Our school has just begun one of those half terms that will be over before it's begun. With this in mind, and the fact that one-and-a-half weeks' worth of afternoons-and-any-spare-moments have been dedicated to maypole dancing, I made a decision over the Easter holidays.
Instead of my usual all-encompassing, 6-week-long epic mantle, I'd attempt some shorter ones focussed on purposeful writing - setting up a written task through mantle/the 33 conventions each week.
I messaged a MoE colleague of mine (@bbcTeaching) who I knew had done this sort of thing before. He said something along the lines of 'once the lead in is done, and the children are hooked, they can't wait to solve the problem.' This was good advice.
With this in mind, and using mantleoftheexpert.com, I planned four week-long writing mantles. This is what happened on the first week; the plan, and the reality.
The idea:Using the vague story of Paddington I'd set up a context whereby some bears had come to England for a new home but couldn't find one because people weren't welcoming. The children would make postere/leaflets appealing for people to adopt the bears.
Setting the scene: I printed off photos of teddies and created a 'Shelter for Homeless Bears.' On a 'wall' to one side was a portrait of Paddington in a frame, with a short biography.
The children were very interested in this and quickly identified Paddington. They chattered about the bears and the meaning of the word 'homeless'. We read Paddington's biography and I wondered aloud whether the other bears had names and stories. The children were invited to give a bear a name and a story.
The client and commission: I stepped into role as the shelter owner, though this wasn't very smooth and I realised I need to get back into practice of being the only adult in the room for mantling. The children also found this tricky. However, we managed. I explained that no one would give these bears a home. I couldn't keep looking after so many bears and there were more homeless bears, who had heard about Paddington, coming to England to find a new home. No one wanted the bears - they didn't think they should be here. 
Wandering away from writing: The children were, of course, quick to suggest solutions. This was where I got a bit muddled. I wanted them to do writing... but their solutions were all about building. I wanted to go where the children took the fiction, but they were not taking any sort of hint about bear adoption, leaflets. posters.... they were insistent they could build me a better 'Bear Hotel'. Comments such as 'where will I find the money?' were met with standard 6-year-old suggestions: "I've got thousands of pounds, here you go!" Anyway, in the end we went outside to build a bear sanctuary. The children were incredibly invested in this; as with much of our mantle work, the result may not make much sense to an outside observer but the children eagerly chatted to the head teacher when she passed by, telling her all about the problem and their sanctuary.
Bringing the mantle back to writing: As often happens after a mantle session, I spent the following evening trying to think of creative ways to get the children to where I needed them, without breaking the investment they'd built up. I needed them to plan writing the next day - there was no more time for wandering. The next day, in role again, I put up a 'Bear Keeper's Report' for April on the board (the bear keeper being a secondary role). It detailed how the sanctuary was getting on and any problems. It ended with a non-negotiable:
We need to set up a bear adoption scheme so that some bears can go to sanctuaries. This is URGENT.
Still in role, I appealed for the children's help once more - they knew the bears so well, could they help me to find homes for them? I showed them an 'RSPCA' animal adoption leaflet. We studied it together and decided that we could make a leaflet for each of the bears in the sanctury to try and find them some adoptive homes.
The children remained interested and involved when planning what to write in their leaflets under heading such as 'likes', 'dislikes', 'diet'. It definitely helped that, from the start, they had taken ownership of one bear and given it a story. I'd printed photos of their bears for the front of the leaflet. Interestingly, one boy didn't have his own bear so he chose one I'd named. He didn't want to change its name, even when I suggested he could.
Notes, thoughts etc:
- Always remember the 'givens,' those things that need sticking too.
- Time wandering away from 'my' aim for the children to build a bear sanctuary deepened investment.
- With a little creativity, a mantle can be brought back round to where it needs to be.
- I need to practise teacher in-and-out of role with this class; I was very, very rusty and quite confused as to who I was/what I was doing/why.
- I need to make sure children see the outcome of their writing. Sometimes I forget to do this. Perhaps some sort of letter from the shelter owner or bear keeper...
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