The Persona Doll Approach
The Persona
Doll approach offers an effective, stimulating, non-threatening and enjoyable
way to combat discrimination, foster emotional literacy, raise equality issues
and empower children at the Foundation Stage and at Key stages one and two. The
Dolls and their stories develop children's ability to empathise, to appreciate
that name calling, teasing, exclusion from play and treating other people
unfairly causes pain and unhappiness just like hitting, kicking and other
physical responses do. Children are encouraged to stand up when they experience
or witness unfairness and prejudice. A tall order but if the Dolls are embedded
in an anti-discriminatory and culturally appropriate curriculum they are well
able to meet the challenge.
The birth of the Dolls
Persona
Dolls were first used in the United States. At that time, the 1950s, very few
resources were available that reflected the ethnic diversity of children. Two
teachers Kay Taus and her colleague Ruth moaned and groaned about this unfair
and unacceptable situation. One day they took action.
They created
dolls out of card and matched their skin colours and physical features as
accurately as they could to the children in their nursery school. Personas were
developed for each doll and stories based on children's experiences, were woven
around the Dolls. The children quickly identified and bonded with them.
What are they?
Persona
Dolls are not ordinary Dolls; nor are they puppets. Teachers and practitioners
by giving the dolls their own individual personas change them from being
inanimate objects into 'people' with individual personalities, family, cultural
and class backgrounds, names, gender and ages. To ensure that the personas they
create are detailed and authentic, important facts are included such as who the
Dolls live with, where they live and sleep, the language(s) they speak, their
likes and dislikes; the things they are good at and the ones they find
difficult, the things that make them happy and those that upset, frighten and
worry them.
If possible,
Persona Dolls need to be huggable, unique, special and different from the dolls
in the home corner.
The Dolls
need to reflect the children in the group. However, where all the children are
from the same ethnic or cultural group, speaking the dominant language and
having no obvious disabilities, it is important to introduce Dolls that do not
reflect the children. Everyone needs to be careful that they are not
reinforcing stereotypes when selecting Dolls, developing personas or creating
stories. It's a good idea to introduce a boy Doll first to capture the
attention of the boys and because children often think all Dolls are girls and
only for girls. Boy Dolls provide opportunities to break down stereotypes the
children may have absorbed. For example, by saying that pink is a boy Doll's
favourite colour, is likely to provoke a reaction from the boys and the girls.
Stories can help children respect those who are different from them and
appreciate the many things they have in common. They all have eyes, skin and
hair even though the colour, shape and texture may be different. For example,
one of the Dolls could tell the children about how happy she is because she now
has a hearing aid and can hear what people are saying. Perhaps later a story
could be told about her being teased or excluded because she's different.
Developing personas
The whole staff team needs to agree the gender,
ethnicity, class, family structure, type of home, religion, cultural
background, languages spoken, physical features, skin colour, special abilities
and disabilities, likes and dislikes. of each of the Dolls. Especially for
Dolls from cultures with which practitioners and teachers are unfamiliar, they
need to make sure that they give appropriate names and pronounce them correctly.
Names should fit the dolls’ personalities and cultural backgrounds. These basic
details remain constant though circumstances may change, e.g. a new baby,
moving house. The persona for each Doll needs to be written down in her/his
book and all the stories created around her/him, added. Many settings/schools
have a range of Dolls to reflect all the children in the group as well as those
not present i.e. a setting/school may have a Sikh Doll but not have any Sikh
children. In this way a wide range of equally valued and respected lifestyles,
cultures, languages and abilities are presented to the group.
Dolls with stories to tell
With the
Doll sitting on the story-teller's lap and in her/his everyday speaking voice
the Doll is introduced to the children. The story-teller and the children have
a conversation about what has happened to the Doll, how she/he is feeling and,
when necessary, what can be done to help her/him sort out problems. In the
process children become decision makers and problem-solvers, a role that helps
boost reasoning, reflection, self-esteem and confidence. Through their
identification with the Dolls they are helped to see the injustice of the
situations the stories describe and are motivated to think of solutions to the
problems the Dolls 'tell' them about. Empathising with the Dolls encourage
children to stand up for themselves and others when encountering unfairness. It
is important that stories about happy events and situations as well as
discriminatory, unhappy ones are told. Children are concerned about the Dolls
and eager to help them especially when the stories highlight situations or
experiences that they consider are unfair.
During
interactive Persona Doll sessions, story-tellers have high expectations of each
and every child and they offer support to those experiencing physical or verbal
abuse from other children or adults. They listen to each child's contribution,
support children when necessary and encourage. everyone to talk about the story
and how it made them feel. Children's powers of observation and understanding
of the world around them are often under-estimated and may surprise
story-tellers.
Accepting
and acknowledging that some children's ideas about the right way to act and
interact will not match theirs, most story-tellers check that they don't
unconsciously respond more positively to the children who are most like them.
They recognise that the body language children learn may be different from
their own. For example, many Black children are taught that looking at an older
person straight in the eye is disrespectful and impolite whereas many White
children are taught to look directly at an adult when they are spoken to: a
sign of frankness and honesty.
In the
relaxed, informal and supportive atmosphere of the story-telling session,
children have lots of opportunities to say what they think and feel about the
issues being presented to them through the Dolls. Story-tellers guide the
session by asking scaffolding questions to capture the children's interest and
encourage them to reflect critically on what they and their peers have said. As
different stories gradually connect up in their heads, so their understanding
of quite complex social issues develops. Their questions and any topics that
have captured their interest can be explored in more detail in other areas of
the curriculum particularly citizenship at key stages one and two. By
presenting a range of scenarios and problems for children to assess, explore
and solve, the Dolls through the stories they 'tell', open up a world of
possibilities and encourage children to imagine and talk about what it might be
like to live through situations that they have not personally experienced. When
sharing their cultural traditions and learning about those of their friends,
recognising and challenging stereotypes, their intellectual horizons are
extended and their general knowledge expanded. Being part of a creative and
stimulating group activity can be an enjoyable self-affirming experience. If
they feel safe, secure and comfortable with adults and their peers, they are
more likely to contribute their ideas, feelings and experiences.
Persona Doll
and their stories boost confidence, self-esteem, identity formation and
motivation to learn. They provide a valuable tool to enhance communication and
language as well as encouraging personal social and emotional development –
both required by the revised framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage
(EYFS).
The Dolls
and the story-tellers have whispered conversations. Story-tellers convey to the
children everything that the Dolls have come to 'tell' them. Sometimes the
stories are about happy experiences like going to the park, having a sleepover,
visiting grandparents or celebrating a festival. At other times the stories
focus on hurtful incidents such as being excluded from play, name calling,
being physically hurt or teased. When the story-teller needs to ask the Doll
for information, s/he whispers in the Doll's ear. The Dolls 'speak' by
'whispering' in the story tellers' ears. Most children suspend belief and
accept that the Dolls are dolls and therefore can't really talk. To be able to
participate and contribute to the discussion children need to have in their
vocabularies words that describe emotions and understand their meaning. At
every opportunity story-tellers introduce alternative words when talking about
a Doll's feelings.
Persona Doll
story-telling sessions importantly encourage children to feel good about their
own cultural and family backgrounds while at the same time respecting, valuing
and learning about the cultural and family backgrounds of the rest of the
group. Talking about these similarities and differences can help them
understand that being different is not something to tease or harass each other
about.
For example:
"Jo's feeling sad, miserable and upset".
"Sunita is jumping about with joy and excitement."
Maria is cross and fed up."
"Jo's feeling sad, miserable and upset".
"Sunita is jumping about with joy and excitement."
Maria is cross and fed up."
By asking
appropriate open-ended questions story-tellers spark discussion and encourage
children to name the Doll's feelings and empathise with her/him, listen to each
other, think critically and express for their ideas. Discussing feelings, ideas
and solutions is more important than finding perfect solutions to the problem
the Dolls present..
For example:
'How do you think the Doll is feeling?'
What makes you angry?
Have you ever been disappointed?
How do you look when you are excited?
How do you look when you're surprised?
'How do you think the Doll is feeling?'
What makes you angry?
Have you ever been disappointed?
How do you look when you are excited?
How do you look when you're surprised?
Harry's Story
The
storytelling session began with the teacher asking the children if they
remembered who was sitting on her lap. The response was immediate.
Having
acknowledged their response the teacher passed Harry the Doll around the circle
to give each child an opportunity to greet him individually. From the caring
way they hugged and spoke to him they had obviously identified and bonded.
Harry was their friend.
When asked
about Harry's previous visit it was apparent from their replies that the story
he had 'told' impressed them and that they empathised with him. The question,
"Do you want to hear what happened to Harry at his nursery school on
Friday?" was met with affirmative nods.
Harry told
me that he was watching four boys building a garage with the bricks. When he
tried to join in the biggest boy shouted at him
"You
can't play here. We don't play with fatties."
And the
others yelled, "Go way fatty, go way fatty."
At this
point the teacher maximised the children's input by giving them lots of
opportunities to say what Harry was feeling, empathise with him and how they
felt listening to his story. By asking questions like, "How do you think
that made Harry feel?" and "Have you ever felt like that?" she
encouraged them to talk about their own feelings and experiences. To extend
their range of feeling words she asked them if they had ever been excluded and
explained what the word meant.
These were
some of their responses:
- My brother always does that to me. He says, 'No girls!'
- Julie used to be my friend but now she's best friends with Marie and Alice and they won't play with me.
- My sister gets really upset when children in the park tease her because she doesn't walk properly.
- My brother and his friends say I'm too small to play with them.
- The children who have moved into the house next door told me they can't be friends with me 'cos they never play with brown children.
- When my sister's friend comes to our house, the two of them run and hide away from me.
- That's not fair.
The teacher
agreed that it wasn't fair to exclude children: to make them feel sad and left
out. She told them that Harry said he was so upset when those boys wouldn't let
him play and called him names that he burst out crying. He said the boys
laughed at him and said he was a cry baby. A discussion then ensued as to
whether it was ok for boys to cry. The teacher drew their attention back to the
story by asking them if it happened again what did they think Harry could do?
The children
were eager to help Harry. They enjoyed offering him their advice and talking
about their own experiences and actions. The teacher especially supported and
picked up on the contributions of the girls who had been victims and of the
boys who had excluded and abused them. She hoped that thinking about how Harry
was feeling and empathising with him might have helped them gain insight into
their own behaviour so that it follows straight on from: and of the boys who
had excluded and abused them.
She hoped
that thinking about how Harry was feeling and empathising with him might have
helped them gain insight into their own behaviour.
The methodology is from webpage:
http://www.persona-doll-training.org