OBJECTIVE OF THE SESSION
The objective of this session is to provide caretakers with improvisation skills in order to help young people with anger and social rejection issues to identify their emotion, manage it and turn it into a positive emotion.
By the end of the session each member will be able to:
– use theatre techniques as a methodology for preventing emotional violence
– create a safe zone for any subtypes of victims and aggressors in the group via improvisation
– analyze and deepen the story and its impact on the group’s members, through drama conventions and digital drama activities
NOTE: The session does not have to be the first one executed. It would even be advisable to be implemented after the participants have been familiarised with the other sessions.
CASE SCENARIO
William is a fifteen-year old, student with autism. William is, basically, a very happy and pleasant young man. He has a wonderful sense of humor and is a pleasure to be around.
The humorous side of William made him able to get a few friends in his class.
William wants to do well in school. He is a perfectionist and expects to earn straight A’s in his classes. But William needs reminders to pay attention during class. William also tends to rush through schoolwork, not fully reading directions and questions in his hurry to complete the assignment. William also becomes easily frustrated and angry, although his behavior has improved this year; he still becomes occasionally agitated and yells, hits himself, throws things or cries.
This temperament side is more often shown and makes his friends feel annoyed, especially in weeks full of assignments. His classmates were so annoyed so that in their group assignments no one wanted to partner with him anymore and they excluded him.
TRAINING SESSION DEALING WITH EXILED AUTISTIC STUDENTS
The trainer welcomes the participants and informs them of the case scenario (see above) either through power point presentation or via narration. After having informed the participants of the case scenario the trainer presents the goals of the session by pinpointing the type of aggression, the emotions and the coping strategies:
- Aggression Type: Example of relational aggression – exclusion, ostracism.
- Emotions: anger.
- Coping: Stressors related to mental illness/social rejection.
- Coping: Functional coping strategies.
- Questions and answers:
1st Question
At what point in the scenario do you find that the protagonist was a victim of violence? To what kind of violence does the scenario refer to?
1st Answer
When none of his classmates wanted to be friends with him anymore and excluded him from group assignments and left him alone like he was before he entered that class.
It refers to emotional violence, most probably verbal and non-verbal with gestures and mimic carried out.
2nd Question
Do you think that the thoughts, the actions, the feelings and the attitudes adopted by the protagonist of the scenario helped him/her to cope with this situation? Are there any alternative ideas?
2nd Answer
No, with his mental conditions he is not able to cope with the situation. If William’s emotional break downs do not get special intervention regarding the management of his negative emotions, then the pressure that William faces in the social sphere will become more severe.
3rd Question
What other interventions and actions could further help the protagonist to deal with this incident and with any potential similar incidents in the future?
3rd Answer
- Figure out the reasons for the emotional break down
- Create a safe zone for him
- Behavioral and developmental interventions
- Family-based interventions
- Therapy-based interventions and medical interventions
- Alternative interventions (ex.: elimination diets)
And also:
– What are the main problematics exposed in the case scenario?
– How are the issues presented in the above case scenario related to specific emotions?
– Which are those emotions?
Then there is a discussion and the participants express their ideas. By the end of this part the participants should have determined that the case scenario deals with: relational aggression resulting in exclusion, ostracism and that the emotion this session will focus on is anger.
PREPARATION
This session is carried out between the trainer (improvisation professional) and the caretakers. They should all wear comfortable clothes and shoes.
- Duration: 90 minutes.
- Number of participants: 6-20.
- Place: A room where there is space to move.
- Materials and tools: A box, small cards with adjectives written on them, music player and songs, large papers for drawing/writing, cardboard construction papers, colour pencils, pens and pencils.
PROCEDURE
Introduction
- Duration: 10 minutes.
- Description: Introducing the case scenario, the questions and the emotion.
Introduction Exercises – Improvisational training
Warm up: If the trainers want to include relaxation exercises (i.e. stretching, body warm up, imagination relaxation etc.) they can take 5 minutes before each session to do them. It is important to note that participants with mobility problems can execute all the exercises sitting on a chair and using the parts of their body which are mobile and/or their imagination.
Note: All exercises which include physical contact and/or movement can be substituted by a) the trainer performing the exercises and explaining, b) the trainer performing the exercises and the group instructing her/him and c) the group can be sitting in their chairs and they can narrate, imagine and/or share their physicality or mobility.
1. Exercise 1: Say your name
- Purpose: To get to know each other, to relax and participate in a group, to use your own voice.
- Duration: 5 minutes.
- Description: The trainer asks the participants to form a circle. Then, the one after the other, say their names, and also one thing they love doing and one thing they hate doing.
2. Exercise 2: Vocally expressing emotions
- Purpose: Engaging, participating in a group, using your voice, expressing emotions, creativity.
- Duration: 5 minutes.
- Description: The participants stay in the circle. The trainer takes the box with the small cards and asks the participants to choose a card which has adjectives written on them such as “happily”, “pleasantly”, “funnily”, “angrily”, “sadly” and so on. Each one takes a card and reads it without saying her/hiss adjective out loud. In the circle, they all start saying their names according to the emotion written on the card. The other participants identify the emotion expressed. When everyone has said their names according to the chosen card, they all put the cards back in the box. The action is repeated at least 2 more times so that different participants express different emotions. In case the same card is chosen by the same participant, then the participant finds a different way to express the same emotion.
3. Exercise 3: Physically supporting emotions
- Purpose: Participating in a group, using voice and body to express emotions, creativity.
- Duration: 5 minutes.
- Description: The participants stay in the circle. The trainer takes the box with the small cards and asks the participants to choose a card which has adjectives written on them such as “happily”, “pleasantly”, “funnily”, “angrily”, “sadly” and so on. Each one takes a card and reads it without saying her/hiss adjective out loud. In the circle, they all start saying their names while using their body to support the emotion. For example, the participants can stomp their feet, bend their torsos, use their arm and so on. The other participants identify the emotion expressed. When everyone has expressed physically and vocally their names according to the chosen card, they all put the cards back in the box. The action is repeated at least 2 more times so that different participants express different emotions. In case the same card is chosen by the same participant, then the participant finds a different way to express the same emotion.
4. Exercise 4: Body potential
- Purpose: Participating in a group, body awareness (its potentials and limitations), space perception, creativity, imagination.
- Duration: 5 minutes.
- Description: The participants start walking around the space. They have to try to cover the entire space and keep in mind that they have to move towards where there is an opening. After having walked for about 30 seconds and without stopping to walk, the trainer asks the participants to start moving their right hand and realise all the possible movements that it can carry out, for example, the possible movements of the fingers, the wrist, the elbow and so on. While they move their arm, the trainer guides them and proposes different movements that the hand can carry out. When the trainer sees that the participants have exhausted most of or/and all the possible movements that the right hand can do, s/he moves to the left hand, following the same procedure. Then the trainer goes to the right leg, allowing the participants to stand on their left leg, and asks them to follow the same procedure. Then they move all move to the left leg. Then, while the participants start to walk again, the trainer asks them to move their hips and, when s/he sees fit, asks them to form a circle. While in the circle the trainer asks them to start moving their head. The trainer should keep in mind that moving the head is tricky, so s/he should be attentive and careful. When they finish with the head movement the trainer could ask them to say their name using an emotion they want and supporting it with their entire body.
5. Exercise 5: Dancing
- Purpose: Participating in a group, body awareness, creativity, letting go, imagination.
- Duration: 5 minutes.
- Description: While in the circle, the trainer puts on music and asks the participants to start dancing. The music should be about 3-5 minutes long, depending on the group, and it should start slowly, reach a climax, during which the trainer will ask the participants to dance as in a tribal dance, and then it should slow down, to prepare the participants for the next exercise.
6. Exercise 6: Short movie as a digital pretext
- Purpose: Identify with the story, evoke emotions and thoughts for the characters, focusing on emotions, “victims and aggressors”.
- Duration: 13 minutes.
- Digital material: Short movie link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMI9UUtnSKM&feature=youtu.be (students’ production)
The trainer is free to use any alternative video dealing with bulling, otherness and violent stances towards otherness. It is important for the participants to witness visually a similar situation as that described in the case scenario.
- Description: The trainer prefaces the short movie The Kid with the red line (9:55 minutes) by asking the audience to focus on the plot, the emotions and the characters’ motives while watching the film. At the end of the screening, he calls the participants to express their thoughts and emotions driven by the screening. The trainer writes down on a large paper for painting the audience’s reactions and feedback.
7. Exercise 7: Dramatizing Short Movie’s Scenes – Part A
- Purpose: Applied Theatre & Forum Theatre techniques, interactive theatre exercises for individual and team sharing of behaviors and stances towards exclusion and ostracism.
- Duration: 12 minutes.
- Digital material: Short movie link.
- Description: Participants sit in a circle facing one another. The trainer asks the participants to choose one scene from the movie during which the protagonist feels embarrassed and/or anger. At this point they can watch the scene again or just keep the information from the narration. The trainer, in the role of the victim-protagonist, acts out the scene in the middle of the circle and s/he can co-perform the scene with her/his colleagues. The rest of the group participate as observers. Then the trainer informs the audience that s/he will present the scene again and that they have the right to interrupt the action at any point, by saying “stop” and make suggestions related to how it might proceed. Then the participant who said “stop” replaces the trainer-protagonist and changes the scene: the participant can bring another point of view, change the emotions, the expressions, or elements of the scenario, by improvising on different aspects of the original scene. Then, another participant replaces the trainer and at the end everybody in the circle expresses thoughts and emotions, as if they were in the role of the protagonist (collective role). Depending on the group the trainer has the alternative to execute the forum theatre techniques without the participation of the entire group: the trainer can choose the main character she/he wants to present and improvise in a monologue the emotions of the character in question that she/he wants to convey to the rest of the group. Then the rest of the group, after the provocation of the trainer, could react to the situation presented in any way that they want (verbally, physically and so on).
8. Exercise 8: Dramatizing Short Movie’s Scenes – Part B
- Purpose: Drama education techniques, interactive theatre exercises for bringing out different points of focus and for deepening in character’s stances.
- Duration: 10 minutes.
- Digital material: Short movie link- last scene (min. 7:55-8:56)
- Description: The trainer focuses on the last scene of the short movie during which the “kid-victim” (Konstantinos) finds the courage to express his own words in front of the audience and stops the students from preventing him (see minutes 7:55-8:56). They watch this scene again. Then, the trainer leads the participants to act the “conscience alley”: A participant (or the trainer) walks, in the role of the kid with the red line (Konstantinos), between two rows of pupils who may offer advice as the character passes. Participants offer advice as themselves or as other movies’ characters. Then, the participant or the trainer in the role of Konstantinos sits on a chair in front of the group and s/he is questioned by the group about his values, relationships, feelings, behaviour an so on («hot-seating»). The trainer guides questioning in constructive directions and by focusing on the last scene of the movie. At the end, he asks the participants who would like to take the role of Konstantinos and to answer any of the above questions, in her/his own way (opening/giving chances to collective role). Then, the trainer calls a volunteer to perform the role of “Dimitris” in the hot-seating improvisation. Dimitris, is the kid who tried to stop Konstantinos from expressing himself in front of the audience (last mentioned scene). Alternatively, the trainer or other colleague acts out the role of Dimitris. Dimitris is hot-seated and participants may ask him questions related to his behavior towards Konstantinos, their relationship, and details related to the turning points of this scene (Konstantinos is supportive towards Dimitris though Dimitris with the other classmates made fun of him, Konstantinos finds the courage to overcome obstacles and so on). The trainer give the chance to the whole team for taking part in the hot-seating as Dimitris: Is there any of the above questions which you would like to answer as you were in the role of Dimitris? (“collective role”). The trainer felicitates the participants for their performance and participation in all the above exercises and s/he points out the step out of the roles.
- Alternative application: The entire exercise can be performed, again, by the trainer who does the «hot-seating» and responds to the rest of the group. If the group does not respond she/he can perform the entire exercise in a monologue
REFLECTION-RESPONDING TO THE WHOLE SESSION
9. Exercise 9: Drawing-Creative Writing exercise
- Purpose: Reflection and responding to drama, assimilate characters and feelings.
- Duration: 5 minutes.
- Description: Participants, in small groups, draw a picture driven from the above processes, and they can also add verses, words or slogans on it. Then they share their final product with the whole team. Alternatively, they can write or articulate a paragraph with the inner thoughts of any of the movie’s characters.
10. Exercise 10: Catching the ball
- Purpose: Precision, communication, awareness, body movement, group perception, creativity, imagination.
- Duration: 5 minutes.
- Description: While in the circle, the trainer creates an imaginary ball. S/he presents the ball to the participants. For example, s/he can say: this is my favourite, yellow tennis ball, it is small, soft and of normal weight, or, this is my orange basket-ball, it is quite big and rather heavy and so on. Then, s/he says that they are all going to throw it to each other and throws the ball to one participant who then throws it to the next and so on. The participants should throw the ball to each other keeping in mind its shape and weight. When the trainer feels that this ball has exhausted its function, s/he asks from another participant to create her/his own ball and the game continues. The trainer will judge when the game should end, taking under consideration the group response. The trainer pinpoints the common goal of keeping the ball flow, as a common goal for team building.
11. Exercise 11: Drawing the ball
- Purpose: Metaphor-real word, group reflection.
- Duration: 5 minutes.
- Description: In cardboard construction paper, the whole team is led by the trainer to draw a big ball (their common ball-goal), add a symbol and write some words in the ball related to good ideas of building a friendly team communication. The trainer pinpoints the positive feelings and ideas.
CONCLUSION
- Duration: 5 minutes.
- Description: At the end of the session the trainer will ask questions that stimulate reflection, namely “How do you think the above session links to the emotion we are dealing with?”, “What did you find helpful?” and so on. Then s/he will invite participants to pinpoint what stroke their attention, what they gained and want they want to keep as a reference point from all the above procedure as well as to ask any questions related to the above exercises.
