Sheffield Flood 1864 - Workshop Plan
Action
Resources
Welcome and Introduction
 Including learning contract and control mechanism
 Introduction to the Dynamite project and what we want to achieve
(the concept)
 What do the participants want from the session (add into evaluation).
South Yorkshire Action Game
 Ask the children to suggest 5 things that are famous about South
Yorkshire/Sheffield, these could be people, places, events. With the
help of the class, establish actions and sounds to represent
images/facts for each one. It’s a good idea to repeat the actions as you
establish each new one to make sure that they are embedded in the
children’s heads.
 Repeat in a variety of orders.

Introduction to flood stories and characters
 Using the photographs of the Sheffield Flood from Picture Sheffield,
and the Story Cards (Miss Bisby, Mrs. Proctor, Joseph Fletcher,
 Explain that these stories are all true eyewitness accounts. Introduce
each story.
 Ask the class what their reactions to the stories are?
Bringing the accounts to life
 Divide the class into groups, and allocate each group a Story card, and
two participants who will be the scenes narrators and directors.
 Each group is to create two still images for their story card for 5 mins
before the flood and 5 mins after the flood.
 The first narrator uses the information on the story card to tell two to
three facts about the story or the people in the story.
 The second narrator then tells 2/3 rumours/pieces of gossip that the
group have used their imaginations to make up, again either about the
people or the stories.
 Each group present their story to the class with the rumours and facts.
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Story cards
Pictures of the
aftermath
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Roll of paper
Thick pens

Thought clouds
(paper cut out
in cloud shape)
Pencils
Descriptions of
“A day in the
Development – Bring to life as a news report
 Narrator 1 introduces the scene
 The team shows freeze one, then develop movement from before,
through the flood happening to the end on freeze 2. This should last
only about 20 seconds.
 Narrator 2 interviews each person for 1 line about how they feel
(basically thought tracking)
 Show the results to the class.
Diary Account
Without talking, ask each person to pick up the paper and pencil and write a
diary account from the perspective of one of the people in their scene. It can
Hot seating
. It can be anything that they want – a diary account, a description, a poem,
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Paper and thick
pens
Name Labels
just words, prose, a mini scene, information about your character. Just write
for 5-10 mins in silence
life of…” for
Coal and Steel
industry

Ask the children in sit in a circle. Select one child to sit/stand in the
circle. Explain that this child is no longer themselves, but is going
to become one of the children from either the coal mine/steel
works.
Ask the following:
 Their name (can take three and vote for their favourite)
 Age, what they look like
 Job (where they work, which job they do there, how do they feel
about it, how do they feel after they finish work)
 About their family (brothers/sisters/mum dad)
 Where they live, what’s it like?
 What are their hobbies? What do they like doing? Do they have
friends
 Anything else you want to build up the picture of the character.
A Day in the Life Of…
 Ask the group to close their eyes and imagine that they are no longer
themselves but this character. How does their body change? What do
they look like?
 Describe the world and life of the character, as they wake up and go to
work in, from first thing in the morning to last thing at night. The
young people are to act out the actions described, which include the
ideas that they have already created. Until eventually they go to bed
that night.
 At certain points, clap your hands to make the group freeze, take an
imaginary microphone up to the children, they have to speak as the
character to say what they are feeling at this point (do 2/3 pupils per
freeze).
Discussion and Writing/Group Drawing
 When the participants awake from the “Day in a life of exercise”.
Either
 Ask them to pick up the paper and pencil and write. It can be anything
that they want – a diary account, a description, a poem, just words,
prose, a mini scene, information about your character. Just write for 510 mins in silence
Or
 Lay out a long piece of paper on the floor, and position the class
around it, explain that using the crayons provided they can draw
anything about the character or their life that interests them. As they
draw, walk up and down, asking the children what they have drawn
and why.
Dynamite Ker-Boom!
 Stand in a circle. Going to finish by creating the perfect Dynamite
explosion!
 Stand with arms out to side and legs bent. Watch the leader, when
they jump into the middle and cry out Ker-Boom try and do it all
together!
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Thought clouds
and pencils
Thick pens and
wallpaper
lining.
Pens and large
pieces of paper
Evaluation (if time...)
 Go back to what discussed at the beginning? What was
rewarding/challenging? What skills have you gained? What has your
experience been like?
 Lay out three pieces of paper. Create three equal groups, with each
group choosing a piece of paper?
 Each group has 1 minute to write as much as possible, before swap to
the next one.
End with a final Dynamite Ker-Boom!