Teacher’s Guide
This guide explains the purpose of the elements within the Assemblies and follow-up Lessons, how best to use them and tips to optimise children mastering key life skills, enjoying rich relationships and making good, all-round progress.
The Big Think is a flexible, multi-media personal development programme that will save considerable preparation time and meet many of your school’s Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) needs and provision for Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development. The Big Think Assemblies and follow-up Lessons will reinforce your own school’s values, mark important annual national awareness events and can be adapted throughout the year to meet changing, whole-school requirements.
The programme is designed to be implemented using a whole-school approach with materials for assemblies and lessons. As a response to the pressure on school timetables, the lesson length is flexible (40 to 60 minutes) and can be adjusted to fit your needs.
For optimum impact, we recommend that The Big Think is delivered as a weekly or bi-weekly assembly (perhaps alternating between ages 4 to 7 and ages 7 to 11) with an associated follow-up lesson soon after each assembly. Some schools teach The Big Think in two termly blocks to ensure coverage of RSE (Relationships and Sex Education). Other schools use one Literacy session, each week or every other week, as they feel The Big Think sessions cover so many speaking, listening and comprehension skills.
These are the main elements making up a session:
5 minutes
Purpose
Silent Sitting is a relaxation technique for children to help them clear their minds and create space for new thoughts. In Silent Sitting children are practising controlling and concentrating their conscious mind and this enhances their ability to learn. Silent Sitting begins each The Big Think lesson. It can also be introduced as a daily activity, perhaps after break or lunchtime to refocus children towards their learning.
How
The most important boundary to set is to insist on silence. Although, do let the children know that if they feel the need to cough or twitch or adjust their arms or legs, they can quietly do so.
Children can sit cross-legged on the floor so that they feel grounded and secure. If the children are older or there is a lack of space, then they can sit in their chairs with feet flat on the floor and hands on laps. Ideally the teacher should mirror the children at the front.
Say: ‘Find your sitting bones (and rock gently from side to side) and make sure they are both grounded and even and that you are comfortable.’
Say: ‘Keep your body alert to new ideas. Pretend you are a puppet on strings and someone is gently pulling the strings from the top of your ears to help you sit up straight. But at the same time you must try to relax into this position enough to be comfortable. You need to learn to find the balance between being alert, but relaxed – this can be tricky!’
‘Place your hands either facing upwards and open to the sky on each knee to help you feel open to new thoughts, or place hands together in your lap. Eyes can be closed like mine, or you can lower your gaze to a spot just in front of you and keep them still.’
(NB If relevant, gently point out that we do not use any Buddhist Mudras as this is not a religious meditation.)
Optional: Play your singing bowl or chimes and ask the children to touch their shoulder/head/chin/heart/knee, etc (select one; see below) when they can no longer hear the sound.
Each lesson you can ask the children where they want to place their palm when the sound stops before and after the recorded relaxation. When you strike the singing bowl it makes a sound that moves around the room and the length of time the children will hear it go on ringing will vary.
You are now ready to begin playing a recorded relaxation.
Tip: Model Silent Sitting from the front if you are able to. Close your eyes to show that you trust the children and want to join in too.
When the recording has finished, bring the children back to the room gently by softly playing your singing bowl or chimes. (If the track feels too long for your class that day, wait for the speaking to finish and slowly turn down the music.) The children will touch the chosen body part from earlier when they can no longer hear the sound and then open their eyes.
Ask: How did you feel today? Did anyone find it particularly easy or difficult?
3 minutes
Purpose
This is a Visual Literacy task to help develop the children’s inference and deduction skills and also to aid a more in-depth understanding of the story later on.
How
The children spend 1 minute turning to face each other, make eye contact and talk in pairs (Pair Share). They choose one sentence stem and use it to tell each other what they can comprehend from the picture. Afterwards, select two or three children to use a range of sentence stems to stand up and feed back to the group in a loud, clear voice.
Sentence Stems
Tip: These are differentiated sentence starters that begin with the simplest one at the top and get more complex further down. You may wish to encourage Special Educational Needs (SEN) or English as an Additional Language (EAL) children to start with the top sentences, but since they are repeated in each lesson, after a while all the children should be able to access them.
The Sentence Stems are differentiated between age groups (ages 4 to 7 and 7 to 11) so that children are able to progress with their visual literacy comprehension and with expressing themselves.
3 minutes
Purpose
The aim is to widen the children’s horizons through experiencing a range of both historic and contemporary figures. The Big Voice will show the human side of each figure to illustrate that we all share common human feelings that can cross time (people from different points in history), distance (voices from a range of countries), social classes (famous, rich, poor) and experience (mountain climbers, authors, scientists, politicians, etc).
How
Ask the children to turn and face their partner (Pair Share) to discuss the meaning of the quote. Collect and share just 1 or 2 comments from the group on this.
15-20 minutes
Purpose
The aim is to develop a collaborative, talking classroom of children who are able to reflect on a range of real issues within a caring, safe and respectful environment. Values (or character virtues) are not simply caught by children, they need to be taught, explored, tried out and tested, before they become a seemingly natural trait.
A Values Inquiry is a deeper search for understanding, meaning and truth using the skill of reasoning. Rather than arguing and winning a debate, children are asked to speak their truth, listen to each other’s viewpoints and be flexible about changing their minds, clarifying their ideas and justifying their thoughts. Challenge yourself to hear from every child in your class in a single session.
Values Inquiry: The Big Talk gives children the opportunity to put themselves in the shoes of other people in a range of common situations and see how they might feel or react.
Tip: For the Values Inquiry to work most effectively, children should be encouraged to feel that they are allowed to speak their minds and your role as facilitator is to ensure that every child contributes something in most sessions.
How
Share the Values In Action poster (found in the TBT Core Values Starter Lesson Kit) to remind children how to put the core values into practice as they participate in the Values Inquiry. Before you begin, pass it around the class for children to read the actions aloud.
3 signposts – Prior to the session, place the 3 signposts for the lesson (e.g. Open-minded, Closed-minded, Unsure) on three walls of your classroom. As you read aloud each scenario, the children will choose where to stand and are then encouraged to discuss their initial thoughts within their group first, before feeding back their individual thoughts to the teacher. When ready to share, raise your hand to indicate that you want the children to stop and face you.
There will usually be 4 to 6 scenarios to debate. Use your judgement as a teacher to select the most appropriate for your class. You may cover only 2 or 3 scenarios. Once you get used to running the Values Inquiry, you may want to add an extra scenario that is more pertinent to a recent issue in your own classroom, but this would have to be carefully worded and managed sensitively. Throughout the session, as a facilitator you could ask supportive prompts such as:
Do you agree or disagree with _______?
Can you clarify your viewpoint?
I’m hearing you say______. Is this what you mean?
Can you give an example to support your argument/persuade others to change their minds?
Are you able to justify why you changed your mind?
Up to 15 minutes
Purpose
Sometimes The Big Talk is replaced with The Big Act. This is an opportunity for children to literally walk in the shoes of others to experience how it feels and how they might react, all to encourage empathy. Roleplay is also a good way of developing teamwork skills and to rehearse real-life events.
How
Sit in The Big Circle and share the Values In Action poster (found in the TBT Core Values Starter Lesson Kit) to remind children how to put the core values into practice as they participate in the Values Roleplay. Before you begin, pass it around the class for children to read the actions aloud.
There will be 3 to 5 scenarios for children to roleplay. Depending on time, you can call groups up to a mock stage. Call ‘Action!’ to start. Either contrast two different scenes or compare two of the same. Back in The Big Circle, reflect on The Big Question together.
15-20 minutes
Purpose
A Values Dialogue promotes learning, growth, understanding and change. The aim is for each child to develop their listening skills over time so that they can listen more fully and deeply, eventually leading to a greater understanding of both themselves and others.
In this safe space, we all try to suspend our judgement and understand how our past thinking and experiences are informing our current judgement of ourselves and others. For children, this means trying to be curious, open and aware of their own inside or internal voices.
How
Share the Values In Action poster (found in the TBT Core Values Starter Lesson Kit) to remind children how to put the core values into practice as they participate in the Values Dialogue. Pass it around The Big Circle for children to read the actions aloud before you start.
Follow the two Check-in activities to warm up the children so they get used to thinking for themselves and speaking out loud with a partner first. Try to hear from every child in the class before opening up to the full dialogue.
Open the dialogue with The Big Question, allowing for long periods of silence. This time will allow children to think more deeply and reflect on each other’s ideas. It will also start to build up a sense of trust within the group. If children find it difficult to wait for each other to speak, use a Speaking Stick (only the child holding it can speak). Use suggested prompts to guide the session if children are struggling to focus, otherwise allow your class the chance to explore their ideas and eventually find their own shared meaning. With time and practice, children will look forward to this space and have the confidence to speak openly and freely without judgement.
7 minutes
Purpose
For this aspect of the programme, 8 children’s authors (3 male and 5 female, with a range of ethnicities/backgrounds) were selected from around the UK and commissioned to write our 50 original stories. Each writer brings a different voice and style to ensure that all the stories feel fresh, relevant and hook in both boys and girls of all ages. Each piece of writing addresses real, contemporary issues and covers a range of genres such as poetry, free verse, play script, biography, animated poetry, short news reports, fantasy and adventure. These stories are at the heart of the programme as values stories are a safe place for children to explore some difficult or new experiences at a safe distance, through the main character.
How
The story is written to be read aloud by the teacher, slowly and with emotion. This puts the onus on the children to listen carefully, tune into the key characters and stay alert to the emotional journey they might be going on. Without the distractions of any pictures or film to accompany the story, the children have to draw upon their own imagination.
7 minutes
Purpose
These comprehension questions help children to move beyond simply saying what they saw and support them so they learn to read between the lines, thereby deepening their understanding.
How
Work through the questions at a fairly fast pace while the story is fresh in the children’s minds. Be aware that the questions build up in complexity as you move through them, so every child should access the first three questions. This will help you to differentiate your questioning accordingly to meet the needs of your class, perhaps asking SEN and EAL children questions earlier on.
Spend longer on the final two questions. The penultimate question usually encourages empathy with the main character in the story and prompts consideration of the changes in actions or responses to an issue.
The final question is the same question re-framed to encourage self-reflection by the children – How might they have behaved? Has something similar ever happened to them? This question often links to the Journal self-reflection (see below).
10 minutes
Purpose
Journaling offers the children space to self-reflect about their own behaviour choices as well as experiences that they have had or would like to have. It is a calm 10 minutes during which the children can reflect on their thoughts and crystallise them in writing.
The Big Think Journal pages are carefully scaffolded to offer children a more contained space to think about themselves. A blank space can sometimes put too much pressure on children to invent something from scratch, but a carefully crafted journal page can give children an easier, safe place to record their own ideas or personal experiences.
How
Children spend a quiet 10 minutes recording their thoughts. It is up to you and the children whether you want to keep the journals private. They are not really for sharing with the class and not something that needs to be marked or commented on. A meaningful verbal exchange between you and each child can be really insightful.
Tip: Self-reflection is a complex skill that needs time to develop. Early on in the programme, you may need to suggest that children, who are stuck, start with reflecting on the main character in the story so that they can gain the confidence to be able to reflect on themselves.
5 minutes
Purpose
Collective singing is proven to raise wellbeing for all participants, improves connectedness and is often fun. It also offers a chance for children to reflect on the value of the lesson and explore it another way that might deepen their learning or suit them more.
How
Ensure the children listen to the song a few times before they sing it. Some schools teach the songs in Singing Assembly, while other schools play the songs in class in between other lessons. Adding simple actions to the chorus can help with remembering it and enjoying it more. If the children haven’t heard the song before the lesson, just play it once through and they can sing along the second time.
Tip: In the Assembly, play the song as children enter the hall so they can get a sense of it.
3 minutes
Purpose
This is a chance to reflect on the lesson as a class and consider what real changes the children can try to make over the next week that puts the value into practice. Encourage the children to think laterally and see a scale of possible changes from Individual Action to School Group Action, to Community Action, to Global Action, so that the children can start to make changes outside of school too.
How
This is a brief exchange. Sometimes it’s useful to role-play with a child in front of the class to illustrate a change that could be made.
2 minutes
Purpose
To cement and deepen the learning and make it as experiential as possible, conclude the lesson with a memorable take-away thought and think about it all together.
How
Invite the children to read Our Big Think once in their heads by themselves to absorb the meaning. In assembly, or as a class, choose actions for the key words (to embed the meaning and make it more memorable) and then say the thought all together.
Tip: Each week Our Big Think quote can be displayed on a The Big Think notice board to remind the children of the current key message from The Big Think.
When launching this programme at your school, always teach the Starter Lessons first. There is one for ages 4 to 7 and one for ages 7 to 11. These sessions introduce the children to The Big Think core values and they meet the key story characters and take part in their first Values Dialogue exploring how the values might come to life in their own classrooms. This will lead to the class creating Values Posters for their classrooms to remind everyone how they want to act in class each day. They will also try a short Silent Sitting and select a Values song to try singing in class. The Starter Lesson sets the scene for The Big Think Assembly and lessons, which should take place across the whole school soon after.
Very young children aged 4 to 5 should be ready to try a taster version of The Big Think programme in the Summer Term or when they are used to attending assemblies. There are 10 Reception-friendly lessons suitable for this age group that have simpler picture books and explore more straight-forward concepts, although many schools have found their youngest children can access most of TBT programme content for 4- to 7-year- olds.
Tip: To support their transition into the Year 1, your school should plan to use the Reception-friendly Assemblies in the Summer term so that Reception children can begin to join in with The Big Think Assemblies.
In the lead up to starting the sessions, begin with using the Singing Bowl and getting children to sit quietly for 30 seconds, and build up to 1 minute. Reception children love choosing the place to touch when the ringing finishes. You may do this every day for a week before trying a lesson.
Build up to trying part of a shorter Silent Sitting relaxation. Turn down the volume when you feel they have reached what they can manage, and ring the Singing Bowl to signal the end.
Run the session as you see fit, depending on the maturity of your class. We suggest starting with this line up which should take 30 minutes:
Silent Sitting
The Big Picture
The Big Story
The Big Questions (maybe just the first 3 and the last question)
The Big Song (this will need to be played beforehand so the children are
familiar with the words and music – they can join in with the chorus at
first)
Our Big Think (choose actions with the children and read aloud key parts
together)
In place of children recording their individual The Big Think Journals, you could keep a single The Big Think Reception Class Journal – a class scrap book of photos, post-it notes, drawings, that reflect the 10 weeks of learning during the preparatory Summer term.
If your class is ready, add a short version of the Values Inquiry / Dialogue / Roleplay. For example, just do one scenario altogether and build up from there.
