Friday 27 March 2009

Workshop with 2nd Year St Mary's Students on the 26th March 2009

Workshop 26th March 2009 2nd Year St Mary’s Student

Attending: Dan Williams, Mathew Stenning, Amir Alizadeh and Kathleen O’Connell

Main Aim: To give the 2nd year students an example of a workshop that we would do in a primary school.

Warm-up 1:30pm

‘Name Game’

We started to get the students to say their name and something they like doing, for example ‘my name is Dan and I like swimming’.
Then the rest of the group repeats what they say, then onto the next person.
Extension - Get the group to add an action with the thing they like doing. This adds another dimension to the game by adding in a third thing to think about.

‘Wink Murder’

To choose a murderer, get the whole class to close their eyes while you chose a murderer by touching someone on their shoulder. Then get them to look around the circle at everyone, this will help they get re-orientated after having their eyes closed.
Get them to move slowly around the space making sure that the whole space is being used. If they get killed by the murderer, they have to die dramatically but if you felt that the pupil was holding back and you think they could do better, give them loads of encouragement and they will usual give it their all. Obviously don’t push too hard for them to do better because it might upset them and you would have to work really hard to gain their trust again.
Extension – try adding in a second murderer.

‘Fruit Picking’

You have apples in the trees (up high), peaches in the bushes (waist level) and strawberries on the floor (down low).
Tell the pupils which one they have to pick and get them to move in every direction to stretch e.g. pick apples and the pupils have to reach up high to pick them off the tree, etc

Workshop 1:50pm
The stimulus I used for this workshop was taken from a lesson plan that was used from Alexander Primary School. The idea behind the lesson was to describe how to download music to your grandma.
I gave them things to think about while they were in a circle before separating into groups for example the law behind downloading, why they should download music, how they can download, etc
Now they were in groups of between three and four. Within their groups they have to discuss everything to do with downloading music and why their grandma should download.
Using the information they have discussed they had to create a TV advert.
Extension – Before they create a TV advert they could design a poster informing the grandma how to download music.

Show 2:20pm

Get the group back into a circle after creating their TV advert and talk about what they had discussed in their smaller groups.
After get them to sit as an audience and get them to perform their adverts to the rest of the class.

Responce to the workshop with Alexander Primary on the 10th March 2009

I found the workshop that I did with Alexander Primary on the 10th March 2009 was very rewarding. The main aim for the workshop was to take a group of pupils that were lacking in confidence and would not put their hands up if they didn’t understand.
I was working with a group of five pupils one of which is Polish. This pupil didn’t understand English very well and felt very shy to contribute even in this small group. Luckily I was in a group of five so when we paired off I wanted to work with him.

This gave me a chance to talk to him and try my best to encourage him to talk and have input into the making a poster. I even told him about when I travelled in Poland so we had some mutual ground. We then sat and we designed the poster.
What made this workshop worthwhile was at the end of the workshop we asked the cast for feedback and after a few pupils putting their hands up the Polish pupil put his hand up and gave feedback.

Workshop for Alexander Primary School 10th March 2009

Workshop 10th March 2009 Alexandra Primary School

Attending: Dan Williams, Mathew Stenning and Amir Alizadeh

Main Aim: Help the pupils grow in confidence so they will have the confidence to put their hands up in class.

Warm-up 9:05am

‘Simon Says...’

With this game instead of using ‘Simon’ to lead the game, use you own name, in this case ‘Mr Williams Says ...’
I also decided to keep the instructions simple because this was the first workshop with the pupils who needed help with their confidence, e.g. Stand on one leg, pat your tummy, etc.

‘Wink Murder’

To choose a murderer, get the whole class to close their eyes while you chose a murderer by touching someone on their shoulder. Then get them to look around the circle at everyone, this will help they get re-orientated after having their eyes closed.
Get them to move slowly around the space making sure that the whole space is being used. If they get killed by the murderer, they have to die dramatically but if you felt that the pupil was holding back and you think they could do better, give them loads of encouragement and they will usual give it their all. Obviously don’t push too hard for them to do better because it might upset them and you would have to work really hard to gain their trust again.
Extension – try adding in a second murderer.

‘1, 2, 3’

Pair the group up and get them to say a number after each other.
E.g. Dan and Amir stand facing each other. Dan starts by saying ‘1’, Amir says ‘2’ then Dan says ‘3’. Continue and repeat.
Pick out pairs once everyone has had a go to show off their skills.


Workshop 9:30am

Now that we are all warmed up split we into 4 groups of 5-6 pupils. Within the groups we had to work with a lesson plan that was provided. We had to let the pupils to explain how to use a mobile phone to their grandma. Thinking of the benefits for a grandma to have a mobile, how to use it and also safe usage of a mobile. From this discussion we had to create a poster using all the information that they had come up with.
Continually encourage them in what they are doing.

Break 10:20am

Fruit and Milk 10:30am

Show off posters to the rest of the class.

Quick Warm-up 10:40am

‘Fruit Picking’

You have apples in the trees (up high), peaches in the bushes (waist level) and strawberries on the floor (down low).
Tell the pupils which one they have to pick and get them to move in every direction to stretch e.g. pick apples and the pupils have to reach up high to pick them off the tree, etc

Workshop – continued 10:45am

Using the mobile phone and grandma theme we separated back into our groups to work on 3 still images using a situation that involved a grandma and a mobile phone. Grandma falling and hurting herself and needing help so she uses the mobile phone to get help could be a good place to start.
Extension – try adding words and movements to give the still images life and explain that this could be a way of developing the images into a 2 minute acting piece. This could be done through thought tracking, role play or thought tunnel.
At the school they have child-friendly camcorders called ‘digi blue’ which can take videos and photos. This helped the pupils see the images better.
Show the images to the rest of the class

Finish 11:50am