Then and Now, part four: in role.

When I first came across Mantle of the Expert I had a vague idea that it was about the children working as a team on a given project. I had very little idea how much drama and role work it involved. To be quite honest, had I had any idea I probably would have steered clear of Mantle. I was someone who tried to fake illness when drama was on my timetable at school. If you are a similar sort of drama-averse person, don't worry, it's possible to love Mantle and still be unsure of your dramatic capabilities. 

My first Mantle (way back Then) therefore involved turning the children into The Castle Crew following a short invitation from a king, and by making t-shirts. The role of King Brannagan, the client, was fulfilled through videos made by my other half and letters writing by him. It was very clear that the children were The Castle Crew (we had the t-shirts, after all) and King Brannagan, when they saw him, wore a suit of armour and a silver foil crown. 

Since then I have learnt a lot about role work and just how easily the children can slip in and out of different roles, explore different viewpoints and accept adults in role without the need for dressing up or other external cues. It is very useful. 

The particular mantle episode which brought this to my attention went something like this. 

Previously:
The children had built a castle on top of a hill. Queen Matilda came to inspect it and invited the children to have a rest and a picnic on the side of the hill. As they were relaxing, there was a rumbling beneath them. One brave knight ventured into a cave in the hill to find... a sleeping dragon. The other knights had a look, and then we drew what we had seen to display on the castle wall.  Following this, the children decided that instead of just one sleeping dragon there were 24 (one for each child in the class).

The episode - part 1. 
I set out a masking tape circle in the classroom and invited the children to sit around it. They quickly recognised that this was the hill (during the previous session we had made a chalk circle outside to represent the hill). I invited the knights (slipping the children into the story and into their role) to look for cracks and holes in the hill and quietly see what the dragons were up to. We saw that it was still sleeping.

I then said: "I wonder where Queen Matilda is at the moment. I wonder what she's thinking and feeling about these dragons."

The children discussed this and then one child, who has been mantling with me for a while, said "We could see a video." My colleague - the third different person who has represented Queen Matilda - showed her in the castle, talking aloud about how worried she was and what a disaster it is that there are dragons under the castle. 

This is a stark contrast to the role of King Brannagan. Three different people have represented Queen Matilda at various times (mainly because being in role is not my most favourite thing ever - see above) and the children are able to go with this and react to a range of adults in role as one client. 

When the children are first mantling, I tend to have a square marked out (a drama square) and explain that when I am/another adult is in the square, they will be representing someone else. As they  get more used to it, we tend to agree on a space together. I might ask 'Where do you think Queen Matilda would be at the moment? Where could that space be in our classroom?' or something similar. 

The episode - part 2. 
Queen Matilda invited the knights to a witan under the oak tree. Together, with my TA representing the Queen, we discussed what to do about the dragons. There was a range of ideas - from tying them up, to putting them in the dungeon, to training them, to moving them far away. 

The episode - part 3. 
When the witan had finished we stepped out of the story and went back to class. I invited the children to sit around the hill again. Then I said.

"We've talked a lot about these dragons... would you like to know a bit more about them? They've ended up under our hill, but they can't always have been there." 

Naturally, the children agreed. I invited them to represent the sleeping dragons (being very careful to remind children they were sleeping at the moment and would not wake up... a very important reminder, when children are about to become dragons). 

The children fitted beautifully into the masking tape hill, and began to snooze. As they did I talked aloud around them, wondering what they were dreaming,  where they had come from and why the ended up in the hill. 

Finally, I invited the children to draw a small dragon onto a label and stick it onto our map,* showing where there dragon had come from. 

My points being:

* Children become very adept at representing a range of roles, as and when required. 
* Simply telling the children you are going to represent somebody else is enough - no need for props, costumes and so on. 
* Making agreements with the children about both of these helps - for example, asking 'where do you think she would be at this moment?' or 'can we agree that when you step into the circle, you will represent a dragon under the hill?'.
* On which note - I am learning more, and more, and more, the importance of the space you are using for Mantle and how adapting the space can very useful. I often move the whole class away from one space to another to carry out different parts of a session (easily done at this time of year with the sunshine and dry field... less so at other times).**

Incidentally, during this particular mantle the children have also represented mediaeval villagers, and very successfully too. 

*Maps are the best. See this blog post for more on this subject.
** For some interesting learning I did about space, see this blog post.