Their shared and agreed problem to use as an example was; When people break their promise.
I had to remind myself of our ground rule; Trust the Process. Unsure where this rather grown up and difficult to conceptualise ‘problem’ would take us amongst a group of 6 and 7 year old’s. Amongst the many surprises in this shared hour of learning, was the number of students who agreed this was a problem; all of them.
“When grown-ups break their promises” was on the table for discussion and it turns out so was Empathy, Integrity and Consistency.
All quite adult concepts yet even with their limited vocabulary, these clarifying students decided they were quite sure it was a problem and yes, something ought to be done about it.
Amongst the incredible responses to the 5 Ws and an H map was for the Who? (is involved in this problem)
A not-hesitant hand rose to this one saying; “the person you tell.”
We found this to be a great learning opportunity – when we’re faced with the Henchmen Problem, we are encouraged to tell or share this with someone…share the load. The empathy card here is played as this young mind considers this an option yet also has the consideration it may in fact impact another.
The trust card played it’s hand when another response came for “Why?”
“They think you will forget they made their promise to you”.