Reflection Paper #2 I had an uplifting and great learning experience with Audi. Audi was very sweet and interested in learning. My partner, Michelle, Audi and I seemed to make a nice bond with him. He also appeared to feel very comfortable around us.
I noticed that he made minimal eye contact, but he spoke and expressed his ideas a lot. He didn’t seem to be shy, but rather funny and outgoing. I noticed he loved telling stories. With the knowledge that I have so far this semester, it seems like Audi is a very high functioning adolescent with Asperger’s. I did not notice many distinguishable characteristics that would classify him as Asperger’s other than minimal eye contact and needing of physical spatial relationships. He did not like it if you got too close to him. However, many typical human beings would not like others getting to close to them either, and I do not know if that is even a characteristic of Asperger’s. However, I believe he did look me directly in the eye at different points.
For our video production, Audi was very organized and had a comic story that he wrote and drew out. For our video production, we plan on using foreign accents to play out his comic. One learning objective would be zooming in on facial features, working with the idea of cropping with him. I am so excited to work with him for the semester. Michelle, Audi and I seemed to make a wonderful connection in our first meeting with him. I hope that connection spreads and I learn a great deal from him, while he learns from Michelle and I.
On Tuesday, October 16th, we had our second meeting with the Arts2Gether students, and overall, it was a very positive and productive day. Susan and I are working with N*** and we were really excited to start working on ideas and plans for our movie. N* is very interested in all kinds of art – painting, drawing, sculpture, design, and many others – so we were really interested to hear where he wanted to take the assignment. Before N* arrived, Susan and I were sitting at the table with M******, whom we hadn’t met the week before. M* was so happy to be there and I was surprised how quickly he picked up the FlipCam and started filming what was going on around him. I was impressed that he was immediately comfortable with Susan and I, and we were all laughing and joking around right off the bat. His sister, J*** also sparked up a conversation with me before we broke off into our own groups, and I was happily surprised at how natural and easy a conversation between us occurred, even though we had never met. She asked me what my favorite hobbies were and other really great “getting to know you” questions, and even though it was something so small, I was really moved by her willingness and eagerness to get to know me. A little while later, N* arrived and we basically got right to work. Susan and I explained the project and showed him the movies we made (along with a short stop-motion-animation film I made last year) to show him different ways in which we could go about it. At first he seemed a little hesitant about the idea, which I think is because he hasn’t really worked on anything like this before; but after a little while of discussing his interests and how to go about making a movie, he seemed more excited about it and the ideas really started flowing. N* really enjoys action movies/thrillers, and he told us about a movie script he has been working on for a little while now. He explained the basic premise, the characters, and even the set/how he envisions filming it. I was amazed at how much planning he had already put into this script, and how well it lends itself to our movie assignment. N* said he was excited because he never thought he would actually put any of his work into motion, since it was a really daunting idea to make a movie all by himself. He asked us how he could possibly star in, direct, and film a movie all at once? Now he realized he didn’t have to, and he was really psyched about that. We did a lot of the pre-planning that day, like costumes, set design ideas, etc. Susan is going to bring in some of her makeup to draw on tattoos and what not, and I’m going to find some of the props we need and music for the background of the trailer. Since we don’t have the time to make a whole movie, we decided it would be really awesome to make a movie trailer and show the best parts of N*’s movie in our trailer. We got so much work done and it laid a really good groundwork for the rest of our meetings this semester. Susan, N* and I are really excited to make this movie and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
I can completely say all of my expectations were blown today when I met M. I was nervous because I didn’t really have a plan for working with him or know much about him. When we met with his mother we were told that M is stubborn, but likes to be the life of the party. This was apparent as soon as he walked into the room greeting everyone as if he had known every person for years. She also told us M does not transition well because He hates new things until he has sat back and watched what is going on. This made me hesitant because when working in a situation like this you transition from activity to activity multiple times. M also does not like being told what to do, he likes to do things on his own and make his own decisions. This makes sense since he is eighteen years old and wants to make his own decisions just like anyone else his age. I saw this when I would ask him to do something new and more specifically when I asked him if I could film him instead of him filming me. However several minutes later he started doing what I asked him to do as if you had never asked him and it was his decision and his decision alone for me to film him. Just in one day working with M has taught me that he is very interesting, kind and loving. He has trouble verbalizing what he wants to communicate but is able to get his point across through small amounts of speech and actions. He loves music and filming so we showed him both of the videos we worked on. Next we tried to make music with our bodies, using our hands and feet to make sounds. M enjoyed this, however he was filming us rather then participating. Next we combined the act of making music with songs from the computer. We played Christmas songs because M told us they were his favorite. You could tell he really enjoyed this because of the way his face lit up and his body language changed. After we used garage band digital music software where M could make his own music using a variety of instruments through the simple act of pressing his fingers on the keyboard. He really liked this as well, however her would play the same note over and over again. Cameron and I both tried to show him that you could play multiple notes. I don’t know if he chose not to because he liked the note he was playing, if it was because he was stubborn and likes to make his own decisions, or because he didn’t understand. Once we were finished and waiting for M to get picked up we played with an app that would talk to you on the i-phone. M loved this especially because he found it funny that the giraffe would repeat whatever sounds he would make. Watching him play with this was exciting. In the upcoming weeks I hope to find other apps that he will enjoy. I think it will truly bring everything that entertains him together. He loves music and taking pictures and from what we could see touching and interacting with media. These are aspects and elements to really take into consideration when planning activities.
Reflection Paper 2 Arts-2-gether: October 16, 2012
On the second day of Arts-2-gether my partner, Amanda, and I got to meet and get to know our student J. J is a young girl with down syndrome. I was immediately impressed by the way she entered the room. She was obviously incredibly excited to be there, to meet us, and to get started on a video project. J came up to us right away to introduce herself. She was eager to tell us what her ideas were for a video, which was to make a music video to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” I brought over a laptop and helped her to look up Michael Jackson’s website. We began to brainstorm, talking about why she wanted to make this video and what some of her plans would be for it. J revealed that she already knew a lot of the choreography and was interested in the scary movie them that the video has. She explained that she wanted to include myself and Amanda, along with possibly other students, as the characters in the video. We pulled up the video on to the Smart Board. By doing so, two other students, A and T, became interested in what we were doing and decided to join us. We spent some time discussing what each member of the group might do in creating the video and what characters they may play. I am looking forward to seeing what we come up with together as a group, between designing costumes, backdrops, and props, along with working on acting in the theater.
One thing that I found exciting about working with and talking to J was how enthusiastic she was about being there and getting right to work. She had a lot of great ideas in relation to the making of the video. It was also nice to see how she gets along with the two other students that will be working with us. Something that became a bit difficult was understanding J at points. Towards the end of the class though it became a bit easier as I began to be more patient with really listening to what she was saying and watching what she was doing. Although this was a slight challenge, J was very enjoyable to work with. Due to her excitement about the class and the project it made it very easy to start coming up with ideas and to become just as eager to begin this process as she is.
My partner Jenn and I worked with N last session to figure out what kind of video he would like to make. We talked about some of his different interests and he mentioned that he really loved any kind of action movie. After talking about action movies, he told us that he writes scripts. We decided to use one of his scripts to create a preview for an action movie.
The script centers around two different main characters: Agent X and Director S. Director S is in charge of CIA agents and sends them on secret missions. Agent X is a sort of renegade agent who went on a mission that went wrong. Agent X has to battle Director S and the rest of the agency. N is going to be playing both characters using some creative filming and editing. We planned out the storyline, wardrobe, and a basic timeline to get all the filming and editing done.
I had a lot of fun planning a project with Jenn and N. N is very creative, had many ideas, and is good with laying out a story. I'm excited to get started. I'm a little worried about time management. We set out a timeline, but editing can take a very long time and we only have hour sessions with N. We'll have to make sure we stay on task and stay realistic about the amount of work we can take on with this project. We have to do all of this while tying not to sacrifice N's creative vision. I'm expecting it will be a hard balance.
I felt that this get together with the students was vastly different than the previous time. We were much more one on one with our students and were able to experience their disabilities first hand. I found it overwhelming at first and I was a bit hesitant to communicate. The first thing that my partner and I did was show A our video. It was difficult at first because the volume on the computer was not loud enough for him to hear so he seemed to be wandering a bit. I found myself remembering that the sheet we got with his information said that he needed redirecting. It was at this point that A noticed a music video on the smart board. We went over to watch what turned out to be Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. A seemed to be engaged in the Thriller video more then he was when we were watching our video on a small laptop. We decided to combine with another group and recreate our own Thriller video. I felt that this was a good idea because as students studying education, we can experience more then one child. The students that are visiting us also get to interact with other students that are similar to them. After we combined our groups we had 3 students with disabilities working with 4 of us. I think this is a good ratio because we have many ideas contributing to the project. There were many differences that I noticed between the students with aspersers and the student with Down syndrome. J, the student who has Down syndrome was very into eye contact. She seemed to feel very comfortable being very close to a strangers face. It seemed that this closeness was in fact comforting to her. She seemed very creative and had such a positive energy. J wanted to go to the theater to work but unfortunately we could not attend that day. She began to develop many scenarios, which involved breaking into the theater. Some of her ideas included dressing up like a horse so no one would see us, climbing through the air ducts on the ceiling and breaking the lock on the door. Her ideas were so complex and intricate but she could not grasp the concept that we simply could not go that day. The only thing that stopped her from continuing her shenanigans was that her mom came to get her. I think working with A, J and T will be very interesting because we can see how they interact with each other and how they are able to work on the video project. I am very excited to continue this process.
Arts-2-gether with Cesare Freida Wright We met Cesare, age 14, this past week and found him to be very bright and extremely active and interested in all kinds of hobbies. We spent time just getting to know each other and wanted to get him thinking about something we could develop a film about him doing. Numerous times we reminded him that a video was going to be made of him and his interest that he would be actively involved in directing. We showed him the video of Meri-Beth who made latch hook rugs as a sample video. He seemed interested and intrigued that we were hoping to develop a movie or documentary about his interests. He shared a lot with us and even though he spoke very precisely and slowly, he communicated very well and clearly his interest to us. The following were some of the things he shared with us that were his hobbies. His hobbies were archery, trapeze, whittling with wood, minor carpentry, robotics, computer assisted manufacturing, CAM, CAD also, bowling, and he finally shared that he plays a lot of video games. One time he designed his own video game at a summer camp he happily recalled. He still can make video games too. We discuss and shared movie interest amongst us too. He was interested specifically in Sci-Fi Fantasy, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Natural Phenomenoms and anything exotic. As he shared I was amazed at his interest and thought that his brain injury just affected his speech and that is it. He seems to be able to think and share his thoughts well, but his speech was slow. We turned our attention next on the kinds of foods we like to eat. He immediately said that his favorite food was escargot, then any kind of pasta, followed by chicken parmesan. We discussed several other foods as well and the diversity of likes he had was fabulous. Of special interest to him we discovered was his like for root beer. We spent some time discussing who in our families like root beer too. I agreed to bring in a list of root beers my husband recommends since he seems to be the expert in our family on good root beers. Cesare was so engaging and personable when discussing their love for root beer in his family. He shared that his brother and father like root beer too. It was enjoyable to discuss this common topic and we even discussed ginger a little. In addition to all of the above, we discussed other things as well including music, art, and writing. He shared that he liked anything hands on and likes writing poetry! Next week he may bring in a sampling of the things he shared that he was interested in with us which may include, poetry, a video game, artwork, and a sampling of whittling which he really gets into. Heidi was able to really discuss his interest in the computer area more in depth and he seems very excited and engaged in that conversation with her. It was a delight to meet him and at the end of class we discussed what we all could bring to class this week to prepare for the project in creating a movie about him. We are looking forward to our next meeting now.
Tuesday was our first actual meeting as a group, and I think it went incredibly well. Amy, Audie and I really made a connection, and it was mostly through laughter. He made us laugh, and we kept trying to get him to crack a smile. Although I was nervous our first meeting would be awkward, we immediately started to talk; we weren’t necessarily talking about the project at first. When A* walked in, he was looking down and seemed a little shy. I immediately called his name out and waved, and he joined us at the table. He told us he forgot our names, so we all re-introduced ourselves before watching the videos that we made. He really seemed to enjoy Amy’s, and we went on to discuss some hobbies and interests of his; Star Wars, cartoons, and sports. He mentioned his family and cat in our conversations, and Amy and I related his experiences to our own. We told him we were going to make a movie together, and that he could be in the movie, actually shoot the video and/or edit it. A* wanted to make the video based upon his cartoon series, which he agreed. As we began to discuss his story, he was hesitant to tell us much. But as we began to ask questions, he began to tell us more without us asking anything. He definitely thought his stories were funny (which they were), and I think this is a great quality. It shows he probably has some sort of confidence in his ability to make people laugh, and that is a great feeling. A* mentioned that one of his characters had a Russian accent, and we all started to talk in different accents. A* seemed very excited when speaking in accents, talking in different tones and even making some facial expressions. We began to really discuss the kind of voices these characters would have, since we would film the drawings of his cartoons while we all were assigned different characters to narrate. A* even mentioned that one character had an emotion, saying that “He is sad”, while another was “evil”. We had all agreed that we’d like to make the movie funny, adding something a little unexpected to the video. A* specifically mentioned making a blooper real, which I think he is very excited about (as am I!). We said the idea of possibly putting ourselves in the video also, and A* responded favorably. Amy mentioned the possibility of focusing on different areas of the face, and A* really liked the idea. This surprised me, because I didn’t think he’d really like the camera zooming in on his face. Yet, we began to film, and he seemed very comfortable. Yet, I could tell at times he did show that he liked his personal space, but this is normal for any person. In fact, I know many people who hate the camera, yet A* seemed at ease with it. We all did little skits, saying different lines from his story in different accents, zooming in on different areas of the face. A* actually was very observable about my facial expressions and movements. At one point, we were watching all of our videos over again, and he started to laugh and brought up how funny my eyebrows were moving. A* also had very high standards for himself. Many times, he would say, “Oh, I am not good at ...”. Then, he would do what he said he was not good at, and say, “That wasn’t bad”, or “That was terrible!”. I was surprised by how critical he was of himself, and also us at times. After we watched and laughed through all of our videos, he asked Amy and I, “Is it okay if I like my video best?” (the film of him saying the line), and we said, “Of course not!” I am really excited about our project, and I think A* is too. At the end of the class, he told us he’d like to show us the video he made last year, and he though Alice might have it. We told him for some lines, we could focus on our teeth. He responded, “I’ll make sure to brush my teeth on that day”. A* has trouble with eye contact, but during our time together he made direct eye contact with me at least 8 times, although all of them were brief, lasting only a few seconds. I can’t wait till tomorrow, when we can start filming!
Rebecca Trosa Reflection #2 Our second meeting with the kids was a lot of fun! Compared to the first time we had much more time to interact with the students and get to know them better. Mia and I talked with “A” and showed him the interview video we had made. He didn’t seem to interested in our video but he seemed to like the not so serious questions we had asked like “If you could be any super hero what would you be?” and “If you could be any animal what would you be?” He said that he would be a cat if he could be any animal. We asked him what kind of video he would like to make, and he said that he wants to incorporate music in his video. While we were talking he seemed to keep staring at the Michael Jackson video the other group was playing. He got up and walked over to the screen. We asked “A” if he would like to be in the video, he said yes. He told us he would like to be a zombie but he doesn’t know if he wants to dance. So we decided to join the other group and make a music video based off the Michael Jackson song Thriller. I’m not sure if “A” will want to dance in the video but I think once he sees other people dancing he might just want to join in. I’m glad we are working with the other group this way I will get a chance to work with two other students who have a very different range of disabilities. “J” took charge from the start; she seems to know exactly what she wants the video to be like. She knows the dance to the entire video and didn’t hesitate to show us. “J” had all these ideas like having tombstones as the background and making a coffin which the zombies could come out of. She also wanted to have auditions for the video so she could decide on the cast. “T” had the Idea of incorporating the Peanut Butter Jelly dance into the end of our music video. The kids had such imaginative ideas and I can’t wait to start working on this video.
Tuesday Ashley and I finally got to meet Hannah and to get to know her. Hannah has a learning disability but from first impression she seems very normal, super nice, and very pretty. The first thing we did when she walked in and sat down next to us was introduce ourselves. We asked her some basic questions about her like her age and her interests and we found out that she is 13 and really likes to play volleyball. We talked over our common interests and then went around the triangle and shared our favorite movies. We explained that were going to make our own movie and began discussing what she might want to do and she quickly decided she would like do something related to volleyball because she really enjoys it. We began throwing ideas about possible things we could do with the idea like maybe heading to the gym. Maybe the volleyball net would even be up so we could use it for our video. After that we threw out the idea of possibly a taking a bunch of consecutive pictures to make it into a video. We looked at a few cool examples on the internet and quickly decided we wanted to do something like that. We then pondered what we could do with volleyball to make it an interesting story. After a lot of thought we came upon the idea of her teaching us to play volleyball but instead of us being our normal selves we will be completely incapable of doing anything right. We thought it would be really funny. Then we talked about music and what kind of music we might like to play in the background and she said she really likes Justin Timberlake. We decided we would use one of his songs as the background music for our video. That lead us to a completely off topic googling of cute boys. It wasn’t really helpful for our video but it helped us bond. Hannah is so great. I’m really glad we got put with her. In just on meeting we learned so much about each other and really bonded. I can tell this experience is going to be really fun. I just hope we will get a chance to see and understand her disability because it’s hard to really see it.
Our first time in Arts-2-Gether with J was very exciting. Since we hadn’t met her the previous week, we were both anxious to see what was going to happen. As told to us, she walked straight into the room and began greeting everyone with hugs. She came over to us and very lovingly introduced herself and informed us very quickly that she was interested in Michael Jackson and wanted to do her video based off of the music video Thriller. Her speech is not very clear and it’s often filled with stutters and words or phrases that she says very quickly. It took quite some time for us to initially realize who she was talking about when she said Michael Jackson. It was also difficult to help her focus on things that we should be doing. Initially she was told that she was going to the Theatre Department to work with them as well. However, once we told her that that was not happening, she insisted until the end of the class time that we go anyway, devising plans on how to get into the room. While it is very creative, it wasn’t very helpful for us to plan our project when she was interested in leaving the room. I think that our experience will certainly give us a new perspective on Down’s Syndrome and actual first hand experience on the issues that may come alongside. However, I often this that she is also her own person with her own personality traits that are going to be apparent which goes back to the idea that this is an art project with students.
I was nervous coming into this week, because I was in a three-person group. I didn’t know how it would work, because three people working with one student seemed like a lot to me. However, we found out there was another student coming, so I came together with Freida to work with Cesare. We did not know anything about this going in, because he was new and did not have the intro sheet filled out yet. Alice told us that he had TBI, traumatic brain injury, and that his mother said we needed to speak very clearly, slowly, and repeat ourselves often. I was nervous about the level of functioning we would experience, but was excited to work with him. We spent the class time getting to know our student better, asking all sorts of questions into his hobbies, interests, and favorite things. I could have never expected what I saw from Cesare; he was extremely intelligent, had a million hobbies, and was extremely articulate. His speech was slower than most, and you could tell he was very thoughtful in what he was going to say. We explained the project, and left him with the idea that we could make a movie about anything. Before he left we got the chance to meet his mom, who asked if it would be okay if his service dog came with him the following week. I was curious as to what his service dog was for, but did not inquire further at the time. I am looking forward to making a movie with him, because he is so incredibly well rounded and interesting!
Amy Diener
ReplyDeleteARE 305_02
Dr. Alice Wexler
10/23/12
Reflection Paper #2
I had an uplifting and great learning experience with Audi. Audi was very sweet and interested in learning. My partner, Michelle, Audi and I seemed to make a nice bond with him. He also appeared to feel very comfortable around us.
I noticed that he made minimal eye contact, but he spoke and expressed his ideas a lot. He didn’t seem to be shy, but rather funny and outgoing. I noticed he loved telling stories. With the knowledge that I have so far this semester, it seems like Audi is a very high functioning adolescent with Asperger’s. I did not notice many distinguishable characteristics that would classify him as Asperger’s other than minimal eye contact and needing of physical spatial relationships. He did not like it if you got too close to him. However, many typical human beings would not like others getting to close to them either, and I do not know if that is even a characteristic of Asperger’s. However, I believe he did look me directly in the eye at different points.
For our video production, Audi was very organized and had a comic story that he wrote and drew out. For our video production, we plan on using foreign accents to play out his comic. One learning objective would be zooming in on facial features, working with the idea of cropping with him. I am so excited to work with him for the semester. Michelle, Audi and I seemed to make a wonderful connection in our first meeting with him. I hope that connection spreads and I learn a great deal from him, while he learns from Michelle and I.
On Tuesday, October 16th, we had our second meeting with the Arts2Gether students, and overall, it was a very positive and productive day. Susan and I are working with N*** and we were really excited to start working on ideas and plans for our movie. N* is very interested in all kinds of art – painting, drawing, sculpture, design, and many others – so we were really interested to hear where he wanted to take the assignment.
ReplyDeleteBefore N* arrived, Susan and I were sitting at the table with M******, whom we hadn’t met the week before. M* was so happy to be there and I was surprised how quickly he picked up the FlipCam and started filming what was going on around him. I was impressed that he was immediately comfortable with Susan and I, and we were all laughing and joking around right off the bat. His sister, J*** also sparked up a conversation with me before we broke off into our own groups, and I was happily surprised at how natural and easy a conversation between us occurred, even though we had never met. She asked me what my favorite hobbies were and other really great “getting to know you” questions, and even though it was something so small, I was really moved by her willingness and eagerness to get to know me.
A little while later, N* arrived and we basically got right to work. Susan and I explained the project and showed him the movies we made (along with a short stop-motion-animation film I made last year) to show him different ways in which we could go about it. At first he seemed a little hesitant about the idea, which I think is because he hasn’t really worked on anything like this before; but after a little while of discussing his interests and how to go about making a movie, he seemed more excited about it and the ideas really started flowing.
N* really enjoys action movies/thrillers, and he told us about a movie script he has been working on for a little while now. He explained the basic premise, the characters, and even the set/how he envisions filming it. I was amazed at how much planning he had already put into this script, and how well it lends itself to our movie assignment. N* said he was excited because he never thought he would actually put any of his work into motion, since it was a really daunting idea to make a movie all by himself. He asked us how he could possibly star in, direct, and film a movie all at once? Now he realized he didn’t have to, and he was really psyched about that.
We did a lot of the pre-planning that day, like costumes, set design ideas, etc. Susan is going to bring in some of her makeup to draw on tattoos and what not, and I’m going to find some of the props we need and music for the background of the trailer. Since we don’t have the time to make a whole movie, we decided it would be really awesome to make a movie trailer and show the best parts of N*’s movie in our trailer.
We got so much work done and it laid a really good groundwork for the rest of our meetings this semester. Susan, N* and I are really excited to make this movie and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
I can completely say all of my expectations were blown today when I met M. I was nervous because I didn’t really have a plan for working with him or know much about him. When we met with his mother we were told that M is stubborn, but likes to be the life of the party. This was apparent as soon as he walked into the room greeting everyone as if he had known every person for years. She also told us M does not transition well because He hates new things until he has sat back and watched what is going on. This made me hesitant because when working in a situation like this you transition from activity to activity multiple times.
ReplyDeleteM also does not like being told what to do, he likes to do things on his own and make his own decisions. This makes sense since he is eighteen years old and wants to make his own decisions just like anyone else his age. I saw this when I would ask him to do something new and more specifically when I asked him if I could film him instead of him filming me. However several minutes later he started doing what I asked him to do as if you had never asked him and it was his decision and his decision alone for me to film him.
Just in one day working with M has taught me that he is very interesting, kind and loving. He has trouble verbalizing what he wants to communicate but is able to get his point across through small amounts of speech and actions. He loves music and filming so we showed him both of the videos we worked on. Next we tried to make music with our bodies, using our hands and feet to make sounds. M enjoyed this, however he was filming us rather then participating. Next we combined the act of making music with songs from the computer. We played Christmas songs because M told us they were his favorite. You could tell he really enjoyed this because of the way his face lit up and his body language changed.
After we used garage band digital music software where M could make his own music using a variety of instruments through the simple act of pressing his fingers on the keyboard. He really liked this as well, however her would play the same note over and over again. Cameron and I both tried to show him that you could play multiple notes. I don’t know if he chose not to because he liked the note he was playing, if it was because he was stubborn and likes to make his own decisions, or because he didn’t understand.
Once we were finished and waiting for M to get picked up we played with an app that would talk to you on the i-phone. M loved this especially because he found it funny that the giraffe would repeat whatever sounds he would make. Watching him play with this was exciting. In the upcoming weeks I hope to find other apps that he will enjoy. I think it will truly bring everything that entertains him together. He loves music and taking pictures and from what we could see touching and interacting with media. These are aspects and elements to really take into consideration when planning activities.
Reflection Paper 2
ReplyDeleteArts-2-gether: October 16, 2012
On the second day of Arts-2-gether my partner, Amanda, and I got to meet and get to know our student J. J is a young girl with down syndrome. I was immediately impressed by the way she entered the room. She was obviously incredibly excited to be there, to meet us, and to get started on a video project. J came up to us right away to introduce herself. She was eager to tell us what her ideas were for a video, which was to make a music video to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” I brought over a laptop and helped her to look up Michael Jackson’s website. We began to brainstorm, talking about why she wanted to make this video and what some of her plans would be for it. J revealed that she already knew a lot of the choreography and was interested in the scary movie them that the video has. She explained that she wanted to include myself and Amanda, along with possibly other students, as the characters in the video. We pulled up the video on to the Smart Board. By doing so, two other students, A and T, became interested in what we were doing and decided to join us. We spent some time discussing what each member of the group might do in creating the video and what characters they may play. I am looking forward to seeing what we come up with together as a group, between designing costumes, backdrops, and props, along with working on acting in the theater.
One thing that I found exciting about working with and talking to J was how enthusiastic she was about being there and getting right to work. She had a lot of great ideas in relation to the making of the video. It was also nice to see how she gets along with the two other students that will be working with us. Something that became a bit difficult was understanding J at points. Towards the end of the class though it became a bit easier as I began to be more patient with really listening to what she was saying and watching what she was doing. Although this was a slight challenge, J was very enjoyable to work with. Due to her excitement about the class and the project it made it very easy to start coming up with ideas and to become just as eager to begin this process as she is.
My partner Jenn and I worked with N last session to figure out what kind of video he would like to make. We talked about some of his different interests and he mentioned that he really loved any kind of action movie. After talking about action movies, he told us that he writes scripts. We decided to use one of his scripts to create a preview for an action movie.
ReplyDeleteThe script centers around two different main characters: Agent X and Director S. Director S is in charge of CIA agents and sends them on secret missions. Agent X is a sort of renegade agent who went on a mission that went wrong. Agent X has to battle Director S and the rest of the agency. N is going to be playing both characters using some creative filming and editing. We planned out the storyline, wardrobe, and a basic timeline to get all the filming and editing done.
I had a lot of fun planning a project with Jenn and N. N is very creative, had many ideas, and is good with laying out a story. I'm excited to get started. I'm a little worried about time management. We set out a timeline, but editing can take a very long time and we only have hour sessions with N. We'll have to make sure we stay on task and stay realistic about the amount of work we can take on with this project. We have to do all of this while tying not to sacrifice N's creative vision. I'm expecting it will be a hard balance.
I felt that this get together with the students was vastly different than the previous time. We were much more one on one with our students and were able to experience their disabilities first hand. I found it overwhelming at first and I was a bit hesitant to communicate. The first thing that my partner and I did was show A our video. It was difficult at first because the volume on the computer was not loud enough for him to hear so he seemed to be wandering a bit. I found myself remembering that the sheet we got with his information said that he needed redirecting.
ReplyDeleteIt was at this point that A noticed a music video on the smart board. We went over to watch what turned out to be Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. A seemed to be engaged in the Thriller video more then he was when we were watching our video on a small laptop. We decided to combine with another group and recreate our own Thriller video. I felt that this was a good idea because as students studying education, we can experience more then one child. The students that are visiting us also get to interact with other students that are similar to them.
After we combined our groups we had 3 students with disabilities working with 4 of us. I think this is a good ratio because we have many ideas contributing to the project. There were many differences that I noticed between the students with aspersers and the student with Down syndrome. J, the student who has Down syndrome was very into eye contact. She seemed to feel very comfortable being very close to a strangers face. It seemed that this closeness was in fact comforting to her. She seemed very creative and had such a positive energy. J wanted to go to the theater to work but unfortunately we could not attend that day. She began to develop many scenarios, which involved breaking into the theater. Some of her ideas included dressing up like a horse so no one would see us, climbing through the air ducts on the ceiling and breaking the lock on the door. Her ideas were so complex and intricate but she could not grasp the concept that we simply could not go that day. The only thing that stopped her from continuing her shenanigans was that her mom came to get her.
I think working with A, J and T will be very interesting because we can see how they interact with each other and how they are able to work on the video project. I am very excited to continue this process.
Arts-2-gether with Cesare Freida Wright
ReplyDeleteWe met Cesare, age 14, this past week and found him to be very bright and extremely active and interested in all kinds of hobbies. We spent time just getting to know each other and wanted to get him thinking about something we could develop a film about him doing. Numerous times we reminded him that a video was going to be made of him and his interest that he would be actively involved in directing. We showed him the video of Meri-Beth who made latch hook rugs as a sample video. He seemed interested and intrigued that we were hoping to develop a movie or documentary about his interests.
He shared a lot with us and even though he spoke very precisely and slowly, he communicated very well and clearly his interest to us. The following were some of the things he shared with us that were his hobbies. His hobbies were archery, trapeze, whittling with wood, minor carpentry, robotics, computer assisted manufacturing, CAM, CAD also, bowling, and he finally shared that he plays a lot of video games. One time he designed his own video game at a summer camp he happily recalled. He still can make video games too.
We discuss and shared movie interest amongst us too. He was interested specifically in Sci-Fi Fantasy, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Natural Phenomenoms and anything exotic. As he shared I was amazed at his interest and thought that his brain injury just affected his speech and that is it. He seems to be able to think and share his thoughts well, but his speech was slow.
We turned our attention next on the kinds of foods we like to eat. He immediately said that his favorite food was escargot, then any kind of pasta, followed by chicken parmesan. We discussed several other foods as well and the diversity of likes he had was fabulous.
Of special interest to him we discovered was his like for root beer. We spent some time discussing who in our families like root beer too. I agreed to bring in a list of root beers my husband recommends since he seems to be the expert in our family on good root beers. Cesare was so engaging and personable when discussing their love for root beer in his family. He shared that his brother and father like root beer too. It was enjoyable to discuss this common topic and we even discussed ginger a little.
In addition to all of the above, we discussed other things as well including music, art, and writing. He shared that he liked anything hands on and likes writing poetry! Next week he may bring in a sampling of the things he shared that he was interested in with us which may include, poetry, a video game, artwork, and a sampling of whittling which he really gets into.
Heidi was able to really discuss his interest in the computer area more in depth and he seems very excited and engaged in that conversation with her. It was a delight to meet him and at the end of class we discussed what we all could bring to class this week to prepare for the project in creating a movie about him.
We are looking forward to our next meeting now.
Tuesday was our first actual meeting as a group, and I think it went incredibly well. Amy, Audie and I really made a connection, and it was mostly through laughter. He made us laugh, and we kept trying to get him to crack a smile. Although I was nervous our first meeting would be awkward, we immediately started to talk; we weren’t necessarily talking about the project at first. When A* walked in, he was looking down and seemed a little shy. I immediately called his name out and waved, and he joined us at the table. He told us he forgot our names, so we all re-introduced ourselves before watching the videos that we made. He really seemed to enjoy Amy’s, and we went on to discuss some hobbies and interests of his; Star Wars, cartoons, and sports. He mentioned his family and cat in our conversations, and Amy and I related his experiences to our own. We told him we were going to make a movie together, and that he could be in the movie, actually shoot the video and/or edit it.
ReplyDeleteA* wanted to make the video based upon his cartoon series, which he agreed. As we began to discuss his story, he was hesitant to tell us much. But as we began to ask questions, he began to tell us more without us asking anything. He definitely thought his stories were funny (which they were), and I think this is a great quality. It shows he probably has some sort of confidence in his ability to make people laugh, and that is a great feeling.
A* mentioned that one of his characters had a Russian accent, and we all started to talk in different accents. A* seemed very excited when speaking in accents, talking in different tones and even making some facial expressions. We began to really discuss the kind of voices these characters would have, since we would film the drawings of his cartoons while we all were assigned different characters to narrate. A* even mentioned that one character had an emotion, saying that “He is sad”, while another was “evil”.
We had all agreed that we’d like to make the movie funny, adding something a little unexpected to the video. A* specifically mentioned making a blooper real, which I think he is very excited about (as am I!). We said the idea of possibly putting ourselves in the video also, and A* responded favorably. Amy mentioned the possibility of focusing on different areas of the face, and A* really liked the idea. This surprised me, because I didn’t think he’d really like the camera zooming in on his face. Yet, we began to film, and he seemed very comfortable. Yet, I could tell at times he did show that he liked his personal space, but this is normal for any person. In fact, I know many people who hate the camera, yet A* seemed at ease with it.
We all did little skits, saying different lines from his story in different accents, zooming in on different areas of the face. A* actually was very observable about my facial expressions and movements. At one point, we were watching all of our videos over again, and he started to laugh and brought up how funny my eyebrows were moving. A* also had very high standards for himself. Many times, he would say, “Oh, I am not good at ...”. Then, he would do what he said he was not good at, and say, “That wasn’t bad”, or “That was terrible!”. I was surprised by how critical he was of himself, and also us at times. After we watched and laughed through all of our videos, he asked Amy and I, “Is it okay if I like my video best?” (the film of him saying the line), and we said, “Of course not!”
I am really excited about our project, and I think A* is too. At the end of the class, he told us he’d like to show us the video he made last year, and he though Alice might have it. We told him for some lines, we could focus on our teeth. He responded, “I’ll make sure to brush my teeth on that day”. A* has trouble with eye contact, but during our time together he made direct eye contact with me at least 8 times, although all of them were brief, lasting only a few seconds. I can’t wait till tomorrow, when we can start filming!
Rebecca Trosa Reflection #2
ReplyDeleteOur second meeting with the kids was a lot of fun! Compared to the first time we had much more time to interact with the students and get to know them better. Mia and I talked with “A” and showed him the interview video we had made. He didn’t seem to interested in our video but he seemed to like the not so serious questions we had asked like “If you could be any super hero what would you be?” and “If you could be any animal what would you be?” He said that he would be a cat if he could be any animal. We asked him what kind of video he would like to make, and he said that he wants to incorporate music in his video. While we were talking he seemed to keep staring at the Michael Jackson video the other group was playing. He got up and walked over to the screen. We asked “A” if he would like to be in the video, he said yes. He told us he would like to be a zombie but he doesn’t know if he wants to dance.
So we decided to join the other group and make a music video based off the Michael Jackson song Thriller. I’m not sure if “A” will want to dance in the video but I think once he sees other people dancing he might just want to join in. I’m glad we are working with the other group this way I will get a chance to work with two other students who have a very different range of disabilities. “J” took charge from the start; she seems to know exactly what she wants the video to be like. She knows the dance to the entire video and didn’t hesitate to show us. “J” had all these ideas like having tombstones as the background and making a coffin which the zombies could come out of. She also wanted to have auditions for the video so she could decide on the cast. “T” had the Idea of incorporating the Peanut Butter Jelly dance into the end of our music video. The kids had such imaginative ideas and I can’t wait to start working on this video.
Tuesday Ashley and I finally got to meet Hannah and to get to know her. Hannah has a learning disability but from first impression she seems very normal, super nice, and very pretty. The first thing we did when she walked in and sat down next to us was introduce ourselves. We asked her some basic questions about her like her age and her interests and we found out that she is 13 and really likes to play volleyball. We talked over our common interests and then went around the triangle and shared our favorite movies.
ReplyDeleteWe explained that were going to make our own movie and began discussing what she might want to do and she quickly decided she would like do something related to volleyball because she really enjoys it. We began throwing ideas about possible things we could do with the idea like maybe heading to the gym. Maybe the volleyball net would even be up so we could use it for our video. After that we threw out the idea of possibly a taking a bunch of consecutive pictures to make it into a video. We looked at a few cool examples on the internet and quickly decided we wanted to do something like that. We then pondered what we could do with volleyball to make it an interesting story. After a lot of thought we came upon the idea of her teaching us to play volleyball but instead of us being our normal selves we will be completely incapable of doing anything right. We thought it would be really funny. Then we talked about music and what kind of music we might like to play in the background and she said she really likes Justin Timberlake. We decided we would use one of his songs as the background music for our video. That lead us to a completely off topic googling of cute boys. It wasn’t really helpful for our video but it helped us bond.
Hannah is so great. I’m really glad we got put with her. In just on meeting we learned so much about each other and really bonded. I can tell this experience is going to be really fun. I just hope we will get a chance to see and understand her disability because it’s hard to really see it.
Our first time in Arts-2-Gether with J was very exciting. Since we hadn’t met her the previous week, we were both anxious to see what was going to happen. As told to us, she walked straight into the room and began greeting everyone with hugs. She came over to us and very lovingly introduced herself and informed us very quickly that she was interested in Michael Jackson and wanted to do her video based off of the music video Thriller. Her speech is not very clear and it’s often filled with stutters and words or phrases that she says very quickly. It took quite some time for us to initially realize who she was talking about when she said Michael Jackson. It was also difficult to help her focus on things that we should be doing. Initially she was told that she was going to the Theatre Department to work with them as well. However, once we told her that that was not happening, she insisted until the end of the class time that we go anyway, devising plans on how to get into the room. While it is very creative, it wasn’t very helpful for us to plan our project when she was interested in leaving the room.
ReplyDeleteI think that our experience will certainly give us a new perspective on Down’s Syndrome and actual first hand experience on the issues that may come alongside. However, I often this that she is also her own person with her own personality traits that are going to be apparent which goes back to the idea that this is an art project with students.
I was nervous coming into this week, because I was in a three-person group. I didn’t know how it would work, because three people working with one student seemed like a lot to me. However, we found out there was another student coming, so I came together with Freida to work with Cesare. We did not know anything about this going in, because he was new and did not have the intro sheet filled out yet. Alice told us that he had TBI, traumatic brain injury, and that his mother said we needed to speak very clearly, slowly, and repeat ourselves often. I was nervous about the level of functioning we would experience, but was excited to work with him.
ReplyDeleteWe spent the class time getting to know our student better, asking all sorts of questions into his hobbies, interests, and favorite things. I could have never expected what I saw from Cesare; he was extremely intelligent, had a million hobbies, and was extremely articulate. His speech was slower than most, and you could tell he was very thoughtful in what he was going to say. We explained the project, and left him with the idea that we could make a movie about anything. Before he left we got the chance to meet his mom, who asked if it would be okay if his service dog came with him the following week. I was curious as to what his service dog was for, but did not inquire further at the time. I am looking forward to making a movie with him, because he is so incredibly well rounded and interesting!