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Session Seven - Saturday 27th April 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 6:38PM Today was Deep Thinking Day and Year 8 and Year 9 approached the topic rather differently.
Year 8’s session was focused on philosophy and critical thinking involving a debate about belief.
Year 9 planned the route to their big audacious goals and opening their pathways up to feedback.
In Philosophy and Critical Thinking we considered some big issues – “Is there a God?”, “Can you prove it?”, “Are some people born evil?”, “Is God responsible for things happening in the world?” We tackled the nature/nurture argument and took a psychological approach including some A level standard material. We considered cases such as the Derby fire (Mick Philpott), the Liverpool murder of a homeless man by a group of teenagers and revisited the London riots.
We presented some ideas and the girls sparked off the thinking. They thought hard and wouldn’t just accept what we threw at them. Despite being uncomfortable with some of the topics they responded well, pushing the boundaries and squeezing their comfort zones becoming more resilient in the process. They were not afraid to challenge the teachers on key provocative points. The session really challenged their perspectives of what they were allowed to think and can think.
Year 9 started off with an excellent vision board exercise led by Andrea Watts of UnglueYou. The girls created their A3 boards of words and pictures from a wide selection of magazines. The girls were able to give very good explanations and show deep thinking for what they had created. The purpose of the vision board exercise was to open up their thinking and help either refine or develop their big audacious goal in a more creative, less language-centred way. The vision board exercise was excellent in bringing out feelings and encouraging a deeper perspective of the choices they are making and will make in life.
After break Year 9 moved on to the 21 steps, tackling the idea of ‘reverse engineering’ their big audacious goal. After some initial ‘Where Am I Now?’ thinking, the girls used a 21 step template poster and played around with post it notes, thinking through the steps and connections between their current state and what they would need to reach their big audacious goal. The girls showed some excellent examples of analysis, evaluation and synthesis, really unpicking ideas and steps and thinking very deeply how they could achieve something and what was required right now. They each followed up with a succinct 6 point presentation of the steps to a large group with every girl giving a presentation.
Overall a great day, learning through experience across a wide range of activities, confronting fears and growing stronger in ability, belief and character.
