Creative Space

I was delighted to return to Forest Glen Public School in New Hamburg, ON this month. It was the perfect venue for the first official JumpStart workshops.

In all of the three grade seven classes there was a mix of students from two different feeder programs, so there were at least 10 students in each class that were ‘new’ to some of the others. The teachers, Carla and Tim, were glad that we could get working so early in the year so that the students could jump right in to working closely and collaboratively together.

After three days, 100 minutes with each group each day, we came out with 80 original characters, three wild and wonderful stories, and lots of smiling faces. As there isn’t scheduled drama time at the school, it’s so great that these kids could get some intensive, dedicated drama time.

I was lucky enough to be working with the school around parent-teacher night and Carla mentioned that so many of the parents had heard great things from their children about what they were up to in improv class.

Here are some highlights from their feedback comments:

“I learned I can do things that I thought I couldn’t do.”

“I learned how to not be nervous.” (Emma)

“The class can have fun and work together. I learned how to face my fears around the class and just be different.” (Paige)

“I noticed that everyone showed other sides of them during this.”

“I learned that I can have tons of fun at school.” Sarah

“I liked everything and I learned a lot about my classmates.”

“I learned about myself is that I’m not as shy as I thought I was in front of people.”

“What I learned about my class is that together we can come up with millions of ideas that are all special!” (Sophia K)