Friday's session was one full of promise and was full on proof that this project is going in the right direction. It started off differently this session; we first of all sat around the projector and saw our unfinished video of the 3 ambitions each of us have. This was a brilliant situation to be in because I saw different reactions from different people. "I looked spicy" (nice) said one individual then someone else said 'Wow, I'm never looking at myself on camera again!" but I'm positive that'll all change because that's what this whole project is about. Change.
We then went straight into work and instead of pockets going into the music room we all went and had a listen to both songs and then we decided who would be in the main singer\rapper's group. In my opinion this was best for the group as a whole as this would be the way to produce more work in such a short space of time. Working on Amber's song was such a positive experience for me as I could understand her lyrics and I could put my emotion behind the beats I was hitting on the drum, something that everyone in our group did, either vocally or on the piano.
The end product wasn't complete on that day but tomorrow will definitely be one where we'll be able to deliver something special, something that an individual that wasn't heard in the past can now be heard.
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Community - Episode 5
The previous Monday was one full of promise of us really bringing something together. Our first piece of work that would be put into the project. The beginning we had our usual, a nice friendly warm up to get the mood going and I really enjoyed the two games that I ran. One was called 'Up and Down', and the previous one I did before called 'Sunshine On' which is personally my favourite mainly because it has people going and it usually brings people out of their comfort zone which is what we want.
Then my favourite part came where we had the chance to partner up with someone from The Turnaround Centre and from there we had chosen 3 still images that showed what we wanted in life. Some of us had similar things which once again showed that just because we're on different paths in life that doesn't mean we don't share the same views and ambitions. I was partnered with Shaquille, someone that wanted to be a professional footballer, own a massive house and have a lot of cash. Those were his ambitions and from there he moulded me into his perfect person and so did I with my ambition to become a young Oscar award winning actor, adopting a child and being in a film with my idol, Will Smith.
After all of this we were able to video the movements around the school and at different paces which showed real difference to a normal paced movement and this was to be the beginning of our new project. I will be uploading the video tomorrow.
After the break we came back and we had two groups, one going off to concentrate on music and the other group consisted of three departments, one was spoken word poetry, one was a dance sequence for the songs that were being created and the last was the directing of the music video that would be made in the future. At the end of the session we each got to share a piece of our work that was made and we decided that we would include all of those things in the day of our performance but we would decide later on where they would be suitable.
Then my favourite part came where we had the chance to partner up with someone from The Turnaround Centre and from there we had chosen 3 still images that showed what we wanted in life. Some of us had similar things which once again showed that just because we're on different paths in life that doesn't mean we don't share the same views and ambitions. I was partnered with Shaquille, someone that wanted to be a professional footballer, own a massive house and have a lot of cash. Those were his ambitions and from there he moulded me into his perfect person and so did I with my ambition to become a young Oscar award winning actor, adopting a child and being in a film with my idol, Will Smith.
After all of this we were able to video the movements around the school and at different paces which showed real difference to a normal paced movement and this was to be the beginning of our new project. I will be uploading the video tomorrow.
After the break we came back and we had two groups, one going off to concentrate on music and the other group consisted of three departments, one was spoken word poetry, one was a dance sequence for the songs that were being created and the last was the directing of the music video that would be made in the future. At the end of the session we each got to share a piece of our work that was made and we decided that we would include all of those things in the day of our performance but we would decide later on where they would be suitable.
Friday, 14 June 2013
My objective of this term
Simply to give them a chance and different paths to take to a much better future and I will do it.
Community - Episode 4
Today was another unbelievable experience and honestly bringing me so close to tears. Unfortunately though we didn't have the whole group but that didn't stop us from progressing through the project on a positive and it has been a positive two weeks so far. I can now say I'm more than happy with this group and I have found that the impact we can have on them is one in a million; not everyone gets a chance like I have now.
At the beginning it was business as usual and having a few more people in we would have to go around the circle again and learn each other's names which I feel is right only because you don't want the new people to feel left out like they aren't known when really and truly that's what we're trying to do. The first game we played was one I really enjoyed but at the end disliked as I kept on losing (Yup, I'm a sore loser) but it was a nice way to get people to know each other more. It was a game where someone would ask a question then another person would have to ask back another question but what they couldn't do was repeat the same question so throughout the time we played we just had one to one bantering in the room which was good as it boosted the morale. One thing that really proved effective but at the same time considerate was one moment where someone got asked 'How's your mum?' and the person responded back with a laughter which showed character and how he can handle a bit of banter but the only thing that I would say is make sure you're saying that to the right person as none of us know what happens in others' personal life.
The second half of lesson was about to begin but before that I thought it would be nice to blast some tunes in the room and to have a few of the young offenders come in and dance with me to the song I was playing was surprising but it was a moment/feeling I'll never forget. We were dancing for quite a while and to think that they have the same taste in music as us was really nice and that was just the beginning of the second half!
We were split into two halves; one would go off and create their own piece of music and the other would go and do some spoken word poetry which I joined in and I was blessed enough to have just the right person in my group. We heard a poem and it was all about young girls growing up and my view on that was and still is quite strong. Then after I made my point I had of the boys say 'Yeah, I really agree with Tuwaine on that one... I'm gonna change my ways and treat my sister better, talk to her more and that' and that's exactly what I wanted. To have the same view as someone wanting to make a change was one thing but to hear the poem and say that them themselves were 'moved', that really made my day..
The last activity we done which I really enjoyed as I love music was one full of promise for these guys. One individual in particular, Jack, was reluctant to get his lines out there and give us an encouraging bit of chorus then for him to play over a drum beat, guitar strumming and piano playing with his verses just showed that these people have so much potential no matter where they are or what position they are in. We all posses something special, we just have to find out what it is and use it at the right time. I am seriously wanting to actually help more youth offenders in the future hopefully as it will be an even more moving experience and to give them options for the future to help them change is exactly what I want.
At the beginning it was business as usual and having a few more people in we would have to go around the circle again and learn each other's names which I feel is right only because you don't want the new people to feel left out like they aren't known when really and truly that's what we're trying to do. The first game we played was one I really enjoyed but at the end disliked as I kept on losing (Yup, I'm a sore loser) but it was a nice way to get people to know each other more. It was a game where someone would ask a question then another person would have to ask back another question but what they couldn't do was repeat the same question so throughout the time we played we just had one to one bantering in the room which was good as it boosted the morale. One thing that really proved effective but at the same time considerate was one moment where someone got asked 'How's your mum?' and the person responded back with a laughter which showed character and how he can handle a bit of banter but the only thing that I would say is make sure you're saying that to the right person as none of us know what happens in others' personal life.
The second half of lesson was about to begin but before that I thought it would be nice to blast some tunes in the room and to have a few of the young offenders come in and dance with me to the song I was playing was surprising but it was a moment/feeling I'll never forget. We were dancing for quite a while and to think that they have the same taste in music as us was really nice and that was just the beginning of the second half!
We were split into two halves; one would go off and create their own piece of music and the other would go and do some spoken word poetry which I joined in and I was blessed enough to have just the right person in my group. We heard a poem and it was all about young girls growing up and my view on that was and still is quite strong. Then after I made my point I had of the boys say 'Yeah, I really agree with Tuwaine on that one... I'm gonna change my ways and treat my sister better, talk to her more and that' and that's exactly what I wanted. To have the same view as someone wanting to make a change was one thing but to hear the poem and say that them themselves were 'moved', that really made my day..
The last activity we done which I really enjoyed as I love music was one full of promise for these guys. One individual in particular, Jack, was reluctant to get his lines out there and give us an encouraging bit of chorus then for him to play over a drum beat, guitar strumming and piano playing with his verses just showed that these people have so much potential no matter where they are or what position they are in. We all posses something special, we just have to find out what it is and use it at the right time. I am seriously wanting to actually help more youth offenders in the future hopefully as it will be an even more moving experience and to give them options for the future to help them change is exactly what I want.
Monday, 10 June 2013
Community - Episode 3
Today's session with the youth offenders was just unbelievably good! I don't know where to start; from the beginning having us do the usual walking around the space and building this relationship but greeting each other with different parts of the body to the near end when we had a couple individuals speak their thoughts and feelings and what we could do to get the best out of the project, for them.
We had one person that joined the group late and at the beginning of the lesson I thought to myself 'He might not contribute' but boy was I wrong and once again I've been shown that you should never judge a book by its cover. He came on hardly speaking and I personally couldn't hear his voice and by the end of the lesson he was beaming, having little outbursts of a 'Yeah, I don't mind doing the scene' which I thought was really good because you could see a huge contrast. Another positive I saw throughout the session was with one of the females of the group. Last Friday I had a feeling she wouldn't really enjoy it but today's session with the caterpillar game brought out a huge smile of hers that I've never seen.
To close the session we had a moment to come together and discuss what we wanted for the future. One individual in particular made it really hard for me to cope with his life story. He found the courage and the comfortableness to say what he said in a room full of people he'd only known for a day or two. I was honestly moved and I'm just raring to do something with that story and do what he asked and that's to send a message about gun and knife crime. We share the same ambitions.
Lastly, I love this little message from Maya Angelou. She's an inspiration and someone that does spoken word poetry positively...
Once you find your shoulders dropping
And your speech gets slow and hazyYou better change your way of beingBefore you found your brain got lazyYou can build a better future when you join the winning teamIf you desire a bright tomorrow, you must build a brighter dreamDare to let your dreams reach beyond youKnow that history holds more than it seemsWe are here alive today because our ancestors dared to dreamFrom Africa they lay in the bilge of slave shipsAnd stood half naked on auction blocksFrom eastern-Europe they crowded in vessels overloaded with immigrantsAnd were mis-named on Ellis islandFrom South America and Mexico, from Asia, they laboured in sweat shopsFrom all over the world, they came to AmericaMany shivering in rags, and still they dared to dreamLet us dream for today and for tomorrowLet us dare to dream
We had one person that joined the group late and at the beginning of the lesson I thought to myself 'He might not contribute' but boy was I wrong and once again I've been shown that you should never judge a book by its cover. He came on hardly speaking and I personally couldn't hear his voice and by the end of the lesson he was beaming, having little outbursts of a 'Yeah, I don't mind doing the scene' which I thought was really good because you could see a huge contrast. Another positive I saw throughout the session was with one of the females of the group. Last Friday I had a feeling she wouldn't really enjoy it but today's session with the caterpillar game brought out a huge smile of hers that I've never seen.
To close the session we had a moment to come together and discuss what we wanted for the future. One individual in particular made it really hard for me to cope with his life story. He found the courage and the comfortableness to say what he said in a room full of people he'd only known for a day or two. I was honestly moved and I'm just raring to do something with that story and do what he asked and that's to send a message about gun and knife crime. We share the same ambitions.
Lastly, I love this little message from Maya Angelou. She's an inspiration and someone that does spoken word poetry positively...
Once you find your shoulders dropping
And your speech gets slow and hazyYou better change your way of beingBefore you found your brain got lazyYou can build a better future when you join the winning teamIf you desire a bright tomorrow, you must build a brighter dreamDare to let your dreams reach beyond youKnow that history holds more than it seemsWe are here alive today because our ancestors dared to dreamFrom Africa they lay in the bilge of slave shipsAnd stood half naked on auction blocksFrom eastern-Europe they crowded in vessels overloaded with immigrantsAnd were mis-named on Ellis islandFrom South America and Mexico, from Asia, they laboured in sweat shopsFrom all over the world, they came to AmericaMany shivering in rags, and still they dared to dreamLet us dream for today and for tomorrowLet us dare to dream
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Community - Episode 2
Friday's lesson was The One! At the beginning of this term I wanted to have a choice of what project I was being put on but when the Young Offenders came in and we got started I had a complete change of heart and realised this is the project I want to do!
At the beginning, we had a little run through of how the lesson would go, playing our games with each other before the arrived at school. Then they came and it was like the room went from light to red hot fire. I honestly didn't feel no awkwardness at all, we had a few of us around the circle sitting next to them which was good. The first game we played really set the tone for something special, having everyone split up and find two things the other person enjoys and finding out their name. The next game I thought was one to try boost the morale of everyone in the room and it did! Had everyone talking to each other to find out who's name begins with an A and who's begins with a Z. It created much laughter and happiness throughout the room and in my opinion was a really successful one.
Skipping to my game; which in all honesty I thought was the best one simply because of the feedback I got from some of the boys in the group. My game was called sunshine, and it consisted of one person being in the middle and saying something that everyone sitting down in the circle can relate to. For example, I would be in the middle and I would say 'Anyone who has played basketball' and then anyone who has played basketball would then get up and try to move seat. After this 15 minute game was done I was surprised to have a few saying 'That game was sick' meaning, that game was good! And I had Kyle come up to me and say, 'That's a calm game bruv, we should do that again' and from then I realised these Young Offenders aren't the people we would judge by their cover but once getting to know them there's a lot more to them than that.
Last but not least, we had a little tour of the school, showing them around and we had a positive one. As most of them love the gym, letting them know that we had a gym full of equipment, brought a positive reaction out of them, something that let them be themselves even more. There was one person I felt shows some huge potential in terms of letting themselves be heard and that's Ricardo. At the beginning he didn't want to play the Eastenders game and then at the end of the session he said how he would love to do something in terms of music, 'not live but recorded' and that made me think that he has so much to prove on this course and I'm positive he will. I'm positive all of them will.
At the beginning, we had a little run through of how the lesson would go, playing our games with each other before the arrived at school. Then they came and it was like the room went from light to red hot fire. I honestly didn't feel no awkwardness at all, we had a few of us around the circle sitting next to them which was good. The first game we played really set the tone for something special, having everyone split up and find two things the other person enjoys and finding out their name. The next game I thought was one to try boost the morale of everyone in the room and it did! Had everyone talking to each other to find out who's name begins with an A and who's begins with a Z. It created much laughter and happiness throughout the room and in my opinion was a really successful one.
Skipping to my game; which in all honesty I thought was the best one simply because of the feedback I got from some of the boys in the group. My game was called sunshine, and it consisted of one person being in the middle and saying something that everyone sitting down in the circle can relate to. For example, I would be in the middle and I would say 'Anyone who has played basketball' and then anyone who has played basketball would then get up and try to move seat. After this 15 minute game was done I was surprised to have a few saying 'That game was sick' meaning, that game was good! And I had Kyle come up to me and say, 'That's a calm game bruv, we should do that again' and from then I realised these Young Offenders aren't the people we would judge by their cover but once getting to know them there's a lot more to them than that.
Last but not least, we had a little tour of the school, showing them around and we had a positive one. As most of them love the gym, letting them know that we had a gym full of equipment, brought a positive reaction out of them, something that let them be themselves even more. There was one person I felt shows some huge potential in terms of letting themselves be heard and that's Ricardo. At the beginning he didn't want to play the Eastenders game and then at the end of the session he said how he would love to do something in terms of music, 'not live but recorded' and that made me think that he has so much to prove on this course and I'm positive he will. I'm positive all of them will.
Thursday, 6 June 2013
Community - Episode 1
Previously spoke about, we had the Turnaround team come in and explain that each individual had a mind of their own and for them to commit a crime, looking back at it wasn't 100% their fault. Now we're just wanting to treat them as we would treat each other, especially as we're all equal! I found that by doing this I would have to be 100% honest with them and not put on a face that wasn't mine. Being true to who you are will produce the goods and honest hearts will produce honest actions.
The first was The Planet Game and in this game it was all about concentration and trust. Obviously the trust between everyone on their first day with each other won't be as strong but later on in the upcoming weeks that would definitely change. Some good, some bad.
Another was a game called 'Following' and this was another game that needed trust. Personally I feel that we should play the more trustworthy games in week 2 or 3 just to make sure we're on the right track as it's never good to trust too soon. Anyways, in this game it's one where you and a partner name yourself 'A' and 'B'
The last game which I wanted to bring to the table to make sure everyone was creating a healthy relationship with each other is a game called 'If You've' and in this game everyone would sit around in a circle and one person would start in the middle. The person in the middle would ask a question, something like 'If you like apples' or 'If you own a pair of Nike trainers'. Once this is said the other's who can relate to that question will then get up and move to a different chair. The rule is though, they can't move to either chair next to them and they mustn't fight over a next chair if someone else is there too. To me, a game like this can warm up hearts and keep heads open for other tasks ahead.
Another game I hope to introduce, not for Friday's lesson but next week is a game called 'Whoosh!'
Dee's workshop (Blessing)
Dianna's workshop was much more than useful, it was a life lesson about how to treat people and how to approach certain people in certain ways. 'No one is the same so make sure you approach them in a specific way in which you're sure they'll accept well' was one of the quotes I remembered from Monday's lesson.
The main aim was to find ways to communicate well with people we weren't used to communicating with, the beginning of this would be learning names and by doing that we would have to play games.
The first was The Planet Game and in this game it was all about concentration and trust. Obviously the trust between everyone on their first day with each other won't be as strong but later on in the upcoming weeks that would definitely change. Some good, some bad.
Another was a game called 'Following' and this was another game that needed trust. Personally I feel that we should play the more trustworthy games in week 2 or 3 just to make sure we're on the right track as it's never good to trust too soon. Anyways, in this game it's one where you and a partner name yourself 'A' and 'B'
The last game which I wanted to bring to the table to make sure everyone was creating a healthy relationship with each other is a game called 'If You've' and in this game everyone would sit around in a circle and one person would start in the middle. The person in the middle would ask a question, something like 'If you like apples' or 'If you own a pair of Nike trainers'. Once this is said the other's who can relate to that question will then get up and move to a different chair. The rule is though, they can't move to either chair next to them and they mustn't fight over a next chair if someone else is there too. To me, a game like this can warm up hearts and keep heads open for other tasks ahead.
Another game I hope to introduce, not for Friday's lesson but next week is a game called 'Whoosh!'
Lastly, the group name our wonderful teacher Sarah gave us was '4th Wall'. I thought this was a brilliant name, especially to match what our objectives were. We want to show the audience that just because people are doing crimes it's not because they want to, it can have been a domino effect that has now been put onto them. WE also want that fourth wall to be broken in order to bring the audience as well as the young offenders on a journey, through thick and thin and to produce something magic is the key.
Lets go team!
Term 5 is all about community and from Monday's kick off I'm raring to go to meet the Young offenders tomorrow. I can't lie at first it was nerve wrecking, hearing that we would be working with individuals that have committed serious crimes but once the nail was dug deep and we had workers come in to explain the process, mine, and I'm pretty sure most of the other's nerves were much calmed down. I have a strong feeling that this term will be the best for me and I'm looking to kick start my long term ambition of changing people's lives hopefully in a better way.
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