Robert Fisher

Teaching thinking and creativity

Developing creative minds and creative futures

First Stories for Thinking

© Robert Fisher

The following are excerpts from the Introduction to the book ‘First Stories for Thinking’ (Fisher 1999) together with a sample story and discussion plans.

INTRODUCTION

What’s the point of a story unless you think about it? Karen, aged 6

First Stories for Thinking is a resource aimed at developing the thinking, learning and literacy skills of young children. It offers thirty multi-cultural stories for children aged 4-8 years to enjoy and to think about. Each story is followed by a discussion plan of questions to challenge and extend children's thinking about the story, and a discussion plan that focuses on a major theme from it. Follow-up activities are suggested to encourage children to develop literacy skills and to extend their understanding.

First Stories for Thinking can be used for developing a community of enquiry in the classroom, through questioning and discussion, reading, writing, and other creative activities such as art and drama, to help develop thinking and philosophy for children ...

Creating a Community of Enquiry

You should listen to other people because sometimes they have good ideas Jamie, 6

A community of enquiry is a place where you share a story, and discuss it in a safe and stimulating environment, where children think for themselves and learn to value the thinking of others.

If young children are going to share their thoughts and feelings they must feel safe to do so. When children take the risk of revealing their thoughts they become very vulnerable. The first task in a community of enquiry is to make children feel comfortable, secure and at ease with their teacher and with each other. Ideally adult and child should be sitting at the same level, on floor or chairs in a circle so that all can see, hear and talk to each other easily. This may not be possible, even so a sense of community can be achieved in a setting which is not ideal.

Try not to be interrupted. There is important learning going on. This is not any kind of ‘storytime’ activity, but an attempt to engage children in the most challenging kinds of thinking and discussion. It should take priority, if possible, over whatever might interrupt the concentration of the children. To avoid disturbance one teacher puts a sign outside her class saying: ‘Do not disturb, thinking in progress.’

In a community of enquiry the teacher takes responsibility for creating the form of the discussion, but the content should be as far as possible the responsibility of the children. As with any discussion certain ground rules may need to be established, for example: ‘We take turns, we speak one at a time, we listen to each other, and we respect what people say’. It can be helpful to talk about what the rules should be beforehand, and to write them up (in words or pictures) for all to see. A four year old once said he ‘hated school’ (meaning his nursery class). When asked why, he said: ‘Cos no-one listens to me’. A community of enquiry is a place where everyone is listened to, and where everyone has a chance to say what they think.

It can be helpful to begin by playing some simple games that embody the rules of the community of enquiry 4 . Throw and Say for example is a good game to play with young children. They sit in a circle and gently throw a beanbag or soft ball randomly to each other in turn. Whoever holds the ball tells the rest of the group about their weekend experiences. No one is allowed to interrupt the speaker. When each has had a turn the ball is thrown back to the teacher. An advantage of this game is that it gives every child a chance to speak, and ensures that everyone listens.

Children who engage in a community of enquiry acquire habits which reflect their experience in the community. If they listen to each other, express their own opinions, and build on each other’s ideas they will grow into children who are willing to listen, who are confident in saying what they think and who are thoughtful about what others say. They also grow in confidence and self esteem.

So how is a community of enquiry created? In a typical community of enquiry the teacher will:

• read the story
• invite comments or questions
• lead a discussion
• invite children to review the discussion
• introduce some further activity

Discussion plans

To aid discussion there are two sets of questions at the end of each story. These questions aim to sustain and foster a sense of wonder and curiosity about the story and about a major theme from the story.

The first set of questions challenges children’s thinking at the literal level of the story, by probing their knowledge of and ability to draw inferences from the text. They are questions about reading the lines and ‘reading between the lines’. These comprehension questions are not all the questions that could be asked about the story, nor are they there to be automatically worked through after every story. They are models for the kinds of questions you could ask if children have no questions to ask for themselves.

The second set of questions are philosophical. They ask questions about a theme or concept drawn from the story. Again these model the kinds of question you could ask about this or other themes in the story. What makes these themes, such as sharing, anger, beauty and so on, philosophical is that they are conceptual, and encourage abstract rather than literal thinking. Answers to these questions rely not on knowing things about the story (although they relate to what happens in the story), but on thinking about things in life. They are about reading beyond the lines. They seek a personal response to issues that are central to human existence, but which are open-ended, challenging and contestable. They do not seek to find one right answer, but encourage children to consider a variety of viewpoints, ideas and arguments. They are not about trying to find the right answer from other people, or about ‘guessing what is in the teacher’s head’. They are about saying what you think in the best possible way.

Choose from the discussion plans questions you think are appropriate and challenging for your children and seed your own questions into the discussion. By creating your own discussion plan beforehand you will always have something to ask if the discussion flags, and by so doing you model for the child the intelligent habits of an enquiring reader.

One of the exciting aspects of a community of enquiry is its unpredictability. Whatever plan you have to lead children on through a series of questions you never quite know where the discussion will lead or what children will say next, like the child who suddenly told the group her grandmother did not need false teeth (when asked why she replied, ‘Because she’s dead’) or the child who stopped the flow of discussion by asking: ‘Does God have a God?’ You will never know for sure what the children will want to explore during a discussion, or quite where it will go. Nor will you expect to if you want children to be engaged in critical, creative and imaginative thinking....

Even four year olds can benefit from the process of community of enquiry. They often find it easier to make statements about the story, like ‘The king was wicked’, than to ask questions. These can be recorded on the board (with the child’s name) and become a focus for discussion, for example by asking: ‘What do you mean by that?’ or by focusing on a key word such as: ‘What does ‘wicked’ mean?’ Even if they are not capable of entering into philosophical discussion, it introduces them to the experience and to the habits of mind that prepare them for higher order thinking in the future. As one nursery teacher said: ‘My Stories for Thinking lessons are pre-philosophical. I am preparing my children for the kinds of thinking and reasoning I hope my children will grow into. After all they are the thinkers of the future, and it is never too early to start them on it.’

Often young children will choose to call philosophical discussion by its proper name – ‘Philosophy’, if they are introduced to the term. The lesson may have different names, such as Stories for Thinking, Thinking Circle or even Literacy Hour. Whatever it is called children are often quick to see the value of having time set aside to think through stories. Kirandeep, aged eight, says philosophy discussions are important because ‘thinking is what we are here for.’ Karen, aged eight, says she likes Stories for Thinking because they makes stories ‘a kind of puzzle.’ I hope you and your children will also find these stories puzzling and enjoyable.

SAMPLE STORY AND DISCUSSION PLAN

Mercury and the Axe

Long ago in Greece there was once a man who was cutting wood by a river when his axe slipped from his hand and fell into the water. The river was deep and the current ran fast.

Hard as he looked the man could see no sign of his axe. It had disappeared forever beneath the swirling waters. Or so he thought. There was nothing he could do. As he sat on the bank, he thought of his lost axe and began to cry.

Mercury, the messenger of the gods, happened to be passing by and saw the man crying by the riverside. He stopped and asked the man what had happened. When he was told, Mercury felt sorry for the man, so he dived into the fast flowing river. Soon he came up with a golden axe in his hand, and asked the man whether this was the axe he had lost.

‘No,’ said the woodcutter, ‘this is not the axe I lost.’

So Mercury dived down again, and this time came up with a silver axe. ‘No,’ said the man, ‘this is not mine either.’

So the winged god went down for a third time, and came up with the woodcutter's own axe. 'That's the one!' he said, and he thanked Mercury for all the trouble he had taken to find his lost axe. Mercury was so delighted with the honesty of the man that he made him a present of the gold and silver axes as well.

When the woodcutter had finished chopping his wood for the day he went back to his friends who were working in another part of the wood, and told them of his good luck. As they listened, one of the men thought that he too would like to get an axe from Mercury.

So the following day he went down to the river's edge, and threw his axe into the fast flowing waters. When it had disappeared he sat down on the bank and, began to cry as loudly as hecould. In a little while Mercury appeared again, and asked the man why he was so sad.

'I've lost my axe,' said the man. 'It just slipped out of my hand as I was cutting wood. It's fallen in the water and I can't find it.'

Mercury felt sorry for the man and once more dived into the cold waters of the river. He soon appeared and shouted to the man, 'I can see something down there. Is your axe a golden one?'

The eyes of the man lit up. 'Oh yes,' he said, 'it is made of real gold.'

The god was angry now, for he knew the man was lying. 'What a shame,' said Mercury, 'the axe that I have found is just an ordinary one. I cannot find your golden axe anywhere in the river. As this is not your axe I'm afraid I cannot help you. I must go and find out who this axe belongs to.' With that Mercury and the axe disappeared.

Left on the bank, without any axe, was a sadder but wiser man.

(Aesop’s fable)

Thinking about the story

Key question: What does the story mean?

1 Where was the man cutting wood?

2 Why do you think he was cutting wood?

3 How did the man first lose hid axe?

4 Why could he not find his axe?

5 How did Mercury help the man? Why did he help him?

6 Who was Mercury? How do you know?

7 Why did Mercury give the man a golden and a silver axe?

8 What trick did the man’s friend try to play on Mercury? What happened? Why?

9 The story says the man was left ‘sadder but wiser’? What does this mean?

10 What lesson do you think the man learnt? (What is the moral of this story?)

Thinking about telling the truth

Key question: What is truth?

1 Do you think this is a true story? Why?

2 What do we mean when we say something is true?

3 What do we call something that is not true? What does ‘false’ mean?

4 What is a lie?

5 What do we call a story which is not true? What is fiction/a fable/a fairy tale?

6 Which man in the story was honest? What does ‘honest’ mean?

7 Which man in the story was a liar? What does ‘liar’ mean?

8 Is it better to tell the truth or to tell lies? Why?

9 Have you ever told a lie? Can you say when or why?

10 Is it ever right to tell a lie? Is it ever wrong to tell the truth?

Further activities

• Re-read the story, inviting children to read and act each character’s part.
• Ask children to add to phrases from the story to make up complex sentences eg ‘Longago in Greece ...’, ‘The river ...’ by adding descriptive words, phrases etc.
• Hunt to find as many words within words as you can eg ‘wood/cutter’ ‘for/ever’, ‘river/side’
• Sort a list of things or statements, into categories of true and false.
• Make up a story about someone who told a lie and was found out.

About this book

The reference for this book is: Fisher R. (1999) ‘First Stories for Thinking’ Oxford: Nash Pollock.

For ways of using poems with young children see First Poems for Thinking and for using stories with older children see Stories for Thinking.

For an introduction to the theory and practice of Philosophy for Children see Teaching Thinking: Philosophical Enquiry in the Classroom and the website www.sapere.org.uk

© Robert Fisher