In My Workplace.

As a work with children, I find it difficult to write too much on my blog about how I've been taking my degree work into my workplace.  I am sure others in the same position have had to think about this too , so I thought I would just do a brief summary of what I have been writing in my journal and the steps I have taken in my day to day professional practice.

This is a new position and I have just completed my first half term,  I talk about my degree a lot in work, it's extremely social and the other members of staff seem interested in what I am researching.  I have been able to gather other opinions to fuel my research as well as just my interviews and  lit review.  Finding out what people actually know about drama and their opinion of it and it's use for learning and healing has been very interesting and given me the chance to see where drama really stands.

I have been given two intervention groups to run, with certain criteria to meet to ensure targets are being met and learning barriers identified and overcome.  The first of these groups has been Occupational Therapy in which the group have certain tasks to work on and complete, for example today we focused on star jumps, for symmetrical body awareness and throwing a bean bag into a hoop on the ground.  I have tried to be as creative with this group as possible and implemented certain things which have been suggested to me by dramatherapists over the course of my interviews. I, of course, am not a dramatherapist but have been using games to warm up the body and engage the mind ready to focus on the tasks.

When I was younger I particularly enjoyed a meditation of some kind at the end of my drama lessons and loved the feeling of being relaxed and focused on whatever images where being put in my head... such as the ocean.  For my first meditation I decided to continue the theme of body awareness and encourage the children to think about different parts of their body being heavy and sinking into the floor.  The first time I did this with them I thought I had completely wasted my time!  It didn't seem to be effective at all and I was concerned that it wasn't suitable for them and I could use the time more productively!

However to my surprise , one of the children who struggles in her creative play and struggles with her imagination begged to "feel heavy again" at the end of the next session!  I was amazed and granted her wish, starting the meditation for the second time.  This time I found they really were relaxed and thinking about what I was saying... " Now, our fingers are slowly feeling a little lighter and we can start to feel our fingertips again... we can wiggle our fingertips...' Etc. This time the mood was totally different, there was no giggling and no random talking, everyone was really focused.  When we talked afterwards about the meditation and I asked what they liked they all said the feeling of being heavy was really nice and that's what they enjoyed the most.  Afterwards (to make sure they aren't too tired going back to class!) we do a little shake out and jump around for a few minutes to reenergise ourselves.   I am eager to carry this on as the weeks progress and to try different types of imagination games, as in this group a few of the children struggle with being creative.

I have also been playing the ' mirror game' with this small group and have been so thrilled at how this has been effective.  The children in the intervention group are there as they all have varying degrees of SEN and need a little extra help in things related to occupational therapy and body awareness and development.  Our mirror game starts of by have the children in pairs facing each other whilst sat cross legged on the ground.  One is the leader, the other is the reflection and must strive to copy the movements of the leader.  In week 1 the children found this extremely difficult and the concept itself of being a 'reflection' was difficult to understand.  Now on week 4, I am thrilled to see how this game has progressed! The children are now standing facing each other and the movements they do have  evolved,  they are more explorative and more adventurous then simply moving our arms up and down. I encourage the children to be creative and explore what their 'reflection' can copy.  There are varying levels of SEN in this group and it has been wonderful to see the more able children adjusting their rage of movements so that their 'reflection' can successfully copy them.  This has never been mentioned and is something the children started to do automatically as they became more aware of how everyone moves. In my professional enquiry I have been asking the question about building bridges and wondering if drama in schools could promote a society of understanding and acceptance, I believe I am starting to see this in my small group.  Not only are they working together but they are adapting and accepting the needs of others to ensure the game carries on smoothly.  

Over the next few weeks I will be starting another small group with the intention of encouraging social and interaction skills and am so excited to have been given this opportunity to try out new drama techniques. So far the plan is for me to teach a small drama game to 2 children for about 25 minutes, then invite others to join us as they explain the game and how it works.  I am hoping this will have similar effects and encourage the children to work together to ensure the successful playing of the game.