One of the
activities in which the students engaged with Rhonda and
Amber was called Start Same Time, Stop Same
Time. It started out with students sitting in a
circle while Rhonda and Amber demonstrated how to move
the upper parts of their bodies. Students were
introduced to the idea of "peripheral vision" and
were urged to open their awareness to beyond what's
right in front of them--taking in "the whole" all at the
same time. At some point, Rhonda asked all the kids to
start moving, and when she said "stop," they saw how
quickly they could all stop and hold that shape. Then
Rhonda said "go" and everyone tried to start moving at
the very same instant. They did that a few times and
then Rhonda asked them if they could do it on their
own. Someone in the group would silently decide to
start, and the rest of the group would notice his or her
pose as quickly as possible and start too. The same
thing would happen when it came time to stopping the
movement. They practiced doing that for a little bit.
The whole experience was meant to get students to
notice "The Other," and to work as a group.
Shape Chain
In the photo below, Rhonda and Amber and students tell
stories through movement and words. According to
Rhonda,
In
this exercise, one child goes into the center of the
circle and "strikes a pose" or makes a shape and holds
it. Then the next kid goes out and finds a way to add
another shape to the existing one (touching a little,
not interlocking). This continues until we have up to
five kids in the shape chain. The idea is that they are
being their own unique selves in making their
improvisational shape choices, but adding to the whole
in some interesting way -- contributing what the chain
needs to be interesting as a whole. After the kids got
the hang of this, we then asked, "Let's say we came upon
this scene in the woods, and realized that someone had
cast a spell on these people, freezing them in
place....can someone tell the story of what was
happening in the instant they were frozen?" We'd invite
several perspectives. Then we'd have another group form
a shape chain and repeat the storytelling aspect. Not
only was this an imagination-building exercise, but it
helped kids see that there are lots of different ways to
"see" and "interpret" the same thing, depending on our
perspective. We applied this to their lives, asking,
"If you got on the school bus and your best friend
ignored you, you might just assume he/she was mad at
you....but what are some other explanations for that
behavior?"
Then
Suddenly!
A
third exercise involved a collaborative story which built
upon statements made by preceding students.
One child told a
bit of a story before being interrupted by Rhonda who
called on another person to go next. This involved very
careful listening - language skills focused on
description and imagery, and imagination. If the story
started to get boring, Rhonda would call out -- "And
then SUDDENLY!" -- and the student would have to imagine
something outlandish or unexpected. Again, the
real-life application was to let students know that they
are the author of their own life stories - that whenever
they aren't happy, they can change the story - by trying
something new, asking for someone else to give them
ideas for their story, or just saying to themselves,
"and then SUDDENLY!" to see what pops into their
imaginations. The message is that we all have very
powerful imaginations, and anything one can imagine, one
can make real.
One story proceeded as follows: (Each statement represents
the contribution of a single student.)
Once there was a boy
who sat thinking lots of thoughts. If a certain thought was
big enough, it would come true.
So he thought of a
dragon that was big, so it happened...
The dragon came to
school with him every day and he got embarrassed....
...so embarrassed he
wet his pants! Then he went home.
He tried to get the
dragon to go away. The dragon went into the forest...
When in the forest,
the dragon said "I'm sorry!" But Bob didn't forgive him.
Then
suddenly
A big ferocious dragon came after Bob and the smaller
dragon. They tried to run into the house, but the big
dragon kept blowing things up.
They got into one
house and ate cherry pie.
They went up to go
to bed...
Then
suddenly
the dragon burned the house down.
So they ran outside
to look for help.
Bob climbed a tree.
They separated.
They met again and
went to a restaurant...
and invented
exploding cupcakes and lived happily ever after!
In
all, Cohen Elementary teachers and Rhonda Morton and Amber
Espar of Alligator Mouth Improv are to be
congratulated for working together to introduce students to
a form of deep communication, a way to listen and respond
to others. Perhaps one of the most important lessons to be
learned is that people frequently experience the very same
situations in different ways. One's interpretation of a
thing may or may not be the "correct" interpretation!
Everybody has their own life story with a unique history
which shapes their view of the world. Is there
any lesson to be learned today in our shrinking world that
is more important than learning how to communicate with
those who may see the world differently from us? It is
a skill that transfers to every area of the curriculum and
every life experience!
For more,
see
www.rhondamorton.com/alligator.html
www.gstbocesartsineducation.blogspot.com
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