Reflecting on using Mantle

Likes
The enthusiasm of the kids is infectious. The way they accept taking on adult roles, and stepping in and out of imaginary worlds was an eyeopener. In role they came up with ideas and opinions that I dont believe would have come through in an ordinary inquiry. They lived the topic.
Once I introduced an activity, say maybe a meeting, the kids took over running it  and made decisions after good discussions.
Feedback from the kids about Mantle was really positive. Even from the ones who didn't readily join in with the drama activities
We learnt heaps of interesting things. (Teacher included). I felt we got a more in depth coverage of the topic. Some kids took it beyond school and got their parents involved in what they had learnt.  Hey, I even chuck weeds into my smoothies, after finding out  about and eating edible weeds.
 The planning made you really think about all the different ways you could extend a topic, and look at it from different viewpoints. although it takes time I think it broadens the topic.
Creating tensions also gets the creative juices running.
Drama activities that we used were fun and hey I can teach that stuff!!
Going to Hamilton uni and doing the course was like a breath of fresh air for me. Inquiry came alive again.
The self belief bit of building up a company makes everyone feel that they belong, and the commission given is owned by all.

Things that niggled

For me it was juggling the timetable. I still havent worked out teaching all the subjects through the Mantle Medium. Felt I needed stand alone writing and spelling time, as well as doing writing during Mantle. Need to talk to Yvette about this.
The interruptions of school activities, or kids withdrawn for  sports events, extension, etc  often meant there would be a few days before we could get back into role and work on our inquiry or commission.
Have to carefully intro a topic with the hooks. My Pay it Forward looked great on paper, but the hook I used really revealed every thing we were going to do, plus the questioning I did at the start really left us nowhere much to go and after about 10 days it fell flat and we decided to wind up the company and head off on holiday! Instead of fufiling the commission how we had planned we boxed up new toys and sent them to Starship.

Where to next.
I will continue to use the Mantle of the Expert approach and hope to be flexible enough to slot all the subject areas into the plan.
Will start Space Mantle in Term 2 as only 8 full weeks in Term 1, with a week for Science Burst, plus senior camp. hope to put together a mini mantle on Laws, rules, respect, responsibility  and how we learn for Term !. Eeek!

Is it a Mantle?

Hmm. I have completely changed how we are working on this inquiry. Is it a Mantle??
We had investigated in pairs different charities and helping agencies, with an aim to answer the following questions.
 What do they do/ help with?
How do they get their money?
What is their motivation?
What could we do to help them?
We presented our findings at a  Charity Expo. (Made into  a book)

We watched bits of "Pay it Forward" and formed groups to brainstorm how we could make  a difference and who we could help. Met in the board room, and after talking about what we had been doing in the morning before the meeting, we listed all  the ideas on the board, discussed the pros and cons of each, then did the Trading game,  more discussion, then voting for an idea that we could all work on.

We are now planning how we could raise money for Starship.

A new Mini mantle

Forward  On

Company - A fundraising company. Groups of three or four children will form different companies.
Hook- Movie “Pay it Forward” Whole movie or may be parts of it. Teacher reading Rules by Cynthia Lord.  Or use a disaster or relief effort that is in current events .
Commission - Email inviting agency to participate in a fundraising Expo where creative ways to raise money for charities and relief efforts are to be on display.
Dramatic Tension - Ideas - Productive - Told by tax department that need to pay tax on any money raised.
Offices are robbed. Can we use clues to solve the case?
Key Tensions - Several other charities are concerned that their fundraising ideas are being used and threaten to pursue a court case.
Tasks Arising
Report writing     Research reports       Letter writing      Interviewing teacher in role   Looking at various viewpoints
company Logos/ letterheads  Listing types of helping agencies, charities and investigating them. Locating countries on maps.Developing a submission to put forward on ways to raise money. Setting up displays for  Expo.
Forensic Science  activities to identify the robbers.   
Presentation to Client  - Posters/Taskboards/Jingles and products to be presented at fundraising Expo. Each group will pitch their idea to the rest of us, who will be acting as judges. Decide on idea  - best voted - and carry it out if possible
Closure- Xmas Party!

Questioning

Michael Questioning2 by msace

Weeds found in school grounds

The register of Weeds that was created as part of our commission

What we liked about weeds Mantle and what we learnt.

London Conference photos