This activity was used with children in key stage 2, year 6.

Context

The school population includes pupils from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds. There are no significant differences in the achievements of the different groups; with the exception that pupils who are at the early stages of learning English do not perform as well as others. With the appropriate help, however, they have been making rapid progress.

The headteacher and staff in this primary school have a strong commitment to equal opportunities. The English policy not only refers to the need for materials that offer positive role models for all pupils, but also discusses building pupils' confidence so that they can express opinions freely and respond to other people's opinions appropriately.

The school encourages pupils to recognise the diversity of language, and to respect those whose language, dialect and accents are different from their own. The headteacher firmly believes that all pupils should have the confidence to talk about issues such as racism, stereotyping and cultural difference. Opportunities for doing so are, therefore, built into the curriculum across the key stages as well as into whole-school activities such as assemblies.

Aims

• To provide a wide variety of quality reading materials, including materials that offer positive role models, value diversity and promote discussions about issues concerning, for example, gender, race and disability (an aim taken from the school's English policy).
• To plan work that builds on the children's interests and cultural experiences.

Activity objectives

• To look at a range of non-fiction, including biography.
• To consider the selection and presentation of information through the use of interviews.

The relevant literacy strategy objectives are:

• distinguish between biography and autobiography (year 6, term 1, text 11);
• develop a journalistic style (year 6, term 1, text 15);
• use the styles and conventions of journalism to report on, for example, real or imagined events (year 6, term 1, text 16).

Activity description

As part of their National Literacy Strategy work, the children in this class read an extract about the life and work of Lewis Latimer, a prominent African-American scientist. Guided by the teacher, they considered the differences between biography and autobiography, and the importance of chronology in recounting events. Sentence-level work focused on the use of different connecting devices.

The class then considered the human interest elements of Lewis Latimer's life. In small groups, the children identified aspects of his life that they wanted to know more about, for example his treatment at school as the son of a former slave, his life as a cabin boy and how he felt about his important scientific breakthrough in improving Edison's electric bulb.

Using hot-seating techniques, they tried out their questions on each other, showing empathy with Lewis Latimer in their responses.

Finally each child wrote an imagined interview with the scientist, paying attention to written interview conventions such as layout (some with greater success than others). A few children word-processed their work. (The teacher had chosen to focus on interview techniques and how they are presented in print as the class had already worked on autobiographical writing in year 5.) This work was then used as part of a class display on the life of Lewis Latimer.

Commentary

Two weeks after this work had been completed, the children were able to:

• recall clearly the main events of Lewis Latimer's life;
• describe his contribution to science in some detail;
• talk about their enjoyment of this unit of work.

They were immensely impressed that the son of a slave had achieved so much. Several children said they had been inspired by his struggle to succeed and realised that it was important for them to work hard too. When the children were asked why they thought the school was teaching them about people like Lewis Latimer, some replied:

'To prepare us for secondary school where they ask you all sorts of difficult questions.'
'So that the focus is not only on white people. We learn about both races and that is good.'

The children were confident, articulate and appreciated the school's attempts to ensure that they learnt about the achievements of people from a wide range of backgrounds. The teacher decided to do some work later that year on the life of the first Asian MP in Britain.

The curriculum development work originated several years previously when the school recognised that its black Caribbean pupils were underachieving. A unit of work on black scientists was created and had a significant impact not only on black pupils’ achievements in science, but also on their parents' willingness to engage more fully with the life of the school.

The school has now broadened this work and has outlined links between work on Lewis Latimer and the National Literacy Strategy, history (Victorian Britain) and science (electricity) - see spider diagram, right. At the request of a parent, materials celebrating the achievements of people of mixed heritage have also recently been developed.

Points to note

The text used for the work on Lewis Latimer was drawn from resources developed by the school in partnership with the LEA's African-Caribbean attainment project. The folder of resources, entitled 'Inspirational Peoples and Texts from African Heritage in the Primary Curriculum', includes the biography of Lewis Latimer as well as those of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Aesop and Mary Seacole.

The school continues to add new materials to its resource pack on 'Inspirational Peoples and Texts from African Heritage', and is working on a similar resource bank that celebrates the achievements of people of Asian heritage.