Previously in Class 1:
The children had successfully (if somewhat illegally) broken the Notsobig Crocodile out of jail. We did discuss other options but the children decided that no one was going to let a crocodile go willingly (good point) so they would have to break him out of jail. The aim:I thought it would be good for the children to take on a role and speak in role in front of each other. I also had heard of a similar activity with older children and thought it sounded like a good way to round of this Mantle (or not, as it later transpired (see below)). I thought the children could prepare for a court case: Trunky the Elephant v. The Enormous Crocodile.
What happened:
We allocated roles to the children. For Trunky the Elephant I chose a small girl, for the Enormous Crocodile an even smaller boy. Then pairs of children took on different roles to act as witnesses in the case. Some immediately understood what this meant, while others did not: one boy in role as 'child who was nearly eaten' was adamant that he wanted the Enormous Crocodile to go free because he liked crocodiles.
The children really have taken on the role of Crocodile Protectors. This is very good, as it had taken a while for them to take on this particular mantle (see blog post here). To help with this, we had another look at the story so that they could think about their current role. Each pair of children wrote one or two ideas about Trunky and the Enormous Crocodile and practised saying them. Then we set up court: a table for the judge, piles of tyres to act as docks for the defendants (they obligingly stayed in the docks for 20 minutes: I was impressed), chairs for the witnesses and steps for the witness stands. I sent for the Hon. Judge D (our head teacher) and the trial began.
What most impressed me was the small boy in role as The Enormous Crocodile. He kept it up throughout the whole trial: his body and face were an angry crocodile. Admittedly, his defence was weak -
"I was just hungry. I only ate 3 children."
- which ultimately landed him with an extensive jail sentence. However, it was an impressive performance. . The Enormous Crocodile's main support came from the Notsobig Crocodile: however, he wasn't really much help:
"We were on the way to Portugal and he hadn't eaten anything for ages and he didn't want to eat his own toe so he just wanted to eat a child."
The other children took on their roles with varying degrees of success. They pointed out that the elephant was only trying to save children and that he was really quite kind. Others tried to explain that the crocodile just didn't understand.
In the end, putting our esteemed head teacher on the spot, we asked for a verdict. She sentenced the Enormous Crocodile to imprisonment, though acknowledged he needed some medical attention for his burns. Trunky received a medal for bravery, along with the recommendation he get some anger management support so that he did not harm anyone ever again.
At this point I didn't have a plan for the rest of the afternoon, so I just said:
"The judge has spoken: carry out the recommendations," and every single child did. There was a team of children carrying the crocodile to hospital, x-raying and injecting him. There was a second team setting up 'Elephant School' for a somewhat resistant Trunky. The advice offered was sound:
"Take 5 deep breaths."
" Count to 10."
"Do something calm to calm you down."
And so on. I didn't get involved: I enjoyed watching the children so completely absorbed in the fiction. Finally, we tidied up and I asked whether the children felt their work as Crocodile Protectors was finished: we had solved the problems the Notsobig One had asked us to. The class was unanimous: while the Enormous Crocodile is in jail, our work is not yet done. After all, he is a crocodile too.
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