Picture Book Moss Side

The opportunity to bring together two significant resources, a vibrant novel and a set of images, has been the impetus for this resource pack, which explores the Citizenship topic of diversity of national, regional and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom. It has been prepared for use by Key Stage 3 students (primarily, Years 7 and 8).

The novel, Forever and Ever, Amen by Joe Pemberton, is about a black boy growing up in Moss Side in the 1960s. The images, part of the Manchester Local Image Collection, show examples of the streets, buildings and people of the same area in the same decade.

The resource pack consists of a series of lesson plans with relevant worksheets, a set of pictures and some background information. Each lesson plan uses a passage from the novel as the impetus for discussion and some follow up work. The pictures are also intended to be used in conjunction with the lesson plans. It works on the principle of a lesson being 45 - 60 minutes long. The lessons do not have to be done in any particular order and the resources may suggest other or further activities to those outlined in the pack.

Although the topic of diversity of national, regional and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom is central to these materials, the following skills of enquiry and communication are also developed:

• Use of imagination to consider other experiences and be able to think about, express, explain and critically evaluate views that are not their own
• negotiate, decide and take part responsibly in community-based activities
• reflect on the process of participating

The worksheets have been prepared by Margaret Jones, Citizenship Co-ordinator of Trinity High School, Manchester.