Today we began our learning around Hidden Figures. The theme of the learning this term will be racism and discrimination felt in the 1960 in Southern states of America. This is a mature and emotive topic that in the past has resulted in the children producing some very emotive and mature writing. On top of this, it allows them to express their feelings on discrimination and empathise with others.
Today, the children chose a coloured token at the start of the English lesson. There were 8 blue tokens and the rest were multicoloured and they were separated into these groups. The ‘blue’ token children had a lot of support for a ten-minute activity and the ‘other’ group had much less support and recognition for their efforts. The children obviously became upset, angry and began to share their emotions which is exactly what we wanted to happen - they began to ‘feel’ the purpose of the lesson. We asked them to record their feelings and rate the lesson honestly which they did very well.
We then explained to the children why we chose to teach in that way, so that they could ‘feel’ what it felt like to be discriminated against; not just ‘listen’ to what it would have been like for People of Colour in the 1960s. I am sure that they will share their emotions throughout the rest of the term and we hope it has a lasting impact.
