First Impressions

To suggest that first impressions are not always accurate and we should take time to learn to appreciate people

by Gordon and Ronni Lamont

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To suggest that first impressions are not always accurate and that we should take time to learn to appreciate people.

Preparation and materials

• Look at point 2 and decide whether to do this live in the assembly or prepare it in advance.

Assembly

1. If the children are not used to the idea of still (or 'frozen') pictures from drama activities, briefly introduce and demonstrate as follows:
   
   Explain that a still picture is like a photograph, a frozen moment in time, but made with our bodies 'freezing' into a position. Demonstrate (or have primed someone else to do so) with an example or two, such as winning a running race, pointing up at something mysterious in the sky, or falling from a height. In each case ask the children what they think the picture is showing.
   
   Make the point that still pictures are best when they look just like a captured moment. Even though they are still, they can be full of action.
   
   
2. Ask for some volunteers - three groups of four. Secretly show the first group the title of their picture: 'Sports day'. Send them off in a corner (or outside the assembly space) to work on it while you give the next group their title, 'Robot invasion', and set them to work. Finally give the third group the title 'I'm stuck' and get them going on working out their picture.
   
   Note: If appropriate you could give the titles in advance of the assembly so that the groups come ready prepared.
   
   
3. During the working out time, play 'instant photos' with the whole assembly. You give titles and everyone has to freeze, where they sit, in an appropriate position. Possible titles are:
   
   I'm hungry
   Boredom
   At the football match
   Stuck in the mud
   
   
4. Ask the three groups to show their prepared still pictures and, in each case, discuss with the children what they think each picture shows.
   
   
5. Point out that in each case there were different ideas about what the pictures were showing. Sometimes the first idea someone suggested was not the right one. Take this thought into the reflection below.

Time for reflection

I saw a goal,
I know it was a goal.
I shouted 'Goal'.
But the ref said 'Offside'.
I saw a goal, but it wasn't a goal at all.

I saw the answer, I knew it straight away.
I put up my hand.
But when I said it, my teacher said,
Not quite.
I saw the answer, but it wasn't the answer at all.

I saw my enemy; I know I don't like her,
Or I know I don't like him.
But one day something changed.
I saw my enemy, but it wasn't my enemy I saw,
It was my friend.

Sometimes I see it all, I know it straight away.
And sometimes, I'm wrong.

Song/music

'All over the world' (Come and Praise, 61)