Before the sessions, Alys and I held a series of online meetings to discuss possible activities for my ‘warm – up’ section, as well as during the ‘drama’ and ‘sound recording’ portions. We also produced a document for reference during the sessions, that includes rough session schedules, comprehensive list of all the activities that we agreed were suitable (Alys told me to pick two warm – ups, one physical and one vocal, and one ‘game’ for each day), as well as a summary of the Arts Award specification and activity ideas to support the participants to complete these (e.g. discussion of favourite art forms, artist research, working together to record a short story/improvised performance etc.). Screenshots of this document are provided below:
We also ensured that we had consent from the parents/guardians of the participants to take pictures/film/recordings – so I could take pictures, create recordings and videos to put in my diary.
Day 1
Before these sessions, I felt very excited but also a bit nervous even though I had led drama activities beforehand; I had only done so with sighted children, so I wasn’t sure how my plans would work with today’s participants (who were all visually impaired). However, I had gone through my ideas beforehand with Alys, and she approved of them, so I hoped they would work out, and the participants would enjoy them! Alys, Alex and I obtained enough chairs for all the participants and arranged this in a circle in the middle of the room. We knew that most of the activities we planned to do in these workshops could be completed inside this ‘central circle’ (either sitting or standing). Although from my previous experience, some drama games/exercises are played with the participants standing in a ‘space’ or moving freely around the room, I acknowledge that this could be risky if used with pur participants – not only because of their vision impairments, but also as some also had additional difficulties/disabilities that affect their mobility/range of movement. Therefore, we felt that this ‘central circle’ approach would be the best way to minimise risk and ensure that the participants stay as safe as possible whilist allowing them to get the most out of the activities.
After all the participants arrived, we (Alys, Alex and I) introduced ourselves, and, going around the circle, invited the participants to share some facts about themselves (their name, age, one thing they like and one thing they dislike). Before beginning the day’s activities, we informed the participants of what they should do should there be a fire alarm, and asked about their level of sight and if they had any additional disabilities. This enabled us to ‘buddy’ up those with no sight to those with some sight, so the ‘sighted buddy’ can offer extra support when required (e.g. during physical activities). I then started the warm – up portion of the session by leading a name game; that required each participant to call out their names for everybody else to copy, going around the circle. Next, we went around the circle calling out our names again, but this time added an action, which again, we had to copy. I think this was a positive way to begin; everyone partook fully and seemed to find the exercise enjoyable.
Next, I led a ‘call and response’ warm up called Boom Chicka Boom. This involved a rhyme – which I would say aloud (‘call’), a line at a time for the participants to copy back (‘respond). The rhyme went like thus;
Me – I said a boom chicka boom!
Participants: I said a boom chicka boom!
Me: I said a boom chicka boom!
I said a boom chicka, rocka chicka, rocka chicka boom!
Participants: I said a boom chicka, rocka chicka, rocka chicka boom!
Me: Uh huh
Participants: Uh huh
Me: Oh yeah.
Participants: Oh yeah
Me: One more time!
Participants: One more time!
Then, I would call out a certain ‘style’ (i.e. way of speaking – Low, high, loud, quiet, American accent, opera), and we’d say the rhyme again in that style. After leading the first few turns, I let the participants suggest their own styles – some of which were very inventive! Although I had never led this exercise before (as was the case with all of the exercises/games I led in these sessions!), I think this went well; the younger participants especially seemed to love it (one was a bit reluctant at first as he had played the game elsewhere and, on his own admission, wasn’t keen on it, but he soon enjoyed himself when he was able to pick his own style). However, I noticed that some of the older participants seemed more reluctant to participate fully – I think they probably felt self – conscious and didn’t want to look ‘silly’ in front of their peers. I also think they found it more ‘babyish’ than our next game. Furthermore, this game wasn’t that familiar to any of the group; which probably didn’t help!
Finally, I led a counting game called ’21.’ As the name suggests, this involved taking turns to count up to 21. Each participant could use up to three numbers (i.e. so they could say ‘one’ or ‘one, two’ or ‘one, two, three’) and whoever landed on 21 is eliminated. To make it even more fun, I suggested that we should add a ‘noise of elimination’ that a player makes when they land on 21 (today it was the ‘moo’ of elimination). This served to warm up our brains (which it certainly did), and also, to a certain extent, tested the loyalty of the participants who happened to know each other before these sessions – would they be kind, or ruthless and get their opponents out right away. I thought this went well, better than ‘Boom Chicka Boom’ as the participants were unfamiliar with the former exercise; but they all knew how to play ’21’ and showed evident enjoyment.
Overall, I think I this first part of the project has gone well; I think the participants clearly understood what to do because they executed the exercises as I wanted them; so my communication and ‘explanation’ skills are obviously effective. I think ’21’ defiently went down better with the majority of the participants than ‘Boom Chicka Boom’ for the reasons I’ve already stated above. I think it’s difficult because this group represents such a wide age range; we have a seven – year old and a fourteen year old in the same room; and it’s hard to cater for everyone!
Day 2
At the start of this session, I felt a little bit more confident; most of the participants seemed to enjoy yesterday’s activities, and I think I led them well – so I felt like I could do the same today! We began by energising our brains with a memory game classic, ‘I Went To The Shop.’ I began with the phrase, ‘I went to the shop and I brought a…. (here I would insert an item of my own choice), the next participant said the previous item and added their own, the third said the previous two and added another on, and so on around the circle. To add an element of challenge, we added a theme as well, so everything brought had to be from a specific shop (in this case, a toyshop). I don’t think I explained this game very well (if you listen to my recording, my explanation is rather long – winded), but Alys saved me by starting the game, and offering prompts throughout – thus explaining the game in a more organic way. Nevertheless the participants seemed to enjoy themselves.
‘After a few rounds of this, Alys switched to a different variation – ‘The Rule Game.’ This time, the participants could only buy one item each, but every item brought had to link to a ‘rule’ (which could be about the items that we buy, or the way that we say the phrase) that only the ‘leader’ was aware of. The leader would begin by saying the same phrase ‘I went to the shop and brought a (item related to the ‘rule’ they have chosen), and then each participant, in turn, would repeat the phrase and add an item that they think relates to the rule. The leader could either say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each item, and when a participant thinks he/she know the rule, they can guess.
Then, I led a physical warm – up called ‘The Bean Game’ – a favourite of mine because I have fond memories of playing it myself in school. I shouted out different ‘beans’ (e.g. ‘runner bean,’ ‘string bean,’ ‘jumping bean,’ ‘broad bean,’ ‘French bean,’ etc.) and the participants had to perform corresponding actions (see video below). As well as the ‘traditional’ instructions, I allowed the participants to suggest their own ‘beans,’ as well! One thing that I noticed as I was leading this in this activity was, again, that some of the older participants seemed to show less interest and therefore were more reluctant than the younger ones to partake fully. I think they thought it was too ‘babyish’ again. Furthermore, I think I got a bit carried away and let this exercise run on for a bit longer than it probably should have but I was enjoying myself and therefore didn’t realise that some of the participants might have been getting tired. Fortunately, Alys and Alex gave me support by prompting me to end the exercise. I definitely need to get better at identifying when games should come to a natural end!
My next warm – up was called ‘Big Beetle,’ (a variation of the exercise ‘Big Booty’ – I adapted this as the original was a bit too rude to use with this group) which we played sitting in the central circle. I designated two participants the roles of ‘Big Beetle’ (the top) and ‘Fatty Frog, (the bottom)’ and allocated numbers to the rest of the participants (in between). ‘Big Booty’ led the game by chanting, ‘Big beetle, big beetle, big beetle. Big beetle oooh yeah! Big beetle… number (e.g. 1!)’ The participant who is ‘Number 1’ responded with their own number, and then called out another number in the circle (or ‘Big Booty’ or ‘Fatty Frog.’) Everybody had to listen carefully and concentrate so they could respond when their number is called, and then pass this on to a new number (or ‘Big Beetle’ or ‘Fatty Frog).’ If somebody made a mistake (e.g. is too slow or repeats the same number), they became the new ‘Fatty Frog,’ and everybody renumbered accordingly. The aim of the game is to knock ‘Big Beetle’ off the top spot! Again, I think I struggled to explain this game clearly (it is quite complicated though); I was a bit indecisive at the start when I was allocating everyone’s’ numbers. Furthermore, at first I was pointing at each participant whilst numbering them, forgetting that some could not see my finger and therefore were not likely to know that I was talking to them. It was Debs that prompted me to say their names too!
My final warm – up for the morning was ‘Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups’ – another ‘call and response’ style game, that takes the form of the following chant:
LEADER: Reece’s peanut butter cups!
Everybody: Reece’s peanut butter cups!
LEADER: We sing this song to pump us up!
Everybody: We sing this song to pump us up!
LEADER: Bam bam choo choo train
Everybody: Bam bam choo choo train
LEADER: Come on (name of someone in the circle) do your thing!
Everybody: Come on (name) do your thing!
Then the participant whose name was called out would continue by saying:
PARTICIPANT: I can’t!
EVERYBODY: Why not?
PARTICIPANT: I can’t!
EVERYBODY: Why not?
PARTICIPANT: My back hurts (points upwards), the sun’s too bright (shields eyes), and I shake my booty from left to right (moves bottom from left to right)!
EVERYBODY: (Shake bottoms) To the left, to the right, to the left, to the right. Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right!
I would then repeat the above in several different vocal styles with the participants copying. I made sure to allow all the participants to have a go!
Before the workshop, when discussing my plans over with Alys and Alex, Alys had agreed to be my ‘volunteer’ for this game so she could demonstrate to the participants what to do. I had taught her the ‘response’ part of the rhyme, but when it came to playing the game for real, she had forgotten it! I had to prompt her. I’d originally planned to go round the circle with each participant leading the rhyme, but I soon realised that it would be easier if I led each time, picking out participants to lead the second half – as this left them with less to remember. What’s more, I had to be reminded of the names of some of the participants. Other than that though, I think this exercise went well!
After doing some more sound recording work with Alex, we moved back to the central circle and I led another game, called ‘Venga Venga’ before breaking for lunch. This ‘call – and – response’ game involved me calling out different statements/phrases with an related action and/or vocal style, and the participants had to do the corresponding response (see table below). However, sometimes I would mix things up by calling the ‘response’ and the participants would have to do the ‘call!’
| Call | Response |
| Clap (one clap) | Tap, tap! (Two knee slaps) |
| High! (high pitched voice, pointing to the sky) | Low! (low pitched voice, bend down and point to the floor) |
| Hula, hula! (Pretending to hula hoop) | Venga, venga! (Moving hands left to right) |
| Pineapples! (High pitched voice, put two hands on top of head like pineapple stalks) | Pumpkins! (low pitched voice, bend over and make a pumpkin shape) |
| I’m lookin’ for the man who shot my Pa. (‘Cowboy’ accent. walking into the centre of the circle) | But Darling, I love you! (posh black – and – white film accent, put hand on heart, other hand up in the air) |
When leading physical activities with visually – impaired young people, it’s vitally important to describe the exercise and required movements in as much detail as possible, so they know exactly what to do. I think I struggled in this aspect, sometimes I wasn’t sure how to describe a certain movement, and you can hear Alys helping me out! Also, Alys gave me an idea I wasn’t aware of – one of the ‘call and response’ pairs had similar movements – a ‘clap’ and a ‘tap;’ we did one clap, then two taps – so the participants could distinguish them.
Overall, I thought this day better than yesterday – not least because I was feeling more confident. I think I’m getting better at ‘reading the room’ and establishing the needs/interests/abilities of the group. I also noticed that the older participants were less ‘self conscious’ today and allowed themselves to ‘let loose’ more – which is brilliant. However, when watching the videos and listening back to the recordings I made, I realised that my explanations of some of the games were quite long; waffling is a habit of mine and thus I tend to find it quite difficult to summarise. I think tomorrow I’m going to try out Aly’s technique of jumping right into a game and explaining as we go along. I also need to work on my ‘audio description’ abilities!
Day 3
Today, I felt raring to go! Over the last two days, I’ve felt like I’ve got to know the group quite well, and that I knew which activities would work. I began the final session by initiating a round of ‘Pass The Clap’ – which, as the name suggests, involves sending a clap around the circle (clapping one after the other) as quickly as possible. I then extended this to send a ‘sound’ around the circle, allowing every participant to send one of their own choosing. I think this activity went well; all the participants participated enthusiastically, and I felt confident that I led it well as I have observed Alys leading this exercise before in previous workshops.
Then, I led an exercise called ‘Building A Shed” (I substituted ‘shed’ for ‘fort’ – for whatever reason) -an improvisation and vocal exercise. This is how we played the game.
- We all begin sitting in the central circle. The leader (i.e. the one demonstrating the game) walks into the centre of the circle and begins to mime building a fort. The next participant walks into the circlle, and the two conduct the short conversation below
PARTICIPANT: What are you doing?
Leader: I’m building a fort!
PARTICIPANT: Can I do it too?
Leader: Yes!
3. The participant begins miming building a fort with the leader, and then the next participant walks into the circle, and begins the short conversation above (what are you doing?) in a different style/manner of speaking.
4. The two others have to adopt the same style when responding together (We’re building a fort!). The third participant, still in their chosen style, asks ‘Can I do it too?’ and the other two copy the style when replying with ‘yes!’ All three then mime building a fort.
And so on until everybody is ‘building a fort’ in the centre of the circle.
This activity was completely new to everyone – even me (I had chosen it because I liked the ‘randomness’ of it), as such nobody was completely sure what to do at first, and I wasn’t quite sure how to explain it – which I think really comes across on the recording, it sounds like chaos! However, I think when they finally got the hang of it, the participants seemed to enjoy it (particularly changing the styles!). Also, I tried to apply Alys’s technique of ‘organic explanations’ – which I think works far better than my previous ‘long – winded explanation’ approach that I had been using before.
Leadership Project Review
What happened in my project, what did I enjoy, and what was the end result?
My project required me to work alongside Alys and Alex to plan, and then lead, drama games and exercises to a small group of visually impaired young people, during a series of creative workshops. As well as developing physical and social confidence and teaching new dramatic/improvisation skills, a key purpose of the project was to help the participants to achieve an entry – level Arts Award (Discover). As a result of taking part in the project, all of the participants have achieved their Discover Arts Award (their certificates arrived a few weeks afterwards), which we are, understably, so pleased about! So much so, that we are already planning a further series of workshops to help them get started on Explore (the next level)! This qualification required them to participate in arts activities – therefore my contribution to the project was critical! The project also enabled me to, along with sharing my passion for drama with others, challenge my own leadership abilities by ‘becoming’ a drama facilitator. One thing I particularly enjoyed about the project is actually ‘doing’ it; I felt that this natural enthusiasm really ‘shone through’ in my delivery. This really helped the participants to relax and enjoy themselves too; it’s much easier for them to have fun if they can see the workshop leader having fun too! However, sometimes, I think this allowed my sense of time management to slide – some of the games dragged a bit!
Feedback
During the final session, we had some ‘group sharing’ time where we invited the participants to give their feedback about the workshops as a whole, not just my part (Alys and Alex also led improvisation and storytelling exercises, and sound recording activities respectively, and we also created a short radio drama called ‘Baby Monster Daycare’ together!
After we had completed the project, Alys and Alex also gave me written feedback focused on my contribution, the skills I demonstrated throughout, and areas of my leadership ability they thought needed further development.
Alys approached her feedback on a day by day basis, and put it in a Word document that can be viewed below.
I received Alex’s feedback via email, so I have copy and pasted the text below:
‘Samiya did an excellent job of leading some drama games and exercises with the young members in the SenCom sessions. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and she made sure everyone had fun. Her instructions were good, and she led the way by engaging with the exercises with lots of energy herself. She clearly enjoyed herself too!
Points to work on may be:
– knowing when to finish an exercise – one or two were on the verge of going on a little too long, and it’s good to conclude an exercise before participants get bored or tired of it, which is something to watch out for with younger members. It’s good to ‘leave them wanting more’.
– Just being mindful that it’s normal for some members to be a little disruptive and boisterous at times, and a workshop leader needs to balance patience and understanding with gently but firmly keeping control of proceedings.‘
Personal reflection – Did I develop my leadership skills? What did I learn? What would I do differently in the future?
In the main, I feel I have! In particular, I think that my communication skills have developed significantly; and I’ve become much more aware of the difficulties I have in this area. For example, as I detailed in my diary, in the first two workshops, when I was instructing the participants, some of my explanations were very long – winded – and therefore wasted time and allowed the participants to get bored. Alys modelled a different approach of ‘explaining while you go,’ which I observed, and then attempted to apply myself in the third workshop. I also believe that I worked well alongside Alys and Alex, as well as Debs – I felt comfortable with them, and felt that I could turn to them for support and advice as much as I needed. I also think that I’ve become more flexible; although, in the main, I was able to stick to my original plan, certain issues meant that sometimes I had to alter/adapt them e.g. Particular activities not suiting participants, disruption (e.g. fire alarm!). something else that needs to be done, participants wanting to ‘repeat’ favourite games etc). I think that, all in all, I dealt with this aspect quite well, although I found it challenging when the younger participants would sometimes ‘interrupt’ me as I was instructing them, to suggest something or ask if they could play a certain game later on. This nearly threw me off sometimes or leave me indecisive as to how to respond/react, but the feedback I received from Alys and Alex (which I’ve detailed above), has helped me to learn that this is normal and instead of getting het up about, I should acknowledge what they have to say while keeping control of the situation. Alys and Alex also observed (as have I) that I allowed some of the activities run on a bit longer than they ideally should have – risking the participants (particularly the younger ones) growing tired and bored. I think because I was enjoying the activities myself SO much, I got so ‘into’ them, that my sense of time management went on the ‘back seat’ as it were! I defiently need to get better at knowing when activities should come to a natural stop!
Through taking part in this project, I have also learned a lot about the characteristics of a good leader; especially the importance of catering for everybody in the case of a wide age range (i.e. our group!) – you have to be aware that older ones may not want/refuse to take part in the more energetic, silly games that they may find ‘babyish,’ and the younger ones may have too much energy for too many ‘sitting down’ games! Also, I’ve learnt that, as a rule, it’s best not to start workshops with ‘call and response’ games, but instead save them for later on when everybody’s feeling a bit more comfortable! I’d defiently take these points into account if I get any further opportunities to lead more workshop activities in the future.
If I were to partake in a similar project in the future, I would definitely utilise the ‘organic explanations’ approach (explain games/activities as we play them, instead of reciting a long list of instructions beforehand!), offer clearer ‘audio description’ and remember to finish activities at an appropriate time! In the main though, I’ve really enjoyed this project; it’s really cemented my desire to develop my facilitating skills further – and hopefully become a drama practitioner ‘for real’ in the future!