Walk in Their Shoes

Hook 5 min

1. "You see a kid at recess walk away from a game, fast, without saying anything. What might be going on?" Take several ideas. (They got hurt. They were upset. Someone called them in. They needed the bathroom.)
2. "We got lots of different answers. Why can't we be sure?" (We can only see the outside. We don't know what they know.)
3. "Today we'll step into each character's shoes and find the one thing each of them knows that nobody else does."

Explore 18 min

The Muddy Sleeve, teacher drives, class talks (11 min):

1. Open The Muddy Sleeve. Press Next to page 2 and let the storyteller read. "Where is Pip running? What can Juniper see from where she is?"
2. On page 3 (the muddy sleeve), stay in Narrator view first. "What does Juniper probably think happened?" (Pip was careless.)
3. Click Juniper's shoes. Read the Only I know card together. Under Guess first, the class calls out up to two feeling words, tap them, then press See what Juniper thinks. Nobody is wrong: our words just sit beside hers.
4. Do the same in Pip's shoes and Otto's shoes at the same moment. Stop at Otto: "What does Otto know that Juniper doesn't?" (Pip was helping a little kid who fell.) This is the surprise.
5. Press Next to page 4. Under What next?, partners whisper, then hands up for A, B or C. Click the winner, then step into all three pairs of shoes on the ending.
6. Press Try another choice and try one more. "Which choice let Juniper find out what Otto knew?" (Ask: What happened to the sleeve?)

The Saved Seat, partners (7 min):

1. Pairs on laptops open The Saved Seat, or the class does it together. "Step into every pair of shoes on page 3 before you choose. Watch the Shoes tried counter."

Make sense 8 min

1. Open Talk it over for The Saved Seat and read its two questions aloud. (Rory was keeping a promise to Wren. Tamsin thought it meant nobody wanted her.)
2. "In both stories, who looked like the bad guy at first? Was that fair once we knew more?" (Pip and Rory. No, they had reasons nobody else could see.)
3. Write on the board: "What they see is not all they know." "What helped us find the hidden part?" (Switching shoes, asking, a witness speaking up.)
4. "Did the same choice feel the same to everyone?" (No. An ending can feel fine to one character and bad to another.)

Apply 9 min

1. Read a new moment aloud: "A goat named Lulu knocks over a tower of blocks that a pig named Hank just built. Hank yells. A duck named Ivy saw that Lulu tripped on a loose shoelace."
2. Each student fills the three empty thought bubbles, one for Lulu, one for Hank and one for Ivy: what each one is thinking, and one thing only that character knows.
3. Partners swap and find one thing in their partner's bubbles that one character knows and another doesn't. Call on two pairs.

Exit check 5 min

On the back of the bubble sheet, students answer: "In The Last Goal, Max blames Bea for losing. Name one thing Bea or Dot knew that Max didn't, and what Max might do if he knew it." Show page 3 of The Last Goal in Bea's and Dot's shoes first. (Bea's glove was loose; Dot lost the ball first. Max might say sorry or stop blaming Bea.) Students who only retell what happened need another round of switching shoes.