Verita Insights Magazine VIS magazine final | Page 17

MOE MANTLE OF THE EXPERT COMMUNITY OF LEARNING POSITIONING WITHIN LEARNING WILL AND MOTIVATION TO LEARN Figure 2 Diagram of how a Mantle of the Expert learning community is supported by two main factors, Ryan (2019) INQUIRY DRAMA FOR LEARNING MANTLE OF THE EXPERT Figure 1 The Three Dimensions to Imaginative Inquiry, Abbott (2013) Within the dimension of Mantle of the Expert there are the sub dimensions of client, commission and team of responsible experts. These sub dimensions are key to building collaborative classrooms. In Mantle of the Expert structure, the children need to work collaboratively together as a team of responsible experts, along with the teachers to co- construct their story and complete the commission set by the client which requires them to meet a set of standards, tasks and activities that fit together piece by piece toward an end product or project (Taylor, 2016:22). When in the drama each child and the teacher bring their own social and cultural dimension to the fiction, as well as their own skills, which enriches the experience for all. How does it build strong and collaborative learning communities? There are two factors that can contribute to the creation of a strong and collaborative Mantle of the Expert learning community. 1) The will and the motivation to learn and 2) the positioning within learning. When these two factors are brought together, they create an opportunity where learners thrive in a supportive and collaborative setting. The diagram shows how the two factors support the creation of a strong and collaborative Mantle of the Expert learning community when they come together. Mantle of the Expert supports the children to take ownership of their learning and be active agents in their own education. They are positioned as responsible beings who are capable of leading their own education journey, with the help and support of their learning community. They are no longer passive imbibers in their education, they are active learners who are working equally as hard as their teachers to explore the world they live in while meeting curriculum standards. This process of co- construction with a skilled teacher enables great challenge and therefore deeper learning to occur. A Mantle of the Expert learning community is a powerful student agency tool and supports the will and motivation to learn, as students have voice and choice in how they learn. This causes the students to become more intrinsically motivated to work and learn, as they have ownership over their learning. As Mantle of the Expert allows children to experience real-life moments in the make-believe, it allows children to develop a good work ethic, as the commission is authentic and true to real-life. Mantle is not about standing around the classroom, pretending to be a tree. It is a framework in which students and teachers can build fictional contexts, in which they can explore the world safely using their imaginations and build learning communities together. It moves learning from being a passive action, into powerful form of active learning where knowledge is a powerful tool, but where both learning, and imagination are limitless. When the students are given the freedom to explore their learning through their imagination, it takes away the fear of making mistakes in the classroom. In the make-believe they can be braver, stronger, smarter and bolder – as they are protected by the make-believe. This allows the students to make bolder decisions and delve deeper into their learning, as the teacher is in the learning taking the risks right alongside them. Article by Louise Ryan Teacher 4B VERITA INSIGHTS  |  17