Reflection 11 - Sydney Story Factory (Marcia the Martian with year 6 students)

Marcia the Matian

 In this reflection, I will be discussing my experiences in volunteering at the Sydney Story Factory with year 6 students. This experience allowed me to look at how the company of SSF works with students young and old to experience story writing as fun and exciting. Students work as a group to conjure up characters, a setting, when it happened and the type of event that is occurring at the time. In this workshop the year 6 students created a character and voted the best one to write a story about. Then they completed the ‘who, what, when and when’. The processes were a little similar to the workshop that Richard gave to us; however student was a co-writer in for the introduction. Once they completed that they had to continue on with their own story following what they had come up with on the whiteboard. Literacy and creative writing seems to be coming hand in hand with creative arts. According to Ewing (2010) literature and creative arts have a positive impact on students who struggle and dislike reading (p. 2). Marcia the Martian was definitely involved and made the year 6 students want to learn more about her. The students agreed on a character with traits like wings of an angel, the character is able to fly at the speed of light and has mind control. Using this strategy within the classroom would take time to establish, but once you as the teacher understands what is happening, then students are able to apply their understanding with their students.

Students ideas on the creative writing

Reference:

Ewing, R. (2010). The Arts and Australian Education: Realising potential. Australian Education Review. Camberwell, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research.

Reflection 10 - School Drama @ Paddington P.S. (‘The Lost Thing’ by Shaun Tan with year 3 students)

School Drama: 'The Lost Thing' by Shaun Tan

In this reflection I will be discussing my experiences of in School Drama at Paddington P.S. with year 3 students. The in School Drama workshop looked at the story of ‘The Lost Thing’ by Shaun Tan. The class itself was already concentrating on machines and how they worked, and what features they had. This story was a great accompaniment to their unit of work because it allowed for them to really understand what machines can feel and think (personification of non-living objects). In this workshop the year 3 students were given a chance to warm up by doing little exercises like the game ‘You, Me!’ This helped them to break the nerves and get them into the motion of Drama. The main activity for this drama workshop was making a machine and showcasing it to the class. In groups students worked with volunteers (us) and became the machine in the story ‘The Lost Thing’. Each student had a part as the machine and one student had to be the boy who met the machine on the beach. Once again quality literature is an important aspect within Drama and any type of artform as it allows for creativity (Ewing, Hristofski, Gibson, Campbell & Robertson, 2011, p. 34). This experience was very interesting to see because it allowed me to see the capabilities that students have and can apply when they are having fun. Any student has the potential to apply Drama and have fun; it’s the matter of making the surrounding area a safe and comfortable place to work in that will help students stay calm and at ease during Drama.

Reference:

Ewing, R., Hristofski, H., Gibson, R., Campbell, V. & Robertson, A. (2011). Using Drama to Enhance Literacy: The School Drama Initiative. Literacy Learning: the Middle Years, 19:3, pp. 33-39.

Reflection 9 - Storm Boy Productions

Storm Boy Sydney Theatre Co. Productions

In this reflection I will be discussing my experience of watching the production ‘Storm Boy’. I will be discussing how this production and novel Storm Boy by Colin Thiele can help students to understand how the production accompanies the novel. This production helped me to visualise the important aspects of the story through acting. Throughout the production it was important to take note on how the actors connected and worked with each other. With this production I was given workshop material for students to breakdown and really feel the environment of the story. After reading the story, role walks and role plays again are an amazing tool to use especially for students who do not know how to empathise with others. This helps them gain understanding on how to cope with future struggles. Emotionally they will be able to connect to animals and empathise with them then slowly empathise with how people are feeling. With this Language plays a crucial role in understanding how to react to emotional responses (Mack, 2012). Hence storm boy as a core text and as a production go hand in hand to determine the role which exists throughout the amazing story.

The three pelicans that the young boy saves

Young boy interacting with the nature surrounding him

Reference:

Mack, N. (2012). Bullying Reconsidered: Educating for Emotional Literacy. English Journal, 101:6, pp. 18-25.

Sydney Theatre Company, (2014). Sydney Theatre Company: Storm Boy. Retrieved June 7, 2015 from https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2015/storm-boy

Reflection 8 - Sydney Story Factory (Workshop/Presentation with Richard Short)

This reflection will be looking at a workshop with Sydney Story Factory held by Richard Short the chief storyteller within the story factory. Throughout this workshop it was important to know that each child can write and each child can create magnificent stories. Within this workshop we were able to experience many different strategies to apply writing skills and also create an introduction together as a class through certain steps such as who, what, where and when. However, we first created our own Martian together. With this Martian we had to create a story based on events that we as a class created including the time, setting and event. The Sydney Story Factory was a very successful workshop because it allowed for students to be creative in their writing, especially for those who struggle with writing and has difficulty starting an imaginative story. Creative/descriptive writing helps students to use their imagination and creativity, whether it is through visual arts, media arts, dance, music or drama (Ewing, Hristofski, Gibson, Campbell & Robertson, 2011, p. 37).

Brainstorming our story

The character that we had my table had created named Walter Zoltaaan

Walter Zoltaaan's information 

Our story according to the information given below

Information to add to the story

Reference:

Ewing, R., Hristofski, H., Gibson, R., Campbell, V. & Robertson, A. (2011). Using Drama to Enhance Literacy: The School Drama Initiative. Literacy Learning: the Middle Years, 19:3, pp. 33-39.

Reflection 7 - Sydney Theatre Company (Stolen Workshop with John Saunders)

In this week’s reflection, John Saunders, the education manager of the Sydney Theatre Company took us on a workshop through the eyes of the stolen generation. The workshop name was ‘Stolen’ regarding the Indigenous Australians that were lost in generation. There were many activities that were involved throughout the workshop and consisted of us taking on the persona of either a stolen child, or the child who has been reunited with their parents. The main theme was ‘family’ and how important it was for the Indigenous Australians to have until the stolen generation. A particularly important part in the workshop was the performance of the processes the Indigenous families experienced, through the eyes of the children who were lost and the parents who lost their child/ren. This particular strategy is called being in role. Taking on a different persona and empathetically feeling what others have or could have felt (Ewing & Simons, 2004, p. 5). This workshop would be more effective for stage 3 students as they can have a deeper understanding of loss and grief, the fear that something has been stole. However in saying this; it can also be introduced to stage 2 students because some may have already felt the uneasiness of something being stolen or the emotions that are experienced through loss/grief.

Representing the stolen generation

Fighting to stay with the faimly

Parents who have lost their child/ren

Reference:

Ewing, R. & Simons, J. (2004). Beyond the Script: Drama in the Classroom Take Two. Sydney: e:lit.

Reflection 6 - Digital Storytelling Workshop with Kirsty McGeoch

In this workshop we had the opportunity to look into Media Arts. The workshop was taken by Kirsty McGeoch and it was on making our own digital story telling using iMovie. This workshop consisted of each person in the class to bring a significant photo that they held dear. With this photo we needed to do several steps before making the digital story telling. We first had to take a photo of the image by itself, then a photo of the image and our hands and lastly the image with ourselves in it. Using the images and editing it we had to write a script about who was in the image, where the image was taken and why this image was of significance to me. We did a voiceover of the images with our written script. Media Arts used in the classroom is beneficial for students in this day and age due to fast growing technology. It is important to harness the potential that Media Arts bring and use it to help with students’ studies and investigative learning (Gibson & Ewing, 2011, p. 94). This strategy within the classroom would help students to understand that creating a digital story is quite easy to use. Any students can create one and make it personalised.

Reference:

Gibson, R. & Ewing, R. (2011). Transforming the Curriculum through the Arts. Claremont Street, South Yarra: Palgrave Macmillan.

Reflection 5 - Drama Workshop with Linden Wilkinson

This reflection will look at two out of two workshops held during this week. This Drama workshop called ‘Today we’re Alive’ was taken by Linden Wilkinson and Hannah Brown and was based on Linden’s thesis looking at the Indigenous Australians relating to the Myall Creek Massacre of 1838. Today we’re Alive is a literal play about the efforts that took place after the massacre and it also represents the powerful experience of reconciliation and healing for descendants of the victims and murderers involved (Wilkinson, (n.d.). During the workshop we focused on people’s thoughts and judgements with stereotypes, on how they were created and how it was changed. During this workshop we particularly used the act of still imaging with a one word caption of that image. The workshop was effective as people in groups had to take on the form of the victim, the perpetrator and others that may have assisted with the perpetrating or changing of views and perceptions. Used in the classroom this activity can be effective as its objective is to look at the act of bullying and discrimination which then goes into resolving the act. Mack (2012) states that drama can be used to help pick out states of oppression and racism and using still imaging can help students to pinpoint what may happen and also problem solve to make a resolution.

An Indigenous Australian descendant at the site of the memorial statue.

Reference:

Mack, N. (2012). Bullying Reconsidered: Educating for Emotional Literacy. English Journal, 101:6, 18-25.

Baseline (2011). Myall Creek Massacre and Memorial Site; Statement of Significance. Retrieved June 3, 2015 from http://www.baseline.nsw.gov.au/heritage/heritageProperty/15?ref=d-5912750-p%3D5%26heritagePropertyName%3D