November 13th 2020
Learning the art of persuasion
The boys have really been enjoying our class reader of ‘Friend or Foe’ by Michael Morpurgo this term. The story explains how two evacuee boys from London face the difficult decision of turning in two German airmen they find hidden in the Dartmoor moors. The best friends, David and Tucky, disagree on what is the right thing to do considering one of the German airmen saved David’s life. The boys in class also shared conflicting views on what was the right thing to do given the situation. With this in mind we decided to create a whole morning as a mock trial court.
Boys in Year 4 spent the morning as lawyers, the boys picked which form represented the jury and the defence. They spent the morning preparing and planning their side of the case to present in court later on. Mrs Symonds arranged a judge to speak to the boys via zoom to give them an insight into what makes a good lawyer and a strong argument. The boys then presented their case in front of him. From this we used Big Write time to write a persuasive piece arguing both sides of the case with boys having to make a final decision at the end.
The boys had a thoroughly enjoyable morning stepping into the shoes of someone else and learning about how challenging it can be making the right decision.
