Eleven: Final Day Evaluation

Eleven: Final Day Evaluation

Today was a rather emotional day for myself despite not being openly crying my eyes out as it was our final day at St Giles.

We decided to wear costumes and put on a final performance for the kids based on the theme Britain's Got Talent. I was without a costume as my dad took mine to work by mistake, but luckily through the team group chat, I managed to amend this problem easily.  

Cherry and I went into the classroom to find Jo and Claire looking after Adam and Gemma, with the other kids not in sight as they went for a rehearsal in the hall. We were unable to finish off any of the white sheet as they did that themselves in their own time which were not informed about, but we were there to help with literally anything so we were alright. We ended up making small jetpacks out of cardboard boxes for the children's wheelchairs. This took up a good portion of our time with the staff and kids, but still left us awkwardly hanging around waiting for something to do. I did however feel like the kids warmed to us despite of course not being able to tell us so. Whereas they usually panicked at the sight of us and being louder, today they didn’t seem phased at all by our presence and remained quiet. Perhaps it just took a bit longer than the other classes because of how much AF needed a routine to feel comfortable with us. Adam However did feel sick because of the pollen in the air and had severe hay fever, often sneezing twelves times consecutively. It was interesting watching how the staff dealt with this issue by just letting it happen then helping as they couldn’t interfere with it until it had finished.Because we were hanging around, we decided to say goodbye and rejoin with the BRIT team as we didn’t want to be sitting around for hours not really doing any community work.

The show they’re producing is mostly for the parents and friends - definitely not to a commercial audience of course - but nonetheless it still has purpose. I feel like the students are coping with the show  very well despite the challenges they face. To us it may not look like they’re trying, but to them, they must be trying exceptionally hard which I  am proud to see. Especially from AF. They really had improved from the first time we saw them rehearse as they didn’t want to do anything but sleep. The way in which the staff work with the students during rehearsals is very unique. They run through everything routinely and in order as otherwise it would confuse the kids. They realise that they need to repeat everything over and over again for it to stick. They also make certain the kids don’t have to do anything if they don’t feel up to it. This is  important as otherwise it would be exceptionally distressing for them. It simply comes down to hoping they’re responsive on the night, as you can’t always tell if they will be up to it.

Over working with the students at St Giles over the past month, I have learned not only that they are strong individuals but so are the staff who give up their time to improve others. I have endless respect for people who do this for a living, they have the patience of saints and are inspiring to me. I guess the biggest thing I have learnt is that each child, although being severely disabled, are still teenager and kids just like the rest of us despite being in the unfortunate situation they’re in - To them it’s their norm. There's nothing unfortunate to them because they’re so used to it.

I have gained from community term a massive respect for community theatre and children's theatre. Giving back is so important and it isn’t necessarily through charity work it can be small acts. As someone who didn’t really have the patience for this term as I found the whole idea very stressful, I have somewhat developed a patience and ability to channel out things that aren’t important. I feel more empathetic yet inspired.

My fears entering St Giles, looking back, definitely weren’t needed but were natural. I felt very scared and nervous and didn’t really have the drive to do the tasks because of my patience. I think most of it stemmed from the idea of having to dive straight into the deep end with the facilitating. I am immensely proud of what I have achieved at St Giles. I genuinely am happy that I got to experience it, I am better for it. I hope that I can come back to doing community theatre or children's theatre as I really enjoyed this term.

Ten: Final Show Rehearsal

Ten: Final Show Rehearsal

In today's lesson we unanimously decided to come in costume as a surprise for the kids and put on a surprise show for them.

We agreed that the theme would be ‘britain's got talent’ and that we would each have an individual talent to showcase. In my case, I decided to do a spur of the moment Michael Jackson impersonation, as the music is instantly recognisable. My only worry is that I cannot do a Michael impersonation but instead a discount Bruce Forsyth. Perhaps I should’ve chosen something more music based like playing my guitar to calm them down, as MJ is quite an intense act for younger audiences.

The story would follow an easy format as it would be difficult as the kids won’t like change easily. We follow the rules of:

• Introduction
• Individuals Acts
• Results

This should hopefully make them comfortable.

Over my time doing community thus far, I have realised that my initial approach was maybe a bit to brash and needed to be more of a calming presence. From this, I will try to make sure that,despite having a brash Michael Jackson performance, it will be quick and easy so that it doesn’t go on for too long as it will distract the kids.

Our activities we will conduct on the tuesday will simply be finishing off the big white sheet and any rehearsals the kids need.

Final Plan:

Practical activities that need to be done:

Finish painting big white sheet (we have A LOT to do here)

Games we haven't done yet:

RUSH! W/ music

Rush is a game where in a group, someone will call out a number and the class must arrange themselves to get into a group of that number. Carers will have to move the students around in the wheelchairs.

Example: "groups of five!", the children will get into a group of five.

This will require more space, a hall or larger.

We will add musically elements so students will have bells or drums.

(Break 5 minutes to calm down)

Nine: Third Facilitation Session

Nine: Third Facilitation Session

Upon arrival today, I had no idea that we had no hall time so I was unable to conduct RUSH! This meant that all my activities would take place in the classroom. I also found out that Cherry was sick upon arrival at the school. I was feeling nervous as I’m not good on my own.

In the morning I saw Jo, Claire and Andy and they said that they’re so busy that it was rather unlikely that any activity would be done apart from arts and crafts. I was okay with this because I couldn’t do the book and song either without Cherry, meaning I was a lot more confident in what I was doing. I just made sure that I got as much of the big white sheet painted as I could in the day. I decided that I would paint lots of crazy frogs as this was what Adam was performing his dance to.

In the end I couldn’t really facilitate as Cherry wasn’t there combined with the stress of the staff for the show. Perhaps most notably from the day however was that I think I realised I used Cherry as a crutch since she was in CAP and was used to community projects and I wasn’t. I definitely realised that I could interact with teachers and students without her driving the conversations forward. This was rather helpful for myself to acknowledge as it meant that I knew what I needed to improve upon.

Overall, despite having anything to do I realised I was capable of interacting with teachers on my own confidently without using Cherry as an aid because of her CAP experience.

Eight: Third Facilitation Plan

Eight: Third Facilitation Plan

Why are we doing these activities?

Rush: We have added music and bells to this as we believe it will help the students take more of an active role in the game as opposed to just being led by the staff. We don’t want them to feel excluded despite them reacting positively to it last time.

Rehearsal of show: This is so we can assess what we can improv and see if any of the arts and craft need to be corrected for the wheelchairs.

RUSH!

Rush is a game where in a group, someone will call out a number and the class must arrange themselves to get into a group of that number. Carers will have to move the students around in the wheelchairs.

Example: "groups of five!", the children will get into a group of five.

This will require more space, a hall or larger.

We will add musically elements so students will have bells or drums.

(Break 5 minutes to calm down)

REHEARSAL OF SHOW

With teachers we will do a run through and blocking of the show in the hall.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

We shall finish off the arts and crafts they need to do. And help the students do the finger paintings. We'll also put a film on in the background.

END DAY WITH SONG AND BOOK

WE WILL READ A FEW NEW BOOKS WITH MORE MUSIC PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND TO CALM THE STUDENTS.

Seven: Second Day Facilitating and Boys Club

Seven: Second Day Facilitating and Boys Club

Today Cherry and I were going to try a sensory activity that would have been lovely for the kids. However it didn’t go to plan at all and rather threw us both off.

In the morning we just continued with our big white painting with the kids. This took up a good hour or so and left us feeling rather confident about the rest of the day. I had to take charge over the teachers as they didn’t know what to paint or create so I had to make decisions for them as chief artist. Ishail really didn’t enjoy the painting task however as he took great delight in grabbing hold of anything, including punching cherry and I in the chest - I just carried on as I understood this was likely to happen.

During the break, we all went outside to enjoy the company of the kids and supervise their playtime. I played catch with a girl from another class who I can’t remember the name of but she was wheelchair bound but had mobility in her upper body and was very vocal. It was nice to talk to have a proper interaction and connection with a student as in AF we don’t get any real response. This made me feel really overwhelmed as when you look at disabled children at St Giles, it can be very easy to put them into the category of severe disability, forgetting that many of them are vocal and have the capability to communicate. From this I learned how to interact with the students. I originally was following what the teachers were doing and in many ways talking to them like I was a teacher, but from speaking to her I realised that its one hundred percent okay to speak openly and normally. After all they still are people not too different from myself. It was rather eye opening to me.

Later in the day I went to Boys Club with Harrison and met some of the boys who were going to be the leavers. I met Glory, Zack and Abdal. Glory and Abdal were by far the most vocal students I have met at the school so far. They definitely were more open to chat. In boys club I felt a great sense of responsibility as did Harrison as the kids were looking up to us without us realising it so much. When the discussion began about friendship and moving schools and the pressures of that began, I felt very shocked as to how these students felt to this situation. You really do forget that despite them having these difficulties in their lives, that they experience the same problems a normal teenager would face such as girls, university and many others. When the discussion began, a lot of them differed the questions to myself and Harrison. We were very open to sharing our experiences but were also cautious about having to feel like we had to be all sharing to the group, who we only met a few hours ago. However, I definitely felt like I had an important role to play with the students and I think the overall gravitas of responsibility and trust I have with the students hit me.

Our afternoon facilitation lesson was rather shambolic to say the least. It didn’t go to plan at all and we had to work on the fly. Our original plan was to go into the sensory room, but since it was 34 degrees, we decided not to take them in their as the heat inside was unbearable and we were afraid it would agitate them. Instead we did it in the normal classroom, which had air conditioning. We started off by reading the kids the stories we selected from the library - we made sure they were short, and age appropriate. I made certain that I only played songs in a similar chord pattern to get them familiar with the song as they don't like change. Surprisingly this technique worked as it calmed down everyone in the class to a silence, even Ishmail which I was surprised by. Both Cherry and I decided to re read the first book to bide our time as we had finished that activity quite early. However, the second the sensory activity began, the kids erupted into screams and tantrums which sent the staff into overdrive mode. We realised that we had mucked up somehow but we didn’t know what we did wrong.

We carried on with the sensory activity despite the kids mood. We picked the follow items:

• Fluffy Toy
• Pipe Cleaners
• Shaving Foam
• Ventriloquist puppet (To pretend he’s talking with)
• Bells and drums

We started with the fluffy toys and this didn’t go down well. It was very nerve racking having everyone reacting so negatively at the same time to us and it caused us quite a bit of confusion and distress. I was most nervous about having to do a sensory task and holding their hands whilst they flail around - I didn’t want to hurt them. In the end I just went for it, but Adam was having none of it and punched me in the chest rather hard and threw the toy across the room. I think I got the hint. We did attempt the task with the others but they weren't responsive and were rather dismissive. To cope, we realised that the guitar calmed them down so we went back to task one for the rest of the day and re read the books to them. They inevitably calmed down.

Overall, I think the reason they reacted so negatively to the sensory task was that we changed so quickly from one activity to another. They became comfortable in one task then we took them out of their comfort zone, which we shouldn’t do with them. For next facilitation I will make certain that it’s only games we have played before and that it’s one game per session. Both Cherry and myself felt rather on edge today as we were afraid of the reaction we got and how quickly it changed the atmosphere, but we tried our best to persevere.  

Six: Second Facilitation Lesson

Six: Second Facilitation Lesson

Why have we chosen these activities?

Pass The Object: We didn’t get the opportunity to do this activity last week and we are still really eager to see the response the kids get to a full sensory activity.

Dark Room: We have changed this activity slightly by adding live guitar music and a story. This should engage the students much better than just letting them sleep yet still make the relaxed. We will only pick stories for their mental age so that they feel comfortable in the activity.

PASS THE OBJECT! (30 minutes)

We will supply a box of objects, that the students can pass around and can touch.

- plush toy

- shaming foam

- bubble wrap

- feathers

- sponges

DARK ROOM WITH MUSIC AND LIGHTS

(15 minutes)

Get the students in a circle and sit in the darkness and play music that calming and experiments with ranges of sound. In the centre of the circle we will place a small disco ball. We might read a story to the students whilst they relax. Or I might bring my guitar in and play music gently. Do you have a disco ball? Or fairy lights?

Five: First Day Leading

During our morning session, we took the opportunity to get started on the big white sheet painting we had planned for our facilitation session. This actually last a good 20 minutes longer than anticipated, leaving us little time to conduct the dark room exercises later in the day. However, this could be saved for a later date so we didn’t get stressed.

The morning session went very smoothly with only a few minor hiccups. At first I was very comfortable with the idea of holding the students hands to help them finger paint and press their hands on the sheet, but after witnessing the reaction a lot of the kids had to physically contact, it was best to leave that to Jo and Andy to conduct. They would physically swing their arms if they didn’t like it and, to be quite honest, I really didn’t want to be in the line of fire when they’re are getting slightly rowdy. Ishmael really didn’t enjoy the painting and had to be taken out of the room as he was very unsettled by Cherry and myself being in the room. I’ve noticed that when Ishmael doesn’t like something he swings his arms before screaming, so in the future if I notice him swinging his arms, I’ll know not to do that task. The only other hiccup was with Adam, who started to drool and breathe very fast went in the presence of Cherry and I. He also wasn’t willing to have his hand pressed into the paint which was fine. Maybe he doesn’t like sensory tasks? Something for me to bear in mind.

Our actual facilitating session just consisted of Rush as the hall space audio system had a technical glitch meaning our time was reduced. This made me feel rather nervous as I didn’t really plan for things to go wrong, so I definitely need to be more prepared for if the worst happens. After this glitch was fixed, we were able to conduct the task. We only had Ersula and Adam as the others were undergoing physio. This made everything much easier as I couldn’t really handle a large group for my first facilitating session. This allowed me to ease into everything much easier.  I was very happy with the response the kids gave us. Our choice of music (crazy frog and gummy bear) definitely were good choices as these songs were used in their rehearsal for their show, so they were familiar with them. I could tell they enjoyed by the sounds they made when being moved around quickly.  

After my first facilitating day, I feel a lot more confident in what I was doing. I feel like I can come in next week with ideas and energy. Albeit it may be difficult with a larger group to plan for, but I feel happier knowing that I am capable of planning a workshop with some degree of success. The only things that threw me off guard were the reaction to the painting, which made me on edge and rather sceptical of what the kids were feeling as I didn’t want to hurt them or do anything that made them uncomfortable, and the tech problems - but that can be easily amended!