HEAR MY VOICE Citizens Theatre Learning

INTRODUCTION Pupils from Sandaig Primary and Bannerman High have been participating in a project called HEAR MY VOICE with the Citizens Theatre.

The pupils have taken part in fun drama, creative writing and storytelling sessions with staff from the theatre’s Learning Team.

Initially, the pupils worked in separate groups, then all three groups joined up and participated together. The pupils encouraged each other and enjoyed working collaboratively.

This book contains photographs, pieces of writing and descriptions of the work that was done over the three school terms from 2017 - 2018.

The book has been designed and created by the pupils from Bannerman High. They learned how to use Adobe InDesign software and made decisions about the content and the layout.

We have thoroughly enjoyed working with the wonderful pupils and staff on this project!

Angela, Louise and Carly (Citizens Theatre)

WHAT’S IN THE BOX? The P1, 2 and 3 pupils volunteered, one at a time, to be shown a secret object inside the golden box. They then had to describe the object to the rest of the group, without naming it. Each person decided how to best describe their object.

The other group members had to try and guess what the object was, based on the description.

This game was lots of fun and everyone managed to guess successfully.

Some descriptions that were used were: • • •

It is small and goes really fast.

It is gold and round. It has a skull on it.

They are shiny and they cover your eyes.

EMOJI CHECKS At the beginning of each session the pupils chose an emoji which showed their feelings for that day. They were invited to share with the group the reasons for choosing the emoji, but they didn’t have to share if they didn’t want to.

They then hid the emoji somewhere in the room and it stayed there during the session. At the end, the pupils went to see if the emojis were still there. If they were, the pupils would collect them and then all gather together in a circle.

They then had to decide whether they would keep the same emoji or would swap it to something different due to how they felt.

MAPPING ACTIVITY The All Stars group looked at a map someone had drawn of their area, with things marked on the map which mattered to them or places where important things had happened, like the places people hang out with their friends.

Then each person drew a map of somewhere that mattered to them.

Brooke drew her bedroom.

Yasmin drew her house, Scott drew his street and Robbie drew his primary school, which was a circular building.

SANDAIG STARS Sandaig Primary School’s mascot is an otter, so the P1, P2 and P3 group created their own otter characters.

They were given an outline as a starting point and then chose which words should describe the otter characters.

These were added to the pictures. They then coloured in the otters in their choice of colours.

Finally they gave the otters names!

LOVES AND HATES The P7 group thought about what they loved and what they hated. They wrote their ideas down with an explanation.

GIANT PORTRAITS The All Stars group created large self portraits. They rolled out giant sheets of paper and lay down on top of them. In pairs, the pupils drew round each other’s bodies.

The pupils then added details to their pictures, such as faces and clothing. Louise asked the pupils to add as much details as they wanted. Some people decided to add things like the badges from their blazers. Others chose to add details to create facial expressions.

This activity was great for encouraging the pupils to work together in a cooperative way.

ACT ME A STORY During the joint workshops, the pupils from Sandaig Primary and Bannerman High School told, wrote down and acted out stories.

The older pupils learned how to be good story listeners and good story writers. The younger pupils learned how to express themselves and tell their own original stories.

These stories were acted out, with everyone in the group participating together.

A stage area was marked out on the floor and each pupil was invited on to the stage to play the various characters in the stories.

This was a really fun part of the project and the pupils enjoyed working together.

GIVING COMPLIMENTS During our last joint session together, we spent some time giving each other compliments. One person spoke at a time and everyone else listened. People could choose anyone in the group to give their compliment to.

Brooke’s compliment about Scott.

Scott’s compliment about Brooke.

Brooke’s compliment about Abigail.

Robbie’s compliment about Andrew.

Dylan’s compliment about Lily-Mai.

Brooke’s compliment about Robbie.

Abigail’s compliment about Carolyn.

Angela’s compliment about Korey.

Andrew’s compliment about Robbie.

Louise’s compliment about Tommy.

Louise’s compliment about Mira.

Mira’s compliment about Angela.

Carolyn’s compliment about Mira.

Tommy’s compliment about Dylan.

ALL ABOUT ME! The pupils from P1, 2 and 3 were given giant sheets of paper. They put them on the floor and then lay down on top of them. An adult drew round the outline of their body. Once the outline was complete, the pupils had to then add details to personalise the image. They were then asked to think about things they liked, such as types of food. They added images of these to their pictures. They also then added other things that they liked such as characters from books or TV programmes. Finally they drew the people that live at home with them. The pupils were very proud of their finished pictures!

EXAMPLES OF STORIES In pairs, one person told a story and the other person wrote it down.

The writer wrote everything the storyteller said, and read it back to them as they wrote it down.

After writing the story, the writer asked the storyteller which character they wanted to be when the story was acted out.

They also underlined all the characters and objects that could be performed when the story was acted.

These stories did get acted out, with the writer reading them aloud for the group to hear.

A VISIT TO THE CITZ In December, the All Stars group went to the Citizens Theatre to watch Cinderella and also to see behind the scenes of the theatre.

The group went to see the wardrobe department and tried on costumes.

They also got to see under the stage and in the workshop.

One of the best bits was getting to stand on the stage, in amongst the set of the play. A fun day out was had by all the group members.

EXAMPLES OF STORIES The P1, P2 and P3 pupils told their own stories. They were written down verbatim and then acted out with everyone in the group joining in.

IN GROUPS, MAKE A...

All three groups joined up to participate in practical drama and storytelling sessions. One activity involved groups working together to create various objects using their bodies.

The pupils had lots of fun creating a washing machine, a man-eating plant and a motorbike. Everyone in the group became a different element of the object.

This activity encouraged pupils to work together in a cooperative way and to listen to one another.

STORY ILLUSTRATIONS During the joint sessions, the pupils illustrated some of the stories that had been told. Here are a few examples of some of the illustrations.

OCTOPUS THOUGHTS Daniel from the All Stars group drew octopus outlines for everyone.

Each person added their own details to their pictures.

The group members then had to think about what helps them to calm down when they are angry.

Some of the things that people listed include: • • • • •

Using a stress ball or toy Talking to someone Reading a book Going for a swim Removing yourself from the situation

PUPIL FEEDBACK

THANK YOU PUPILS We hope you have enjoyed taking part in this project. We have certainly enjoyed working with you all.

During the project you have made some new friends, visited a different school and some of you have visited the Citizens Theatre.

This project is called HEAR MY VOICE and we hope that over the past few months you have been encouraged to use your voices, to express your feelings and opinions and to share your wonderful creativity with others.

We hope you choose to keep this book and show it to those who are close to you so that they too can see all the wonderful activities you have done over the past few months.

We’d like to thank Geraldine Smith and Ruth Guile for allowing us to work with you, Mrs Murray and Susan for taking part in our sessions with such enthusiasm, all the class teachers at both schools for allowing us to take you out of your classes for the sessions and finally YOU for being so willing to join in with all the crazy things we suggested. We’ve loved working with you!

We’d also like to thank our funders ‘The Ragdoll Foundation’ and ‘The Gannochy Trust’. Without their support this project would not have been able to happen.

Angela, Louise and Carly (Citizens Theatre)