A (slightly) more constructive conversation

Previously in KS1
The team had become quite upset at the thought that the King of the Oaks may have to be cut down. They wanted to trap, jail and generally terrify the poor tree surgeon (or 'hunter' as they thought he/she was). Today's aim was to introduce the 'grace' element to the role of the tree surgeons.

The grace element
I started by constructing an 'office' showing photos of tree surgeons at work (male and female) with an image of our tree in the middle. Myself and a colleague became the tree surgeons at our base, discussing jobs that had been completed and the job in hand (an 'overheard conversation' dramatic convention, I think). We used the image of the King of the Oaks to discuss the job and the rumour that a wall had been built around it, and that someone didn't want us to cut down the tree. 

I came out of role and supported the children's ideas. There was an immediate shift now that they could see the tree surgeons and understand their job. Although still upset that the tree might be cut down, they started to see a different point of view. One child said "They're just mean," which led to a useful discussion of whether this was true, or not. The children could see that, actually, the tree surgeons had a job to do and a good reason to do it. 

After a lot of discussion, and a little more outrage, the children decided that, most importantly, the wildlife should be removed from the tree before any further action was taken. They made plans (from traps, to ladders, to trampolines placed at the base of the tree) and then we went into dramatic action. They needed a bit of help with this, especially the Year 1 children, but we were soon removing animals from the tree (at times, the actual squirrels we had painted to go in the tree) and, on a child's suggestion, relocating them to the large oak tree on the school field. 

Upon our return to the classroom we inspected the tree to decide whether it needed to be cut down. Some children stuck with the 'animal' side of the story here and I decided just to let them; they were still 'finding' foxes and squirrels in the tree which had to be removed as a matter of urgency. However, there were some children able to help inspect the tree and decide what to do next.

Finally, my colleague became the tree surgeon again and the children presented their ideas and thoughts to her. It did descend, once more, into a shouting match (I put this down to the children's level of concern) but with support the children began to articulate their ideas. My colleague did a good job of assuring the children that she was actually listening to them and was also concerned about the tree - they began to understand that she was a human and not a 'baddie'. 

Notes and thoughts

• I still haven't really explored further dramatic conventions. I must do this
• Contined work on discussion and listening to each other is needed
• All children were involved, even if not always with the exact thing I had planned for them to be involved with - this is an improvement since the start of the term
• The importance of building a role so that children can see the viewpoint. This is something I forget on a regular basis.