Pre-planning process

The preplanning process for this Mantle adventure took several months. I held two meetings with the class teacher and the school DP and we brainstormed possible directions that our Mantle might take.

As always, we started planning by thinking about two things: what curriculum areas the teacher wished to 'uncover' during the term and what interests the children have. In terms of curriculum, the teacher mentioned only creative writing as a focus. Apart from this, she was open to any curriculum learning that might emerge from the mantle. In terms of childrens' interests, various things arose but we quickly settled on "toys" as the most productive.

A brainstorm of possible companies followed (using Heathcote's 'list of possible enterprises' tool). Past experience has taught me that it can be very productive to make oneself think of possibilities for every category, rather than settle on the more immediately obvious ones. We got very excited about the idea of being toy designers, working on a new prototype transformer, or being specialists in a certain kind of toy (perhaps creating educational puppets?). In the end, since we wanted to stress creative writing, we felt that a toy museum might be the best way to go. At some stage in the brainstorming process, someone mentioned the idea that toys in the museum might have stories to tell of adventures they have been on - and this fitted nicely with the creative writing focus.

We decided on the following as core aspects:

Company - toy museum
Client - rich business man with amazing toy collection
Commission - a special exhibit celebrating toys with 'stories to tell'

Then it was time to think about tensions - the "what ifs" that could arise for a company embarking on this kind of work.

I went back to the student teachers and we spent a session brainstorming possibilities. As always in the brainstorming process, some ideas felt more productive than others.... Ideas included:

What if..... There is a mystery toy of some sort (no one knows the story)
.................The exhibition venue has to change at the last minute
.................The star item in the exhibition gets withdrawn by its owner
.................Some of the exhibits get damaged
.................One of the exhibits gets over - restored and loses originality
.................All the advertising gets destroyed and we have to produce cheap, last minute fliers
.................The toys come alive at night and get up to mischief
 
At this stage, I produced an overview, mapping out how the mantle might pan out over the 6 weeks we have in the classroom. I'm aware that in its purest form, Mantle of the Expert is planned in an emergent, responsive way, rather than by creating a plan in advance. However, I find it really helps me, the teachers and the students, to have a loose picture of where things might go.

So, ready as we ever would be, it was time to begin!