What happened to the bears? A(nother) lesson in investment.

A couple of weeks ago I attempted a short mantle around bears. The children were very interested and, with some wandering away from my plan, became increasingly invested in the fiction. With adoptions leaflets made and the bears assured good homes, I thought we'd finished that mantle. The children, it seemed, were not so sure. 

The following week I had planned another short writing-oriented mantle, on an entirely different topic. However, the children kept asking about their bears. 

"Where are the bears now?"
"When are we going to find out about the bears?"
"I want to do some bear learning!"

And so on.

I carried out the other week's worth of writing around Jack and the Beanstalk and it was... okay. However, the bears would not go away.

With this in mind, I decided to make the most of the investment and return to the bears. 

The plan:
I'd be in role as a 'Bear Inspector', visiting the bears' adoptive homes to ensure everything was going smoothly. I would find a few problems (eg wrong diet, lack of space) which would add tension and present a new problem in the mantle.  This would hopefully lead on to the children writing instructions about how to care for a bear. 

The reality:
I had no other adults in the room, so had to practice my in-an-out-of role skills. I also found myself being flexible with my role and the children's roles: this was good. 

Together the class and I remembered the bears and how we had helped. I pointed out that a lot of the children had been asking about the bears since then and asked them whether they'd like to find out. There was a unanimous 'yes'. 

I invited the children to represent the bears in the adoptive homes; within a minute or so the children were spread around the room,  snuggled under blankets, curled up under tables or, in one case, watching bear TV (sometimes I do wonder what my classroom might look like to an outside observer). 

I attached a 'Bear Inspector' label to myself, picked up a clipboard and went around the homes, knocking on doors, introducing myself and enquiring after the bears' health and wellbeing. I asked a few leading questions and made comments such as 'This is a nice home, but it's far too cramped for a bear of your size,' or 'Oh dear, pizza for breakfast?!'

After a couple of visits, knowing that it was going to take too long to visit them all before the children became fidgety, I invited some children to de-bear and join me as bear inspectors. This is something I love about mantle and mantle children - they step in and out of different roles very fluidly, allowing for flexibility and support for the teacher when there are no other adults. 

For the next few minutes the bear inspectors visited the bears, recording all sorts of problems (there was a LOT of illness going round - some sort of bear flu, I think). I stopped to look around and the children all seemed invested in the fiction. 

After a while we stepped out of the story and discussed what we'd found. The results were as expected, and one child put it perfectly:

"The owners just aren't used to the bears yet."

This led on to coming up with some instructions to help the owners to care for the bears: the children were given 'their' bear from before and we planned instructions and wrote them the next day. In case you're wondering how to care for a bear:

Don't let him watch too much TV because it's bad for him.
Let her climb trees so she is fit.
Feed him marmalade.
Brush his fur so it isn't tangled. 
Call 111 if he's poorly.

My next challenge is to work out how to persuade the children the bears are okay, and that their work is therefore done, before the half term holidays. 


Notes:

• The continuum of engagement is something I return to again and again when planning and reflecting on mantle: Tim Taylor (mantle guru) has written about it here. 

• I must never underestimate the children's ability to step in and out of different roles and to accept themselves and others as different roles. It takes a bit of training and practice, but it works.