Lesson 10 - 12.07.16 - Final Day

Today was our final day with the children at St. Giles, and also with our community groups.

We all met up at the school and waited to be let in. Once we got to the library, we were quickly sent to our classrooms. When I arrived at the new classroom, they were cutting out bunting and stapling them to a piece of string. I sat with a girl and helped her to cut out the bunting, while talking to her about music and films. After cutting out 2 pieces of bunting, she told me she was too tired to do anymore, as it was too hard for her; I found this so surprising as it's usually seen as a simple task therefore it really showed me how we take so many things and abilities for granted.

I then helped her to staple to bunting onto the string, which she also found difficult therefore I felt really helpful to her as I was helping her to do it.

After creating bunting, the children went outside for their break. While they were on their break, Hannah and I left Vlad - who was playing with the children - to go and set up. We asked a teacher for any paints and she gave us a big cart of paints and materials. We cut up the paper and drew round Ben and Vlad's hands, since they were bigger so the children would have more room to decorate and, so the children could go straight into decorating them instead of wasting time drawing round them, which some of them may have found difficult.

When the children came back in, we made sure everything was set up and I, with the help of Hannah and Vlad, led the game of 'Guess the Name', which they found very easy as we ensured the presentation wasn't too difficult for them. As soon as that was finished, we got straight into painting.

The children really enjoyed the painting! We decided to keep the painting going for as long as they would still enjoy it (which was until the end). I kept making new hands for them to decorate as they were going through the hands really quickly! The three of us sat with them and helped to decorate the hands; later on, Vlad and I decided to decorate our own and let the children help us. As I looked around, Hannah was getting on really well with a girl who wasn't very confident while Vlad was entertaining the boys! I could see the children cheering up while we each gave them attention.

After cleaning up the mess, we all sat down and played some relaxing games to cool down, including One Word Story and I-Spy. 

At the end of the day, Hannah, Vlad and I went back to the classroom to collect the dry hands and stick them onto the tree. There was no one in the classroom when we returned so I hope that they enjoy the tree we created for them and they keep it as a memory of our visit.

After lunch, we all went to watch the dress run of their show, 'Our Voice', which was really moving. I could really tell how challenging it was for all of them to create however I could also tell how much fun they were all having! I really liked how each child had their own moment where they were the stars. There was a clip showing their prom, which I found really hard to watch with dry eyes as it showed me how happy they all are at this school and how they all don't let their disability define them.

This community project has taught me a lot about taking things for granted and making sure that we always make sure we give back. I have met some amazing people in this group so I am very happy we have done this.

Lesson 9 - 05.07.16

Today's lesson was another simple lesson.

We got into our groups to plan our next workshop, which would be next Tuesday. Since Hannah and I didn't have our groups again, we decided to get into a group together (I took Nicole's place in the group so she would be taking my place in my other group).

We spent an hour thinking of ideas that we could do. This proved to be really hard, especially because I didn't know the group therefore I was unaware of the group's abilities. We bounced through many different ideas while Googling simple game suggestions.

Together, Hannah and I came up with the idea of 'Guess the Name' where we would have a presentation filled with pictures of celebrities, movies and songs for them to guess. I think they will enjoy the game if we make the pictures very simple and unchallenging.

Since Hannah said that they enjoyed painting and colouring, I came up with the idea of a tree of hands where they would decorate them how they want and we'll stick them on for them to then stick up on the wall.

If we had time left over, we thought that we could use materials, such as bottles, to make instruments and we could create a song (or put a song in the background for them to play along to) so that they can be involved in a song creation.

We listed some games at the bottom to play if any of the activities didn't work out so we could go to them for rescuing and support.

We then came up with a plan:

In the lesson, Siobhan spent a while giving us a very detailed idea of what to include in our presentations. I found this to be really helpful as I was struggling with my presentation.

After we created the plan, we were then given time to create our presentations and work on them.

Lesson 8 - 01.07.16

Today's lesson was a very simple lesson. After Vicky came, we got into our groups and began to look at the strengths and weaknesses of our workshops. Since Andy and Lydia weren't here, and Hannah's group wasn't in either, Hannah and I decided to work together since we had similar workshop plans.

Most of the activities we did in my workshop went well although I did realise that the Catchphrase game proved to be quite challenging for most of the children, and teachers, therefore I said that I would remove it for next time since it excluded a lot of children. Also, I think that, instead of 'Guess the Song?', we should have something like 'Guess the name?' where it has celebrities, movies and songs so that more people can be included and feel more confident in calling out.

Hannah said that the 'Pass the Parcel' type activity that she did didn't go down very well as it was very repetitive so the children got bored and began getting sassy, trying to impress one another. She also said that the sensory activity went down well, which was the same response as to when my group did it.

After this, we decided that we would cut out Catchphrase and Pass the Parcel, alter the Guess the Song game, and keep the sensory activity.

Vicky then left us to work on our presentations upstairs, which I found to be helpful as she briefed us so we weren't confused and it gave me time to do the work that I was struggling to find time for.

Lesson 7 - 28.06.16 - Workshop Day

Today was the day that we performed our workshops to one another.

The day began when we all met up at St. Giles. The majority of us arrived on time however there were some late comers. Before meeting the children once again, we were told to avoid physical contact with one another as it may encourage the children to want things like hugs; this was a shock to me as I'd never thought of avoiding this in front of the children. After being briefed by Katie in the library, we all went to our different classrooms. 

Before break, we were sat in the classrooms, helping the children to learn their lines and songs. The script was quite basic, looking at it from a theatre student's perspective, however it was very tough for the students to remember their lines and to say them. This really hit home for me as I realised how lucky I was to have the ability to act without many problems. Since some of the students weren't in, Lydia and I were asked to help with reading out some of the lines. Since Andy was late showing up, he didn't have a role to read out however I do feel that we all worked together to bring a positive and supporting vibe into the room.

After break, we began our workshop. We asked for them to sit in a semicircle, while Lydia, Andy and myself stood at the front. In the introduction, I found myself to be quite awkward and not as confident while were doing the introductions. I think this is because I have never done something like this before or worked with children with disabilities before.

When we were doing 'Guess the Song', mainly led by me, we seemed to get a good reaction from one of the boys however, since we had not properly prepared this, it was quite stop-start therefore I think it was quite hard for some of the children to stay engaged. I was very surprised when they all responded to a High School Musical song as I forgot how similar in age they are to us therefore I didn't think they would know it. When we played some of the songs, some of the children would get up and dance, which was a nice response as it showed that they were enjoying the music and the exercise.

The next exercise, Catchphrase, did not have such a good response. The children were attempting to guess the catchphrases however they did find it quite difficult to get them right. One of the boys was still trying to guess them while the rest of the children were slowly fading out and not guessing. The teachers were even struggling to guess them (along with me) as they were too difficult. Lydia then, luckily, jumped in and was giving clues, trying to help them out. For next time, I would not keep Catchphrase in the workshop as it did not seem as enjoyable for the children as I'd thought it would be.

Our next exercise had a great response! It was the sensory exercise in which I led. I put random sensory items into the box and asked them to put their hands in to guess what they were. At the beginning, the children were following the rules and not taking the items out of the box, however, after a while, they found it funny to take the items out of the box as they found it hilarious to cheat! It was fun to watch them have fun and laugh as it really showed me how successful the exercise was. One of the girls would take the items out and keep them with her, building up a collection. I was proud to lead an exercise with such a positive response so I would keep this exercise in for next time.

As we had half an hour left of the workshop, we just put some music on and let them dance. We took requests while we were going around the room dancing and talking to them one-on-one if they were feeling uncomfortable to join in.

I feel like this workshop was very successful however, next time, I would ensure to make it more slick and refined, while also removing exercises, such as Catchphrase, that may challenge the group too much.

Lesson 6 - 24.06.16

Today was the day that we got into our groups to plan our workshop for the children at St Giles.

Andy, Lydia and I sat down (with Hannah because the rest of her group wasn't there) and planned our workshop together. For a while, it was quite hard to come up with ideas since the children in the classrooms all have different abilities and interests so it was hard to tailor a game that would suit everyone.

Eventually, we decided that we would open our workshop with a simple exercise where we learn about each other. We would ask them their names, likes and interests. By doing this, we will get to know each other, while making the children become more comfortable around us, ready for our workshop to begin.

After getting to know each other, we will then move onto the next exercise, which is 'Guess the Song'. Since they love music, I came up with the idea that we would play some popular songs that they could guess the names to. I think this will be very good since they love music and, if we play songs we know they will like, hopefully, we will get a positive response. It was quite challenging trying to find popular songs since neither one of us in our group really listened to popular music. In the end, we came up with a list containing, One Dance by Drake, The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars, Best Song Ever by One Direction, and so on. Hopefully, we have chosen them well enough that we will get the response we want in return.

Last time we visited the school, we found out that two of the boys in our group were very interested in the gameshow, Catchphrase. Because of this, we decided that our main exercise would be a PowerPoint presentation with a string of catchphrases that we would get from the Internet. A problem that may occur is that they may be too hard for them (since they were very hard for me) however I think it will go really well since the two boys expressed a massive interest in the programme and stated that they watched it at home very often.

Lydia and I came up with the final exercise that would be putting sensory things in a box and guessing what they were. I also think this exercise will be effective; this is because the school told us that the majority, if not all, of the children respond positively to sensory things, as they even have Sensory Therapy. Lydia and I will share the responsibility of getting together some materials to put in the box, while I will take on the responsibility to lead this exercise.

If we have any spare time at the end, we will put some music on and everyone can have a dance, which hopefully will be enjoyable for everyone if everyone gets involved.

Together, I think this workshop will be a big success if all goes to plan however, since we have not prepared for any negative responses, I am a bit hesitant if anything negative arises.

Lesson 5 - 21.06.16 - Performance Day

Today was the day we went to St Giles to perform the piece we had created for them. We went straight into rehearsing the piece; Siobhan made sure that everything that we had created in the space of two weeks was to a good enough standard.

The piece that she spent the most time on was the dance piece that she had previously said was really messy. When I was sitting on the sides and observing, I could not see any faults, since I am not a dancer so I don't have an eye for dance mistakes, however after they responded to her feedback, I could see the piece had improved massively! One of the changes that she made was that, instead of a group of them spinning in the same direction, they would mirror each other; at first, I wasn't sure since I enjoyed the idea of them all going in the same way however after seeing it, I could see the piece improving a lot.

We then ran the piece. 'Can You Hear St Giles Sing?' was completely fine as we all knew what we were doing and it was clear that everyone was fluent on their signs for the ending. We then went onto rehearsing 'At The End Of The Day', which needed a lot of work on timings, especially for the last verse.

After cleaning that piece up, we ran the whole piece before getting lunch and making our way to St Giles. When we were on our way, we were all playing games, which showed me how comfortable we all now feel around each other after playing those bonding games on Friday, which makes me think that we should've done them on the first day of meeting each other.

When we arrived, we could hear the children singing in one room as they were practicing for their Jack Petchy performance that night. When the curtain was pulled back, revealing us, I heard one of them say in shock, 'Wow I can't believe the BRITs were watching us!', which really made me think how highly they look at us and our school! It also made me want to do a good performance for them!

We had time for one through before our audience was let in. We were told that we were going to perform it twice with a short interval in between. The run through went well and I was ready to perform to our audience.

Our first run was successful as it all seemed to flow well. We all had our cues well-timed and some of our moves got very good reactions from the audience (for example, Dom and Tasha's lifts sparked numerous shocked reactions). A con to our first performance was that Vlad elbowed me in the face when it was our first transition; I hope no one noticed this as I couldn't help but react to the pain. 

During the interval, Tasha and I decided to go into the audience and talk to a few students. They seemed like they thoroughly enjoyed the performance as they called it 'extraordinary'! One of the students couldn't speak so they just held mine and Tasha's hands to show their appreciation; this really showed me the reason of why we were doing this performance.

The second time we performed it was even better than the first. At the end of the performance, they all joined in in the dance and we all had a dance together. I could tell they were enjoying it as, when we got closer to the children, they became more alive and active. The teachers said this was the first time they had done something like this and it went so well.

In concludion, I am proud of our group for doing these successful performances as we fulfilled our purpose and achieved our goals.

Lesson 4 - 17.06.16

In today's lesson, we planned to go through our performance for next Tuesday and refine it however Vicky, our teacher, was not in therefore we were left to our own devices to sort out our show.

We first ran the show a few times, refining it and making it better so that it was at a good enough standard that we would be able to take the show to St Giles and be happy with the outcome. We did this for about an hour and a half and then we went on break.

When we came back, we decided that, because we didn't have a full cast and we didn't know everyone completely, we would do some bonding exercises and games to get to know one another. I found this really enjoyable as I learnt a lot about the people who I'm working with on this project.