Thinking Skills

 Week:                                          Duration : 45 mins

Topic :    O.P.V.

Aims  :     To help pupils to explore other people's view points so that the process can be used consciously and deliberately. 

Objective/Goal:  By the end of the session the pupils should:

1.  Have learnt how to identify the people involved in a situation  

2.   Have learnt to put themselves in other people's shoes

Warmer   :    Ice-Breaker or Recapitulation  (5 minutes)

Tool Explanation:     (5 minutes)

1.  What does  O.P.V. stand for?

A.P.C. stands for Other People's Views

2.  When do we use it?

The OP.V. is used when we try to put ourselves in other people's shoes before we take action.  In this way we consider how others will be affected by something that we plan to do.  

3.  How do you do an O.P.V.?

The O.P.V. is done as follows:

  Identify the people involved/effected by the situation

  Try to imagine what they would think and how they would feel 

  As we are putting ourselves in other people's shoes, we need to use  the first person.  

Activity 1:    (15 minutes)

A family of four decides to buy a new house.  What are the points of view of the father, the mother and the two young children aged eight and ten.  Do an O.P.V.

Who is involved?

The father, the mother and the two children.

The Father

  It should have a garage.

   It should be close to where I work.

  Will I need to do lots of maintenance.

  There has to be more space for all the family.

The Mother

  Is it already decorated?

  It has to  have a large kitchen.

  There has to be enough space for the children to play.

The Children

We want a bedroom each/

  Is there another room where we can play and study?

  We will miss my friends.  We don't want to be far from them.

Activity 2:    (10 minutes)

Children can drop out of school at the age of 12.  Who would be involved in this situation?  What do they think? Do an O.P.V. 

Pupils work in pairs or in small groups.  They can write and draw the  items.

Processing:

Pupils now share the outcome of their thoughts 

Key Questions When Doing an O.P.V.

1. Who is involved in this situation?

2. How do they feel?

3. What do they think about it?

Activity  3:  

Teacher asks the pupils the following questions to stimulate metacognitive talk. 

• Why is it important to do an O.P.V.?

• When would you use this tool?

 Transfer.

Making sure that the children will be able to use the tool in a variety of situations is of paramount importance.  The teacher can either do another practice item or ask the students where they think that they could use this tool.

Activity  4:  

Recap and concluding comments (7 minutes)

Teacher summarizes what was covered during the session.  Alternatively the teacher could elicit what was covered from the pupils.

Materials needed:

 Loose sheets of paper (Unless they have the Thinking Diary already in hand)

Flipchart paper and markers if there is no board in the room being used for the sessions.

Portable reverse timer

Symbol of the tool