Over the next week or so our KS1 children are taking part in a cross-curricular 'sweet week'. In reality it's largely designed to cover some much-needed Maths ground (oops, behind already) with opportunities for D.T. and English along the way. Although it is to be a very directed week with specific outcomes, we decided to turn it into a mini Mantle-esque project. After all, Mantle tends to be the way forward.
I planned some steps in based around Willy Wonka and a closed-down chocolate factory. Parts of the afternoon went very well with high levels of engagement and motivation. Other parts confused me with just how wrong they were going. After my initial despondency at the mistakes, I decided sort of to focus on each part of the lesson to find out why the good bits were good and the bad bits were... awful.
The factory wall.
As the children came in from lunch I sat in front of a piece of long, orange paper taped to some overturned tables. I asked them to gather round and started drawing rectangles on the paper. As they identified that it was a wall, I said, "oh, is it starting to look like a wall? That's good, I happen to need a wall this afternoon." I invited children to join in with brick-drawing, dropping in comments like "I wonder whether we could make it look quite old? The wall I need is about 100 years old," and "It needs to be the sort of wall that people can't get past." At one point there was only about 10 children joining in due to space, so as soon as a child mentioned that there might be cats walking along the wall, I encouraged them to get paper and pens and add other features to the wall.
As with all things Mantle, the children made a much more interesting wall than I would have: cats, rats, moss, crumbling bricks, an electric fence around it, additional bricks above it to increase its height, and other such joys.
At one point a child found the 'well hidden' poster I had previously prepared so I took the opportunity to act surprised/interested and added it to the wall. It read 'This factory is closed until further notice.' The children gradually gathered round to read the poster and discuss its implications.
Thoughts:
The use of the blank wall drew children in (iconic representation) and they participated in creating it (co-creation, iconic representation). They had a lot of freedom with how they created the wall and all ideas were acknowledged and acted upon. All of the children were busy, all of the time by the end, which was much better than having a few children drawing a few bricks at a time as was the original plan. Intrigue was added as I added more information - it was old, no one was allowed past it.
Adults in role as passersby
My colleague and I became passersby. We walked up to the sign and held a conversation along the lines of: it's finally happened then/I did hear rumours about his secret recipe being stolen/he must have run out of money/The factory has stood for years....
My colleague and I became passersby. We walked up to the sign and held a conversation along the lines of: it's finally happened then/I did hear rumours about his secret recipe being stolen/he must have run out of money/The factory has stood for years....
It didn't go smoothly but we managed to get the main themes across and it wasn't long before the children were chattering excitedly about chocolate, stolen recipes and Willy Wonka.
Out of role I asked the children what they'd just seen and reacted as if I hadn't seen it as well. "I wonder whether we can do anything about this?" turned into children writing ideas and questions onto post it notes. Some Y1 children ran off and returned claiming to have found the secret recipe. I congratulated them and suggested they keep it safe to show Mr Wonka later. There would have been a time when this sort of off-track enthusiasm might have made me nervous (I did not want the Mantle to turn into recipe hunting, nor did I want it to end because the recipe had been found); however, I've learnt that it doesn't take much to acknowledge and use what children bring to the Mantle.
Thoughts:
This worked well because there was enough to intrigue the children and to drip in more information: chocolate, stolen recipes, the factory closure. The children seemed to have watched and paid attention (with both adults in role it was hard to know) and all were keen to write down thoughts and questions - they watched/listened for only a short time and then had something to do.
This worked well because there was enough to intrigue the children and to drip in more information: chocolate, stolen recipes, the factory closure. The children seemed to have watched and paid attention (with both adults in role it was hard to know) and all were keen to write down thoughts and questions - they watched/listened for only a short time and then had something to do.
Meeting the Factory ManagerOne of the children had said something about talking to Willy Wonka, so I asked: "Would that be helpful?" They agreed. My colleague stepped into role not as Willy Wonka but as the manager of the factory who explained that Mr Wonka doesn't tend to leave the factory. The children talked to her about their ideas and asked her questions. The problem of 'The recipe has been found,' was solved by her responding positively but worrying that it could have been copied hundreds of times by now. At one point a child suggested they could make new sweets for Mr Wonka, and my colleague picked up on this to the point where the children scurried off to record their ideas for her. The level of investment was very high at this stage with a range of suggestions from 'chocolate toffee malteaser sweets' to a list of ingredients from strawberries to flour to smarties.
Thoughts:Not as many children were involved in the discussion as I would have liked. A few of the most confident children chatted away to my colleague in role but many were just listening - some more interested than others. On reflection, perhaps they could have met her in smaller groups while they were writing/discussing their ideas.
Presenting ideas to the Factory Manager.
(or: where it all went wrong)
The children were invited to return to the factory with their ideas. Here ensued a range of clamouring for attention, talking over each other, interest waning, discussions about earrings, fiddling with fingernails and other generally unwanted things. I brought the children out of the fiction and reminded them of the expectations and then returned to the fiction. However, this didn't really work. Eventually we sort of managed to complete the discussion and conclude that the children had a job to do (making, packaging and marketing sweets) and they were keen to do so. However, it was clear that they weren't that interested in the client.
The children were invited to return to the factory with their ideas. Here ensued a range of clamouring for attention, talking over each other, interest waning, discussions about earrings, fiddling with fingernails and other generally unwanted things. I brought the children out of the fiction and reminded them of the expectations and then returned to the fiction. However, this didn't really work. Eventually we sort of managed to complete the discussion and conclude that the children had a job to do (making, packaging and marketing sweets) and they were keen to do so. However, it was clear that they weren't that interested in the client.
Thoughts:In my general day-to-day teaching I try to avoid children doing too much listening rather than talking or doing. However, I've come to see that there are occasionally times during Mantling that they end up doing just that (listening as an adult or a few children talk). I'm not sure why. Anyway, I think that was the problem here; they all had their ideas but there were 32 of them with one adult to talk to. Despite the presence of an adult in role and an interesting task at hand, the children were not doing much at this stage.
A wise man* once told me that a wise man** once told him always to ask the question: what are the children doing?" If the answer is just looking and listening, it's probably not enough.
Another possibility is for my colleague to have been Mr Wonka. Perhaps this would have engaged and motivated them more. I've not often had to reflect so much on a client and I think this is perhaps also a lesson in the importance of choosing the right client.
A wise man* once told me that a wise man** once told him always to ask the question: what are the children doing?" If the answer is just looking and listening, it's probably not enough.
Another possibility is for my colleague to have been Mr Wonka. Perhaps this would have engaged and motivated them more. I've not often had to reflect so much on a client and I think this is perhaps also a lesson in the importance of choosing the right client.
* Tim Taylor, author of 'A Beginner's Guide to Mantle of the Expert' and general genius.
** Luke Abbot, Mantle of the Expert guru
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