>>Testing actitivies – United Kingdom

EXAMPLES OF PRACTICAL SCHEME OF WORK IN CLASSROOM
The Mosaic Art And Sound – UK
Deborah Newbold and Teresa Dello Monaco

INTRODUCTION

A children’s story is selected for its contents in syntony with the P.IN.O.K.I.O. project’s Key- Competences (KC) to be developed in the teacher-pupil-parent environment.
The Bremen Town Musicians, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, is the story used in the examples that follow.
Please, refer to page 6 of this document for the key-competences highlighted by the P.IN.O.K.I.O. researchers.
Children will acquire the story’s content not only by listening to it, but by animating the elements of the story by using their own creativity. Furthermore, they will aim to produce a Podcast, an E-book, or a Blog.
The activities imply storytelling, playing with sounds, expressive movements, creative writing, drawing and ICT learning.
The teacher will make children reflect on the Key-competences throughout the process.  
The examples will show how to use the story to carry out a Podcast, an E-book or a Blog.

EXAMPLE OF ACTIVITIES AIMING AT PRODUCING
A PODCAST
based upon The Bremen Town Musician

The Podcast on The Bremen Town Musician will be delivered in three episodes.
As in a broadcast of a radio programme, it will be based mainly on voice and sounds so that the envisaged activities will reflect reading and games of voice and sounds/noises to be recorded and uploaded as a podcast with just some images to accompany the listening on the podcast. These will be either drawings inspired to the story or photos of the children taken during the activities.

I EPISODE
‘CREATING A FOREST SOUNDSCAPE’
The teacher will ask the children to read the first part of the story until the animals arrive into the forest.
The teacher will organize the reading to let every child read some lines of the story at the least in one of the three episodes.

When the animals, characters of The Bremen Town Musicians, arrive into the forest, the attention will be drawn to the sounds that can be heard in a forest.

The children will stand in two parallel rows facing each other and producing the sounds and noises of the forest, such as wind, birds, leaves, insects, other animals, by using their voice.
The children must use voice only for this exercise, since they will need their hands to “spot” as listeners walk down the centre.

A child will walk in the middle of the rows with her eyes closed until she reaches the end of the rows. Then, another child will start his ‘listening walk’ until all children will have been both sound producers and listeners.
This exercise will be set up with clear instructions to ensure safety.

The teacher will record the children’s reading of the story and the forest soundscape, showing the children how to use the software and the episode will be completed.

II EPISODE
The teacher will ask the children to read the second part of the story until the story’s characters will see a house not too far away, with a shining light.  
At this point, a discussion will be initiated as children will answer to the question: “What do you think they will find in the house?”
The children can use their fantasy with no limits since they are allowed to think freely also of the most unthought-of situations.
Everything will be recorded.

Then, the reading of the story will continue until the characters crashed through the window into the room, shattering the panes.
Here the children will form a circle holding their hands and will produce the sounds of the animals as loud as possible for one minute and after that the noise of the shattering panes.
Everything will be recorded.

III EPISODE
The teacher will ask the children to read the final part of the story until the end.
When the story is completed, the teacher will stimulate children with questions on the solidarity shown by the characters and all the other elements of the story that imply the P.IN.O.K.I.O. key competences.

Then, the children will ‘sculpt’ one another into the animals of The Bremen Town Musicians and will make dialogues referred to the story.  This is a good way of getting lines of dialogue or verbalized thoughts from the "characters".
Both the recording and the dialogue will be recorded.

Maybe this time some children will want to try to make the recording by themselves. All children with the teacher will upload the three episodes of their podcast on the P.IN.O.K.I.O website and will share their experience with children in other schools and other countries.
The children should listen once again to their complete podcast and decide how much they like it and which drawings or photos they like to add to it.
EXAMPLE OF ACTIVITIES AIMING AT PRODUCING AN
E-BOOK or a BLOG
based upon The Bremen Town Musicians

E-BOOK TITLE:  The Bremen Town as we see it
BLOG: Do you know The Bremen Town Musicians story? And do you know Bremen?

Duration:
approximately 90 minute session to produce materials for the e-book and/or blog + 90 minute 
work for the technical aspects (depending on skills).   

Needed facilities and materials:
•    in a reasonable sized space clear of desks and chairs, with a clean floor (a cleared classroom is fine if no hall is available).
•    children will be encouraged to move around, work both alone and in groups and sit on the floor as they work.
•    Resources include pencils, sugar paper (tougher type of colored paper) and markers and “postcards”:  pieces of A5 card, blank on one side and with address lines and a little square for a stamp printed on the other.
•    Computer
•    Camera or mobile phone (to take photos)
 
Used activities:
Some warm up activities may be useful, especially when an external P.IN.O.K.I.O. trainer approaches the class to back up the teachers.
Warm Up Activities
•    Shake as many hands as you can in one minute
•    Shake hands and introduce yourself to your classmates, telling them two things about yourself; one must be true, the other an outlandish fib!  Feed back in a circle.
•    Stuck-in-the-mud * or Stop-Go Freeze Game**.
•    In ten seconds, can the class all stand in the shape of a: circle, square, triangle, the letter T, a church, a bridge with a river underneath it etc.

The Story
•   Tell the group The Bremen Town Musicians and stimulate observations on the Key Competences.

Gathering Words and Pictures
•   Pull the Camera Back: Children sit in a circle and are asked to sit quietly with their eyes closed for one minute, and imagine what Bremen Town must look like, since the characters in the story never actually get there to describe it for us. 
(Tutor leads them through this visualization by suggesting possibilities to spark imagination). 
Then, having opened their eyes, the children are asked to build a picture - to be expressed in words - of Bremen Town as a group. 
They do this by describing what they can see as an imaginary camera, focussed on one tiny part of a scene in Bremen Town, is pulled back to reveal more and more of the town. 
For example, the first child may say “I see a cat sitting by a lamp post”.  The second child must repeat this (since we need to accept all ideas and co-operate to build our picture), but also add her own observation – which may or may not be linked.  For example:  “I see a cat sitting by a lamp post and a man in a tall hat walking a lazy dog”.  The third then adds her image to the picture and so on until the last child describes a huge, rich picture made up of the whole class' inventions. 
As we go round, children may help each other to remember things in the imaginative picture that may have been forgotten. 
They should be encouraged to give a little detail, but make their addition to the picture one sentence long only. 
Meantime, one of the tutors should be jotting down some key phrases/words/images described in words on sugar paper as a record, for use in further writing exercises.

These will be used for the E-book once they will be written on paper and used as slides.

•    Scenes from Bremen Town:  The children are put into groups of four or five and asked to create three different frozen images of Bremen Town, by ‘sculpturing’ the images with their bodies.  In each image there must be a different scene in a different part of the town going on. 
The images can have humans, buildings, animals, weather and so on in them, but all these must be played by the children.  You may wish to allow a bit of movement, or sound effects in the scenes, but no words.  Children should be encouraged to follow their imaginations.  To finish, each scene must have a title explaining what the scene is depicting.

The ‘scupltures’ with their description will be photographed and will form part of the slides for the e-book.

•    Postcards:  The children are given one of the blank postcards and are asked to sketch, very quickly, a picture of Bremen to decorate the postcard.  They could be thinking of the previous exercise to give them ideas of what to sketch, or they could sketch something new. They must put their name somewhere on the postcard to identify it later.

•    Imaginative Writing Exercise:  Children swap postcards randomly.  They then take a few moments on their own to go back in their imagination to this Bremen Town we have created.  The tutor can lead them through this by touching on the things created in three previous exercises.
 

Each child then has 15 minutes to write on their postcard a message to one of the animals from the story, describing a day in Bremen Town and also mentioning in his message something of the The Bremen Town Musician story that impressed him.
They should then address this postcard to one of the animals in the house in the forest and deliver the postcard to the person who drew it for them to read. 
Feedback/read out some of the postcards. 
(NB: each child has now been randomly cast as one of the animals and there will be four groups: the donkeys, the dogs, the cats and the roosters – this could be taken forward into further exercises)

The postcards will be part of the slides of the e-book and children will read some of the messages on the postcards for recording. The audio files will be included in the e-book.

•    End Exercise:  Think of a word or a phrase or an image that you have seen or heard or said in the workshop.  After a count of three, everyone releases those words by jumping in the air and saying them in a loud, confident voice, directing them towards the ceiling. 
The idea is that a) the words are left there for the children to re-access next time any creative work on the story will be done and  b) once they have all landed from their jump, the workshop is over. At this point we have to creatively use the materials gathered to produce the e-book. A blog can be started with the same materials, “Do other children know about the Bremen Musicians? And is there someone in Bremen who can tell us how Bremen looks like?”

* Stuck-in-the-mud game    
Very simple game and any number of people can play from two or more. One person is chosen to be "it". The objective is for the player who is "it" to catch somebody else who then becomes "It". Normally this is played using "touch tag", where a single touch or 'tag' is all that's need to say they've been caught.
It's sometimes helpful to include a rule that the person just caught cannot immediately tag the person who just got them.

** Stop-Go Freeze game
In this game all persons move freely, but when a person designated as the ruler and standing with  eyes closed,  says: “Stop” and open his/her eyes, all need to stop in whatever positions they are in that moment and if they are caught in movement, they have to go back from where they started. The person who reaches the ruler wins.  

Notes for the teachers regarding the key-competences illustrated by the P.IN.O.K.I.O. researchers

Notes for the teachers on the key-competences illustrated by the P.IN.O.K.I.O. researchers about The Bremen Town Musicians
from Tools’ User Guide – Teacher Education Programme
(CIRD Education Team)

The Bremen Town Musicians  KC6, 7, 8
•    KC6:  keeping together and cooperating, though it seems that one has nothing good to share, can change things towards a positive outcome.
•    KC7:  a wise action in group may give you the chance to win your goals.
•    KC8:  you should be aware of what your assets are, though at first sight it may seem you have none.

Educational orienting dimensions	Fairy tales
	THE BREMEN TOWN MUSICIANS
Character types– Gender equity	Various non-human protagonists
KC6, Social and Civic Competences Enhancement of diversity	The group is presented as a sum of different abilities/competences having a higher value when expressed together (Uniting diversity).
KC8 – Cultural awareness and expression Character emotional dimensions	Optimism and constructive attitude, self-esteem, self-effectiveness.
KC5, learning to learn Search awareness and enhancement of the self	In spite of the difficulties arising from social rejection, their inner strength used to find solutions helps them increase their self-esteem
KC5, learning to learn Ability to work and create something in group	Complementary competences
KC6, Social and Civic Competences Learning through discovery/learning from others	Cooperative construction of reality and practice; meaningful/authentic learning.
KC7 – Sense of Initiative and entrepreneurship	Building of a possible new world through meaning sharing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Story:

The Bremen Town Musicians

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

A man had a donkey, who for long years had untiringly carried sacks to the mill, but whose strength was now failing, so that he was becoming less and less able to work. Then his master thought that he would no longer feed him, but the donkey noticed that it was not a good wind that was blowing and ran away, setting forth on the road to Bremen, where he thought he could become a town musician. When he had gone a little way he found a hunting dog lying in the road, who was panting like one who had run himself tired.

"Why are you panting so, Grab-Hold?" asked the donkey.
 
"Oh," said the dog, "because I am old and am getting weaker every day and can no longer go hunting, my master wanted to kill me, so I ran off; but now how should I earn my bread?"

"Do you know what," said the donkey, "I am going to Bremen and am going to become a town musician there. Come along and take up music too. I'll play the lute, and you can beat the drums."

The dog was satisfied with that, and they went further. It didn't take long, before they came to a cat sitting by the side of the road and making a face like three days of rainy weather. "What has crossed you, old Beard-Licker?" said the donkey.
 
"Oh," answered the cat, "who can be cheerful when his neck is at risk? I am getting on in years, and my teeth are getting dull, so I would rather sit behind the stove and purr than to chase around after mice. Therefore my mistress wanted to drown me, but I took off. Now good advice is scarce. Where should I go?"
 
"Come with us to Bremen. After all, you understand night music. You can become a town musician there." The cat agreed and went along.

Then the three refugees came to a farmyard, and the rooster of the house was sitting on the gate crying with all his might.
 
"Your cries pierce one's marrow and bone," said the donkey. "What are you up to?"

"I just prophesied good weather," said the rooster, "because it is Our Dear Lady's Day, when she washes the Christ Child's shirts and wants to dry them; but because Sunday guests are coming tomorrow, the lady of the house has no mercy and told the cook that she wants to eat me tomorrow in the soup, so I am supposed to let them cut off my head this evening. Now I am going to cry at the top of my voice as long as I can."
 
"Hey now, Red-Head," said the donkey, "instead come away with us. We're going to Bremen. You can always find something better than death. You have a good voice, and when we make music together, it will be very pleasing."

The rooster was happy with the proposal, and all four went off together. However, they could not reach the city of Bremen in one day, and in the evening they came into a forest, where they would spend the night. (STOP HERE FOR THE PODCAST I EPISODE)

The donkey and the dog lay down under a big tree, but the cat and the rooster took to the branches. The rooster flew right to the top, where it was safest for him. Before falling asleep he looked around once again in all four directions, and he thought that he saw a little spark burning in the distance. He hollered to his companions, that there must be a house not too far away, for a light was shining.
The donkey said, "Then we must get up and go there, because the lodging here is poor."

The dog said that he could do well with a few bones with a little meat on them. Thus they set forth toward the place where the light was, and they soon saw it glistening more brightly. (STOP HERE FOR THE PODCAST II EPISODE part ‘a’)

The light became larger and larger, until they came to the front of a brightly lit robbers' house.
 
The donkey, the largest of them, approached the window and looked in.

"What do you see, Gray-Horse?" asked the rooster.
 
"What do I see?" answered the donkey. "A table set with good things to eat and drink, and robbers sitting there enjoying themselves."

"That would be something for us," said the rooster.
 
"Ee-ah, ee-ah, oh, if we were there!" said the donkey.
 
Then the animals discussed how they might drive the robbers away, and at last they came upon a plan. The donkey was to stand with his front feet on the window, the dog to jump on the donkey's back, the cat to climb onto the dog, and finally the rooster would fly up and sit on the cat's head. When they had done that, at a signal they began to make their music all together. The donkey brayed, the dog barked, the cat meowed and the rooster crowed. Then they crashed through the window into the room, shattering the panes. (STOP HERE FOR THE PODCAST II EPISODE part ‘b’)
 
The robbers jumped up at the terrible bellowing, thinking that a ghost was coming in, and fled in great fear out into the woods. Then the four companions seated themselves at the table and freely partook of the leftovers, eating as if they would get nothing more for four weeks.

When the four minstrels were finished, they put out the light and looked for a place to sleep, each according to his nature and his desire. The donkey lay down on the manure pile, the dog behind the door, the cat on the hearth next to the warm ashes, and the rooster sat on the beam of the roof. Because they were tired from their long journey, they soon fell asleep.
 
When midnight had passed and the robbers saw from the distance that the light was no longer burning in the house, and everything appeared to be quiet, the captain said, "We shouldn't have let ourselves be chased off," and he told one of them to go back and investigate the house. The one they sent found everything still, and went into the kitchen to strike a light. He mistook the cat's glowing, fiery eyes for live coals, and held a sulfur match next to them, so that it would catch fire. But the cat didn't think this was funny and jumped into his face, spitting, and scratching.

He was terribly frightened and ran toward the back door, but the dog, who was lying there, jumped up and bit him in the leg. When he ran across the yard past the manure pile, the donkey gave him a healthy blow with his hind foot, and the rooster, who had been awakened from his sleep by the noise and was now alert, cried down from the beam, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Then the robber ran as fast as he could back to his captain and said, "Oh, there is a horrible witch sitting in the house, she blew at me and scratched my face with her long fingers. And there is a man with a knife standing in front of the door, and he stabbed me in the leg. And a black monster is lying in the yard, and it struck at me with a wooden club. And the judge is sitting up there on the roof, and he was calling out, 'Bring the rascal here.' Then I did what I could to get away."

From that time forth, the robbers did not dare go back into the house. However, the four Bremen Musicians liked it so well there, that they never left it again. And the person who just told that, his mouth is still warm.