Improv, A Power Outage, and Ghost Stories
or How to Turn A Power Outage into a Teachable Moment.....
The rules of improv (so far) as my Grade 9's understand them:
1. Blocking = bad, accepting = good!
2. You are not the star. Support your fellow actor.
3. Give the audience what they want.
4. Be prepared to change yourself. Go with the flow.
So, on Friday I was enjoying my usual after lunch time with these ever-enthusiastic Grade 9 improvisers, teaching them a game or two to assist with their ever-growing improv skills - uh, foreign film dubs I believe. Or, as one them so masterfully suggested we call the game, "Lost in Translation" (Thanks, Fly!)
On Friday, somebody, somewhere made me an offer. And as a good improviser, I had no choice but to accept.
I called my class down to the stage to move on to the next activity, when suddenly - Fwump! Out goes the power. (And I am fairly certain that "fwump" is exactly the sound that is made when the power goes out in a two hundred-seat theatre.)
So what would an improviser do? Well, improvise I do proclaim. Without missing a beat I ask them to sit in a circle (yes, it's dark... very dark) Zoe, my Grade 12 peer tutor, who is incredibly adept at reading my mind most of the time, caught my eye in the dim glow of the emergency lights, and with a quick nod, was off up the stairs to the booth. She returned momentarily with a flashlight, and we commenced an improptu game of "Line by line Ghost Story". It was great. Once again, my Grade 9's came through with adaptability, acceptance, and all manner of good things.
Now, I don't say these things without some understaning of the opposite. I taught at a public school in New Zealand, in a school that was quite "different" than my present school in terms of the behaviour of students. In that school, when the power goes out, as it did for me one afternoon with 31 Grade 10 students, a teacher has almost no hope. It took everything I had to coral those students. And that was in a room that was still incredibly well lit by many large windows letting in the somewhat cloud-muted sun. On Friday, it took 5 words to get my class of 25 to settle in a near-pitch-black room. "Join me in a circle" And they did!
It didn't take long, and power came back on. Only a few minutes probably. Brittany D was in the middle of her own ghost story. There was no discussion. One of them jumped up, ran to the light switch, and plunged us once again into darkness. This was okay with me. I think they knew it. They weren't taking advantage, or trying to take control of the class away from me. I think they have just come to know me, and how I operate, how I think, what I want, what I do.....
Accept and adapt. Rule number 4! Be prepared to change yourself (or, in this case, my lesson plan). Go with the flow. If the power leaves you in the dark, change your plans, but don't stop.
Rule number 1 - Blocking = bad, Accepting = good. "Can we keep doing this?" one of them might ask. A lightning fast decision from me that yes -this is fine, and still acceptable for an improv class. After all, storytelling is part of what we do....
Rule number 3 - You are not the star. Support your fellow actor. My class wanted to keep telling ghost stories. You know what? It's their scene. Not mine. Though I am the teacher, I am not the star. I felt in that moment that the ghost stories better "supported" their learning than what I had planned anyway.
When the bell went to end the class, we turned the lights back on.
"Stay for just a moment" I offered.
"Sure" they accepted.
I told them my thoughts about how we just accepted, adapted, allowed ourselves to change -Improvised!
They got it.
Sorry, this was long. But you know what? My Grade 9's are worth the time and the words.
The rules of improv (so far) as my Grade 9's understand them:
1. Blocking = bad, accepting = good!
2. You are not the star. Support your fellow actor.
3. Give the audience what they want.
4. Be prepared to change yourself. Go with the flow.
So, on Friday I was enjoying my usual after lunch time with these ever-enthusiastic Grade 9 improvisers, teaching them a game or two to assist with their ever-growing improv skills - uh, foreign film dubs I believe. Or, as one them so masterfully suggested we call the game, "Lost in Translation" (Thanks, Fly!)
On Friday, somebody, somewhere made me an offer. And as a good improviser, I had no choice but to accept.
I called my class down to the stage to move on to the next activity, when suddenly - Fwump! Out goes the power. (And I am fairly certain that "fwump" is exactly the sound that is made when the power goes out in a two hundred-seat theatre.)
So what would an improviser do? Well, improvise I do proclaim. Without missing a beat I ask them to sit in a circle (yes, it's dark... very dark) Zoe, my Grade 12 peer tutor, who is incredibly adept at reading my mind most of the time, caught my eye in the dim glow of the emergency lights, and with a quick nod, was off up the stairs to the booth. She returned momentarily with a flashlight, and we commenced an improptu game of "Line by line Ghost Story". It was great. Once again, my Grade 9's came through with adaptability, acceptance, and all manner of good things.
Now, I don't say these things without some understaning of the opposite. I taught at a public school in New Zealand, in a school that was quite "different" than my present school in terms of the behaviour of students. In that school, when the power goes out, as it did for me one afternoon with 31 Grade 10 students, a teacher has almost no hope. It took everything I had to coral those students. And that was in a room that was still incredibly well lit by many large windows letting in the somewhat cloud-muted sun. On Friday, it took 5 words to get my class of 25 to settle in a near-pitch-black room. "Join me in a circle" And they did!
It didn't take long, and power came back on. Only a few minutes probably. Brittany D was in the middle of her own ghost story. There was no discussion. One of them jumped up, ran to the light switch, and plunged us once again into darkness. This was okay with me. I think they knew it. They weren't taking advantage, or trying to take control of the class away from me. I think they have just come to know me, and how I operate, how I think, what I want, what I do.....
Accept and adapt. Rule number 4! Be prepared to change yourself (or, in this case, my lesson plan). Go with the flow. If the power leaves you in the dark, change your plans, but don't stop.
Rule number 1 - Blocking = bad, Accepting = good. "Can we keep doing this?" one of them might ask. A lightning fast decision from me that yes -this is fine, and still acceptable for an improv class. After all, storytelling is part of what we do....
Rule number 3 - You are not the star. Support your fellow actor. My class wanted to keep telling ghost stories. You know what? It's their scene. Not mine. Though I am the teacher, I am not the star. I felt in that moment that the ghost stories better "supported" their learning than what I had planned anyway.
When the bell went to end the class, we turned the lights back on.
"Stay for just a moment" I offered.
"Sure" they accepted.
I told them my thoughts about how we just accepted, adapted, allowed ourselves to change -Improvised!
They got it.
Sorry, this was long. But you know what? My Grade 9's are worth the time and the words.
posted by Hedivan at 10:03 PM
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