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| Contents |
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3... | Chapter 4 | Chapter 4 part 2 |
| Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 6 part 2 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 |
Chapter Three
Building self-esteem and respect for others
GENERAL TECHNIQUES
1. Dealing with conflict
It is of fundamental importance to develop a consistent strategy for dealing with conflict. Most successful routines centre on problem-solving, and the best allow children to deal with as many conflicts as they can without outside help.
One approach that has been found to be effective was developed by Rosemary Milne as part of more general work, she did on moral development in early childhood. In a way, her approach is no more than common sense, but spelling out clearly what is sensible is very.useful for those unsure of how to proceed. Rosemary's model, used regularly and conscientiously, becomes very easy to implement. Pre-school and primary children learn to use it confidently and without assistance. It is reproduced (with the author's permission) below:
| This model provides steps in the process of dealing with
naturally-arising social conflict between children 4-5 years of age, in a preschool
environment, to facilitate the development of moral reasoning and behaviour. 1. Identification and Acceptance of Conflict Situation 1.1 Halt any physical or verbal aggression or physical struggle for possession. 1.2 Recognize and accept the conflict situation and call for deliberation by all participants. Defuse any guilt of children about being involved in conflict by an attitude that some conflict is a natural part of social interaction and learning how to deal fairly in conflict situations is valuable and interesting learning. Examples: There seems to be a problem here; let's sort it out. Don't run away, Bill, we need your thinking too. 2. Description of Incident 3. Exploration of Range of Alternatives 4. Reasoning about Alternatives 5. Choice of Action 6. Carrying-out of Action 7. Follow-up
|
| Notes on the Model 1. Similar strategy for
children or adults: Example from teacher's diary: 2. Knowledge of development: 3. Sequencing: Example: We'll come to that in a minute, Jane, but first let's get some other ideas. Then we can work out which seems fairest. 4. Support: (Rosemary Milne, Moral development in early childhood, Ph.D. thesis, Melbourne, 1984, pp.309-17.) |
The following summarises the steps in the model.
| Model of strategy for dealing with naturally-arising moral
conflict situations 1. Identification and Acceptance of Situation 2. Description of Incident 3. Exploration or Range of Alternatives 4. Reasoning about Alternatives 5. Choice of Action 6. Carrying out of Action 7. Follow-up (ibid., p.318.) |
Some conflicts cannot be dealt with in this common-sense way. They are the ones too loaded with prejudice or stereotyping to be sustained by common-sense.
What, for example, should be done about racist name-calling or derogatory and discriminatory comments of any other kind? Take the case of race. The article 'Childcare shapes the future' in the issue of Interracial Books for Children Bulletin cited earlier recommends:
| Act immediately. Do not side-step the issue with a response
like 'All people are alike' or '[It] doesn't matter'. Such statements deny obvious
differences and may suggest that such differences are something to be ashamed of or that
the adult is not concerned about the feelings of [the victim]. First, strongly criticize
the racist behavior and make clear that it is definitely unacceptable. Be firm yet
supportive with the child who did the insulting; you can say something like, 'I will not
let you use that word. It hurts people's feelings too much. It is wrong for you to call
names' Offer clear support to the insulted child [where there is one] and do not criticize
this child for showing anger, fear or confusion. Help [victimised children] to realize
that negative responses to their appearance, language or race are due to a racist society.
The incident may have been provoked by a controversy unconnected to race. If so, help the
children settle the non-racial part of the argument. [Use the method previously described for this.] Discuss such incidents with parents and staff, and encourage parents to reinforce the school's anti-racist practices. Remember that because of societal racism, such incidents will occur again and again; try not to be discouraged. Consistency in dealing with such behavior is of the essence. ((1983) 14, 7&8 Interracial Books for Children Bulletin, 13-4.) |
The same article also points out that:
| Teachers and parents usually avoid discussing racism or
deny its existence. This behavior is supported and encouraged by the fact that neither
racism nor positive cultural differences are discussed in the vast majority of classes and
texts on child development and early childhood education. Such behavior may, in fact,
actually reinforce racism. For instance, a white child may object to sitting next to
another child because of the child's race. And the teacher may ignore the statement or say
only, 'Don't say that! It isn't nice' ' If nothing is done to reestablish the self-esteem
of the child of color and to change the white child's behavior-that's not just avoiding
the issue, it's reinforcing racism. In the same vein, teachers (and other adults) often claim to be 'color blind'; they say, 'I just see the child, not the color.' By denying racial differences, those teachers are refusing to see the child's full humanity, which includes the child's membership in a racial and cultural group. By the same token, when adults speak of children of color as 'culturally deprived', then they are really saying, 'My culture is superior to theirs'. |
Boy-girl conflicts can be dealt with in a similar way:
| Children who say 'No boys allowed!' or 'No girls here!' can learn to change their behavior. Never allow exclusion based on sex. Develop firm rules against calling names...or using expressions such as 'You throw like a girl!' Such name-calling hurts people. Be clear about your position: 'No sexist insults allowed!' Teach children to resolve conflicts on their own. Girls must learn not to turn to an adult all the time; instead they must assert themselves... Boys must learn how to use words and how to negotiate solutions peacefully. All children should learn how to participate in school and home decision-making. Children can help establish and enforce sex-fair rules that will benefit everyone. |
2. Rules
Rosemary Milne's experience is worth citing once again:
| Another important concept with which we had to come to
grips was that of rules. An action which carries in the mind of the child a rule status,
would appear to carry additional weight in making a link between moral judgment and moral
behaviour. Teachers tended to be ambivalent about the rule-enforcing part of their role. At the beginning of the project, teachers felt an awareness of the problems and the confusions which might arise in a moral education program that stimulated four- year-old children to question and challenge the rules and the decisions of their care-giving adults. Respect for adults, respect for rules which must be obeyed (particularly safety rules), and the security feelings of children which are dependent on children's feelings of order, predictability, and protectedness within the preschool group, were felt to be important factors to be preserved. It was soon found that discussion between children and teacher, even including challenge and argument by children about a teacher's point of view, did not present a problem in terms of the teacher's authority. It was readily apparent to the children at preschool that the teacher was more experienced and had more responsibility in handling moral issues. In fact, soon some teachers were feeling that the problem went in the opposite direction: that children retained 'too much' respect for teachers' contributions and it was considered a red-letter achievement when one teacher recorded in her journal an incident in which the children said to her, 'We don't need you, we can settle this ourselves.' What children had learned was not inert knowledge of absolute rigid moral rules: rather, they had begun to learn how to go about making moral decisions, what criteria to consider, how to weigh solutions, and, most of all, they were seen to be gaining confidence in their own knowledge in an appropriate situation, i.e. a situation not too complex to be handled at the children's level of development. The teacher's authority remained as a resource which the children called on, and as something inherent in her responsibility for the welfare of the whole group of children. 'We don't need adults', said Bruce crossly as the teacher came up to see why one child was being physically pushed on the climbing frame. 'I think you do, here ' said the teacher firmly, 'because this is not a safe thing to do and we have a rule about it which you have to remember.' The teachers in the project came to view the authority of the teacher as being less of
a rule-making authority and more of an upholding of the principle of justice, i.e. respect
for each person. However, there must still be clear recognition of the need (in stage
theory) for young children to proceed towards the stage of respect for the rules of
society. The problem is to help children grow to respect rules in such a way that they
will not then remain fixated at that stage of moral development but will be able to move
on to higher levels of respect for universal principles (which rules may sometimes
contravene). |
3. The Circle
The circle is a practical way of helping teachers and students talk about their ideas and
feelings. It allows each individual a say, and promotes the sense that we all share basic
concerns, despite the variety of our personal experience facilitates the flow of
information within the group, while encouraging trusting and supportive relationships. The
basic procedure is very simple:
| (a) arrange the children in a circle that includes yourself and any
visitors, if they care to join in; (b) set some operating rules, e.g. one person talks at a time; each takes a turn, everyone listens when someone talks (and everyone looks their way as well) those who don't want to talk can pass. This can be done in order, or you can allow children to speak when they want to, provided they don't interrupt. Hand around a prop, perhaps, to show who is speaking; (c) provide a 'handle' or stem. This is half-a-sentence, such as, 'I work best when...' Complete the sentence yourself to give the children an idea of what is involved, and how frank they can be; (d) provide a short 'thinking time'; (e) pass the 'handle' around the circle, for each child to complete; (f) let the group know when the session will end, to let the more shy members decide to have a say; (g) never reject an answer. Inside the circle, there is no wrong reply. If you cannot establish a non-judgmental atmosphere, where the children listen with care as well as talk with confidence, this technique won't work. |
This means saying only positive things that help people feel heard, such as:
|
The circle can be used for many purposes (See H. Bessel & V. Palomares, Methods in human development, Human Development Institute, El Cajon, 1970 for more details). It can be used for feedback and evaluation, e.g. 'Today I learned...'; 'The high point of today was...' 'The low point of today was...' It can be used to relate schoolwork to children's lives, e.g. you have been reading a story and in discussing it, you use a handle like: 'The same thing happened to me when...' Or you have been studying a concept, and you pass around the handle: 'I think that word is about...' This provides more meaning to otherwise unreal or abstract subjects and, allows you to find out more clearly what children have understood. At the same time it helps consolidate the group and encourages individual participation.
Among these purposes it can be used quite specifically to provide opportunities to foster self-esteem, and social tolerance. It will do this in general terms anyway, since it puts everyone, as individuals, in an affirmative situation. By nodding and using understanding words you can reinforce this. Try the following handles:
(a) Self-esteem:
|
(b) Social understanding:
|
The authors cited above (H. Bessel and V. Palomares) recommend the circle as a daily ritual. They have provided a number of answers to the sort of questions that crop up when teachers start thinking of using it or have tried it out and run into strife. These answers are given below:
| 1. What if very few children participate? My answer: Hang in there. It takes them time to see that it's a safe place and that whatever they say will be accepted. Many children watch and gradually join in. 2. I've
been trying it a long time and my two shy children don't say a word, but they seem to be
listening. 3. What if several children repeat what someone else said? 4. What if everyone keeps passing? 5. What if children don't listen to each other? 6. What handles could you use after a fight? 7. What if children lie, eg. a child with no sister says, "My sister likes me
because I'm helpful to her? 8. What if a child says something bad, like.- "Sometimes I wish I could kill my
brother'? 9. What if a child gives an answer clearly aimed at hurting someone else or
undermining the group? 10. What happens when it's time to end the circle, but the children don't want to
stop? 11. Do you run circles with a whole class? 12. Do you ever ask a child to leave the circle? 13. Does this technique ever bring out feelings children can't handle? |
4. Brainstorming
It is often useful or interesting to ask the whole class to think about something, and
write down everything they suggest, no matter how improbable. There are three basic rules:
explain the topic; accept any suggestion at all that comes to mind; and disallow criticism
while this is going on. Try to get the class to think of more ideas, even when everyone
says they have finished.
5. Role-playing
Teachers not used to this technique need not fear. A few suggestions will allow you to use
it successfully, without being too ambitious, though regard will need to be given to the
feelings of individuals and the social structure of the class. A role-play about ethnic
conflict, for example, will need to account for the ethnic composition of the class
itself.
A role-play is like a little drama played out before the class. It is largely improvised. Having set the scene with the basic ideas, you will want to allow time for those chosen to take part to think about what they will say (individually or in groups), or you can proceed at once to enact it. This can be done as a story (with a narrator, and the key characters taking up the thread where appropriate) or as a situation (where the key characters interact, making up dialogue on the spot-perhaps with the help of the teacher and the rest of the class).
Whatever approach is taken, it works best to keep any single scene short, and allow for discussion afterwards. You will want to discourage students from becoming their role. Participants should be able to step back from what they are doing, to comment perhaps, or to ask questions, and members of the class should be able to comment and question too; even join in the role-play if it helps.
6. Buddy
Arrange with the teacher of an upper primary class for each member of your own to have a
senior buddy share an activity or some food, and encourage your children to seek out the
help of their buddy if they have a problem. Devise ways to encourage the senior buddy to
take an interest in his or her small colleague, helping teaching, for example, or showing
games. Have the juniors share a circle, or story-telling, or their art with them.
7. Themes
By concentrating on a special topic or theme, feelings of self-esteem and social
tolerance, and the values intrinsic to the human rights doctrine, can be fostered very
effectively. It is an indirect approach. However, an appropriate project focus, followed
through in a systematic fashion, can bring the core values alive just as well as more
direct teachings.
Three projects are cited below, to suggest what is possible in this way:
(i) Friendship
See Elke Muzik's unit, Chapter 4
(ii) Multi-cultural Australia
There is a lot of advice available for those who want to do a multiculturalism unit with
junior primary classes. This is an established theme, and most education systems have
consultant specialists who can recommend good resources and strategies. The first step is
to org-anise activities that value the variety of the cultures and ethnic backgrounds that
make up Australian society today. Food sharing, costume wearing, songs and dances, are
typical class activities; plus the celebration of a range of culture specific festivals.
There is always the danger of trivialising any or all of the cultures concerned, reducing
them to things that taste, look, sound or feel strange or odd. As a result, children may
learn to disvalue variety, rather than value it. Hence the need to foster tolerance and
respect in an active fashion throughout.
You can never assume that information alone will develop positive attitudes towards other people. Accurate information is necessary. It is fundamental, but it is not enough. The opposite of ignorance may be knowing acceptance or distaste. It depends upon the value placed upon the facts. It depends, in other words, upon the feel of those facts. Your own attitudes will be important, since if you do not value variety yourself, you will find it difficult to convey such a sense to your students. Which is the sort of thing that determines the 'facts' you are likely to choose in the first place!
Stories are a good resource, as ever, particularly if told by adults or children from another culture, involving characters the children can get to know and like. Puppet making and puppet play are obvious follow-ups.
One teacher who took part in the 1985 Schools Program tried the following with her 6-9 year olds:
| First I had them do books about themselves, memories of early years, people, trips to other places. After drawing up a profile of themselves to compare with an imaginary child in Greece, we have gone on to making up a person from a particular cultural context. To do this the children (in groups) picked a card from boxes of countries, religion, education, health and male or female. From this they drew round someone, cut that out and painted and stuffed it to get a three dimensional shape, and are now working out the biography of that person so they can learn about similarities, differences, and the rights of people within different cultures. |
Parents and grandparents can provide much support to a multi-culturalism course, as can the children themselves, particularly where they come from diverse backgrounds.
The second step is to establish a sense of unity in all this diversity; an awareness of 'Australia' as a cultural entity in its own right, regardless of its compound roots. This means looking at the 'mix' that makes up our modern way of living, and how this mix comes about.
This may be easier to do where children from different cultures are present in the classroom itself. You have a living laboratory around you, full of experiments in precisely this process. Culturally uniform classes can still trace the influences of other ways of living on their own however. They can be helped to see how recent an import is the Anglo-based mono-culture, from which Australians draw their common language, law, political and administrative traditions. Activities can be planned to highlight 'immigration' for example, and how we are all immigrants in historical terms (charting family trees is one standard way of doing this). And attempts can be made (more explicitly with older children) to define our 'Aussie-ness' and the benefits brought to Australia by all those who have come in the last 40 000 years (with particular emphasis on the last 200 and the last 40, given their profound effects). The point is that wherever we may have come from we are all 'Australians' here. 'Australians' however are not all exactly the same. If they were, that would be very boring indeed!
The third step is to foster the feeling that wherever we come from, and as Australians, we are all entitled to a fair go. Since this is what the human rights doctrine is all about, any of the activities that teach for humane values, self-esteem and social tolerance, should promote such a feeling. At this point, multi-culturalism becomes teaching for human rights, which is the basis of this book.
(iii) Aboriginal Australia
Another school participating in the Human Rights Commission's Schools Program for 1985
provided the following account as part of its project report:
| Our school is democratically run by parents, teachers and
28 children aged between 41/2 and 11 years. There are no separate classes or grades so
that children of different ages can be found working and playing together at any time.
There is also no set timetable, the only regular events in every day being the morning
meeting and clean-up time followed by story reading at the end the day. The morning meeting has been an important and unchanging feature in the school's ten years of operation. It is here that the day's activities are planned, news and coming events announced, grievances aired and rules discussed. As meetings are chaired by a different child each day they often appear chaotic and noisy but they have proved to be essential in allowing everyone, no matter how young, to assert their rights and have a say in decision-making which affects them... Our decision not to dwell too deeply on present horrors of inhumanity where millions of people are daily denied many of their very basic human rights, led us to our main topic of study-the human rights of Tasmanian Aborigines: past and present. We planned...excursions to sacred sights such as Oyster Cove and to visit the Aboriginal Centre on Flinders Island to meet many of the descendants of the Tasmanian Aborigines who live there. We also planned to make a video about human rights for Tasmanian Aborigines and see the film Manganini. We found that the study of Tasmanian Aborigines led to many...issue areas--human rights and 'the law' (how the Aborigines were forced to comply with European law; what their own laws were); 'life' (how after one generation European settlement had led to the population of Tasmanian Aborigines being reduced from some 4 000 to 135 and to the eventual extinction of all full blooded Aborigines in less than 80 years. 'Freedom of conscience, opinion and expression', and freedom of assembly, association and participation in public office', could also be demonstrated, as Tasmanian Aborigines in the past were vigorously denied them. They remain relevant to present land rights issues. A comparison of the economic, social and cultural well-being of the past and present Aborigines led many to conclude that many Aborigines would have been better off in the past. Present day Aborigines, when we spoke to them on Flinders Island, were able to give many examples of prejudice and discrimination when talking of their rights merely to call themselves Aboriginal, and to fly their flag without it being vandalised. The family tree was easily demonstrated by many of the Aborigines, who were able to trace their descendancy back for several generations; some to before the arrival of Europeans. All children from 4 to 11 years, plus many interested parents and friends were involved in the planning of excursions, visiting speakers, plays and films. The programme has had to be a very practical and active one since the majority of the children are under eight. Camping on Flinders Island, eating shellfish and muttonbirds and smearing ourselves with ochre, could give the younger ones an impression of what life was like for Tasmanian Aborigines which a book lesson could not. Older children did, however, agree to keep written accounts of what they were learning and to evaluate the activities. |
8. Seizing the moment
A participant teacher said the following when commenting on her Year 3 project:
| Originally half an hour to an hour was set aside for the
Human Rights programme. However, as the children and myself became more familiar
(comfortable) with the concept of the rights of others, ourselves, and the problems that
arise when one's own rights are in conflict with the rights of others, 'Human Rights'
lessons could crop up anytime. Discussions were more interesting and fruitful when they were initiated by a playground conflict or a news item that caught the children's imagination. The discussions themselves often gave material for considering the rights of others. Children became aware of the rights of others to have a different point of view and the opportunity to express that point of view. |
Striking while the iron's hot is an excellent general technique, but it requires a good grasp of the doctrine of human rights as a whole, so you can place what has happened in context and respond adequately and at once.
9. Homework
Another Grade 3 teacher had the following to say in her project report:
| One of my most effective teaching strategies was the setting of 'Human Rights' homework. After completing a session...homework would be set, dealing with a value or question discussed with them in the grade. The parental feedback was most valuable. The children were able to discuss concepts with their parents, which probably could have never been brought up otherwise. |
SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES
These are grouped under two main headings, which can be used as separate units of work, or combined in a total program. The first group is meant to foster self-esteem; the second social tolerance.
They are:
| 1. Who am I and what am I like? 2. How do I live with others? |
1. Who am I? What am I like? (self-esteem)
(a) An 'All About Me' or 'Who am I?'book
This is described in detail by Stephanie Peters in The Circle
section of this Chapter. Pass around the handles provided there, sharing time as equally
as possible, and taking care to deal with negative comments in a positive way. Answers
might be entered later into the 'All About Me' or 'Who am I?' book.
(c) The life line
A long-established technique with many variations. Basically, each child stretches out a
piece of yarn somewhere accessible. This represents his or her own life. They then hang
drawings, or later, stories from the line, that detail the highlights-the important
things-that have happened to them. This can be done in chronological sequence, or in any
other order the child may want. It can also be extended into the future.
(d) Me on the wall
Trace the outline of each child on a large piece of paper (best done lying down). Have him
or her paint in details, and then write personal particulars on a label which is then
attached (name; height; weight; what the child would most like to learn or do at school).
Pin or stick these up around the wall, and add any newcomers to the frieze as they join
the class.
Note however the following comments by one participant teacher:
| It took the children several weeks of class discussions where all opinions were respected before they felt confident enough to make any adverse comments on the programme. They eventually told me that they felt the measuring of weight, height, etc. was an invasion of privacy. One comment was 'I don't want everyone to know how fat I am'. |
(e) Me and my senses
Have children discuss in the circle, draw their response to, role play or otherwise explore the following questions:
|
Rephrase the questions, where appropriate, to suit the needs of any children with disabilities, e.g. 'not being able to see (very well; at all) I'm still me, and I can...'
Get the children to invent instruments to help them smell, or touch, or see, or hear, or taste better.
This can be used to explore aspects of disability with children who have none, establishing the essential nature of the 'self', that stands independent of any particular faculty or its impairment.
(f) Wishing well
Reconvene the circle. Suggest that it is the edge of a wishing well. Propose that each
child in turn makes the following wishes (this can also be done in small groups or pairs):
|
2. How do I live with others? (social tolerance)
(a) My family
Have children think about their families, and the relationships within them. Get them to
cut out coloured stars--one for each family member, plus one for themselves. Write the
names of the respective individuals on each star. Stick the stars on a single sheet in
such a way as to show how they relate, and draw lines between them.
Children often come up with patterns unsuspected by parents or relatives, though they will always have reasons for what they put.
Follow up with puppet play. Each child makes a family of puppets that includes one of him or herself. These can be very simple (cut out cardboard, for example, coloured and fixed to sticks), clay or mud figures, even imaginary ones. These can be named by the child, and their relationships described and explained again. Each child can devise a ceremony (a wedding, for example) or a festival, which she or he might then show to the others in the class.
(b) Neighbours
The puppet family can be extended to include other people who live nearby. Children can
dramatise something they do regularly with those people that brings them all together.
Extend the activity to include individuals from anywhere in the world.
(c) Imaginary friend
Have the children sit or lie down with their eyes closed, and quiet. Tell them to breathe
in deeply and then breathe out slowly. Repeat two or more times. Now tell them to imagine
a special place, a favourite place, anywhere in the world (or even out in space). Say that
they are walking in that place--in their imagination--feeling and hearing and seeing what
is going on there. Lead them to a house or a building they can visualise, where they go in
to find a special room. The room has a door in one wall that opens by sliding up. The door
slides up slowly and as it does so it reveals a special friend they have never met
before--first feet, and finally the face. This friend can be old or young--anything. This
friend is always there, and whenever they need someone to talk to, to turn to, they can
visit him or her again if they like. Close the door, leave the house, and come home to the
class. Let the children share what they have imagined, in a speaking circle, or in pairs
or groups.
(d) Letters and friends
Set up a letter exchange with another class in another school, even another country. You
may have to do the writing yourself at first, but enclose drawings, poems, or gifts from
the class, or whatever else the children want to send. This may lead to a day visit later
if the distance allows, and a chance to meet the children of the other community you have
been corresponding with. Investigate the twin school: how big is it? What games are played
there? What do the parents do? What is different and what is the same? Send thank-you
notes to all the individuals concerned after the visit is over.
(e) The circle
The circle again, applied here to the specific question of social tolerance, As described
in The Circle section. Pass around the handles provided there,
sharing time as equally as possible, and taking care to deal with negative comments in a
positive way. Answers might be entered later into the 'All About Me' or 'Who am I?' book.
(f) Moon people
Talk about 'moon people', How 'moon people' will wear 'moon trousers' ('moon saris' etc.),
have 'moon pets, and so on. Children will elaborate the similarities at vast length and
usually take great pleasure in doing so. The process can be made more graphic and more
immediate in many ways: by dramatisation, craft-work, or whatever is appropriate. Bring
the activity down to earth by repeating it for 'earth people', 'sea people', sky people',
'forest people'. Then do it for people who live in other countries.
(g) The washing machine
Have the children make two parallel lines quite close together, and facing each other.
Send a child from one end between the lines (through the wash). Everyone (where this is
culturally appropriate) pats him or her on the back or shakes his or her hand while
offering words of praise, affection and encouragement. All this activity makes for a
sparkling, shining, happy individual at the end of the 'wash'. He or she joins a line, and
the process is then repeated from the first end. (Running one or two people through daily
is more fun than washing everybody in one big clean-up.)
(This activity and a couple of the previous ones (such as the sentence stubs) were adapted
from J. Canfield & H. Wells, 100 ways to enhance self concept in the classroom,
Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1976.)
(h) Labels
One participant teacher used the following to good effect with Grade 4 children:
| ...'label' children in the class as deaf, blind, red-haired, crippled, fat, bald, skinny, poor...teeth-braced, spectacled...girls and boys and vice versa, freckled, asthmatic, old, long nosed, friendless, always picked last in teams, always comes last in contests, poor speller, etc. Each child has to say what it would be like with their 'handicap'. Most think their treatment is unfair. They are treated badly because of something they have little or no control over. All wish they weren't tormented and teased--'they wouldn't like it if they were me'. |
By this point the pattern of how to proceed should be clear. It remains
only to emphasise the importance of classroom climate, and the need for a participative
and cooperative one (even if it seems to mean more confusion and noise!) If you are stuck
at any point, do ask the children for advice. Clarifying with their help what it is you
are trying to do will determine the means for doing it. Ends do not justify means; they
provide them.
| Contents |
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3... | Chapter 4 |Chapter 4 part 2 |
| Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 6 part 2 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 |