ASKaround cards in a school context

Keep a deck on hand if you

  • take Pastoral Care

  • host Home Room conversations

  • teach Religious Education

  • happen to have a someone else’s class for the next lesson!

  • just need a new thing to try!

Take a look through the deck yourself and familiarise yourself with the themes: there are eight:

  1. I’m a Spiritual Person? - Do people have a spiritual aspect? if so, what is it like? eg Describe a moment of true wonder you’ve experienced…

  2. Beginnings? - Explores the origins of the world and of us and the stories we tell about them eg All families and cultures have their favourite origin stories. What stories of ‘beginnings’ get told in your family, or in your group/community/nation/religion?

  3. Purpose? - In this theme, we consider what gives life meaning eg Does life need to have a purpose or is it ok to just live?

  4. How to Live? - Theme 4 is about moral compasses. How should we treat ourselves, each other and the planet? eg Invent one new rule that all humans must adopt immediately, forever. What value/ideal is behind that rule?

  5. Tomorrow? - Fate, destiny and what comes next is the theme here. Is there a plan or is everything random? eg Do you believe in ‘soulmates’? Why or why not?

  6. Endings? - Theme 6 explores life transitions and grief. Death is a big deal, of course, but its about more than that too. eg Tell about a time you managed an ending well. What is the story there?

  7. More Than Us? - Closing in on the home stretch we explore ideas about ‘higher powers’. What a term! eg Celtic tradition talks of ‘thin places’ where the veil between this world and eternity is fragile. Have you ever experienced this? If not, what do you imagine that experience would be like?

  8. So, What Now? - Finally, we explore the implications of a spiritual aspect. If it’s real, what might we do about it? Does it make a difference? eg How do you make sense of sadness, grief, joy and other big emotions? Are there any practical steps that might help you manage?

One possible project:

  • sort the cards into the eight themes.

  • vote on a theme

  • Ask students to vote on one question.

  • Use that question as a thought-provoker - take it home and dwell on it through the week.

  • Students can interview others about their ideas

  • Keep a record of the ideas discovered - images, audio, research, artwork

  • Collect the responses and bring them to the next lesson.

The benefit of asking students to interview others: they can represent an answer as belonging to someone else: less embarrassment and shyness. The thinking happens regardless…they get to stay one degree away from it all.

 OR

Target social isolation by encouraging people to drop in and chat

  • Host a ‘social up-skill’ club

  • Choose a question and practice listening.

  • Brush up on active listening skills, how to create a listening and non-threatening space.

  • Be intentionally educational about how to host a conversation.

  • Make it a place to get good at in-person communication.

  • Use the questions from the ASKaround deck to focus conversation.

  • Then keep talking, asking follow-up questions like:

“What more would you like to say about that?”

“What would you like others to understand about this part of your world?”