PART 2: Activities to Promote Inclusivity

 Barrios artwork inspired by neighborhoods

This art-based activity focuses on building and strengthening social cohesion and inclusion through creativity. The activity methodology encompasses interactive participation and hands-on activities to get the young people engaged with the inspiration that surrounds them in their neighbourhoods.  The objective of this project is to get students to create a work of art inspired by their neighbourhoods. It enables students to feel a sense of belonging and pride in where they live and enables students to gain an insight into the lives of their classmates. This activity can facilitate the inclusion of students from all socio-economic backgrounds and provides them with an opportunity to develop skills such as initiative, flexibility, and of course empathy.

visual

2x45mins

paper, crayons, colouring pencils , cardboard, needle and thread, cameras, notebooks and pens, paints, arts and crafts materials, glue.

Adapted from https://www.caam.net/es/actividades_int.php?n=3897

Significant SELF-PORTRAITS

Talent, Social, Cultural, Socio-economic Challenges

Self-portraits and Selfies are a great teaching opportunity. Every student is strong, powerful, and their portraits need to be viewed from their own perspectives rather than the negative stereotypes that pervade our society.

Talent, Social, Cultural, Socio-economic Challenges

Visual Art

50 minutes per Day

Day One: Portrait Studies

Students walk into the class and see three self-portraits on the front wall/screen/board. Choose underrepresented minority portraits, socially disadvantaged portraits and others.

In groups of no more than 3 students, ask them to write three things that are similar in the portraits, three things that are different.

For the rest of the class period, students work in groups to study the photos and write down their observations.

Day Two: Self description

Hand each student a sheet with questions prompting them to think about their personalities: “What is one word that you would use to describe yourself?”

“What is your favourite piece of clothing that you own?”

“Where do you feel like you are in your element?”

Then give them more portraits (on video projector) and learn about easy photography terms, such as composition, arrangement, close-up, balance, space, and simplicity.

 Day Three: Developing Hashtags

On the third day, students must develop a hashtag for the political issue they are interested in. Some examples of hashtags can be: #StopDomesticViolence, #IAmNotAStatistic, #BlackLivesMatter, and #BuildBridgesNotWalls.

They must create their own hashtag.

Then they have to make a plan to take their own portraits, including clothing, setting, background, facial expression, pose, and distance from the camera, Hashtags to use.

Day Four: Students take turns using the camera, or phones, to take the photos, with the help of the others.

Day Five: Display of the photos on digital format, and discussion on the chosen Hashtags and image. Or School Gallery display.

3 Printed Portraits or selfies

White papers

Photo camera or/and phone camera

Video projector

https://www.davisart.com/sites/default/assets/File/high-school-art-students-break-stigmas-and-negative-stereotypes.pdf

Didactic games

To outline the challenge which the student is facing in the course of studying and to identify the achievement of the aim when applying this method of inclusive learning. The list of challenges includes but is not limited to cultural, social/communication, physical (disability), cognitive, socioeconomic, talent and giftedness-related and behavioural challenges.

Cultural, social/communication, physical, cognitive, socioeconomic, talent and giftedness-related and behavioural challenges

Painting

45 minutes, i.e. 1 class

In arts, the content of real life may only be manifested through emotions, and only emotions can help us perceive the secrets dwelling in a work of art.

Work in pairs.

Painting/drawing by following the instructions of a peer.

The student giving instructions may use a plan given by the teacher.

The teacher actively cooperates with the students.

Materials for painting: gouache, artist brushes

Listening and focusing is promoted, imagination and linguistic skills are trained, communication culture is practised, and purposeful activity is pursued.

Yes, the student was active and was painting/drawing what he was being told to paint/draw.

Attention was directed towards positivity; the key task of this method is to make the student unafraid to start creating.

https://www.vilniausppt.lt/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Tinkamiausi%C5%B3-metod%C5%B3-taikymas.pdf

Depiction of Sky in works of professional artists

In the process of studies, students are encountering a plethora of challenges. In the classroom, they are expected to communicate with their classmates who are denoted by differences in characters or different levels in terms of cultural education, social (interaction) and cognitive skills and socioeconomic characteristics. Their peers may be highly gifted or deprived of special gifts in some particular artistic or other type of activity.

Classmates denoted by different emotions and characters as well as students with special needs when conducting a long-term project work spanning over a cycle of classes and drafting presentations get an opportunity to interact, discuss, share functions of teamwork according to their abilities and are thus given opportunities to perform the theoretical and practical parts of the assignment in the selected branch of arts. This not only strengthens the feeling of positivity but also broadens the level of cultural-artistic perception. Students get rid of their negative emotions by creating while simultaneously developing their cognitive, behavioural and social skills.

Cognitive,gifted, socioeconomic, behavioural, social, and cultural challenges.

 Visual arts: drawing, painting, graphics, sculpture.

8 classes

Computers

Tools and materials required for practising arts

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Theatre games for inclusion

Improving inclusion via building confidence of expression, enhancing creative thinking, motor and teamworking skills, building empathy.

Performance art

60 minutes per session, once or twice per week, depending on available facilitator time and space, where the groups can gather after classes. 

Phase I: Preparations

The workshop facilitator should investigate the needs and requirements of the members of the group in order to formulate the assignments she/he is going to give the children, as well as the possible ways in which these assignments can be carried out.

Each and every activity that is proposed within the framework of the InCrea+ can serve an inclusive purpose in almost all areas of exclusion in case the requirements necessary for inclusion to be guaranteed are covered.

Theatre games have proven to be inclusive for children experiencing all and any type of exclusion.

The social and socio-economic aspects of inclusion are taken care of when all the barriers (financial, physical, attitudinal, etc.) to a person’s participation in an activity of her/his choice/preference/liking or even importance for her/his future development and progress have been removed. When the practice/extracurricular activities are freely accessible, when the created environment does not allow bullying or mockery of any type, when children are encouraged to support, accept and appreciate each other, as well as when the topics the theatrical games revolve around are related to inclusion in general and social and socio-economic inclusion in particular, we can say that the suggested activity is indeed inclusive.

Theatre has been known to have exceptionally good results for making huge progress when studying a new language (cultural exclusion), hence it can be used, either in the form of improvisation or in the form of putting up a play by a famous playwright over a period of a whole school year for example. Even if inclusion is not about the excluded person fixing whatever makes them different or extraordinary in order to fit within a certain environment, improving your skills and working on your confidence will certainly improve your chances. Doing this work in the safe and supportive environment of a theatre group will help the child find its place within other groups as well.

As long as the space where the group is gathering is physically accessible (both for people in need of wheelchair access as well as people with sensory disabilities), the facilitators have the necessary support and the background training on working with people with disabilities, theatre can be the solution for inclusion for any person with physical, sensory or mental disability as is proven on a daily basis by the performances, created by Hijinx theatre in Cardiff for example: Home - Hijinx - Theatre - Film - Training - Community - Inclusive - Wales

For the more curious ones, a list of artistic groups or solo artists with disabilities: Artists - Disability Arts International

If the theatre group is approached by children experiencing cognitive or behavioural challenges their participation should take place with additional support - co-facilitator/s available, as well as buddy support from within the group of young participants. Following the suggestions provided in the All-inclusive music ateliers activity is advisable. Inclusion of such children in the group could take place in the form of adding activities that are appealing to them (such as creating props or costumes for the performances) and also creating possibilities for involving them with certain roles in accordance with what is acceptable and appealing to them.

Students experiencing exclusion due to giftedness and talents would not be singled out, rejected, bullied or mocked within a well functioning theatre group that lives and works by the rules of improvisation, which are: make offers, accept offers and further them; don’t block; focus on here and now; be specific, give details; give and take. On the contrary, they will themselves learn how to work with others, how to contribute for the common good, how not to consider themselves alone, but a part of a larger and well functioning organism. This will support their communication skills and will help them find their role and place in other social and professional groups. The possibility to participate in the process of preparing a play and presenting it before a school or community audience will help them demonstrate their talents (again for the benefit of a group and not themselves only) and gain the admiration of others beyond the theatre team. 

Depending on the group, the facilitator needs to decide on a list of games as well as a list of topics, which the children’s stories and improvisations need to revolve around. The list of topics would very much depend on whether the group members know each other, on the relations within the group, on any specific exclusive situations that have occurred in relation to one or several children. Considering that exclusion may not always be obvious to an outsider, especially if the facilitator is not working regularly with the group of children, she/he should make sure to use the workshop time not only for developing children’s presentation skills, confidence and creative thinking, but also build empathy and understanding, by introducing the topics of inclusion and exclusion, stereotypes, diversity, abilities, prejudices, etc. 

The facilitator should also be prepared with different games that correspond to the ability levels of the different group members. She/he should be prepared with more than one explanation as to how an activity or game is supposed to be played, give ideas and examples and provide possibilities for participants to express themselves in more than one manner.

The facilitator needs to provide the possibility of “not playing” a certain game in case a child feels uncomfortable for whatever reason. A co-facilitator should, if possible, be there to take care of any emerging needs or problems the children may experience, so that the workflow of the rest of the group is not obstructed. 

As the workshop/s progress, the children will gain trust in the games and the approach and this will be of major help for them also accepting the differences among themselves.

The facilitator needs to install a group agreement, which does not come from an imposing majority or authoritarian leader, but has been co-created by all participants. The agreement does not rule out alternatives of expression or the right to an opinion, however it requires hearing each other out, waiting for our turn to speak patiently, respecting others’ opinions, adopting the understanding that all need to contribute to the performance of the group as a whole.

Phase II: The actual drama workshops

Always begin with a quick “where we stand” measuring circle, where the participants can share how they feel and how ready they are for the activities, which the facilitator has prepared for them.

Each workshop can continue with some warming up exercises and the first several sessions, especially if the group participants do not know each other, need to include ensemble/trust building exercises.

Do the “walk as if” (a person carrying a heavy load on their back, an old man, Snow White who has just awoken after 100 years of sleep and everything around has changed, a pregnant woman on a busy commercial street, a newly born baby giraffe) exercise in order to make sure the group trains its flexibility before commencing with the other games.

The walk as if exercise can be expanded into Spolin’s “random walk” exercise, further into the drama sessions, with side-coaching, provided by the facilitator that can go deep into the domain of inclusion/exclusion, stereotyping, diversity, etc.

For example, the facilitator can have the group walking inside the room, on their own, at their own prefered tempo. Then at some point the facilitator can start the side coaching. E.g. “Let us imagine you are walking down a street. Getting closer to a subway station. You see a coin on the ground. Bend and pick it up. Look at the coin from all sides. Keep walking towards the subway station. Enter and find, which platform your train will be leaving from. Keep playing with the coin in your right hand all the time. There is reconstruction going on in the subway station. There are low ceilings and obstacles on the floor. Get around them carefully. Just before the platform you see a blind man standing with a cup in their left hand and a white cane in their right hand. You stop in your tracks. You drop the coin you found in their cup. It makes a splash, because there is cappuccino inside. The blind man looks astonished. He was having a warm drink while waiting for his train. What did you think?” A discussion can commence afterwards.

Other games to choose from:

Game for developing imagination:

1. Divide a group of 10 to 16 children into two teams

2. Choose one captain from a team and move him twenty metres away or if it is played in a closed room at a sufficient distance where the children can run

3. Each child on the team chooses a word to bring to the captain and the words are related to a topic chosen by the host of the game or the children

4. At the start each child runs to the captain and whispers the word in his ear. The captain must memorise the words and at the end tell a fictional story using all the words

5. The team with the most interesting story and all words used wins

6. A change of captains and a new story follow

7. The game ends after all the children have been captains and everyone has told a story

Group Environment

Divide the group into teams of 5. Each team makes a small circle. The first participant in the team enters the circle and mimes an action that defines a certain environment of their choice/liking. The other team members are trying to imagine what that environment might be. As soon as another team member decides that she/he has guessed what that environment is and they have an idea how to contribute, they enter the circle and perform a complementary action that further builds the image of the environment. This keeps going until the entire group is inside the imaginary circle, building a common image. Remind students that the key is to create a complete picture. They all have to work together in the moment and not try to add something that destroys the environment. A great game for collaboration.

Actor Switch

Three actors are given a situation and a character from the audience. The facilitator can carefully influence the nature of the situation and the types of characters, which will have to be played, aiming at bringing up topics of inclusion/exclusion and diversity. The students start a scene. At some point during the scene the facilitator calls out SWITCH and the three actors will have to switch characters. That means they have to really listen to each other and be aware of who the other characters are, so that they can pick up another character at any moment. An excellent exercise for understanding various life situations and testing various scenarios. The students should be reminded that the aim is to keep striving for a cohesive scene regardless of the situation.

The facilitator can take and modify numerous games from the ones provided in Viola Spolin’s books, taking into consideration the special inclusive focus of the workshops and adapting the exercises accordingly.

After all the improvisation theatre games, the facilitator can commence with preparing and finally staging a play, either one taken from a famous playwright or one created by the group participants themselves.

Comfortable clothes and shoes, enough space, chairs, some props and scarfs if necessary and good mood

https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/improv-games-for-collaboration/

Rules of Improvisation | The Blog of a Drama Student (wordpress.com)

Spolin, V., (1986) Theatre Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook, Northwestern University Press

Good practice from the InCrea+ project: Game for developing imagination by Kiril Georgiev Kirilov, e-mail: kirikirilovski@abv.bg, publichnarech1@gmail.com,

nsu151@abv.bg