The Works Over 100 indexed resources for P4C, thinking and speaking. Overview Welcome to “The Works”, the collection of the vast majority of resources I have written for philosophy for children in the last four years. I plan to continue sending out bulletins as often as I can for free, but now that there are 80-odd issues in the back-catalogue, it makes sense to make them available for sale in a more easily accessed collection. Thank you for buying these resources. I welcome your thoughts on how to make their presentation easier, or sharing how you have used them in your school. How to Use “The Works” Most of the resources are in the form of individual, printer-friendly attachments. To help you navigate around and find what you want, there are two overview documents, “The Works Overview – Open This First” and “The Works Index – Open This Second”. In this document, you’ll find all the original bulletins, edited to cut out marketing bumph and topical references are headlined in red-brown type with a # sign. Where there are attachments, they are listed in black bold italics. Some of the bulletins are very quick introductions to the attachments, some explain the general thinking of which the attachments are an example, and some stand by themselves without a need for further resources. In case you should wonder why there are gaps, numbers #1 to #60 are from the sequence readers receive in order, numbers #1 to #124 are broadcasts that I sent out to the whole list at once, and numbers #200 and over are things I haven’t emailed out that are only accessible to paying customers. The Files The individual resources are in the accompany folder, “The Works - Files”. Some of them are in Word format as well as PDF so that you can edit and reformat them. If more than a quarter of the people who have bought The Works by the end of February email me to say it would be helpful, I’ll get the rest of them into Word format too – I ‘m not sure at the moment if it helps or just complicates things. The Index Probably the easiest way to find items of interest is the other helpful document is the Excel workbook “Open This Second – Index”. On the first worksheet, INDEX, all the bulletins and attachments are listed, along with the resource type, any salient concepts explored, and a brief description. On the second sheet, CONCEPTS, there’s a list of many of the concepts that can be explored in the resources. You can then search for that word in the INDEX sheet. On the third sheet, COLLECTIONS, there are groups of resources of interest to those working with particular age groups or that link together in some other way. I find that you can often get good thinking out of older students by using resources pitched at younger students, so don’t be too restricted by this. I am hoping that people will start to create their own collections and let me know which resources have worked well in sequences. On the fourth sheet, TRAINING SUGGESTIONS are some groups of resources, including PPTs, that I use when training teachers. These will be particularly helpful to people who have attended one of my courses and want to share the ideas with colleagues. Resource Types KEY DOCUMENT – These are the places where I explain the main ideas that inform my approach to P4C. Bulletin – as explained, the body of the original email Enquiry Plan – These provide questions, exercises or a whole session plan as well as a stimulus Story – Mostly A4 sized stories by me, carefully written to invite discussion of particular concepts Video- Link to one or more films that can be used as stimuli Dialogue – Stimuli in the form of playscript conversations Home Talk – Resources to encourage talk at home with parents Facilitation Article – Activities, question creation techniques and facilitator strategies – for adding to teachers’ toolboxes as opposed to providing content for particular sessions Whole School Approach – Strategies that, while useful for individual teachers, are particularly helpful in encouraging colleagues across a school to do more P4C Thinkers’ Game – Activities with questions, mostly using strategies from the Thinkers’ Games book Puzzle – Riddles or other puzzles that stimulate collaborative thinking Trainer Powerpoint – The visuals I use to reinforce key ideas during teacher training. Always need to read in conjunction with the relevant resources, as I don’t put much text on my slides. You can sort the table by any column to see resources grouped together. Licence Conditions Purchase of these resources gives you two licences. One is a school wide licence – you can install these resources on your school network, email them to colleagues within your school, print them off and copy them, insert them into PPTs etc – anything you like, for use within your own school. The second licence is a personal licence for the named individual who has placed the order (or the teacher who has requested it). You can take the resources with you on your own computer if you change schools, so that you don’t have to start over with a new licence. You can’t of course, share them with all your colleagues at your new school. None of the resources should appear on publicly accessible websites or form part of any product or service marketed to other people or organisations, whether free or paid for, without seeking permission first. I will be quite happy for questions/stories of the week to be put up for parent/child dialogue provided that they are credited with a link to the website and are not up permanently, but please email to ask. Acknowledgements Where resources have been contributed by others, or a question from a reader has got me thinking, this is acknowledged in the relevant place, and I have endeavoured to seek permission from all significant contributors. I would like to thank the P4Cers whose courses I’ve taken or whose work I have observed – Steve Williams, Roger Sutcliffe, James Nottingham, Lizzy Lewis, Steve Bramall, Karin Murris, Joanna Haynes, Maughn Gregory, Laurence Splitter, Megan Laverty, and Lisa Naylor. The whole P4C movement is of course indebted to the memory of Matt Lipman and Ann Sharp. It is a privilege to get to work with so many enthusiastic teachers and pupils, and I’m especially grateful to those readers of the bulletin whose words of encouragement, questions and reports on how their classes have responded have been essential to my sustaining my enthusiasm for this work. Lastly, a big thank you to my sister and assistant, Clare Morris, who did much of the work in compiling this collection and generally makes it possible for me to have the time to write anything in the first place. #1 - How to make your first P4C session a success Thinkers' Games Games that make the thinking physical are an excellent way to maximise participation and independent thinking. I've attached an extract from my Thinkers' Games mini book which explains the general principles, along with exemplars of two of the games. "Vote With Your Feet Early Years" is suitable for pre-literate children, but older children will enjoy it too. "Traditional and Playful Questions" for Philosopher's Fruit Salad is aimed at KS3, but is very easy to adapt. Enquiry Plan Finally, there's "The Fairest Teacher of Them All" - a complete enquiry plan, usable in KS2-4. (The warm-up is another Vote Woth Your Feet activity. It's a story that has always yielded interesting questions, perhaps because fairness is such a central concept for children. Watching the videos at www.p4c.com/video-clips is also helpful. The full mini-book of Thinkers' Games is available from my website if you haven't already got a copy. Resources: 1a - Thinkers Games Extract 1b - Vote With Your Feet - Early Years Example.pdf 1c - Traditional and Playful Questions.pdf 1d - The Fairest Teacher of Them All - Taster Lesson.pdf #2 Luck and Fate: How different ages can explore the same ideas P4C lends itself to a "spiral" curriculum. You can explore the same concepts, such as luck or fate, with very different ages, by selecting stories appropriate to that age group. Stories are a great way to draw children into P4C. They provide a context for the thinking and characters that make problems and concepts human. These two stories approach the themes of luck and fate for children at opposite ends of their school careers. Younger children "Good Luck Bad Luck" is an accessible story you can use as a stimulus with young children. It really hits you over the head with the theme of luck. I've also attached it as a "double bill" zigzag book with "The Fairest Teacher". Personally, the thought of marshalling a class to do all that cutting and folding makes me shudder. But there are brave teachers who like the format, and it can lead into writing their own zig zag stories. Just cut along the red lines, fold along the grey. Older teenagers For older teenagers new to P4C , a good tactic is to find a stimulus provocative enough that they can't resist getting engaged. If the story of Oedipus doesn't get a reaction, you may as well follow the example of the Sphinx and jump off a cliff. You can use the "Vote With Your Feet" exercise about which of the crimes in the story is the worst as a provocative starter. I've used this enquiry before studying Romeo and Juliet to introduce the concepts of tragedy and fate. Often questions like "Can you escape your fate?" or "Is your life mapped out for you?" are chosen. I usually use a presentation version of it which reinforces the story with pictures. It's a big file which may get blocked, so I've put it up at: http://thephilosophyman.com/oedipus Resources: 2a - Good Luck Bad Luck.pdf 2b - Fairest Teacher and Good Luck Bad Luck.pdf 2c - Oedipus Enquiry Plan.pdf #3 Icebreakers and More Thinkers' Games The Naughtyometer Taken from Alien Adventures in Philosophy, an alien schoolteacher needs help deciding which of her class are the naughtiest. In groups, the children rank a set of cards from most to least naughty and discuss their reasons. The twist is that the two naughtiest are in line for the cane. Should they allow her to cane the children, or intervene? The Question Zoo Getting children to create their own philosophical questions is the stage that teachers and classes find most difficult in the early stages. I think it helps if children have seen lots of examples. So, after showing them a stimulus on the theme of rich and poor, such as: http://reblaura.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/0000poverty-and-wealth.jpg you could get the group to read out the questions and then do a Vote With Your Feet where they stand by the question that interests them most. Talk about why they thought it would be interesting. Allow them to add their own questions and home in on the most popular question. This will let them start to develop a taste in questions, and to see the difference between philosophical questions and ones that have simple factual answers, such as, "Where was the picture taken?" Icebreaker Games A good way to get children to open up ready for whole-class dialogue is to use fun activities that require talking in pairs. One way to do that is with "Ping Pong Proverbs", constructed in pairs with each person contributing a word in turn. Explain what a proverb is and get some examples, and then model with a volunteer. You start with "Always" or "never", your partner continues, then it's back to you. They may be complete nonsense, but sometimes you will get unexpected pearls of wisdom, such as, "Never forget to brush your teeth when you are going to be executed." Another excellent paired game is "Philosophers' Cocktail Party". I use these as icebreakers on INSET days to get the room buzzing. One of the examples is aimed at young children and has a lot of pictures, so the file is too big to attach. You can get it, with a menu of the workshops and INSET I offer, by visiting: www.thephilosophyman.com/partiesandmenu Resources: 3a - Rich and Poor.pdf 3b - Naughtyometer Complete.pdf #4 - Where to find picture books and ready-written questions The use of picture books as starting points for discussion has become something of a tradition in the UK. Classes are quite ready to revisit books they read when they were much younger, understanding that they are experiencing them in a different way when doing philosophy. I often use "To Catch A Star" by Oliver Jeffs or "Two Frogs" by Christopher Wormell. This site, created by Tom Wartenberg and his Philosophy for Children class at Mount Holyoke College is brilliant for picture book stimuli, and includes questions you can use to prompt discussion while children get used to formulating their own questions. It's at: http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org #5 - What is a river worth? Or a tulip? In this issue, two story stimuli that raise philosophical questions about what is valuable. Tulips from Amsterdam may be more suitable for secondary. The Water Catcher can be used with a wide range of ages. You can work on it first as a Kohlberg-style moral dilemma, with the class in role as a jury having to decide what should happen. Or use it as a stimulus in the normal way. The Water Catcher has been turned into a short film broadcast on the BBC. You can access the whole series, "What Makes Me Me and Other Interesting Questions" at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p015ft62 I've attached it in a plain format and also as a zig-zag book. Cut along the red lines on one side, then fold along the black lines to concertina it. Fiddly but dinky - I'd be interested to hear if teachers prefer that format, how the kids react to it, and whether they get enthusiastic about making their own zig-zag stories. Resources: 5a - Water Catcher.pdf 5b - Tulips from Amsterdam.pdf 5c - Water Catcher ZigZag Version.pdf #6 - Are Some Rules Meant to be Broken? "Are some rules meant to be broken?" is one of my favourite questions. It interests me as a teacher, because we seem to have rules in schools that are there to allow rebels to break rules without breaking anything else. As a philosopher, I'm conscious that there have been plenty of societies whose rule breakers are our heroes and whose most law-abiding citizens are easily painted as villains. But is there a rule you can follow to tell you when the rules should be broken? If there is, should children be encouraged to work it out? "The Visitor" is a fantasy story about whether right and wrong are the same for ever (though it might generate questions about time travel or other themes). You could use it to take off from a history topic - what did people in a particular period think was right and what makes us think they were wrong? "No Right or Wrong Answer" is an article exploring the attractions and dangers of telling children that there are "no right or wrong answers in philosophy". Lastly, a thought experiment you can try with any age group. If you swapped brains with your mum or dad, who would be who and who would make the rules? It's a discussion that can go in all directions, from personal identity (what makes you you) to where authority comes from (age, experience, or physical power). Or maybe someone will say it would be impossible, which leads on to the question of whether there are rules such as laws of nature that can't be broken. Resources: 6a - The Visitor.pdf 6b - No Right or Wrong Answer.pdf #7 - Why stimuli containing arguments are ideal for P4C The philosophical novels written by P4C founder Matthew Lipman were full of arguments. They featured children with different points of view arguing about the kinds of questions that might be chosen in an enquiry. It could be a little artificial at times, but it did do the important job of providing children with models of argument. So if you can find stimuli that involve characters expressing different points of view, so much the better. Suitable arguments will often occur in everyday life. When I'm not wearing my philosophy hat, I put on a wooly one instead and run Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. A while ago I found a group disputing what was the fairest way to share out their kit, and the attached dialogue was elaborated from their conversation. Or they might be raised by something you see, hear or read I saw a Horizon programme, "Seeing is Believing" which has some fascinating illusions including the "McGurk effect" www.tinyurl.com/mcgurk That set me thinking about the senses, so I've attached a story for younger children about animals arguing about whose sense is sharpest. Resources: 7a - Unfinished Business - Sharing the Burden - with notes.pdf 7b - Sense Story.pdf #8 - Stories Involving Death Two stories in this week's bulletin, both involving death among other concepts. One, the Ring of Gyges, has a very long pedigree in philosophy, as it features in Plato's Republic. A dead giant, a ring of invisibility, murder and a happy ending. It's a good yarn, full of possibilities for enquiry. The other "The Man Who Wanted to Live Forever" is an old folk tale which has also been turned into a picture book by Selina Hastings. Do children want to talk about death? Should they talk about it? Tough one. I have found them to be very robust and pragmatic, and the Selina Hastings book was recommended to me by a colleague who used it with year 3 upwards. You wouldn't I imagine, want to use either of these with a class where someone was very recently bereaved, but I have had some very profound and engaged enquiries using these stories. Children certainly have a range of views about death and find it philosophically interesting. PS. Some pictures and comments from a study of German and Japanese children that involved P4C enquiries about death are in this PPT: http://naaciphilo.org/2010_Conference_papers_files/Mexico#20ppt#202010.pptx Resources: 8a - The Ring of Gyges.pdf 8b - The Man Who Wanted to Live Forever.pdf #9 - Thinking Links from School to Home One of the recipients of this newsletter has asked for help with introducing P4C to parents. A full advocacy pack including a PPT is now on my to-do list, but for now here are some "Smart Thinking" resources to promote thoughtful dialogue between pupils and parents. In each case, there are a variety of questions for the child and parent to talk through, recording their thoughts on the sheet. The Early Years/KS1 version has illustrations. The KS2 and KS3 versions have some questions that can be cut out - or better, printed onto stickers (the 18 to a page format), which kids always like, and then stuck in the space on the blank template. In all cases, giving the children a choice of the question they want to take home will yield the best results, and begin to build the discernment that helps in choosing enquiry questions. The idea builds on some resources by Sara Stanley, author of "But Why?" which is an excellent introduction to P4C, especially for those working with younger children. You can get some of her materials from www.p4c.com, an excellent subscription website to which I upload many of my stories too. Resources: 9a - Smart Thinking Blank - KS2 and KS3.pdf 9b - Smart Thinking Questions - KS2.pdf 9c - Smart Thinking Questions - KS3-1.pdf 9d - Smart Thinking - Early Years and KS1.pdf #10 - Two New Stimuli Two new stimuli. I have not written any notes to go with them as they are brand new and I don't yet know what classes will make of them. I would be especially interested to hear what questions groups come up with in response to them. The first is a dialogue between children about whether there are fairies at the bottom of one of their gardens. Might lead to some awkward questions about Father Christmas for younger children; don't say I didn't warn you. As with the other "Unfinished Business" dialogues, they could carry on the dialogue, perhaps in role in small groups, before broadening the discussion to create enquiry questions. The second is the story of a good king who, against their wishes, decides to give his power to his people. It is loosely based on the true story of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who imposed democracy on Bhutan in 2006 before abdicating in favour of his son. They might decide what should happen in this case before framing an enquiry question, or that discussion might itself be rich enough to be the main enquiry. There's something to be said for enquiries that have to issue in a decision, as they can be very purposeful while still requiring attention to deep issues. Resources: 10a - Unfinished Business - Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden.pdf 10b - The Last Command of The King.pdf #11 - Fast Philosophy The traditional image of the philosopher is of someone patiently pondering eternal truths; and one of the attractions of P4C is the chance to chew over a question in a sustained discussion. But there's a place for speed in philosophy as well - the cut and thrust of a pacy argument, the urgency of a discussion that has more ideas than time. This issue is all about doing philosophy in short bursts, perhaps at the start or end of a lesson, during form time, or when you or they have had a drudgerous day and you want to inject some energetic, intellectual argy-bargy into the proceedings. Mini-Enquiry: Rich Poor Ugly Beautiful The attached micro-story is an example of how to jump in at the deep end with a provocative question. Includes suggestions for what to look for when choosing starting points for your own mini-enquiries. Dividing Line Cards Some cards for a Thinkers' Game printed 9-up that you can share with colleagues. Speed Philosophy Have a range of questions (pupil generated or ones you have chosen). Each pupil has one vote. Divide the amount of time you have by the number of pupils to fix a time value for each vote, and discuss each question for the time allowed. For example, 30 pupils, 15 minutes available 30 seconds for each vote cast. Start with the questions that got the most votes, so that the process accelerates towards the end. With luck, some of the conversations will carry on and they will certainly have been exposed to several interesting questions. Guerrilla Philosophy Put post-it notes with thought-provoking questions around the school. Gorilla Philosophy Have a plush gorilla or other soft toy near the entrance to your classroom, holding a question that is replaced at intervals. Resources: 11a - Dividing Line Cards.pdf 11b - Mini-Enquiry Rich Poor Ugly Beautiful.pdf #12 - Happiness This week's resources are all loosely connected to the concept of happiness. You could also use the topical (at time of writing) story of the government announcement about measuring happiness as well as economic output. What Do You Need to Be Happy? This is another "Thinkers' Game", in this case an "In Or Out" where they must decide what they would or would not have to have in order to be happy. Aimed at younger children but worth looking at as a structure for activities for other ages. The Porculent Potholer & The Survival Lottery Two of the tracks from my Thinkers'Stories DVD. These particular ones are most suited to Year 7 up. Both are retellings of famous thought experiments that explore the limits of maximising the happiness of the many when it comes at the expense of the few. Teaching notes are attached. The Porculent Potholer is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vyfAjvJldclc The Survival Lottery is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vRNpHyY7sloA Me, Myself and Us This is a thought experiment of my own, and rather a weird one. Unusually for my stuff, this would perhaps be best suited to enquiries with adults or older teenagers. Or it may be too off-the-wall altogether. I've included it because it has got me thinking. Resources: 12a - What Do You Need to Be Happy.pdf 12b - Porculent Pot Holer and Survival Lottery.pdf 12c - Me #13 - Philosophic Topic I often get asked for ideas relating to particular topics, and when a primary headteacher said he had the topic of "toys" coming up, I thought I would try to do something more systematic. Secondary schools too are increasingly turning to topic based work, and the approach here may also suit English teachers who are going to devote several weeks of lessons to the same text… ***PAGES MISSING FROM THIS EXTRACT*** #102 – Riddles and Puzzles Here are a variety of riddles and puzzles which can be used as an end-of-term alternative to the cop-out of putting on a DVD, or at any time to build the collaborative thinking and dialogue that the solving of puzzles encourages. Resources: 102a - Brainstretchers.pdf 102b - Brainstretchers With Answers.pdf 102c - The Princess and the Golden Key.ppt 102d - Christmas Hat Puzzle.ppt #103 – Two Stories The Cowman and The Farmer - A story about the origins of property, with suggestions for discussing the concept of ownership. Named after the song from Oklahoma, but with a more serious tone! Who Does Your Thinking For You? - A story about a girl attempting to put into action her mothers rebuke that she should think for herself. Includes another exercise to look at the many unexamined influences on our thinking. 103a – The Cowman and The Farmer 103b – Who Does Your Thinking For You? #104 – Tips on INSET, SEN A contribution by Jill Geddes. She has P4Ced in Newham for six years, and shares some of her tips for P4Cing with EAL and SEN students, as well as stimuli of interest to all. The other theme of this issue is INSET. From my own teaching career and as a trainer visiting lots of schools, I've made some observations about "Don'ts and Dos" when commissioning INSET. They may be of interest to whoever organises CPD in your school. 104a - Practical Tips - Starters, EAL & SEN 104b - Don'ts and Dos of Commissioning INSET #105 – Planting Cats Which is easier to look after - a cat or a pot plant? Most people would say a pot plant. Cats are expensive and demanding. But while everyone knows someone who's let a pot plant wither through neglect, very few of us have starved a cat. Ethical issues aside, this is partly precisely because cats ARE more expensive and demanding. We give them names. They insist on being fed every single day. And the neighbours know that you have a cat. If you stop feeding it they will gossip. This analogy holds for anything you want to get done, but in particular for schools taking on initiatives such as philosophy for children. Schools often think that by "taking it slowly", "infusion", "starting small", or a few "thunks" in registration, they will plant a seed of independent thinking that will continue to grow. What usually happens is that, because it's half-hearted, other priorities squeeze it out and it becomes another dimly remembered thing that never quite took off. If you want something to succeed, plant a cat, not a pot plant. One that has a name, that expects regular feeding, and that the neighbours expect you to look after. The attached document has ideas on how to "plant a cat" where philosophy is concerned. Resources: 105a – Planting Cats #106 – Readers' Ideas from Nursery to 6th Form This week a special edition in collaboration with Gallions Primary School, Newham. They have really taken P4C to heart and embedded it throughout the school. For readers at secondary schools, I've also included successful stimuli used by readers Mary Burgess and Stephen Edgell. There's stuff on Gallions' whole school approach, stimuli from reception to Year 6 and reports from Julie-Ann Nicholls in Nursery and from Lisa Naylor who is herself a SAPERE trainer. Gallions runs a variety of courses for P4C including Level 1s and 2s, Early Years, and one day events where you can watch P4C "live". Visit www.gallions.newham.sch.uk for more on Gallions courses and their DVD, or email Lisa to pick her brains about any aspect of P4C at class or whole school level on: lnaylor@gallions.newham.sch.uk My thanks to Lisa, Julie, Mary and Stephen for sharing their work. Resources: 106a - Stimuli and Questions from Reception to Year 6 106b - Stimuli for Secondary Schools 106c - A Whole School Approach 106d - P4C in the Nursery at Gallions Primary 106e - One Teacher's Perspective #107 How to help children choose P4Cable questions You've just presented a picture book to a class. The story is rich with problems and juicy, contestable concepts like fairness, trust and greed. The characters in the book happen to be frogs, but that doesn't matter to the issues in the book. You're waiting to see what questions they come up with. And the first question is... "Where did the frogs go afterwards?" ***PAGES MISSING FROM THIS EXTRACT*** #200 – Help Me Find My Voice The e-book and PPT explaining these seven principles for drawing more children into discussions are a mainstay of my training. Each principle is discussed after games that are used to illustrate it. Resources: 200a – Help Me Find My Voice e-book 200b – Help Me Find My Voice INSET.pptx #201 – VAMPIRE Facilitation This Powerpoint shows 7 ideas for injecting energy into discussions. I use it as a summary session at the end of a full day’s training Resources: 201a – VAMPIRE Facilitation Summary.pdf 201b - VAMPIRE for stickers.pdf 201c - VAMPIRE Facilitation Powerpoint.ppt #202 – Thinkers Games’ This is the PPT I use after doing a mixture of Thinkers’ Games, to explain the underlying principles. During the explanation, I do another Thinkers’ game live, illustrating each of the stages e.g. “Point of View” with “Does success make you happy?” as the question. I’ve also included in this section some other Thinkers’ Games that I use in training and workshops that are not included elsewhere in the bulletins. What Do You Know Most Certainly is included in both PDF and Excel formats, so you can conveniently make your own for other concepts. I usually use just the first 10 cards. Resources: 202a – Thinkers Games INSET.ppts 202b – Would You Rather Be A Bee or A Chicken.pdf 202c - What Do You Know Most Certainly 201c - The Ethics Committee 202e – Which and Why - Big Letters 202d - Which and Why