Shackleton's adventure

This scheme of work is based around the true story of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, or Endurance Expedition as it is more commonly known. It aims to educate the students on the historical events of the journey, through ‘in-role’ exploration of specific situations, and character-driven improvisation. The focus is primarily on the themes of leadership and bravery, although there is scope for this to be shifted to suit one’s own aims.

The scheme is built on the foundations of the trivium and is implemented through the idea of Mantle of the Expert; it moves forward with the ideas and exploration of the students, with only minimal guidance to keep the story on track. There is ample opportunity for the use of Philosophy for Children (P4C) techniques to delve deeper into the questions that are raised during the story; I found these methods very useful while developing and testing the scheme.

Learning objectives
By the end of the scheme, the students will have fully explored one of the greatest stories of human perseverance of the last hundred years, using a variety of drama techniques. They will have produced individual and collaborative works, both scripted and improvised. There will also have been opportunity to apply thoughts and philosophies from the scheme to modern day and personal contexts. They will have explored themes of bravery, leadership, loneliness and loss. Performance of different styles will have been covered and characters will have been carried through the scheme, allowing for much development.

Number of lessons: 8