Week 2

Today was exciting! We focused the project task on all getting to know each other properly, coming to the conclusion during our evaluation session as a whole company that, in the previous visit, we all felt like we hadn't had the opportunity to introduce ourselves properly to everyone.

First, we decided on what games we could play that was:

-suitable for everyone regardless of disabilities

-something we would all enjoy

-something beneficial in terms of learning

-something that would get us all acquainted.

We made the games vocally for those who are restricted in terms of movement and physicality but at the same time, other games we made sure weren’t too vocal for those who were the opposite. During the session, I was participated in all of the games rather than leading any, and I found my favourite exercise to be the ‘speed dating,’ one I suggested we do myself.

It was such a fun way to pair up with the Valence students we had not yet spoken to and get to know each other with quick firing topics and the intention was to get around to people as fast as possible, so we never left a man behind! We got to know everyone.

Another exercise I quite enjoyed was the charades; we paired up with a Valence student and decided together what was our favourite summer activity. Once decided, we came up with a set of actions or words that communicated the activity to the rest of the audience and students and they had to guess what it was.

Next time we visit, I want to make sure I take on more of a leader approach. It’s not intentional that I find myself being more of a participant, it’s just at that moment I was willing to be lead with everyone else instead of actually leading.

We then moved on to learning a movement piece lead by Andrea. I found this very beneficial for everyone involved. Us Brit Students wasn’t aware of the actions before Andrea taught them to us, so we were learning WITH the Valence students as we went along. I enjoyed helping a talking to Laurie and Kirsty, making sure they were following.

Today was fun, beneficial and I really feel like I’m creating a bond with these students!

We played games for the first half of the morning which was very fun. more about 80 percent of the exercises I was a participant not a facilitator, therefore my main role for today was to ensure the students around me understood what we were doing and to make them feel more comfortable and at ease within the group. 

The other 20 percent was when I did fully engage with facilitating a section of our workshop and I lead one of the name games which was kind of like speed dating. 



My role was to facilitate getting everyone to go into pairs and to ask their partner 3 specific questions. I then got them to move around the room and find new partners so that they could ask somebody else 3 new questions and find out new things about new people. Once we had done this 3 times (Ironically) we got the group back into a big circle and we got certain individuals to feedback what fun facts they had found out about different people. 



After a few more games we took a break. I got chatting to James and Alex and Kirsty which was nice. After lunch Andrea lead the movement section of our day. We choreographed a little story that contained physical actions which were adaptable to each individual student and then we broke off into little groups and designed small 'Rollercoaster' rides using our bodies. Andrea used a lot of repetition to make sure that everyone understood each and every instructions she gave us. 



I thought this section of the workshop which Andrea lead was very beneficial to not only myself, but the Valance students as well. This is because it gave us an opportunity to at first learn some actions as part of a very large group, which I hope gave off a palpable inclusive atmosphere within the room. This part of the workshop also gave us the chance to break off into smaller groups and to work with specific individuals, which helped me get to know some of the students better, and what their individual capabilities are. 



Then it was lunch. THEN WE HAD ANOTHER TOUR! 



Pretty soon it was time to get into the coach and head home. We said our fairwells and then we were off! 





WHAT WENT WELL: Today I learnt a lot more of the students names. My confidence grew tremendously when I delivered my small section of the warm up exercises. Also I feel more confident in approaching the students and asking them about themselves.



HOW I CAN IMPROVE:  



I feel like I know about 40 percent of the students in our group, however I have still been very afraid to communicate with the non verbal students. My target for next week is to communicate with at least one non verbal student. 



 

REFLECTION NOTE: I am really starting to enjoy this project. I think that i will get a lot out of it. Roll on the next few weeks.