My first Adobe Meeting Room online chat with Paula

So today I was the 'first guinea pig' in testing out the Adobe Meeting Room and having a one to one chat with course leader, Paula.

 

All in all...

I loved it!!!

 

There were, as always, issues with microphones and Paula had to restart her computer, but everything was fine after that and we were able to proceed in talking about the RoL and what I had done and found so far.

 

What did I think about Adobe Meeting Room?

I really liked the Adobe meeting room, mainly because when comparing it to the first Skype session we had, there were a good few issues with as many as 18 people trying to talk and interact all at once! This meeting room allowed us to talk more evenly and the use of the webcam enabled us to have that personal interaction. Paula said herself that she learns visually so it was incredibly useful for her to see my face and took a screenshot of our meeting room session. I liked the mixture of ways to communicate through, whitboard, audio, microphone and messaging. All different methods which are themselves, very ideal for for different types of learners.

 

What did we discuss?

 

I talked about how beneficial Activity Two (and the reflection of my teaching processes in Activity One) was in looking at learning process and how I've had to adapt my own lessons and teaching methods to cater to all.

 

Paula told me about a conference she has recently been to in which a woman was talking about B.F. Skinner's Operant Conditioning and that when it comes to learning used animals such as pigeons, (yes, pigeons...) as a way of saying that we are much more than simple. We have a mind and are aware of the things around us.  I discussed one particular girl, who two weeks ago tried my acting class and had a certain barrier. She was afraid to feel embarassed. She was the only one of her age there. However, what I did tell her was that the young ones would enable her let go and embrace being silly and the younger ones would learn self discipline from someone who was older. This I have found when we decided to mix the younger 'mini performers' group with the main theatre school group, with even autistic children braving being put on the spot mainly for the fact they look up to the older ones. The girl from my acting class undoubtedly struggled to let go and didn't expect her back at all. But she surprised everyone, as last week she came back...with a friend! I was shocked and this time she threw herself into the task and this time with someone she knew would support her. I was amazed. But she didn't let an obstacle beat her. Instead, she tried again with a new attitude.

 

I also reflected on how I learn best and how I have recently been taking driving lessons and that it's been taking me a little bit longer than everyone else. I spoke with Paula about this and established that it's most probably because I am naturally a thinker and repeater, which was apparent at drama school when I had to learn lines...I would repeat, repeat and repeat again until it was entirely automatic. My driving instructor keeps saying to me 'Stop thinking and just DO.' Paula made the point that it's fine learning as children, but how do we continue to learn when we become adults?  Drama school taught me to become more of an activist through improvisation and what a coincidence that the theme for this term's acting classes is...improvisation!!!

 

My reviewing of learning processes taught me that we can apply this to everyday life and that at times we can be all different things and learn in many different ways, something I've learnt at my tutor training. I can tell a child that 5 + 5 is 10, but that child may not be able correlate this unless they see it right in front of them. Children I tutor could be one of the different types of learners; audio, visual, verbal, physical, logical, social and solitary.

 

I also talked about how I've been taking advantage of social media and how I made a radio appearance spontaneously on Sheppey FM and how beneficial it was to 'be an activist' and tell the whole of Sheppey and even my friends who were in Canada at the time!! It was nice to reflect on the things benefiting me  as a professional and helping the school to grow through many different social media mediums.

 

RoL

 

Paula said that my blogs so far have been fantastic in showing my journey so far and reflecting on my learning process up until now. The next stage was to look at my CV and job description which I have already started to annotate and look at. She told me that she would check with Olivia from Trinity College to see exactly how many credits I would need to work towards but we worked out that it be be around 75 credits for Level 4/5. Paula also wants to put me together with some other people on the course who are looking at teaching and how their professional skills have enhanced their skills in the classroom and will be getting us in touch with each other via email. The next step is to look at Activity Three and keep adding to my CV and job description.

 

Overall Thoughts and Feelings - where do I go from here?

 

I am very excited to contunue my exploration with my teaching and learning and I am glad that I am running with this project with the right attitude. I am excited to see how my lessons in improvisation progress at the theatre school and see how far my students can take what they've found and use it to their advantage. It was lovely to simply discuss my findings are relish my achievements already with my teachings. It's also showing me that people don't just grow as a result of things they do...they can also grow as a result of other people and that's why social interaction is so incredibly important.

The Recognition of Learning Module: Activity Number Two

Learning Styles

 

There are four types of Learning styles that we can look at in Honey and Mumford's Learning Style descriptions. These are:

 

Activists

 

Reflectors

 

Theorists

 

Pragmatists

 



Honey, P and Mumford, A, 2006, The Learning Styles Questionnaire 80 item version, Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications Ltd

There's a lot of activist skills I have developed since training at drama school. For example, my Improvisation classes enabled me to get out of my head and live 'in the moment' which is something that has really helped me in my profession since.

 

Example
 

When tutoring, there have been many times when I have been given numerous tasks to complete before running workshops and my Creative Wrting classes and as a result I have to learn how to successfully take in information a great deal quicker and run with the current thought and situation. I have found this particularly helpful in terms of working with children, one of the main reasons being that they have a very short attention span so throwing them into a set task straight away has been incredibly useful.

 

 

Honey, P and Mumford, A, 2006, The Learning Styles Questionnaire 80 item version, Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications Ltd
 

I did alot of this when I had to direct the children and take notes of what needed to be improved. My note taking and constant looking at script annotation meant that I was able to evaluate choreography and blocking and to keep making decisions. This included any changes that had to be made and by writing everything down, Kayleigh and I could go away and truly reflect on what needed to be improved throughout Joseph.

Example

The most obvious example would be when I used the time to make notes in the last few weeks of rehearsals in order to note down anything that was particularly in need of some improving. I would then take the opportunity to share my notes with the cast and highlight any issues that I felt should be addressed. This was a more thoughtful way of doing things and remembered from my own experience how much noting improvements helped me as a performer, because it allowed me to think about what I was doing and therefore grow.  

 

Honey, P and Mumford, A, 2006, The Learning Styles Questionnaire 80 item version, Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications Ltd
 

I would say that the theorist way of thinking is the way of thinking I relate to the most out of all four learning styles. This is because as a person I love structure and an set objective to work towards which I also incorporate into my acting lessons. I always have an objective and always make sure I write and annotate my scripts, when I worked as an actress and when I've worked as a director on the group's youth productions. I like to use logical and structured thought processes throughout and also like to have in my head exactly what the overall picture and finished model will potentially look like.

 

Example

An good example of when I put this into practice would be when I developed blocking for the Joseph Production and wrote and annotated my script. I made sure every single line had something interesting happening and the annotations show my need for structure and perfectionism!
 

Honey, P and Mumford, A, 2006, The Learning Styles Questionnaire 80 item version, Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications Ltd
 

I definitely like to be able to see the relevance o
f my work in context, espeically when my ideas are put into practice by the children in the rehearsal room. In a rehearsal room it is improtant to explore and put an idea into practice and there were many times where we did that.

 

Example

 

Proven techiniques were apparent in Joseph when I used a proven concept already from my pantomime of Beauty and the Beast at drama school. I decided that instead of creating a massive 'story book', we would instead create a massive bible in which the characters were able to pop out and make a grand entrance. The audience as a result would be taken through the biblical story of Joseph that the audience would enjoy and would, as a result, enable the show to open with a bang.

What have I discovered about myself through my learning styles? Which one do I most comply with?

 

 

 I have learnt that in general I can be a mixture of all of these learning styles at some point in the learning process, however I would say that I am mostly a theorist. But what I have discovered, however, when reflecting on these learning styles is that my actor training has forced me to look at things in various different ways, forcing me to become more of an activist at certain points due to the nature of the situation. Generally, I would say I'm more of a thinker, putting me into more of the reflecting, theoretical category due to my love of structure, my logical note taking and my aim to see the overall image and how to reach that desired image. I've really enjoyed this activity, because it's made me realise that not only do people learn in different ways, but they can also have elements of each of the four types of learning. Depending on the situation, there may be times where we have to be Activists, but there may also be times where we have to be more of a Reflector and this has consequently made me think about the children I teach and that they can work and learn in various different ways, making variety of teaching methods incredibly important.  

 

The Recognition of Learning Module: Activity Number One

Reflection of Learning and Analysis

 

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat - A Youth Production

The question I want to use for my reflection is "what have I learnt about directing and how have I used my acting skills and professional practice to enhance the children's performance?"

 Forms of Reflection

Gibbs' reflection cycle (1998) and The 'What' format cycle (Borton, 1970.)
 

Gibbs' reflection and analysis model is incredibly useful when it comes to structuring a reflection and enables you to not only reflect on what has happened and what you have learned throughout the process, but it also allows you to assess how you may potentially improve for next time if you were to complete the entire process again. I want to look at Gibbs' (1998) Reflective Cycle and use this method in order to create my own reflection of my professional practice as a teacher and director and have a closer look at my process throughout Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

The 'What' format cycle is a great way of exploring every single aspect of the performance with the contant questioning of 'what?' in much more specific detail. You can reflect on the past, the present and the future and therefore you can cover all time periods of learning and what you discovered.

 

Description

Had just under three months to direct this musical performed at the Oasis Academy, Sheerness on the 23rd and 24th of July. The performance was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, a youth production which included several different songs over two acts. This included 9 songs in Act One and 23 songs in Act Two, so Kayleigh and I were going to have to work together in order to complete the entire show. The show was incredibly ambitious, particularly when we only had less than three months to put it together!

Feelings

At the start

I felt so, so nervous when I was told we would only have three months in order to create and block the full thing. It was the first musical we had put together as the Kayleigh Carina team I was feeling panicked, trying to block numbers whenever I could and using class time in other lessons in order to do this.

Throughout the Rehearsals

Rehearsals felt fast paced but also felt like we were getting things done. Sometimes it felt like we were going at 100 miles per hour but what helped was the fact that we brought rehearsals of numbers into the other classes. For example, Joseph's Dream was choreographed in my acting class with children inputting their own ideas in order to create an entire blocked scene.  

At the End

I felt a sense of relief and achievement as parents congratualted us on a very well choreographed show. I was incredibly proud of all of the children for making such massive leaps in terms of their performance skills and confidence and was glad that we could all celebrate with an award ceremony. I did feel slightly disappointed with the fact that the first perfoamnce wasn't as smooth as the second but luckily a good amount of parents were able to see Joseph again on the second night.

From Audience Members
Audience members has so many wonderful things to say about the performance and couldn't believe how confident all of the children were. They loved the fact that you could clearly see that everyone was having fun and thought that much of the show was very well choreographed. One of our audience members wrote me a card and had this to say...

 

Feedback from an audience member
 

Evaluation

What Was Good?

• The ensemble as a whole was incredibly strong and everyone had bonded throughout the rehearsals.
• The acts were choreographed well so that everybody knew exactly what they were doing when they were on the stage.
• The amount of fun that the students were having whilst on the stage was seen by the audience members.
• The choreography and blocking was prepared well enough so that the children could perform comfortably and confidently.
• The space was wide so all of the students could use the space well and could all fit on the stage as an ensemble when performing each song.

What Was Bad?

• Not having a dress or technical rehearsal due to a lack of time really showed in the first performance, because certain things weren't where they should have been and the children told me that they felt a bit panicked because they didn't know where everything was.
• Not having a props table and not having costumes always organised meant that staff as well as children were scrambling around searching for things.
• Not having microphones prepared so that solo performers could be heard meant that there were times that the audience struggled to hear what they were singing.
• When Joseph's coat didn't come on the children showed that something was wrong to the audience due to them panicking.

Analysis

What Does It Mean?

The overall experience throughout Joseph showed me that the children still need more guidance in terms of performance knowledge and technique and that if something goes wrong to not let it show, but instead simply continue with the rest of the performance. The group had obviously bonded throughout the rehearsal period and this was due to the heavily ensemble based nature of mine and Kayleigh's teaching. The organised choreography proved to the parents that the children we developing their perfomance skills and were picking up steps well as a result of good tuition. It meant that the work we were doing was enabling them to present a much slicker and polished performance.

Award Ceremony: Recognising Achievements

It also meant that the children had come such a long way in terms of so many performing skills. They had developed confience and we had so, so many breakthroughs. We had an autistic girl who had overcome her fear of performing to an audience and was now out narrator! We had a fantastic celebration of the students that had truly shined and improved throughout rehearsals and one particular quote I take away with me is one which Ralph Fiennes expressed when being interviewed on the Actor Studio. He said:

"It's not about the destination, it's about the journey."

Conclusion

What else could we have done? What should we maybe not have done?

We could have had a dress rehearsal in order to help every one know exactly what the children were wearing and when and also had the chaperones and dressers in the rehearsal so that they could see an order. We should have had a props table from the very start so that students could locate their props and costumes easily throughout the performance and we could have enabled more time to correct some of the issues we had. The overall technical side of things could have been prepared a lot more in advance, including dress and tech rehearsals to sort those minor details and as a result make them flow alot better.

Action Plan

What would I do differently? How will I adapt my practice in the light of this new understanding?

I would make sure that scheduled rehearsal dates were made so that we were able to fit in a proper tech and dress rehearsal, incorporating the props and costumes area from the beginning and get the children used to having a props and costume area. I think it's important to always make sure you have a good amount of time in the performance space so you are used to all around you. I would definitely work more with the narrators in the cast next time and try to get them more confident with what they were doing, which may have been achieved if I had done some work with them earlier and showed them how they could project their voices successfully. I would also like to teach the children not to show the audience that something is wrong but to teach them to act as if those particular things were meant to happen and continue with their performing conviction, due to the well known fact that if the performers aren't relaxed, then the audience won't be. This is something I had to learn as a performer myself and plan to work on this with the children at some point throughout my future acting classes, which I hope to complete this term when I study improvisation with them and teaching them to take whatever happens and work with it. I also would like to cover stagecraft in Theatre School classes so that the children no entrances and exits and make sure they understand ecactly where there are at every single moment. Kayleigh and I have already discussed in a recent meeting and she has just recently booked a date in advance for Sunday the 18th of September, where we will perform our Christmas Variety Show which has enabled us to think about the space as well as give parents the time to keep the improtant date in their diaries and fully commit to the show.

What will we do differently for the new term? Where do we go from here?

Staff Meeting - Tuesday 30th August - A Reflection of the Term
Points and Minutes Covered

• Get the brand new leaflets out there before kids go back to school in the Leisure Complex and at the uniform shop.
• Potential Slogan: Heighten, Enlighten and Inspire.
• Booking dates and venues in advance - Sunday 18th December at a Village Hall.
• Must have a teach and dress rehearsal for the next show so that things run smoothly.
• Teach them about props table and costume changes so chaperones also know what is happening.
• For the next show we can have someone to do the teas and coffees.
• Let's book the videographer in advance so that they are booked and there are no issues or confusion with dates.
• I will create a programme template so that we can keep the Kayleigh Carina presentation consistent.
• Change overs of classes need to be slicker and smoother so we can run effortlessly from one to the other. eg. Street Class finished 5 minutes before Acting.
• Need Thierry as a helper for the wednesday classes so that she can do toilet duty, take the money and deal with the registers.
• Star of the week will be put in place so that we have a mascot and spread the kayleigh Carina word with our hashtag #KCPAstar
• Star. This will be done by putting names into a hat of people who have reallt stood out during the week.
• Star cards will now have smiley faces for attendance and stars for extra rewards and effort during classes.

 The lasting quote that I have been left mulling over and taking with me is:

"Fail to prepare and prepare to fail."