Workshop 1

Name game

We started off the session by getting to know everyone through a name game. In this game, everyone stood in a circle and we would go around the circle saying our names, something we like and use an action to accompany this. Everybody in the circle would then repeat this action. For example, I said "My name is Jack and I like cars" etc. I think this was a successful and simple way to introduce ourselves to them and for us to learn their names. In addition, this is fun for them as they feel included and proud when they say their name or perform an action. Furthermore, we are able to learn about their interests. This builds a starting point for conversation and makes it easier for us to get to know them. This game also builds their confidence by creating a welcoming and non- judgemental environment for them to work. We are able to see their confidence and their ability, both vocally and physically, through this game. However, some of them may not like to be the centre of attention or to have suddenly have pressure on them straight away, so it might be difficult for them. In addition, it is a hard game for those who cannot speak, therefore they might feel upset of left out during this game.

Pass the gurn

In this game, we stood in a circle ad passed around a 'gurn', this gurn was made up of a large movement and a silly noise. Each person in the circle would pass this gurn around until it went the whole way round the circle. We then repeated this with even more energy to help them come out of their comfort zones and have a lot of enthusiasm in their energy. This helped them come out of their shells and made them feel comfortable in front of everyone. This is very good as they feel less reserved and ar more willing to be a part of the workshop without feeling self-conscious or embarrassed about what they are doing. Furthermore, it allows us to see how confident and willing they are. The down side to this is that it may have made some of them feel uncomfortable and may have made them feel even more shy because they didn't want to be 'weird' in this activity.

 Chats/water break

This was a great chance to get to know everyone and create personal relationships with them. This helped us build up trust by creating a friendly environment. It was great to get to know them and see what they are like as people and what hobbies/interests they have so that we could relate to them and find something to talk about. In addition, we could get feedback from them to find out what they enjoyed most, what they didn't like and what they would like to be included in other workshops. This helps us work around what they want, therefore making workshops that are better suited to them that they will enjoy. Finally, it was a chance for everyone to get to rest because the workshop had been very tiring and we didn't want to push them too hard or make them too tired.

Pointing game

In this game, we all stood in a circle and had to raise our heads and point at someone else in the circle. If two people both pointed at each other, they were out of the game. In my opinion, this game might have been boring for them as they prefer to be more active rather than just standing around. Furthermore, it might have been quite confusing as the rules are quite vague and it isn't always clear who was pointing at who. However, this helped improve their concentration and focus. This meant we could see how easy it would be to teach them and how well they take on instructions. Moreover, it helped us find their competitive edge and their determination to be good at something.

Musical statues

I lead this game during the workshop and I believe this was very successful. It was the only game that everyone seemed to be fully committed to and they enjoyed it thoroughly. They had a lot of fun and it was a chance for them to show off their favourite moves and their dancing ability. We would then be able to incorporate this into our final performance. It was interesting to see the different levels of skill they had and to see who was most enthusiastic and most physically able. We found out who would be the best dancers in the final performance. I believe that I did very well in leading this game as my instructions were clear and simple. Also, I made sure that I was approachable and frienly to them at all times in order to make them feel welcome.

Lesson 1

We have just started our community project in which we are working with “Croydon day opportunities.” This is a centre who specialise in helping and caring for adults with learning difficulties and disabilities. We are working with nine members who are all physically able, however some of them are non-verbal or speak very little. This means it is important to adapt our teaching methods and our workshops to suit this. I do have some previous experience in working with adults with learning difficulties as I have been in a couple of plays which had a cast containing actors both with and without learning difficulties. Moreover, I have experience in teaching and directing drama. However, I have never put the two together before. I really wanted to put this experience into action with the group as we were mixed with other people with varying levels of experience in this area. It was interesting to see other people express their ideas and what their opinions were about what would make a successful workshop and what would be most enjoyable or beneficial for the members of “Croydon Day opportunities.” We discussed what we already knew about the group and how much knowledge and understanding we had about the types of challenges or issues that may occur. We listed traits that we would need in order to make ourselves come across as friendly and approachable. For example, we would need to be: enthusiastic, energetic, not patronising, understanding and patient. Carly told us that Croydon day opportunities had have previously been partnered with The BRIT School and that they had put on a final piece to show to their friends and family. I believe that a performance would highly beneficial for them as it would give them the chance to show off their talents individually and enables them to understand that you can express your feelings and emotions through performing arts. This will boost their confidence by making them feel good about themselves and proud as they are doing something that they enjoy. We were told that the general themes that they enjoyed were culture, musicals and 90s music. I feel that it would be good to include these in our workshops and the performance as they can relate to it and it is something that we are confident that they will enjoy. We split off into groups and expanded upon these initial ideas and discussed methods of how we could branch these out and develop them. An idea I liked was using the Olympics as a structure and how we could visit different cultures from around the world via the Olympics. Each time it was a new sport, we'd enter a new country, hence exploring a new culture. I feel that this idea has a lot of potential as it is creative, well-structured and incorporates aspects that we know they enjoy or are interested in. However we don’t know what the members of “Croydon day Opportunities” will think about this idea. For all we know they may not want to participate and may not like the idea and as it’s about them we need to make sure we have back up plans to adapt to them. Therefore we have to come up with a backup plan in case this idea is unsuccessful. Our idea is quite vague and we may have to be more specific and do more of the creative aspects in their behalf. We decided to narrow down our ideas and have a specific target for each week. On Friday, we want to get to know their cultures and use this as a template to base our workshops around. For example, some of them may be from Africa. Therefore we can aim next week’s lesson with some African drumming. We then decided to link together the ideas of musicals and culture.  We brain stormed this in our groups and decided that “The Lion King” would be a great one to link with African Cultures. We could incorporate African drumming and dancing along with possibly using music therapy too.  I feel this was a very productive and successful lesson and I am excited for the first workshop.