Arrival · retrieve

Special means special to someone

A special object is one that matters to a group of people.

It does not have to look expensive. Some of them look very plain.

What makes it special is what people do with it, and what it means when they do.

You do not have to share the belief to handle it properly.

You do have to handle it the way the people it belongs to would want.

That is the whole rule, and the four handling rules come from it.

You need the handling box, one object card, the four-rule card, and gloves if the card says so.

The box has six objects in it this term. Each one has its own card, and no two cards say the same thing.

That is the first thing to notice. There is no single way to handle a special object.

What is careful for one is careless for another, and only the card knows which.

So the card is not a formality. It is the only place the answer is written down.

You will handle one object today and read one card. Next week it will be a different one.

Starter · create the need

Two ways to pick something up

Here is somebody picking up a book with one hand, by the cover.

Here is somebody picking up the same book with two hands, from underneath.

The book is fine either way. It did not break.

But one of those two would upset the people it belongs to, and one would not.

Nothing in the room can tell you which is which. Only the card can.

So we read the card first, every time, for every object.

• 1 · read the card before you touch it.
• 2 · use the hands the card says.
• 3 · put it back the way it was.
• 4 · say what you did.

Look at the two hands in the pictures again, and say what is different about them.

One hand is holding the cover. The other is taking the weight underneath.

For some objects that difference does not matter at all.

For others it is the whole thing, because the cover is the part people never touch.

You cannot work out which from looking. Somebody has to tell you, and the card is how they do.

I Do · model

Four rules, one object

I take one object card out. I do not take the object out yet.

The card says this object is held with two hands and is not put on the floor.

Rule one is read the card. I have just done that, so I tick rule one.

Rule two is use the hands the card says. I use two hands, from underneath.

Rule three is put it back the way it was. So I look at how it is lying before I lift it.

Looking first is the part people forget. You cannot put something back the way it was if you did not notice.

Rule four is say what you did. I say: two hands, from underneath, back on the cloth the same way round.

Saying it out loud is what lets somebody else check I did it.

Watch how long I look before I lift. That pause is doing a job.

I am memorising which way round it is lying and what it is lying on.

If I skip the pause, I will put it back facing the other way and never know I did.

The people it belongs to would know straight away.

That is the test for all four rules: would the people it belongs to notice what I did?

We Do · everyone commits

Sort the actions

Six action cards are on your table. Sort them into follows the rules and does not.

Picking it up with one hand. Reading the card first. Putting it back upside down.

Asking before you move it. Passing it across the table. Putting it back on its cloth.

Then match each does-not card to the rule it breaks.

When your table is done, hold up the card you argued about most.

Two of the six depend on which object it is. Put those aside and say what you would need to know.

Needing to check the card is a right answer here, not a way of avoiding one.

I Do 2 · connect

Why it matters, in their words

The card also says one reason the object matters to the people it belongs to.

You copy that reason down in your own words, the way you would say it.

You are not saying whether you agree. You are saying what they say.

That is what respect looks like in this subject: getting somebody else's reason right.

So write their reason first, and keep it separate from anything you think.

If you cannot say their reason without arguing with it, read the card again.

Write their reason as one sentence, and start it with the word they or the name of the group.

Starting with they keeps it clear that you are reporting somebody else's reason.

A sentence that starts with I is about you, and today's task is not about you.

You are allowed to think something different. You are just not writing that in this box.

There is a place for what you think, and it comes later in the unit, with its own rules.

We Do 2 · lab

Watch and tick

Work in twos, one object between you, still on its cloth.

One of you handles it while the other holds the four-rule card.

Say each rule before you do it, and say what you are doing.

The person holding the card ticks only what they heard.

Then swap over and do the same with the same object.

Say the rule number as well as the words. Numbers are quicker to tick and harder to mishear.

If your partner misses a rule, say the number and let them do that one again.

Independent · evidence

The card, the rule, and the reason

Work on your own. Finish ticking your handling card.

Then write the name of one rule and when you used it.

Then write one reason the object matters to the people it belongs to.

Use the words from the object card, in your own way of saying them.

If you finish early, write one question you would ask somebody who uses this object.

• Supported · tick the handling card and name one rule you used.
• Standard · tick the card, name one rule with when you used it, and write one reason it matters.
• Stretch · as Standard, and write one question you would ask somebody who uses it.

Write the object's name at the top of the sheet so the card and the sheet stay paired.

Use the object card for the reason. It is on there, and inventing one is guessing about people.

If the card gives two reasons, pick one and say why you picked it.

Leave the last line for your question. A question is evidence too, and a good one is hard to write.

Exit · Audience and Influence

Say the reason to an adult

Read the reason you wrote to the adult at your table.

They read it back exactly as you wrote it.

If that is not what you meant, say it again and they write the new one.

Then choose what happens next: keep this object, look at a second one, or write your question down for later.

Your choice goes on the sheet before you leave.

The object goes back in the box on its own cloth, the way you found it.

The card goes back with it. A card in the wrong place means the next person handles the wrong way.