In the planning process I gained a lot of knowledge on how
to approach planning a session for anyone but also I was able to hone my skills
into creating inclusive workshops which taught me about sensory and inclusive
theatre. One of the main things I learnt from this process was how important
the practical side of planning is. When I started this term and it came to
planning I approached it as a sitting down, theoretical process and one that
included only discussion and thoughts. However during the planning for the Arts
Week at St Giles we were able to get up and practise all the different games
and exercises that we wanted to play with our groups. This showed me how important
physically playing and running the games was as it highlighted the problems and
benefits of each game to a group but also it showed how inclusive the games
were to be played with a mixed ability group. I also found that running the
workshops allowed us to work on our own facilitating skills and what language
was and wasn’t suitable. I personally found this really helpful with my
confidence as I was able to learn how to approach the workshops and when it
came to running exercises I was less nervous and my skills had been worked on
and I knew that the games had a good chance of working and offering something
to the students.
Throughout the week we spent at the school working with the
students I learnt many different things personally and related to running
workshops and working with the students that I feel have all benefitted me
massively. From working with the PMLD students I found that all different
exercises can be adapted and made to be inclusive and to engage them on sensory
levels as well as the other students benefiting from the exercises as well. For
example in the vocal warm up exercise where we have to chew an imaginary piece
of toffee, to engage the PMLD students would couldn’t join in we got pieces of
play dough and rolled them on their arms like toffee, this included the
students as they were able to feel the toffee and be engaged in the exercise.
Personally this way of being able to include everyone in the games regardless
of ability was one of the most important things that I learnt as it showed me
how when working with mixed abilities there doesn’t need to be boundaries and
have to push people aside because they can’t join in, instead everyone can be
engaged on different levels. When we first got our group I was worried as we
had PMLD students and then students with the highest ability and I was unsure
as to how we were going to find exercises that would cater to all their needs
and not be too easy for some but too challenging for others. However small
adjustments like the toffee has showed me how easily everyone can work together
and on top of that how nice it is to combine the to different groups and
getting them to work together to produce a piece of art.
This week has also improved my facilitating skills massively
and has taught me about the role I took on and as the week went further I feel
I improved in this role and was able to fulfil it and run workshops
successfully for the students. I feel that throughout the week I grew in
confidence and comfortable with running the students which allowed me to be
more relaxed and enjoy the games with the students. I think that this is really
important as I found that when I was enjoying the games more and putting more
enthusiasm into them, the students relaxed and felt more comfortable to get involved
and put themselves out there. This was demonstrated when one student: Georgie,
started to run some of the tongue twisters and call and responses and I think
that this showed that we had created a safe and comfortable environment for the
students to work in and to get involved.
Overall I found this whole experience really fulfilling and
that although I was there to teach the student I feel that I learnt and gained
a lot from this experience as well. I think that getting to know all of the
students individually was really important and made the experience more fun and
engaging for both us and the students as we could have fun and jokes with them
as well as being able to teach them.
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