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The Mock Trial Of William Bligh





Book Week provides the opportunity for looking at new books. One of the books that we looked at was the book was a book called "William Bligh: A stormy story of Tempestuous Times". It focuses on the life of William Bligh and how he figured in Australian History.

As part of our book week celebrations, we put on a Mock Trial of William Bligh. The idea was to place Bligh on trial for his involvement in the events that led up to the Mutiny of the Bounty. It also put our public speaking and speech writing skills that we have been developing this term.

To get our trial underway, the students were placed in groups and assigned roles for the trial. They developed notes, speeches, and questions. The students took the challenge up with enthusiasm. We used resources from TES to help understand the roles:





We practiced the trial by setting the classroom up as a court based on the following diagram:











The students had prepared well and it all went relatively smoothly. The speeches and questions had been well considered, while also basing their thoughts upon evidence that had been found in research. 

The advantage of a mock trial is that the students learned a great deal about the Mutiny of the Bounty than if they had just researched and then presented a poster. They also took on the roles of different characters, asking questions and developing their speech writing.



The students listened to the speeches made by the lawyers and their clients. The Judge summarised the events and then asked for the Jury's verdict,

It turns out that the Jury's verdict was that William Bligh was guilty of the charges. Our defendant made a run for it but was managed to be apprehended!

What did you enjoy the most about our Mock Trial? What would you change? 







Comments

Anonymous said…
It was fun doing this even if we lost.
Anonymous said…
I think we should do another mock trial! It was lots of fun!
Anonymous said…
The mock trail was really interesting fun hope we do it again.
Anonymous said…
This was so much fun! We got to experience how a trail would have been held. I really hope we do more of these!
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said…
The mock trial was so much fun i hope we can do it again.
Jake Hogan
Anonymous said…
it was really fun wish we could do it again, hopefully Stuart doesn't get hung again
Anonymous said…
I enjoyed the mock trial even though we lost.

Anonymous said…
I enjoyed the mock trial. It was very fun
Anonymous said…
The mock trail was a lot of fun I wasn't there but it looked like a lot of fun.
Anonymous said…
The mock trial was very fun. I very enjoyed it.
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