I'm teaching a lot of drama this school year. To get into the mood, I've been re-watching old episodes of the improv show, Whose Line Is It Anyways? and enjoying the comic genius of people like Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie. Funny enough, one of the games or skits that they play on the show, called "Props", is very similar to a game I'm playing with the students.
We first read Not A Stick to see how the main character can pretend that a stick can be many different things. Then, we sat in a community circle, passed around a stick, and played pretend with some structured conversation. (I think a version of this game is also called "This is a Scarf".) The dialogue goes something like this:
Me: "Who are you?"
Student: [says their name]
Me: "Hey [NAME], nice stick."
Student: "It's not a stick."
Me: "It's not a stick? What is it?"
Student: "It's [says and shows something different]"
I have to tell you that when I played this game with one of our kindergarten classes, you would have thought that they were watching Robin Williams or Catherine O'Hara at their finest. Every time I said "It's NOT a STICK?", the entire class howled with laughter. They thought it was the funniest thing they've ever heard in their entire lives. And then, when I'd say it again for the next person in the circle, they'd crack up laughing anew. No word of a lie, they chortled and giggled and rolled on the floor chuckling loudly like it was the very first time they had ever heard such a witty retort. I was absolutely hilarious. (Before you suggest I abandon teaching for a life on the comedy circuit, check out this article on children's sense of humor from the University of Bristol. I suspect it was a combination of funny faces, funny voices, getting a reaction, and mislabeling.)
Now, it was kind of hard to get them to settle down a bit afterwards, and some of the students were still too shy or hesitant to suggest a different interpretation of the stick, but some did. There were a lot of fishing rods inspired by the book and ninja swords, and a couple of new ideas, but most just loved letting loose. You can see from a few of these photos. These are from the Grade 3-4 students, so they are a bit more advanced in their pantomime, but you can see how it progressed.
Joy is a good thing.
It made me think about the times the students or I have bust a gut laughing out loud.
Toy Store
Students who have had me before for drama class have already begun requesting that we play Toy Store. They love to play pretend. They think it's a hoot to "trick the toy store owner" (aka me in role) and have her perplexed as to why the toy store is in disarray each morning after she locks up, never realizing that the toys are alive and partying after hours. That's what drama is about for young learners. It's not about memorizing lines to recite in a stage performance. The Ontario curriculum says that elementary students will "expand their thinking, solve problems, and develop their ability to express ideas and feelings through aspects of the art form such as contextual or process drama and role play". (page 15)
Early Minecraft Play - We Need a GamingEdus Reunion!
My husband likes to share the story of what it was like listening to my children and to me playing Minecraft together in the early days, alternately screaming in terror and hollering in delight as we experienced this new virtual world. Minecraft used to be such a huge part of my personal and professional life. If you look at the list of presentations I've run on my wiki, you'll notice that from 2012 - 2018, I offered many, many sessions about using Minecraft in the classroom with members of the GamingEdus. The GamingEdus were a group of like-minded educators who believed in the power of video games in education and the positive possibilities of games based learning. We used to have so much fun together. The GamingEdus have crept into my thoughts recently, because one of our core members, Andrew Forgrave, aka Gumby Blockhead, has been helping me migrate all of our old Minecraft accounts to Microsoft before they are locked out for good.
I even found one of our old business cards out of the blue.
So, what happened to the GamingEdus? Well, Liam O'Donnell moved to the Thames Valley District School Board. Denise Colby became a vice-principal in the Toronto District School Board. Jen Apgar became a vice-principal in the Upper Grand District School Board. Andrew Forgrave retired from the Hastings Prince Edward County District School Board. We still love games but Microsoft's acquisition of Minecraft reduced the pleasure of this specific game for some of us, and we moved on to other priorities and jobs. I hope that we can arrange a get-together in the future so we can reunite and reminisce about those great times we had together.
Conversations with Friends over Food
I couldn't recall a specific example of this, except for a time long ago that my sister and I with some mutual friends (Cathy and Brendan) were sitting around the kitchen table at my parents house. We were eating but we were so overly tired that everything anyone said was inexplicably funny. Thing is, combine good friends with good food and uninterrupted time, and it is likely to lead to lots of laughs. These precious moments will often happen at dinner after a conference, or during the summer over a leisurely lunch.
I hope you get a chance to laugh lustily and without reservations sometime soon. Laughing has many health benefits, according to this article from the Mayo Clinic. So, live, laugh and love!
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