Unit 3 (Primary school, class 3) – We are wizards!

A  Lesson plan

B  Background and educational objectives

Children soon become aware of the fact that many things are beyond their control. They are subject to decisions that have a direct impact on their lives, yet they are often unable to influence them. But children are also capable of travelling to a world of their imagination. This need not be an attempt to escape from the real world. The world of the imagin­ation is the sphere where new plans can be created, experiences may be reflected upon and where a person may gain strength before returning to the real world.

For the teaching project in Unit 3, we suggest drawing on the imaginative capacity of children and giving them the opportunity to transform their ideas into solutions for real life problems in con­nection with the basic rights of children. The starting point is the charming fantasy of becoming a wizard or a witch and to be able to use magic powers to solve problems.

The aims of this project include pupils becoming familiar with children’s rights in a simplified form. At the same time, they are required to identify situa­tions connected to children’s rights in their environ­ment that demand a better solution, and to look for such solutions – both «magical» and «real» – to­gether. It is important for the children not to re­main within their realm of imagination all the time. They should also try to conjure up a solution to a very basic problem in their local surroundings and put it into practice (e.g. focusing on issues such as a clean environment in the classroom and the schoolyard).

This teaching unit relies on communication in the classroom. Therefore it is of great importance for the children to be seated in arrangements that en­courage communication. When communicating in groups, all participants should be able to make eye contact. Forward-facing seating arrangements should therefore be avoided. Sitting in rows puts children at the far ends at a disadvantage. We therefore recommend that the children sit in a cir­cle or around a table during group discussions.

The date that these lessons are carried out is up to the teacher, however the second and third week in November would be suitable, as it coincides with the yearly date of Universal Children’s Day on 20 November (see also the suggestions at the end of the fourth lesson).

C  Key questions for reflection in children’s rights classes

D  Procedure

Lesson 1

The class sits with their chairs arranged in a semi-circle around the board at the front of the class. Each child should have a good view of the board.

The teacher draws or shows a picture of two people on the board or projector: an ordinary woman or man and a wizard or witch. In pairs, the children should also draw the two figures and try to answer the following questions together:

• What is the difference between wizards or witches and ordinary people?
• What can the ordinary person do in certain situations, e.g. If there is no bread in the house to eat?
• What would the wizard or witch do in the same situation?
• To encourage their imagination, further ex­amples of situations can be found by the chil­dren, possibly with support of the teacher. The teacher collects all the pupils’ answers on the board, using the following table:

The children share and discuss their solutions to the various problems. Questions to extend the dis­cussion could be:

• Can you see any solutions or ideas that have been made by a good or a wicked wizard or witch? How would a good or wicked wizard or witch act in certain situations?
• When did you last wish you had magical powers, and what did you want to change then?
• What is your biggest wish right now? How would you grant that wish if you had magical powers? How could you grant that wish in real­ity?
• Etc.

The teacher encourages the pupils to come for­ward and share their ideas and offers all of them positive support. He or she explains that the class will be talking about wizards and witches several times over the next few lessons and sets pupils the task of looking for pictures of wizards and witches in magazines or books and of bringing them to the class if possible. The pictures and books can be displayed in a small exhibition.

For the remaining part of the lesson, the children do a colourful drawing of an elaborate wizard or witch, and next to this figure an “ordinary” person. These drawings can be finished as homework and can subsequently be displayed in the exhibition.

Lesson 2 (Duration: around 1½ Lessons)

Introduction: viewing and commenting on the ex­hibition (see above), if it has become large enough to be presented. The teacher encourages the pupils to collect more pictures, books and objects and to finish their drawings if they haven’t already done so.

The children now sit in a circle. The teacher holds a short talk about the ten most important children’s rights. In this key lesson, he or she tells them that over 50 years ago, special rights that deal with the lives and the situation of children were made and signed by a great many nation states. Here we rec­ommend reading the 1959 UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child (see appendix, though abridged versions can also be found on the Internet), that the teacher may adapt and abridge as necessary.

The teacher should make the presentation as de­scriptive, understandable and child-oriented as possible: examples of real life situations or stories relevant to the children’s experience will help sup­port this.

In order to summarise and conclude, the teacher could compile a list of the most important points together with the children and then write these on the board. The children could then record this list in their exercise books.

The children need to understand that:

• there are such things as children’s rights,
• these rights are valid for every child, even here in our country,
• the aim is to enable every child to grow up in a healthy and wholesome way (this includes physical, moral, spiritual and social develop­ment,
• the freedom and the personal dignity of the child are to be respected.

Next, the teacher lays out approximately 20 paper cut-outs of boys and girls that either they or the pupils have cut out beforehand. These figures are then divided into four groups of five on the floor. The teacher tells the children that each group has a particular problem:

• the first group is experiencing a threat to their physical wellbeing (food, health etc.),
• the second group is experiencing a threat to their spiritual wellbeing (discrimination, right to privacy etc.),
• the third group is experiencing a threat to their educational opportunities (right to access infor­mation, education etc.),
• the fourth group is experiencing a threat to their social environment (family, friends etc.).

After this explanation, the class is divided into four groups, of which each one is responsible for one of the groups of paper figures. The instruction: Take your five figures and write on each one sentences about what they need or what they are missing or why they are suffering. Use “I” sentences (in the first person). For example, the group “spiritual wellbeing” could write sentences like: “People laugh at me, because I am foreign”, “I suffer, be­cause I have no friends”, “I am sad, because people laugh at the way I talk” etc.

Children work in their four groups, then present to each other and hold a discussion to find additional examples for their group of figures (e.g. “What else can you think of?”) – possibly writing on more fig­ures.

Next, the groups become wizards and witches and want to help these children to experience children’s rights! The figures that have been written on are looked at one by one. For each one, the following questions are asked:

• Read what is written on the child: what is it suf­fering from?
• How could the wizard or witch help? What could he or she do, so that the child will be helped today, tomorrow and each day after that?
• What could the child him or herself do, so that he or she feels better?
• What could people without magic powers do (for example us) to help this child feel better?

This turn can be taken with the class as a whole or, depending on class size and time available, in two or more small groups.

Lesson 3

The teacher repeats the ten most important chil­dren’s rights (see above, lesson 2). Today we are looking at concrete situations in real life, where these rights play or should play a big part. The teacher motivates the children to think about places or situations in their everyday lives that are difficult for them, their classmates or younger or older pupils in the school. In particular, they should try to think about situations where the rights of these children are being threatened. This they do in pairs. As a stimulus as well as a writing grid for collecting contributions from the children, the fol­lowing list of places and situations can be used on the board:

Places:

• the classroom
• the schoolyard
• the way to school

Situations:

• quarrel and disagreement
• no lunch
• forgotten to do homework
• being beaten up
• not having a friend
• not owning a warm winter jacket
• without proper sports gear

Instruction: We will now take on the roles of little wizards and witches. We will have a go at finding solutions to these problems.

In the plenary session two or three situations and their solutions – as realistic as possible – will be discussed. The pupils form small groups of three or four and choose one situation, which they want to deal with and present a solution to. Each group should create a role play to both illustrate the situation and present their solution. Today’s lesson is for preparation: the role plays and discussions will be held in the next lesson (and not directly fol­lowing lesson 3, because of the task requirements below).

The teacher explains the requirements for the role play: he or she specifies the time allocated for preparation and for the performance (e.g. 5 min), the content (situation plus solution), gives perform­ance advice (speaking loudly and clearly, use of props etc.). The teacher supports the groups, makes suggestions if necessary and listens. In preparation for the fourth lesson, the pupils can refine their scenes with costumes and props.

Lesson 4

Short instructions are given to the class concerning the role-plays: time limits, clear observation criteria for those watching (e.g. Is the situation repre­sented in an understandable way? Is the solution realistic? Were the actors convincing?). These ob­servation tasks should be written down and shared on the board!

The pupils act out their scenes in class (problem plus solution). The time limits (e.g. 5 min per per­formance) are to be strictly observed.

Following each performance or after every other performance, a discussion should be held that deals with the above mentioned questions, as well as more general questions (e.g. who has ever ex­perienced a similar situation? How did you respond / what did you do in this situation?).

Concluding discussion (whole class) on the various problematic situations and solutions that have been acted out, rounded off by again reviewing the Rights of the Child and raising awareness that the whole exercise was always about relating to these rights.

A project could possibly be set up to commemorate the Universal Children’s Day (20 November), where the children could prepare something for the wider school community (information for another class about children’s rights, creative communi­cation of these rights e.g. a poster display in the school corridor, a small play based on the role-plays performed in class etc.).