Rolling with Mantle

We had some issues at the start of the week. Looking back on this, this was to do with the lack of connection to the company we had made for learners with the tasks they were doing. The lead into the tasks was too quick and was not framed in a way that allowed the students to re-enter the world of the company, and so they fell back into some routines that are not very conducive to learning. At the end of last week, the students went on a EOTC trip to the museum. They were there to complete an audit on the museum. This came from the question " how can we ensure that our items for display are being treated with respect." Learners created a checklist for the museum and choose an exhibit to further investigate. They also participated in the museum classroom and were told that they were doing this to provide a report to the education officer at the museum, as after their most recent commission of providing lesson plans, they had insight into how these should run. The students...

The first commission the company received is intended as a 'mini-commission' to cement the belief in the company and tie back into the hook of the first day to develop their learning further around that task. The commission was from a client who received the display from last week. They were very impressed and want to use it as part of their educational tour so they have requested lesson plans for various age groups.  When we started unpacking the commission by asking, W hat have we been asked to do? What do we need to know to do this? What questions do we have? the learners were really focused on the delivery of the lesson as opposed to the content knowledge they might need to deliver this as a lesson. They were asking questions like, " how do we engage the students... how do we know they are enjoying the lesson... how many students will be in a class" and I was unprepared for that line of questioning. We had a brief discussion about it and they started pla...

The history of our company was cemented with short films being made that Edna from Archives had found for us to watch. These short films included interviews with Ellen, a cooking show we once did and some meme's that our company created to connect with a younger audience. These have been referred to as we have moved forward this week. With 60 students, I was really worried about how we would build the office spaces and further develop belief in the world we are creating. Luckily, there was testing on for half the group in two blocks. So, for 45 minute blocks we could work with just 30 students on further building belief. This made this far more manageable and I'm not sure that this same approach would have worked with 60 students... We started with creating our building spaces. We took the floor plans for the office spaces and standing in a circle we placed them on the ground, unpacking them and placing them where we though they would be. It was something that all students...

It has been an exciting start to week 1 of Term 2 because we are doing Mantle of the Expert with 60 students! ( Click here for more info about MOTE! ) At Rolleston College, we work within connected learning groups. Four teachers to a group of about 60 learners, creating meaningful contexts for learning that naturally bring together the subjects that would 'traditionally' be taught separately. This week we have started a Mantle of the Expert journey with our learners, and introducing four other teachers to the magic that is MOTE. Simply put, MOTE is about how you frame the class and how you approach learning. The class are the experts. They are a company with an established history of excellence.  They work for a client, and the client provides them commissions to complete. In doing this, it changes the way learners approach a task - it creates meaning in their work, it provides problems to be solved and they are framed in a positive, affirming, expert role. I was nerv...