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In the very early stages of the project, Lynne Carroll recorded her first tentative steps as she worked with Keith Underhill to introduce Godly Play to her classroom. They completed all aspects of a traditional Godly Play session, except the Feast. She offers an account of this session, held in November 2001 and exploring the story of The Good Shepherd, and of a later session exploring the Creation story, held in February 2002.
The session took place in a classroom, with 30 pupils. It began at 1.40 pm and ended at 3.40 pm. The story-teller was Keith Underhill and the doorkeeper was Lynne Carroll, the class teacher. The room was prepared beforehand with six tables containing a selection of art and craft materials, including aqua crayons, chalks, paint, feathers, paper straws, sequins, drawing equipment, glue and scissors. There was a large carpeted area for the story time.
When the children first entered the room, there was a sense of excitement and anticipation that something special was about to take place. They took about ten minutes to settle down and become calm, even though they had become used to a quiet, thoughtful 'circle' time during the preceding four weeks. Initially bemused by the newness of the situation, the children quickly adapted as they were drawn into the story. Throughout the story, the children were well focused and their faces showed obvious interest and enjoyment. They were very quiet at first, but as they relaxed a little, they began to make responses, adding their own ideas to the story. I noticed that, as the story progressed, the children appeared to be mesmerized by the experience and there was very little physical movement, which was quite remarkable for such a lively, active group of children.
During the creative response session, the children were given a completely free choice of activity and equipment. They were all a little tentative at first. Then, an almost feverish activity began, pervaded by a strong sense of delight at the unaccustomed freedom of choice. This was marred to an extent by a degree of squabbling over some of the art materials, but this gradually subsided and I noticed that children in the group who normally have difficulty relating positively to their peers were able to share and co-operate well in this situation.
We concluded the session by rebuilding the circle, during which pupils shared their feelings and thoughts about the afternoon.
My observations of the children's responses to the whole experience could be categorized as follows:
(a) They enjoyed the sense of freedom. One pupil remarked, "We got to do whatever we wanted - I made a little crocodile called Skippy."
(b) They felt very calm and several of them described a soporific feeling during the story, e.g.: "I felt very relaxed and I felt like I wanted to go to sleep."
(c) They responded in a very thoughtful manner, e.g.: "The story was excellent because you had to guess loads"; "Keith made a picture of the story - kind of like a puzzle"; "It was very quiet - you got to have lots of guesses"; "It made me really think about the story"; "You had to use your imagination".
(d) There was a strong sense of specialness, e.g.: "I liked the story. It was special. I thought the story was happy"; "The shepherd was a gentle and nice man"; "It was very silent - I liked the story"; "I liked it. It was good".
(e) A feeling of 'bonhomie' gradually developed as the session progressed. This pervaded child/adult feelings as well as peer relationships in the class, e.g.: "The shepherd was kind and gentle like Mrs Carroll" and (from one pupil, 'X', arch enemy of another pupil, 'Y') "I drawed a picture of 'X' and 'X' drawed a picture of me and it was a brilliant afternoon." Other children wrote thank you notes or made special drawings which they presented as gifts for Keith.
(f) Only one child in the class expressed feelings of 'rejection', stating vehemently, "It's not my kind of story". This child, who is a keen, talented footballer, popular amongst his peers, seemed to have the confidence to express these negative feelings. However, I also wondered if he might feel it was detrimental to his 'image' in the group as a strong, 'laddish' character to admit to liking the story.
I wouldn't say that everything went 'as planned', because this was a new experience for me and for the children, so there was really no 'planned' outcome. However, it was interesting to observe the subject matter, content and quality of the children's art, which was characterized by a 'happy' quality, in the form of bright colours, plenty of detail and a carefree mood, evoking positive emotions. Some of the artwork related directly to the story. One child made what looked like a plan, or overview of the parable. He found a small Lego person to be the shepherd and quietly acted out the story on his own. This kept his attention for an extended period of time, in the midst of all the other activity around him. Some children seemed to be thinking carefully about what was 'expected' of them and, for this reason, I feel, they chose to re-create the story of the parable in their picture. Others, however, made broad links in the form of 'father-figures' in their pictures, or animals in fields, by the water, or under trees.
The most important features of the environment that I
feel enabled the pupils to be creative and to engage with
the lesson were:
(a) a calm, happy atmosphere
(b) freedom of choice
(c) accessibility of equipment
(d) open-ended activities.
I felt that the strategy of 'standing back' from the children during the creative session was beneficial, as it encouraged them to make decisions and use their imagination.
I feel that the session has made quite an impact on the children in several different ways. Since the session, there has been an ongoing development in the children's enjoyment of circle time. They have always shown enthusiasm for this part of the curriculum, but they have a new sensitivity now, which I can't quite define - maybe my own approach has also been affected and it has been a dual teacher/pupil progression. I think that the 'wondering' aspect of Godly Play has also been carried over successfully into other areas of the curriculum, especially RE. Finally, there has been a noticeable growth in confidence amongst some of the pupils in their approach to art work.
During the next term, Lynne and Keith tried another Godly Play session with the same class of children. This time they experimented with a complete Godly Play session by adding the Feast. This is how Lynne recorded the events.
The session took place in a classroom with 30 pupils. It began at 1.40 pm and ended at 3.40 pm. The story teller was Keith Underhill and the doorkeeper was Lynne Carroll, the class teacher. The room was prepared beforehand, with five tables of creative activities: PlayDoh, Meccano, Lego, collage, aqua-pencil painting and modelling with recycled materials. This left a large, carpeted area for the story.
There was an air of expectation at the start of the session and, from the moment the story began, the children eagerly contributed their comments and ideas. They were keen to join in, smoothing and handling the felt as it was laid out. Responses were much less inhibited than during the last session.
As the story progressed, the children became very quiet. They were all totally absorbed and there was a physical stillness across the room. This level of concentration continued for some time. Towards the end of the story, the children sprang to life again, as they readily voiced their ideas and opinions about the story. They responded spontaneously to the pattern and rhythm of the story, by joining in, in unison, with the words for each day, as the cards were put away.
The creative session was, once again, a very free and uninhibited experience. The atmosphere was one of intense purpose. Very few of the "end products" seemed to relate directly to the story, but there was a strong connection in that the pupils themselves were active in a 'creation process' of their own. Indeed, I felt that the end products were of less importance to the children than the planning, designing, discussion and general feeling of 'togetherness' amongst them all that afternoon.
The feast provided a happy, peaceful end to the session, with many children sharing their thoughts about the afternoon. I recorded the following responses from the children:
(a) "The story made me amazed - if it wasn't for God, we wouldn't be alive."
(b) "Today made me feel lucky - we must be so special that God went and did all that work for us."
(c) "I was thinking about humans and animals and everything that God gave us and it gave me a tingle inside."
(d) "It sounds strange, but I keep thinking I'm lucky to be alive."
(e) "I've learnt something from that story - I've learnt that there are presents bigger than the ones you get for Christmas."
(f) "Imagine there was this village, in the middle of nowhere - always peaceful. If you buy something, you'd buy it for someone else... This classroom could be like that village."
Finally, there was a great deal of discussion about "special places" they like to visit. The children mentioned: church, synagogue, my room, mosque, temple, a tree and... "nowhere in particular - I just like to think about stuff."
I felt that everything went 'according to plan'. I suppose I started with the expectation that some of the children's creative work would reflect the ideas in the Creation story. In fact, very little of their work did. I was surprised to see how calm and "on task" the children were throughout the afternoon, as many of them have difficulty in concentrating on a task for this length of time during our usual school activities. I was also surprised at the depth of thought that emerged during the time of reflection when we had our feast.
The environment was very 'user-friendly'. The children were able to move around freely and uninhibitedly without the usual constraints of time or 'targets'. The creative equipment was bright and stimulating.
My teaching strategies were a little different from usual in that I 'stood back' from the children as they took the lead in working through their ideas. The tasks were much more open-ended than those in the normal teaching situation.
The pupils' thinking was very creative. Their behaviour was calm and purposeful. I felt that the deeply thoughtful responses from many of the children were evidence that the session had made some impact on their perception of the world around them. There was strong evidence of children searching for meanings, examining ideas about life and trying to get to grips with their views about God's relationship with the world.
I think that sessions of this sort encourage the
development of the following qualities in my
pupils:
(a) independence
(b) thoughtfulness
(c) raised self-esteem
(d) better reasoning skills
(e) a sense of 'belonging' to the group.
Learning about Godly Play has had an impact on me personally in that I have been prompted to examine my approach to teaching, not only in RE, but across the curriculum.
Responses from parents, colleagues and pupils in other classes have been positive and I have been invited to tell the staff a bit more about Godly Play in our next RE INSET, during the Summer term.
Teacher: Lynne Carroll
Gilbert Colvin Primary School
Strafford Avenue
Clayhall
Ilford
IG5 0TL
Tel: 020 8550 4630
Fax: 020 8550 2106
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