Including children on the edge of the classroom
22nd March 2024
Many years ago, when I was still relatively new to the process of Mantle of the Expert, I spent a day working in a school with a class of six-year-old students. They were studying a topic based on the story by Oscar Wilde called 'The Selfish Giant.' Working together, we set up as a team of landscape gardeners given the job by the giant’s sister to create a memorial garden in memory of the giant and his kindness to children. The students started by creating a statue using their bodies 'enactively,' then began work on making the garden using two...Try This… Overcoming cognitive load to develop writing
8th December 2023
Teaching children to write creatively is one of the most difficult, yet rewarding, teaching tasks we do. It is difficult because it requires a number of different parts to come together at once: the technical aspects of writing – grammar, punctuation, syntax, etc. – the imagination of the student, and something to write about – content. Too often this is an overwhelming experience for students and their work is either disappointing or formulaic. (Of course there are exception One reason for this is ‘cognitive overload’, meaning that trying to concentrate on all these parts at once is too much for...MoE in Mexico
23rd August 2022
Charlie López - Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM), Monterrey Mantle of the Expert for citizenship and sustainability learning in university context Hi! My name is Charlie Lopez. I’m 32 years old and I’m a teacher of citizenship and sustainable development at Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM) in Monterrey, Mexico. UDEM is a private institution of humanist origin and catholic inspiration that seeks for the transcendence of all of its students through the act of service to others, as indicated in its motto: "Man is only fulfilled in the service of man". Right now I’m in my third semester of a master’s degree...Morda Training Day Notes May 2022
26th May 2022
Luke Abbott Discussion; Where we are in the training At this point in the training there is a conflict between the understanding of the pedagogy and practise Session focussing on the 9 aspects of great pedagogy Discussion Metaphor of ‘Robin Hood ‘ – MoE teachers like Robin Hoods men in Sherwood forest! There are ogres outside that have to be able to deal with them . Believing what we know to be true and being brave! Discussion about 9 aspects of great pedagogy and how MoE pedagogy encompasses these 9 aspects. Http://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/329746/what-makes-great-pedagogy-nine-claims-from-research.pdf WHALE PROTECTORS MOE CONTEXT STEPS : Can you come...A Pilgrimage to Woodrow
20th April 2022
Tamara-Ann Borge This blog contains images best seen as a PDF: MoE-at-WoodrowDownloadInductive language
15th March 2022
Tim Taylor One of the key tools – perhaps the key tool – of the Mantle of the Expert approach is the use of inductive language. Out of all the different strategies, conventions, and techniques used by the approach the one that makes the most difference is the choice of words chosen by the teacher. The words that draw the students into the fiction and signs to them, this is about working together and sharing ideas. So, what is ‘inductive language’? Take a look at these two instructions, the first uses the ‘didactic’ code, the second uses the ‘inductive’: Didactic: “Listen carefully, I...‘Mantle of the Expert’ Through Shakespeare
20th January 2022
By Wendy Macphee This book records the work of a teacher making Shakespeare's plays accessible to college students, including motor vehicle apprentices and secretarial trainees, through the drama-in-education life learning principles, called "Mantle of the Expert" of Dorothy Heathcote. These principles are also applied to those excluded from school, to music teaching for Special Needs pupils and English tutorials for young people. Included are detailed descriptions of workshops given by Dorothy Heathcote on "Antony and Cleopatra" and "Much Ado About Nothing" to students of the Mencap National College, Dilston, Northumberland. There are coloured illustrations of performances of two of the...A Discussion on Engagement
11th December 2021
Tim Taylor & Zoe Enser Introduction - The problem with calling engagement a poor proxy for learning The topic of whether engagement is a useful term and desirable aim has been much discussed in education. This debate has flared up again recently around Professor Robert Coe’s statement ‘engagement’ is a ‘poor proxy for learning’. Here Tim Taylor and Zoe Enser discuss the issue. Dear Zoe The problem with the statement ‘engagement is a poor proxy for learning’ is the damage it does to the way we think about student engagement. Without intending to, this statement turns the notion of engagement...Luke Abbott: a tribute
8th October 2021
This weekend is the tenth anniversary of the death of Dorothy Heathcote. Dorothy was a giant of the drama-for-learning community, a genius who pioneered a new way of teaching which was and still is revolutionary. We all of us, who use her methods, stand in her shadow. And it is a long shadow, one that can, unintentionally, obscure the part that others have played in developing Dorothy’s work, both before and since her death. Chief among those, regarding her most seminal work, Mantle of the Expert, is Luke Abbott. Luke studied for his MA under Dorothy Heathcote in 1980. His...Morda Training Day Notes
9th September 2021
9/10th Sept 2021 Workshop - creating a context Steps: Luke lays down a faded cloth.Signing - cloth: “if someone, a family had it up on one of their walls, why might a family have this, where might it come from.” - Discussion.“Any thoughts?” Luke pulls back the sheet and reveals - keys and a pair of gloves“Right, these other objects - has anyone got any thoughts about these?”“Falcons... has anyone an idea where falcons come from?” - Luke demonstrates a falconer enactively. Helen invited into full role - puts on the gloves and then stands hands on hips, looking into...New book on MoE by Viv Aitken
7th May 2021
Real in all the ways that matter: Weaving learning across the curriculum with Mantle of the Expert by Viv Aitken is now available, published by the New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER). The book draws on a decade of classroom practice, research and professional development in Heathcote’s Mantle of the Expert approach with teachers from all over Aotearoa New Zealand. While firmly embedded in its local context, the book will appeal to readers around the world for the way it offers new imagery to illuminate Heathcote’s work, including the metaphor of ‘weaving’ featured on the cover. Viv explains that...Layers of text
23rd April 2021
By Tim Taylor This blog is an extract from a soon to be published online course called, 'Using Mantle of the Expert'. One more thing to look at. Earlier on I mentioned ‘Primary Text’, in the context of the ‘givens’ that provide structure and direction to the narrative. This idea comes from game theory and was first introduced to me by Brian Edmiston. Basically, it suggests there are – in role-play games – three layers of text: The Primary Text, which is the layer dictated by the world the game is operating in – the rules of the universe, as...The Conventions of Dramatic Action: A Guide
10th February 2021
By Tim Taylor The Conventions of Dramatic Action are at the heart of the dramatic dimensions of the Mantle of the Expert approach. Originally compiled by Dorothy Heathcote in her essay, Signs and Portents, this illustrated guide has been written with teachers in mind and contains many practical activities for using the conventions in the classroom.Tension – making learning exciting
25th August 2020
This blog is an extract from 'A Beginner's Guide to Mantle of the Expert' by Tim Taylor Tension plays an essential role in Mantle of the Expert. It is, in a sense, the fuel that powers the engine of the approach, making the work feel important, exciting, and challenging. It grabs the attention of those involved and pulls them into the fiction. As Norah Morgan and Juliana Saxton observed, “Tension is mental excitement, fundamental to intellectual and emotional engagement, not only as a stimulus but as the bonding agent that sustains involvement in the dramatic task.” From a child’s point...Adapting Mantle for Online Learning
17th July 2020
Louise Ryan - Twitter @MissLueez (Louise, along with her Year 4 team at Verita International School, Romania, trialled different ways of implementing MoE on online during emergency online learning due to Covid-19.) Preamble: Over the past five months, our schools have shut down, and we have moved our classrooms online. This has been a huge change and a difficult time for families, students and teachers, as we tried to settle into our new normal and get acquainted with all the technology that was available to help us teach and learn from home. For inquiry educators and learners, this has been...