3 How to use the different tools

3.2 Historical Episodes and Short Movies

3.2.5 Possible obstacles and further options

Readiness of the pupils

Before you start using the materials in class, consider whether the pupils are ready to engage with the content or whether further steps are needed to prepare them.

Example 1: It is not enough to work on women's rights and women's suffrage once in the whole school career; the attitude of gender-reflective pedagogy should prevail throughout the entire school career. Especially during puberty, the pressure to belong within the gender group is high, and during this time of physical development, students may feel insecure, which is then covered up with Punch and Judy (“Kasperln”), big sayings, etc. This is not only true for the school project presented here and not only a challenge for our lesson example presented here but must be taken into special consideration in the topics of the EU Heart work.

Example 2: The main obstacles encountered were: the CAP level has great learning difficulties and even more in foreign language in memorization, pronunciation, communication skills. Technically the handling of the human-sized puppets was difficult, the care of puppets, the coordination of the movements of the two bodies (actors and puppets), the acting to make it alive, memorisation of dialogue especially in English. It was necessary to find pedagogical strategies to remove in order to reduce these obstacles (repeat by heart, write in colour and big on large paper…). Moreover, the pupils had difficulty managing the space of the stage (moving, looking at each other, etc.).

The two examples show how much in competence work the path is the goal.

We would like to give you the following recommendations for this path:

• Create a climate that makes asking questions, making mistakes and being wrong an important part of learning.
• Encourage the pupils to see themselves as explorers and to be open to new things.
• Encourage pupils to step out of their comfort zone and try new things.
• Don't expect yourself to know everything, but allow yourself to learn as well.
• Have confidence in your pupils to overcome the challenges.
• Let your pupils take the initiative so that they can take responsibility.

Money allocation

When planning the implementation, bear in mind that costs will be incurred:

Material costs

for the building of the puppets

for the props and the construction of the stage background

Travel costs and entrance fees

If you want to integrate the work with the short movies into an overall cross-curricular context, you may need funds for visits to these historical sites, entrance fees for museums or theatre-visits.