By considering thoughts on either side in relation to a challenge or dilemma, pupils develop critical thinking skills:

Choose a challenging moment, dilemma or event after reading or viewing fiction or non-fiction, for example, the moment in which a character bullies another character.
Either take on the role of the character yourself or ask a pupil to volunteer.
Ask the other pupils in your class to form two lines or an ‘alley’.
Explain to your pupils that they will be commenting on the dilemma faced by the 'character' as he/she walks down the alley. Keep your description of the dilemma as clear and short as you can. Model some answers if need be.
Give your pupils thinking time to come up with what they would like to say. You might provide some prompts and sentence stems like:
- You should...
- I'm confused by...
- I don't think you should...
- Have you considered...
- What do you think about...
The 'character' walks very slowly down the alley. As they pass by, the other pupils can say their views or thoughts or offer advice. Take turns and have multiple pupils 'walk the alley' as the repetition will allow pupils time to refine and clarify their thoughts.
To close the activity, the 'characters' can summarise what he/she has heard or they can outline the decision they have reached as a result of the conscience alley.

Conscience Alley

Task Description