Accountability 1: Rights and Responsibilities
(This session may spark off a level of discussion to be developed in
Circle Time.)
Aim
Objective
Intro
Looking
deeper
To explore personal responsibility in a class situation.
Each pupil will have the opportunity to think and write about
aspects of class life that are and aren’t working well.
A few years ago, there was an international Cup Final, with
England playing Germany. It was a hard-fought match, and at the
end, it came down to penalties. Since it was England playing, we
lost – when one player (Gareth Southgate) bounced the ball off
the bar. Afterwards, lots of fans started blaming Southgate for
‘losing us the match’ – but the team captain, Alan Shearer,
replied: ‘All of us lost the match.’ Why do you think he said
that? (To take the blame away from Southgate, to say that the
whole team had a part to play in victory or defeat.)
Our class has to work like a team sometimes. Things can go well,
but sometimes, things go wrong. It’s easy to blame others –
pointing the finger of blame. It’s better to try and sort out
what isn’t working well, and help others to play their part better.
It’s a team thing. We’re going be thinking about life in our class,
and use this to work out ideas to make life better for everyone.
Give out the attached worksheet ‘When I am in school’ and
explain how it works, emphasising the use of bullet points.
Plenary
Meditation
/ Prayer
Feedback comments by working through the following ‘3W’
questions: ‘What’s working well in this class?’ ‘What’s not
working so well?’ and ‘What can we do to make things better?’
Ask a reliable pupil to take notes on this.
We are all very lucky to work in a school like this. Millions of
children around the world don’t have school – and they want it,
badly. Jesus said: ‘More is expected from those who have been
given the most of all.’ School can be difficult sometimes, but we
all need to work together to make the best of it. We’re the
lucky ones.
Father God, thank you for school. If we’ve got problems, help us
to work them out fairly, so everybody has a better time here.
Amen.
Accountability 2: Who am I responsible to?
Aim
Objecti
ve
Intro
Looking
deeper
To explore personal responsibility.
Each pupil will have the opportunity to role-play a situation of being ‘held
to account’.
Show or draw a picture of a football match. What are some of the rules
of the game? (Discuss, feedback.) Imagine a football match where only
one side kept the rules! What would happen? (Discuss.) Is it just the
referee’s job to keep it fair? (No – it’s everybody’s.) Why?
Last time, we started thinking about ways of making our classroom a
happier place. These are some of the things we said. (Share some of the
comments again).
Explain that what we want, may not be practical, or, it may not help
others to learn, or it may not fit with school rules - but it’s still possible
to make some changes to benefit everybody. The teacher has to have
the final say – but whatever’s decided, still has to rely on everyone else
to make it work. It’s no good expecting other children to help make it a
happier classroom if one or two people don’t bother. We all have to be
accountable.
Being accountable is all about knowing that there’s always someone out
there in charge. If things go right or wrong, you’ll have to explain what
you did to them. We’re accountable to lots of people in life - our parents
and carers, our school staff...and as we get older we find we’re
accountable to others too. Who are you accountable to if you drive a
car? (‘The Law’ – police, traffic wardens...and judges!)
Role-play situations where somebody is doing something wrong, and
they’re being challenged over it by someone else. Each character has to
say two things.
Plenary
Show some of the playlets – and point out that no-one likes being picked
up for something they haven’t done very well – but it would be horrible if
everyone just did what they wanted. Selfish people would then be able
to get away with anything!
Meditat
ion
/
Prayer
Who are you accountable to, now? Are you accountable to the rest of
the class, to make it a happier place? In the Bible, it says ‘One day,
everyone will have to give an account of himself to God.’ (Romans 14.12)
What do you think of that? Father God, I can’t always do what I want,
because there are other people to think of. It’s not all about me. help
me to remember that. Amen.
Resilience 1: Am I flexible? Am I resilient?
Aim
Objecti
ve
Intro
Looking
deeper
To explore ‘strength of character’.
Each pupil will have the opportunity to write about situations
requiring appropriate levels of flexibility and resilience.
On the board, draw a horizontal axis, marked ‘flexible’ at one end
and ‘resilient’ at the other. Show some different classroom
materials, and ask pupils to grade them, assigning them a place
somewhere along the axis. Do we agree?
That was a Science activity – but how flexible or resilient are you
as a person? Let’s see how bendy your body is! (Everybody stand
up in a space, and try a few loosening up exercises as in PE –
shaking fingers, hands, arms, shoulders, toes, feet, legs, etc.
Emphasise no touching of others- and if something is hurting, then
STOP.) Can you....
- touch your toes? - do it without bending your knees?
- reach behind your back to touch your other elbow?
- make both elbows touch behind your back?
- reach behind your head to touch your opposite ear...or nose?
All sit down again. Explain that we can’t be totally flexible,
because we’re designed with bones and joints that help us to stand
up and move. Without them, we’d be like a squid on dry land! Our
bones are designed to resist Earth’s Gravity. So we’re meant to be
both flexible and resilient. But how flexible and resilient are you
as a person, inside? There are times when we need to listen to
others and do what they say, and others, when we definitely
shouldn’t. Can you think of situations when it’s right or wrong to be
flexible or resilient?
Plenary
Meditat
ion
/
Prayer
R2L books – title: ‘Saying Yes and No’.
Draw yourself in the middle. List the things that people can ask
you to do, under the right response to make - either Yes, or No.
Share some of the work.
Where do you get your strength from to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in the
right situations? In the Bible it says this: ‘Those who hope in the
Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not feel
faint.’ (Isaiah 40.31) Father God, help me to have the strength of
character that knows when to say Yes, and when to say No. Amen.
Resilience 2: Supporting each other.
(This requires some playing cards, sheets of A4 paper, sticky tape and scissors.)
Aim
Objecti
ve
Intro
Looking
deeper
To explore how we support each other.
Each pupil will have the opportunity to role-play the giving of
personal support.
Try to demonstrate making a ‘house of cards’ with playing cards.
When it finally collapses, ask what kept it from staying up.
(Gravity, weak joints...and maybe a shaky table!)
Explain that architects are people who spend a lot of time thinking
about how to create buildings that are big enough to hold lots of
people – but strong enough to be safe. It’s harder than it sounds!
What’s important is the way materials are shaped and joined
together – and how they make it stand up in the first place.
Set this Design Technology Challenge – pupils can work either
singly or in pairs. What’s the tallest free-standing structure you
can create using one piece of A4 paper? You are allowed one 5cm
piece of sticky tape. The paper can be cut, or torn. You have 5
minutes!
Afterwards, judge and review the work, asking about the main
areas of difficulty (Falling over.) Point out that the most
successful designs tend to work out a way of giving the structure
support at ground level – so it can’t topple.
Explain that people can be like buildings sometimes – we need
strong foundations to keep from wobbling, Ask: how can friends
best support each other when somebody is finding life tough?
Plenary
Meditat
ion
/
Prayer
Role-play in 3s or 4s, those situations where friends are
supporting each other in a difficult situation. Freeze-frame the
moment of difficulty for someone, then freeze-frame the moment
when that person is now being supported.
Share some of the work, drawing out the different ways with
which people can give support.
Often, the most important support you can ever give someone in
trouble...is to be a good listener. Is there someone who can listen
to you when you need it? Father God, help me to be a good friend
to others. Help me to listen. Amen.
Name____________
When I’m in school, what are my…
Rights?
(What is everybody entitled
to?)
Responsibilities?
(What am I here to do?)
Rules?
(How should I behave when
people are meant to be
learning?)
Routines?
(How do we organise things to
make learning as enjoyable as
possible?)