Retail and Hospitality - SIGN WRITER  

Primary  Middle Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Ethical Understanding

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

Philosophy

Cooperative Learning Activity

Teacher

To look at the process of a Community of Inquiry, click here.

1. Get the students to form a circle with their chairs or directly on the floor. Everyone is to be in the circle including the Teacher.

2. Using stimulus material - the Signmaker's Assistant, listen to the story.

You might use the following questions to help with the "one right answer" questions:

About the story:

• Who are the main characters?
• How would you describe their personalities?
• What signs did Norman make?
• Why did he make the signs?
• What were the consequences of these changes?

3. Set up a Question Quadrant on the floor or on a whiteboard:

4. If the class gets "stuck", here are some questions you might like to ask:

The big questions from the story:

• What are the themes of the book?
• Do you think Norman would have made these signs if the Signmaker was in the shop?
• What is responsibility?
• Do all signs need to be obeyed at all times?
• Do you really think the Teacher & Principal would obey "No school today" sign? Why? Why not?
• Should some signs be reconsidered? Which ones? Why? Why not?
• Why did the community blame the Signmaker? Is blame always just?
• What happened when Norman said "Sorry"?
• Does this always happen when you say "Sorry"?
• Do we always need rules to live by? Why? Why not?
• Are rules always just?
• "What are the characteristics of a fable? Is this story a fable?" Why? Why not?
• What else would you suggest as a question to discuss?

5. For the rest of the process, look at the Community of Inquiry.

Students

1. In pairs, listen to the following story together: This material you might have studied in Year 2 but now you are to look at it through Philosopher's eyes!

View the book being read.

The Signmaker's Assistant by Tedd Arnold
https://youtu.be/5hspwRvR_uw?si=A09GalXnz3wE3PnA

After listening to the story, in groups of two:

• write a question or questions about the stimulus material from each of the four question quadrants

  

• share your thinking questions with the class by writing up on a whiteboard
• as a group, select the most common question to discuss.
• in a circle, conduct a discussion on this common question
• hold to the class discussion rules of:
  • one person speaks at a time
  • listen carefully to the speaker: listen for understanding; listen charitably
  • the speaker selects the next speaker
  • speakers are respectful and build on the previous speaker's point of view or questions that view logically
  • be prepared to think and take time to think
• keep a record of the other student questions to come back to them if needed

3.

Discuss as a class: select the one question that was the most common to discuss.

Optional Extra: Primary  Middle

Write a new story about Norman and graffiti and illustrate it. Will it be a fable?

Optional Extra: Secondary

Compare and Contrast the painting by Antoine Charles Horace Vernet (sometimes called Carle Vernet): "A Signwriter and his assistant" (below) with the story/imagery by Tedd Arnold (above). List the similarities between the two and also the differences.

Would the story be very different too? Why? Why not?

(Source: Nice Art Gallery)

Designing Your Home Town Name Sticker for a Car

  Primary  Middle Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking