The Sea Company

Monday, November 27, 2006

EPISODE 16 - HISTORICAL EVIDENCE


We held a company to discuss how / where we might more information about John Davies, a sailor on The Red Flotilla. The children suggested: asking his great grand-daughter if any other family members might help; asking the Shipping company he worked for; looking on the Internet; going back to the house where he lived. We also had evidence form the wreck itself to look at - some of it mioght tell us about him. Could one of the skeletons we found be John Davies himself? I told them that there were history experts who might alsobe able to help us by finding documents - would we be interested?

Over the next few days I started to bring in various documents: a letter from the shipping company historian with further details about the shipwreck; a census from 1905 of the village JD lived in; church records showing births, deaths and marriages from the same village and a folder full of photographs of people, objects, buildings and ships that members of the family and our 'history expert' had found . We began to look at these in more detail - making links and connections between the documents and between all the things we knew already about JD. Some of the more able children really grabbed this difficult challenge with both hands - using the family tree to work out ages that family members lived to and making some amazing links between pieces of evidence. They were very excited when they found out certain things I had 'planted' in the documents - like the fact that he had a daughter who had died at the age of 3 just before he set sail on his last voyage - and another daughter who had lived to the age of 99. They also found a family member who died in 1942 which some of them knew was in World War 2.

We decided to make a folder of all the evidence we were putting together to present to Mrs Davies in a couple of weeks. The children were keen to make a nice front cover with 'History of John Davies 1872 - 1906' on it and his photograph underneath. They annotated the family tree, the church records and the census to put in the file and then began to draw some of the finds from the salvage which they thought might have belonged to him, writing their reasons: 'the pearl necklace was a present for his wife', 'the buckled shoe was the right size to fit his foot' The bones team decided that the skull with some remains of hair and a sailor's hat still on it might have been JD. They agreed to do further tests to find out if it was really him. (If it is we will reveive the discussion about the ethics of what to do with human bones - should they be buried / returned to relatives? etc.

They then set to task sorting the photographs - again making links and piecing together evidence to try and draw conclusions. They became thoroughly immersed in all of this as the evidence in the file for Mrs Davies grew and grew. At one point somone asked - is this what real history experts do? Someone else said - 'if they do, I'd like to do this when I grow up - it's fun!' They also kept talking about Mrs Davies - 'do you think she'll be pleased?' was one question.I was suddenly struck with how much more meaningful this approach to history was than discussing historical 'facts' with the children. This work has been about what historians do - how they find out - rather than 'what happened' of 'who it happened to' - I'm sure this learning has been much more powerful and purposeful - the 'evidence' took a lot of time to prepare but was fun and has been completely worthwhile as I have watched what the children have got out of it.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

EPISODE 15 - VISIT FROM MRS DAVIES

I reminded the children that the commission for the salvage of the Red Flotilla had come from the shipping company who owned the ship. I asked them if they would like to read the letter that the shipping company had sent, thanking us for the salvage. The company was based in Ipswich and thanked us for our hard work, stating that the finds would be exhibited in their company building in Ipswich Docks. At this point the children started to become interested in the whole are of ownership - who does actually own the finds - the salvage company? the shipping company? relatives of the people on board? What about the skeletons / bones? Should these be returned to relatives who might want to bury them? (I feel this is a very important and ethical issue and we need to discuss this in full at a later date). The shipping company also told us in the letter that they had had a visit from a woman whose Great Grandfather had served and died in the Red Flotilla. She was keen to find out more about her relative and wondered whether we could help.

The company were all very keen to help so I asked them if they would like to meet the relative there and then. I was thrilled with what followed as, to me, it showed how the building up of belief in the company - how we behave - what our building says about us etc - has paid off. They were very clear about her arrival in our Reception area - about how she should feel welcome and the importance of signing in. They decided she should be shown up to our meetings room and organised the chairs in a circle with a special visitor's chair with a cushion on it. Someone offered to be the receptionist and someone else to show her to the room. I asked them how she might feel about the visit and they said that she might possibly get a bit upset, talking about her dead G grandfather - so a box of tissues and a reassuring pat on the back were prepared. I went into role as Alison Davies, coming into the room clutching a plastic bag, looking a bit nervous. The company gave me a wonderful welcome, asking me poitely to sign in and showing me the waiting area and the drinks machine. I was then escorted with great care to the meetings room. I told them that I knew hardly anything about my great grandfather and would love to know more, so would like to commision the Sea Company to find as much about him as possible.

At this point I began to look a bit upset as I talked about how he might have died. The atmosphere was very poignant as the children offered me tissues and one put her arm me and offered reassuring words, echoed by others in the circle. It was a special moment for me as the group seemed very un-selfconscious and 'together' in their empathy - not one giggle spoiled the moment! I went on to show them what was in my bag - part of a family tree, a photograph of my great grandfather and a chinese fan in a box which I told them had been discovered in a drawer in his house. I asked them if they would like to borrow the items and was reassured they would be kept safely in the company safe. The children told me they would work really hard to find out as much as possible and drew my attention to their company promises about honesty, working hard etc, before showing me back out of the building.

I was really pleased with this session - it had a special atmosphere and flow that seemed very natural, calm and thoughtful. I was so proud of the way the children had dealt with the whole situation with little or no 'teacher talk' fom me - maybe I'm getting there!!!

EPISODE 14 - SALVAGING THE RED FLOTILLA


We agreed to go back in time to remember the salvage of The Red Flotilla. I laid out a huge sheet of paper on the floor and we started to map out what the shipwreck had looked like when we found it. The children were very immersed and specific about the details of the wreck and a clear picture soon emerged. They then went back into role as the divers, working in pairs to search the wreck for salvage. As they 'found' things they drew pictures of them and stuck them onto the picture of the wreck in the place they were discovered. The children are so familiar with the diving routine now that they got into pairs, checked each others' equipment and practised their signals without any prompting. Some of the divers began to find bones so we stopped to discuss the implications of this. So far we knew nothing about who might have died in the shipwreck. Here was evidence that some people had died. I was slightly concerned about this moment because I didn't want this to turn into a skeleton frenzy, but, amazingly, the children were reasonably restrained - treating these finds seriously and discussing what to do with them. Someone decided that we do have a specialist 'bones' team back at HQ so we would need to pass over the human remains to them.

Back at HQ the children went into role as restorers and filled in reports about their finds. A small group volunteered to be the bones team and took the evidence (in the form of pictures) outside the classroom with clipboards to investigate the bones and write their report. The finds were fascinating and included: a flag with faded letters; the Captain's log; maps; a cracked cup; a buckled shoe; a necklace of pearls; a rusty key; a broken clock (somone suggested that the time on it might be the time the ship was wrecked); part of the steering wheel etc. Again, I will use these ideas as 'gifts' to further the drama - maybe we can begin to find out more about the people on board - or how the ship sank. We were so busy restoring that I had forgotten about the bones team outside in the corridor - they had been there nearly 1/2 an hour and came back with pages of findings which formed their report! Great engagement today!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

EPISODE 13 THE RED FLOTILLA

One of the past salvages recorded on our time line was of a ship called The Red Flotilla. We decided to explore the story of the shipwreck and the salvage. On a large sheet of paper we started to fill in details about the shipwreck: it happened in 1906; the ship was sailing from Spain to South Africa; 100 passengers were on board - rich Africans who had holidayed in Spain and were returning home; the wreck happened in the Atlantic - strangely far out at sea (why was the ship not sailing down the coast as might be expected?); the wreck was caused by bad weather - thick fog, followed by a storm. We then began to recall the salvage, which happened three years ago. The children got into groups and each one made a 'photograph' of one aspect of the dive - the trip out to the Atlantic; diving down to the wreck; searching the wreck; bringing stuff to the surface; the journey home and finally restoring objects in the restoration room. The dive proved to be an eventful one, with an attack from a giant squid! The groups positioned themselves to make a mini time line of the salvage and then brought the photographs to life one group at a time. We will continue with the investigation into the Red Flotilla as the children were keen to know more about what exactly happened and want to find out about the people on board.

EPISODE 12 TIME LINE


The children have previously agreed that our company has been running for 5 years . They thought it might be a good idea to put up a time line in our HQ reception area to tell visitors about the history of our company. They became very interested in the idea that company members might have joined at different times so I asked a show of hands of those who were there when the Sea Company was established in 2001. They began to talk about how they were all nervous at first, but soon began to work well together. then they started recalling when other members had joined - right up to the 'new boy' who only started last week! Someone remembered a diver who was very quiet and shy when he first started but who was now a popular and confident member of the diving team. I asked them all to draw a picture of themselves and to stick it onto a large time line in the year they joined the company. Then they began to talk about other significant events in our history - past salvages; the first meeting with Mr Green (boss); a visit from the Prime Minister and a visit from the Queen. Other events, such as the buglary were also placed onto the time line. Another example of 'gifts' from the children - a whole load of rich ideas which we will explore over the next few weeks.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

EPISODE 11 - MR GREEN’S VISIT


The company were busy at work when Mr Green arrived (a male classroom assistant in role). I think the children were pleased to see a different adult in role – they’re getting bored with me every time (must use other adults more!). I had organised a clip board for him with a series of questions. The children were so keen to show him all they had done – he wanted to see the improvements to the reception area; our company display ;our promises; our signs and notices; electrical improvements and our divers licences. The children showed immense pride in showing him all these things and I think they began to realise that all our hard work was worth the effort – it also made me realise the amount of work we’d done over the last few weeks – I felt rather proud too! The visit proved to be a natural conclusion to the half term and was a great way to finish the first block of this Mantle. I’m really pleased with how it’s gone so far – the children have enjoyed it from the start – I had worked hard on the first steps in and they seemed to work well in drawing them in. As the weeks have progressed they have become more immersed and engaged and several parents have commented on how they’re talking about the Salvage company at home. They love the shipwreck fish tank and keep bringing in pebbles and shells to put in it and have also been bringing in salvaged objects – costume jewellery, bits of pottery etc. I can’t wait to see what happens next half term! Is it time for our next big commission?

EPISODE 10 - ELECTRICAL MATTERS


We received a letter from Mr Green saying that he was concerned to have received a report from the electrical safety officer saying that there were a whole series of faults and hazards in our company HQ. He was also concerned about our very high electricity bills and wanted these to be reduced somehow. He said that if these problems were not sorted out our building might be under threat of closure.

After a brief discussion we found out that some colleagues knew quite a lot about electricity and some didn’t so we decided to find out as much as we could before addressing the problems. Over the next week we made our own circuits to make a bulb light up, found out about switches and added switches to circuits and did a survey of the building to find which items worked from batteries and which from mains electricity.

We then went into role as electrical safety officers, looking round our building for faults and hazards. The children worked in pairs with clip boards, making notes as they went around. This seemed to work brilliantly – I’d say 100% engagement as they did their job – so simple as well!! They found loose and broken wires, cracked socket cases, broken walls revealing wires, faulty lifts, sockets near sinks etc etc.They then had to go back to their office and write up their report, listing the faults and work that needed doing to remedy them. The following day one of the reports was read out to our colleagues who decided which jobs we could do ourselves and which jobs needed professional electricians. Then back into role as electricians / company workers sorting out the faults. They also made safety posters to put up round the building. I came back in role as the safety officer to re-inspect the building and the children showed me all their repairs – of course the building passed the test with flying colours!!

To try to cut down on bills we also made posters telling people to turn off lights etc when not in a room. We also began to discuss alternative sources of electrical power. Some of the children knew about solar power and thought that this might be a cheaper source of electricity and also better for the environment, so we decided to look into this. The children looked up information in books and on the internet and drew diagrams to show how electricity is made from sources such as coal and oil. They then found out about solar, hydro and wind power and looked at how a model car with a solar panel worked in the playground, making it stop and start by blocking out the sun.

After a company meeting most of them felt very strongly that we should convert our building to both solar and wind power, even though the initial outlay might prove to be expensive. We came up with a series of questions that we emailed to the council. Luckily my husband is a town planner whose area is sustainability so he emailed back with lots of advice about what to do, how to do it and grants available. We then wrote to Mr Green explaining what we had done to solve all the problems he had outlined and with a plea for him to give us the OK to convert to solar and wind power. They were thrilled when they got his positive reply but a bit nervous to hear he was coming the next day to inspect our newly refurbished reception area and to look around the whole building ……

Mr Green reminded us in his letter that we need to make sure that our company aims and values are be clearly displayed in our new reception area. We discussed what these might be, (changing the wording to ‘our promises’ which the children related to more readily). They came up with some incredibly thoughtful ideas which they then prioritised, giving very strong reasons as to why one promise might be more important than another . I was so pleased that their promises and prioritising was very much based on their increasing knowledge and understanding of what our company is about e.g. they were adamant that the most important issue was safety, both for company members and visitors – I felt this had arisen from re-enacting the dangerous salvage, from the practical test in the divers’ exam and from the work on electrical safety.

These were our final list of promises:

∑ To always keep people safe
∑ To always be kind
∑ To always do our best
∑ To always get the job finished
∑ To make everyone feel at home
∑ To restore things carefully
∑ To always be on time

EPISODE 9 - THE FIRE DRILL


When we were mapping out the restoration room, the children became interested in signs that might be placed around our HQ building. We used an English lesson to discuss and make any signs that would be displayed: No Smoking; EXIT; THIS WAY TO ….. etc. They became particularly engaged with Fire Exits which led on to the discussion of what a fire door is and what we do if there is a fire. We read our school fire drill, which the children found to be lacking in some vital points of information but were fascinated by phrases such as ‘evacuation procedure’ and ‘assembly point’.

We decided to make an effective fire drill for our HQ and realised that we didn’t know much about the outside area, but quickly decided there was a car park round the back which would be the assembly point. (Some of the children started to get interested in what the car park was like so we will go into this later.) The fire drill discussion was really lively as the children were really worried about safety and whether the priority was to help fight the fire or to get everyone out safely. We had a lengthy discussion about the type of alarm – bell / ambulance type siren or computer generated high pitched beeping so tried some of these out to gauge loudness and effectiveness - anyone walking into our classroom at this point would have wondered what the hell was going on. Discussions about a register to check who was at the assembly point prompted concerns about check in systems to the building – do we have a record of everyone who might be in the building at any one time. (Again something to follow up later.)

The fire drills which the children then wrote were very effective and to the point.

EPISODE 8 – SALVAGE RESTORATION REPORTS

The children have been busy using clay to make reproductions of salvaged objects. I asked them to take their places at their restoration tables and to show me how they are going about the restoration of their object. I was amazed how long they were able to sustain this role play as I walked round the room questioning them about what they were doing. We then gathered back together and I explained that we need to fill in a salvage report form for each restored object for our company records. (We have a proper metal filing cabinet where company records are stored). I asked two children to work in role while I asked them questions from the report form: they had to photograph the object, describe it, suggest the restoration needed, equipment needed and then photograph it again after the restoration. The two children chosen were dreams and gave the most imaginative responses and detail about their work. After this, everyone went off to ‘restore’ their object and fill in the report form. The engagement in writing tasks such as this has gradually deepened as the work has progressed through the weeks and I have been impressed by the imagination and quality of the writing. As I have noticed in previous mantles, the boys are very willing and motivated to write in these purposeful contexts.

EPISODE 7 - DIVERS’ LICENCES


In role as divers, I reminded the children that it was time for the yearly exam to renew their divers’ licences. They had to sit a three part test: oral, written and practical. I asked the children to place themselves on a line continuum to show how they felt about the test- one end was ‘very confident’, the other ‘very unconfident’. It was interesting to see the range of feelings – they were pretty much spaced out along the line, with a small cluster at each end. They were very articulate in their responses and very much in role when I asked some of them why they had placed themselves in that position on the line. I then told them to get ready for the arrival of Paula Smith, chief diving instructor (me in role with a clipboard!). (Would have been better to have another adult but none were available!) Ms Smith asked the divers to sit at their tables for the oral part of the test – they were each to name a sea creature they might see when on a dive (extra points given for a creature that no-one else had thought of). Their answers were knowlegable and varied and they were already taking the test seriously. The written test was to draw and label 3 pieces of divers equipment – they worked in complete silence as, again they showed their already growing expertise about their work.

For the practical part of the test we went into the flotation tank room (curtains drawn and lights off to help create the atmosphere). First the divers had to demonstrate their knowledge of signals .Then teams of divers had to demonstrate their skills in the tank: each diver had only 1 minute of oxygen in his/her tank. After 20 seconds radio signals break down; after 40 seconds one of the divers (pre-chosen) gets into trouble and the rest of the team have 20 seconds to rescue them. Each team worked really well together on this – again a great atmosphere (did get a bit ‘samey’ by the time we got to the 5th team though!!).

I finished the session with a bit of a ritual, which the children loved - announcing that all the divers had passed their tests, shaking their hands one by one and awarding them with their new licence certificates.

EPISODE 6 – THE RESTORATION ROOM


We had previously talked about job profiles of restorers for our company display, so today we began to work in role as restorers. I asked the children to imagine they were in the restoration room in our HQ -what would be in the room? I gave out A5 pieces of paper for them to draw or write feature of the room on which they placed in the classroom where they thought that feature might be. The engagement in this activity was huge and after about 15 minutes we had created a room with restoration tables, sinks, conveyor belts, cupboards, shelves and some great details I would never have thought of – collapsible baskets to collect the salvage, an x-ray machine to look inside things, magnetic bins and more! (the science in this whole project has already been huge!)

I went into role as a restorer whose father and grandfather had also been restorers. I showed the children my (imaginary) restorers kit, which had been passed down through the family and told them how precious it was to me. I described the special box I kept the tools in and how I took it home with me every night because it was so valuable to me. I then showed the children a drawstring bag (real ) and asked them to imagine that it was full of restorers’ tools. One by one they came up, took a tool out of the bag and showed the rest of the class what they were doing with it. The first child set the tone by reaching so carefully into the bag and taking out a bottle of spray which she squirted onto an imaginary object and started gently polishing it. There was a hushed atmosphere and some magical moments as other followed her – I felt that there was a real feeling of investment and belief in what they were doing and that the children were beginning to enter the work at a deeper level at this point.

They went off to draw the special boxes that they kept their tool kits in and also the equipment contained in the boxes – tweezers, scissors, polish, small saws, glue, clamps, sponges, brushes etc.

EPISODE 5 – OUR MOST MEMORABLE SALVAGE


This was a drama session done before the children wrote newspaper reports about a memorable salvage. They were very interested to find out that the company had a past but decided that we were relatively new and had only been going for 5 years. I modelled reminiscing ‘do you remember the time when we salvaged that Viking ship ..?’ there was a bit of an awkward silence at first but then a lone voice piped up ‘yes, we found all those gold necklaces ..’ it was as if a floodgate had been opened – so many ideas that we had to quickly sort ourselves into smaller groups to continue reminiscing!

The groups were then given a pro-forma to fill in, one person scribing, the rest negotiating and agreeing on details such as ‘age of wreck’, ‘name of ship’, ‘how many people on board’ etc. I collected the sheets and we pieced together bits of information from them all to create a profile of one specific wreck from the past. This turned out to be a 250 year old wreck called ‘The Golden Galleon, carrying 100 passengers, all of whom survived. Items on board included a cargo of gold and personal items belonging to passengers and crew.

I reminded the children that the divers had been commissioned by a museum to find as many items as possible and also to look for evidence about how the ship sank. The children then went into role as divers (we had previously found out quite a lot about divers’ jobs, skills and equipment for our company display.) We worked in teams, using pre-agreed signals for communicating as well as our two way radios, diving down to the wreck and bringing up objects. Back at HQ the divers drew pictures of objects they had salvaged and of clues they had found. Each salvaged object was carefully drawn, noting one significant detail – some of these were poignant – a mirror with broken glass, a child’s toy with a child’s fingerprint still on it, an old book with someone’s name inside. I asked the children to imagine they were the person who had owned the object and to place themselves on the ship before it sank with their object. I then questioned them about who they were / why they were on the ship. The children decided they wanted to draw the people who owned the objects, so we found some information books showing people from around that time to find out what they might have looked like.

A shark’s tooth had been found embedded in the woodwork, so we came to the conclusion that a shark attack had sunk the ship! We then used ‘forum theatre’ to recreate the most dramatic moment from that dive: a team of small divers miming the action while the rest of the class, in a circle around them, directed the action. Again, the ominous presence of sharks was felt – one of the diving team was attacked but was rescued by the rest of the team. I must admit this session began to veer towards ‘Tom and Jerry’ cartoon silliness with gratuitous violence after starting off in quite an atmospheric way. I did stop the action at one point and, out of role, we discussed whether we wanted the action to be silly and funny or serious – quite a few votes for silly and funny – fair enough – but actually the majority wanted it to be serious. We also had to decide whether we would accept any of out team dying in the drama – again the consensus was no, but I didn’t feel I’d dealt with these issues in the best way. Food for thought!

EPISODE 4 – DESIGNING A NEW RECEPTION AREA

We received a letter from ‘the boss’ (Mr Green), saying how sorry he was to hear about our burglary. However, he believed this was the ideal opportunity to plan a great new reception area to welcome visitors to our building and to publicise the work of the company. The letter gave us free reign and a load of money to design the best possible area. After a brief brainstorm the children worked in pairs to come up with a plan for a new reception area. These were great and included an office area, toilets (M F and disabled), a comfortable waiting area with a huge rug with a sea motif woven in, drinks and snack machines, a children’s play area and a display area to tell visitors about our work. There were also to be display cases with examples of salvaged objects and a huge fish tank with a wreck, models of divers and real fish.

The children then brainstormed all the things that could be in the wall display. This is what they came up with and this is what we spent three weeks of our English lessons and some of our afternoon work doing:

∑ Job profiles with photographs of company members
∑ Training certificates
∑ Newspaper reports about past salvages
∑ An article about us published in ‘Salvage Monthly Magazine’
∑ Labelled diagrams of divers with equipment
∑ Labelled pictures of specialist equipment used by our restorers

We also used clay to make salvaged objects and did observational drawings of objects to make a display in our reception area. (The fish tank will be made at some point when we can borrow a large enough tank!!)

The children enjoyed all these tasks, even though some of the writing was quite demanding. Because it was to go into a display it had to be good quality work and they took this very seriously. A sense of urgency was present due to the impending visit of Mr Green to inspect the new reception area and motivation was helped by the children seeing the work being made into the display as it progressed.

EPISODE 3 – THE BURGLARY


In role as company members coming to work. We had previously discussed that the room directly through the door would be the company reception area, where a ‘secretary’ would have a desk or office to sign people in to the building. We actually went outside the classroom and walked up to the back door. As I approached the door I suddenly stopped and began to peer through the glass, saying ‘something seems to be wrong’. I asked a couple of the children to look through the glass (the image would be blurry as the glass was frosted). They began to say they could see a lot of mess, tables upturned, things broken or smashed. Someone spotted a broken window. We decided to enter but agreed not to touch anything – some children offered to phone the police. We quite quickly decided that a burglary had taken place. As the children explored the reception area they began to spot all sort of clues – finger prints, footprints, a diary, a cigarette stub. They also discovered that one of our storage rooms had been broken into and emptied of all the salvage artefacts, including some valuable items. At this point I received a phone call from the police, saying they wouldn’t be able to get there for a while, but would we help by writing down / drawing all the clues we’ve found and also listing the items stolen. We did this and ‘sent’ all our information to the police who began to investigate the burglary.

The class were fascinated with the whole idea of the burglary (especially a very lively and vocal group of boys!) and came up with more and more fantastical ideas about how it happened and who did it. Those who wanted kept phoning ‘ sending messages to the police with new evidence – responses from the police were invariably enthusiastic and grateful for their help!!)

EPISODE 2 – HQ – THE DOOR


We discussed the fact that our company will need an HQ. Even though some of our work is done in the field (an expression that involved a mini discussion in itself!), there are many jobs that need a central building e.g. restoring, researching, admin work. In small groups the children discussed locations for our HQ. We used a voting system to agree the following:

∑ The Sea Company is a large organisation based in London.
∑ The ‘boss’ is called Mr Green and works at the London head office.
∑ There are several branches of the company all over England.
∑ Our HQ is on the sea front in Cromer. (The children decided it should be near the sea, but also near lots of people who might want to use our services.

I then asked the children to imagine walking along the sea front in Cromer and stopping in front of the door of our HQ. What does it look like? What does it say about the company who work behind the door. I began to do a large picture of the door on the whiteboard, guided by the children. This worked brilliantly – they became so involved in the detail – the black gloss woodwork, the brass handle in the shape of a dolphin, the frosted glass windows, the brass plaque with the company name on, the security system with a code and a swipe card for company members to get in. The children were bursting with ideas and I was struck by the power of a door as a symbol of entry, beginnings, possibilities (what is lying behind that closed door?) and also giving the first sense of belonging and belief to the children – it is our door – it says something about our company. This has definitely been the most powerful beginning to a Mantle that I have tried and I will use it in the future.

As we had discussed the plaque the next natural step was to think of a name that would be on the plaque. It was my ADHD child who came up with ‘The Sea Company’ and this was the first activity that she had volunteered to do without any support or persuasion – was this the beginning of her involvement in the Mantle Work ?– well, not quite, as she is still finding some aspects of it very hard, but she is dipping in and out with increasing regularity and is apparently talking about it at home. As the door also required a security code we invented a 6 digit code which we all learned off by heart. The children also wanted to make swipe cards so the rest of the afternoon was spent with string, hole punches and bits of cardboard until they were all proudly wearing their entry cards!

EPISODE 1 – WHAT DOES A SALVAGE COMPANY DO ? DO WE WANT TO WORK AS A SALVAGE COMPANY?


I showed the children a strange stone, with some sort of symbol on it (found by my son on Mundesley beach!), and told them that in our drama we were going to imagine that it had been found at the bottom of the sea. The children were fascinated by the stone and spent a long time discussing what it might be. They came to the conclusion that it was part of the lettering of a ship’s name as the marks looked like part of a letter H. I asked them what sort of people might be looking around at the bottom of the sea – they knew quite a lot about divers so began to talk about that and then about submarines (the boys’ eyes had already lit up!!). I asked them what these divers might be looking for under the sea – quite a lot of the children began to talk about sea life, especially sharks, giant squid etc – so we will definitely follow this interest later in the drama.

Then somebody mentioned shipwrecks – I hoped they would, but might have fed this idea in myself if they hadn’t!! I then asked them ‘if these divers were working for someone, who might be paying them to dive down to shipwrecks to find things?’. They had quite a few ideas: the captain of the ship, the ship’s owner, a museum, people who had survived the wreck . I asked them if they knew the term ‘salvage’ which they didn’t, so we talked about what that meant. I then asked them ‘in our drama, would you like to imagine that we are members of a salvage team who dive down to explore shipwrecks?’ (the childen ae very familiar with drama and had taken part in a small Mantle in Year 1, working as problem solvers in stories. Most were very keen, but there were a couple of doubters, so we got into small groups to discuss the pros and cons of being a salvage company. Then 3 advocates stod up to give their ‘for and against’ views. The ‘againsts’ thought it would be too much hard work and too complicated and maybe dangerous; the ‘fors’ thought it would be fun and exciting and that we wouldn’t be in real danger because it was only pretend – they also thought it would be great to see all the sealife and to make people happy by finding things they had lost in shipwrecks. We then went to a class vote which was overwhelmingly for (pheww!!). Question – how to make the doubters still feel valued and motivated. ( I did talk to one boy who was very put out, saying just to give it a go and if he still didn’t like it to make sure and let me know!! He was actually hooked by the end of week 1 (double pheww!!)

Introduction

I have been lucky enough to work as part of a DFES Innovations project group under the guidance of Luke Abbot, Brian Edmiston and Tim Taylor so have had some excellent training in how to use MoE. I have been using Mantle extensively with my Year class over the last1 _ years and have run a mini-beast rescue team, an Animal Sanctuary and a company of architects on a commission in Africa. I have a TLR post to develop the use of MoE across the school and have taught demonstration lessons with classes from Year R to Year 5.Our school is also part of a PLN who’s focus is using MoE, particularly to develop boys’ writing. I work closely with a colleague in school who is also using MoE extensively and together we have run workshops at a series of MoE conferences.I am currently working with a Year 2 class of 30 – approx 2/3 are boys. I have 11 children on IEPs, including one child with ADHD and 8 children from ethnic minorities. We have set ourselves up as ‘The Sea Company’, a shipwreck salvage company who will accept commissions from all over the world! We hope to keep this Mantle going all year. We use most afternoons to do the work and as much morning time as we need, especially during the English lesson.