EXPLAIN:

Over the next 12 weeks, we will look at the story of a girl called Ella. Ella is a bit like you. She's at school and facing many of the challenges that young people face. So we'll look at who she is, why she is like this, and examine the kind of decisions she makes. Finally, we'll use Ella's experiences to help us understand why any of us might act in particular ways.

Along the way, we might cover some sensitive topics. 

So today's session is all about agreeing to the practical aspects of working together through those topics.

SHOW:

• Slides 1-4

SHOW:

• Slides 5-6

FACILITATOR TIP:

Arrange pupils into small teams of 3 or 4. For example, you may wish to use friendship groups to create a sense of comfort or adopt an approach that encourages them to work with people they would not naturally choose to build their ability to cooperate and collaborate with a range of different people and perspectives.

When you have selected your groups, issue the following brief:

ACTIVITY BRIEF:

How we make use of technology is a central theme that we'll look at throughout the Programme. Therefore, we'll need to build a mobile communications network to ensure sufficient wifi signal to use the digital materials we'll need. Your challenge is to work with your team to construct a telecommunications tower over the next 20 minutes. 

The winning team will have the tallest tower standing unassisted. 

Rules

1. To build your tower, your team may only use up to five items, each under 30cm tall, which you can find within this classroom. One of these items must represent your 'transmitter' at the top of your tower.

2. You may not use any other materials to assist in support of your tower. 

3. You'll have five minutes to agree on your desired build items. You'll then have a further ten minutes only to complete your build. At this point, your 'transmitter' must be on the top of the tower, and your tower must be standing unassisted. 

4. You'll have a two-minute warning before the activity ends and you stop building. 

5. We'll measure towers vertically from their base up (i.e. from the floor/tabletop). 

Measure each tower in turn while also highlighting the key points of the activity (see table) and illustrative examples from your observation notes. 

FACILITATOR TIPS:

• When brainstorming building materials, encourage groups to think of more than five items – as other groups may have the same idea! During the phase where groups are selecting items, go around each group, in turn, ensuring everyone has a fair selection (e.g. first-round Group 1, Group 2, Group 3; second-round Group 2, Group 3, Group 1 etc.) 

• Be sure to carefully observe the way students interact in their groups, particularly noting good practice, which you can reference during Activity 1: Establishing Ground Rules as a mechanism to capture and record and build upon good practice.

SHOW:

• Slides 7-8

EXPLAIN:

You used several essential skills to negotiate that task, skills that we'll develop during the Programme:

• Critical Thinking - this is using your ability to reason, being an active learner rather than a passive recipient of information, and rigorously questioning ideas and assumptions rather than accepting them at face value.

• Collaborating - we'll need to work together not only to find an answer but to find the best possible answer based upon the vast and varied experiences of everyone in the room.

• Communicating - we'll need to talk to each other and, more importantly, listen to each other. Everybody should be able to contribute.

• Challenging - we won't always agree with each other, and that's fine, but we need to find ways to get our points across respectfully.

• Problem Solving - the activities and information we'll look at might not have obvious 'right answers', and so we are all learning together to come up with solutions as we go.

• Reflecting - while we'll work together closely throughout, it's also essential that each of us take time to reflect on what we've heard and take away some personal learning, so there will be opportunities at the end of some of the later sessions to do precisely that.

Summarise each point, again using examples from your observation notes where possible.

EXPLAIN:

To develop the vital skills this Programme aims to provide, we need to be prepared to try new things and therefore accept that things won't always go as planned. Getting things wrong should be viewed as a necessary part of learning, and we shouldn't become frustrated by that.

Some of you may have come across the idea of a 'Growth' and a 'Fixed' mindset. Let's have a quick look at those concepts.

EXPLAIN:

Approaching these sessions with a growth mindset is really important as it enables us to fully participate in the learning experiences that these sessions will provide. Let’s look at how this will work… 

SHOW:

• Slides 10- 11

EXPLAIN:

Over the coming weeks, we're going to look at some complex and controversial issues. We'll likely have different opinions, and that's fine. It's therefore vital that we agree on how to discuss these subjects positively while being respectful of each other. These will be our 'ground rules'. 

SHOW:

• Slides 12 - 13

ASK:

• What kind of things are important when discussing complicated or controversial topics?

• What ‘rules’ or ‘agreements’ would help us overcome any issues?

Reach a consensus on what rules are important and engage pupils in understanding that a ‘safe space’ is being created for them in which to have these discussions and express their views. Write these ground rules up on the whiteboard or a flip-chart for reference during this and future sessions.

Here are some examples to help (adapt the language to suit the needs of your students):

• Respecting what people say 

• Listening to others carefully 

• Accepting that opinions and feelings on this might differ

• Encouraging a wide variety of voices and opinions

• Having the right either to ‘pass’ if you do not wish to comment or answer or to make distinctions between ‘public’ reflections that are for the good of the group, and ‘private’ reflections that are more personal and only helpful to our own growth

• Confidentiality and trusting each other (you will need to explain this in the context of your safeguarding practice and procedures) 

• Deal in fact: 

• Avoid acting on assumptions we have about each other 

• Ensure questions are not personal, unless personal questions have been specifically invited

• Have regard to equal opportunities issues 

• Supporting others and offering feedback constructively and respectfully – even if you do not agree with an opinion, respect someone’s right to theirs 

• Negotiating differences with due regard, courtesy and tolerance

• Meanings of words will be explained in a sensible and factual way 

• Take responsibility for our own feelings and learning 

• It is ok not to understand something – asking questions is how we learn from each other 

NB: The agreed ground rules should be visible at all times, and referred to at the beginning of each and every session within the recap or lesson intro. Should the group decide, the ground rules may be added to or altered if some aren’t working or more are required for a specific topic. This process is a key element in ensuring that the Programme reaches its potential.  Try to draw out rules that at least cover the highlighted text as this links to the key relationship habits that underpin Choice Theory.

EXPLAIN:

If you think back to the start of this session, where we built our Telecoms Towers, one of the skills we briefly talked about was the ability to reflect on our experiences. The process of reflection can be beneficial for many aspects of our daily lives and not just in terms of our academic studies. If we can use our experiences to learn how to manage situations better, we will inevitably improve how we deal with all situations. Doing so can therefore help to keep ourselves safe and make excellent decisions. However, the art of reflection will initially need some practice before it becomes natural. Like anything new, this takes time, and so here is a guide to reflecting on the things we'll learn over the coming weeks, how we feel about those things and how we might use them to help us adapt or change our approach to challenges.

This simple framework will provide a way to structure your reflections:

Facts — What happened? What did I experience? 

Feelings — What impacted me, and how did I feel?

Findings — What truths/assumptions did I have about the session/myself/the process? What can I learn? 

Future — How would I like to apply my insights in the future? 

Friends — Share reflections, learnings and actions with others

Handout Worksheet: Self reflection

SHOW:

• Slides 14 - 16

FACILITATOR TIP:

• Model the 5Fs process of reflection yourself with Session 1. Doing so will provide a framework for students to use through subsequent sessions themselves. Debrief the session from your perspective or ask questions to draw this out from students to further model the approach.

EXPLAIN:

Today we have thought mainly about how we will approach the next few months, the rules we will use to guide how we interact, and some of the skills we want to develop.

Next time we will start to use those skills when we begin reading Ella's Story. Through this Programme, we will aim to guide Ella while improving our ability to do the same for ourselves. 

Thank you for your input today, and let's remind ourselves one more time about Ella's Story.

SHOW:

• Slide 17