Can I Build Another Me?

Product Information

What Happens Next? – What Happens Next? follows a child’s hilarious, wildly inventive train of thought following the death of his grandfather and the discovery of his journal, in which his grandfather had jotted his thoughts about life after death and the ideal heaven. Soon, Kevin realizes that he is the embodiment of all his younger selves and although he was made by two parents, he created his own history and developed his particular characteristics. “I leave traces of me”, Kevin admits, thinking of how his parents identify his mess or how his peers recognize his belongings. Can I Build Another Me? is one of those so well written and profound picture books that dare to explore big, philosophical concepts in such a hilarious and inventive way, that when you finish reading it, notions like existentialism, individuality, selfhood or life experience are already familiar. The lesson includes a ‘What can you see?’ starter activity, a story with accompanying questions, a set of activities linked to the text, and a plenary task.

What is shared may or may to be quite personal, but crucially, that decision is made by the children. Some children are more than happy to wear their heart on their sleeve, whereas others may be much more reticent. Often, the fact that some children are willing to share does prompt other children to be a bit more confident to reflect and share. A boy, worn out by "doing things (he) didn't want to do. Homework, tidying up, helping around the house..." gets the idea to buy a robot to do all those things for him. We will listen to Can I Build Another Me? by Shinsuke Yoshitake, before completing activities linked to the text. Bursting with imaginative illustrations, this thought-provoking book offers an engaging and enjoyable experience that not only sparks discussion but also serves as an ideal catalyst for exploring the concept of each person’s distinct uniqueness. Teachers could use this book as an icebreaker discussion to enable a new class to get to know themselves and others, for thoughtful artwork based on the fun labelled diagrams in the book or for PSHE lessons about expressing and celebrating individuality. A few months ago I read Yoshitake’s It Might Be An Apple, a beautiful piece on perception and first impressions and now I am happy to have read Can I Build Another Me?, as Yoshitake’s reflection on individualism and the importance of building strong selves is a delight.We can then move onto another area, perhaps the eyes. I could share about how when I was in school, I saw somebody get bullied for wearing glasses, so when I was told that I needed glasses, I felt super anxious and would take them off in the corridor. It Might Be An Apple– The story follows a child’s hilarious, wildly inventive train of thought through all the things an apple might be if it is not, in fact, an apple. Distrusting the apple’s convincing appearance, the child’s imagination spirals upwards and outwards into a madcap fantasy world – maybe it’s a star from outer space with tiny aliens on board? Perhaps it wants a cool hairstyle? Does it feel scared, or snore at night? Children can see what all these crazy, funny things might look like. I am interrogating the role of anecdotes in the classroom at the minute – I guess this is my little teaching preoccupation – and this book has a great scope for it. Storytelling can go beyond narrating the written word, and I think there is merit in pupils ability to speak narratively about their own experiences.

In telling these stories, what you are needing to do yourself, and what you are encouraging in the kids, is the ability to spin a good yarn – to speak humorously or with pathos, to be able to pre-empt the reactions it might get and to withhold certain information until the very end, to be able to identify the key parts of the ‘plot’ and to tell it appropriately. The robot agrees but to build up his new identity, he needs to know all about Kevin. The boy lists everything that comes to his mind, from details about his family and particular features of his body, to many of the things he likes and dislikes. Whilst the lesson has been created with Year 1 in mind, the activities are also suitable for students in Year 2. Created with a view to being delivered in the first PSHE lesson of the year, this hour-long, fully resourced lesson is a perfect introduction to the KS1 PSHE curriculum.

Find a Scheme of Work

As the boy and robot walk home together, the boy explains his plan, and the robot quizzes him on how to pretend to be him, giving the boy (and the reader) the opportunity to examine all the aspects of himself that make him unique.

Yoshitake's book is a wonderful reflection on what it is to be the only you in the world but not done in the painfully schmalzy way that some early reader books do.

I am really looking forward to teaching this with three classes who I think will really ‘get it’. I will share some of their work throughout January/February. The story begins with the child wanting to find a robot to take over his place in life, the endpapers hinting that he may be fed up and not having anyone that gets him.

A vital closing part to this session should be the opportunity for children to share their work with each other in the class, perhaps randomising it in some way so that they are not necessarily just sharing with their best friends. The time should be given for the children to add detail to their stories, when telling them – time for embellishment and questioning.EC Resources are the top TES PSHE providers and are a group of teachers who work together to create easy to use, high quality and editable lessons and units of work. We have created lessons for The Children’s Commissioner, The Bank of England, MACS Charity, Tes, LikeToBe Careers, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (UK Gov) and have also completed PSHE and Citizenship commissions for schools across the UK. Younger classes will enjoy imagining what a robot close of themselves might look, act and feel like, while older children can get philosophical about the factors that have come together to make them who they are, or even about the potential ethics of cloning oneself (I’m sure overly busy teachers may also be tempted to wish for a clone!). I know that @parky_teaches has used this book in this way, and I would love it if any of you reading this wanted to as well. Make sure to tweet about it and tag me – @jonnywalker_edu