Finding unexpected turtles: letting go of the plan

This week's mantling has been... interesting. In a good way, mostly, but also with some fairly large frustrations. I've been reminded of a few things I knew and I've realised a few things I didn't previously know.

I shall share these lessons.

A brief overview of the mantling week:

• The children began to complete 'turtle logs', writing a sentence about where their turtle was and where it was heading. They are tracking their turtles' progress using the world map (see image)
• They were introduced to their client via letter - a chief on the island has not seen turtles there for 10 years and she needs them to find out why. 
• The children came up with questions and ideas about this.
• They were introduced to the idea of human geographical features on the island and how the island has changed over time.
• They visited the island to look at these features.
• The concensus was that the turtles needed quiet places on the island: the children re-designed the island by making maps with human and physical features indicated.

1. "They're more interested in their turtles than in Honu Island" (MoE-in-training teacher colleague)

I was trying to set up the problem of the turtles not coming to the island, but the children, while interested, were much more invested in tracking their turtles, and which beaches they were actually going to. They weren't that bothered that the turtles are no longer coming to Honu Island. On reflection, I perhaps either need to use different roles to enable children to empathise with the chief and other islanders (perhaps they should meet the children who have never seen a turtle), or I need to move away from the island idea and on to more of a turtle tracking idea.

Having said that, motivation and investment deepened after this -  point 2.

2. The more power the children have over the story, the deeper the investment

The children watched and were interested as I, in role as the chief, outlined the changes to the island using the map they had created. When they were invited to discuss the changes and human features, though, they began to lose a bit of interest. I began to panic at little that my carefully-planned session was going to fail. However, as the children began to enact visiting the island and researching the problem themselves, making decisions about what they could see and recording ideas on clipboards, there was a clear shift. All of the children got involved and came to me with genuinely concerned faces as they found problems on the island (including tourists snoring too loudly near the beaches). 

Another thing they found was a turtle on the beach. To my mind, it shouldn't have been there.  Point 3.

3. The importance of setting the children 'free' so they can build the story

The children that found the turtle were a small group whose interest in our story had ebbed and flowed a bit over the past couple of weeks. However, here they were, excitedly telling me about a turtle they'd found that I had not intended to be there. They were excited, they were animated and they were solving problems. "Look I've put red ribbon around it", "We need to stop people coming here!" and "Hey! Don't stand on the turtle!" (to poor unsuspecting child passing by). Quickly I began to draw some chalk images around their area - "Wow! I can't believe you've found a turtle. Is it going to be okay here? Look at all the beach huts and restaurants....'. This way, I brought the problem that I'd introduced back into their part of the story. They later used these ideas in their work. 

After all of this action, when the class  retured to Turtle Watch HQ and discussed what they'd found, I abandoned my plans to try and aim for some writing. Point 4.

4. Sometimes (or, quite often) it's best to let go of the plan.

I really did want to do some writing. The Year 2 children in particular need, just need to write more. However, animated by their visit to the island, they were talking about solutions to problems and referring to geographical features, and I just knew that if I engineered a piece of writing the investment would be ruined. I'd had a similar conversation with one of my MoE course colleagues earlier in the week, which gave me the confidence to change direction.

Instead of a piece of writing, the children made maps showing their ideas. My school colleague commented upon the sense of  purpose in the room and the fact that the children had chosen to do it - our lesson had changed direction because of them. The resulting work, and conversations had with the children, were both of a high standard. 

Mistakes made, lessons learnt, mantling shall continue.