In my inexpert attempts at teaching through Mantle of the Expert my class has become the S.S.S.C (Scientists who Study Strange Creatures).
What I was Aiming for:
- Seamlessly to guide children into discussing what the Mayor should do about a baby gruffalo that has been captured in the woods.
- To have a class full of highly engaged children at the 'investment' or 'concern' stage of the continuum of engagement*
- To step in and out of role as the Mayor, with the class understanding that I could be both their teacher and the Mayor
- To elicit ideas from the children about how to help the Mayor; ideas which preferably led to curriculum outcomes**
Not quite the above.
The session began well. As the children came into the class there was a bag on the floor (possibly an example of iconic representation)***
The children came into class and as they noticed the bag they began to discuss it. They immediately thought it might be a gruffalo so we discussed what clues there were and what we should do with it. When the children suggested opening the bag I guided them towards the label which said 'for the Mayor only'. When they decided they needed to talk to the Mayor, I stepped into role. This confused them.
"You're Miss, not the Mayor!"
(whispering) "She's pretending!"
"Where's the Mayor?"
"It's not for you Miss, it's for the Mayor!"
Clearly, I will be doing more work on this. The more the children get used to this way of making a story, the easier it will be.
On a side note one boy who doesn't usually talk or show much enthusiasm couldn't stop talking and showing enthusiasm. This made me happy.
Throughout the discussion I was doing my best to say the right things and ask the right questions.*** I wanted to go with the children's ideas while also having them sort of go the way I wanted them to. It didn't really work: there wasn't the buzz of conversation I'd hoped for and there were a few long silences. During one silence I remembered something we'd talked about on the training weekend:
Silence is not a bad thing.
I let the silence go on, until the children began to talk again.
Eventually, as the Mayor, I opened the bag and (experts that they are) the children identified for me that the creature was, in fact, a small gruffalo. Conflicting emotions and varying reactions followed:
"It's a Gruffalo!"
"It's just a toy."
"Don't touch it!"
"Be careful of its prickles and poisonous wart!"
"You can touch it it's not real."
Previously I've reacted to 'it's not real' with: 'we're playing a game' or 'it looks real to me'. Today however, I just carried on. This had the effect of the children also just carrying on.
At this point the children started crying 'Danger!" and "Look out!" and I could see that we could descend into minor hysteria (Gruffalos have that effect) so I became Miss again and together we remembered what we'd learnt about gruffalos. At this point I may have over-emphasised the fact that we had learnt that suprisingly, gruffalos are quite shy and not at all aggressive.
This magically seemed to calm the children down which showed the marvellous things which can be achieved by stepping in and out of role. A satisfying lesson for the day.
Anyway, the session continued with the children coming up with various ways to help the Mayor with the Problem of the Baby Gruffalo. They:
- Made a temporary den outside for the Gruffalo while we decide what to do with it
- Fed it on mice and plants (Gruffalos are omnivores, after all)
- Made posters warning the school about our visitor
- Looked on Google Maps to try to locate the Gruffalo's den
- Made a map to show the daddy Gruffalo where his baby is staying
The children were happy and focused and did indeed do curriulum-related activities.
Things that went well:
- Initial interest and engagement was high
- Children were interested and focussed on the different activities they chose to do
- The initial discussion was a little better than we have managed previously
Things to find out more about/practice further:
- Better questions to ask during discussions
- Raising levels of interest/concern among the children for further depth of engagement and learning
- How better to step in and out of role
* The Continuum of Engagement: attraction - attention - interest - motivation - investment - concern. I'm aiming or investment/concern.
** Something I want to find out more about is how to ensure the curriculum requirements are met.
*** There are three forms of representation: symbolic, iconic and expressive. Iconic: pictures, objects and so on.
**** I have so much to learn about questions. I've found some examples and will attempt to insert them into my next lesson plan as reminders.
Comments
Post a Comment