that picture.

And then using my key vocabulary, Abrahamic and Dharmic religions.

So that's, maybe think of a sentence where I would say, often, these are categorised into the Abrahamic religions and the Dharmic religions.

So you can see I'm just ticking off this plan as I go through.

It's making writing the essay a davit.

When I introduce a technical piece of vocabulary like Dharmic, I'll always define what it means, explain what it means.

I'm sort of imagining that this essay is being read by somebody who is clever, but hasn't studied Sikhism.

So this has helping them to understand it.

So if I do use some technical vocabulary, I just need to explain what it means.

So here I've written, Dharmic religions are from the Indian subcontinent, and since Sikhism began in the Punjab region, which is in the Indian subcontinent, it's a Dharmic religion.

We make this mistake, no problem, just put a neat line through it.

It's important to keep everything as neat as you can.

So, I've already got.

Well now I'm going to start a new paragraph, because I got quite a lot about the different religions there.

And so I'm actually going to start a new paragraph where I talk a little bit about that caste system and how it began.

So I'm going to talk about Guru Nanak and how he was the founder.

Sikhism began when its founder, Nanak.

How did it begin? I need to remember from my lessons, wrack my brains and bring that knowledge back into my mind to write that question.

He had a revelation.

The religion was revealed to him.

Alright.

Carry on there.

You can see that I've just stopped there because there's still plenty more to write.

As you can see that just from that plan, I'll probably able to get about a page of essay writing out of that plan.

So plenty to write.

Now is the easy part of just thinking about bringing the sentences together.

There are a few things to remember though.

So I'd like to set up some steps to success just for you to remember as you're writing, what your essay should contain.

So first of all, you need to look carefully at your plan.

Essays are generally rubbish if you just try and throw down all of your ideas, not in an organised way.

That's why a plan is important.

You need to write in full sentences.

Your plan might have been notes, but in your essay it will be beautiful full sentences.

All of the key information and key vocabulary from your plan should be included in your essay.

When you were coming on to a new idea or a new piece of information, start a new paragraph and leave a line to show that.

And as you say those sentences, ready to write them down, you should imagine you're explaining it to somebody who hasn't really learned about it before.

So that's how clearly you need to explain it.

Please remember to answer the question.

You need to show how what you're writing about demonstrates the uniqueness of Sikhism.

So, that is everything for today's lesson, because I want to give you plenty of time.

You have lots to do.

You've got a big essay to write.

If you need to take some breaks.

Junk it up.

Spend as much time on this as you have, because the more time you put into it, the better your essay will be.

And you deserve to have a really good essay after everything that you've learned.

After you've finished it, please share it off.

Please ask your parents or carers to take a photo of all of those pages of work and share on social media so that everybody can see just how clever you are.

And they can do that by following those instructions on the screen.

Now, there is a quiz today, so please still complete your quiz.

It might give you a few ideas of some other things to include that you might've forgotten.

That's the end of today's lesson.

You're going to do a great job, okay? You're going to do a really good essay and I can't wait to read them as they come through on social media.

Good luck and write a fantastic essay.