Nuts and bolts of the project:
Ann: During the first year of WYRED we covered a very large age range -- from fourth through ninth grade. After evaluating the first year of WYRED, Wendy, Mary Theresa and I decided that it would be useful to create a distinct identity for the younger members of WYRED, so we created the Sparklers. Having two groups, WYRED/Sparks and WYRED/Sparklers, helped us plan activities that were age appropriate. It also helped us create different levels within WYRED, so that as kids got older, they would have a different group to graduate into. With the younger kids there was a lot of boy girl tension and it was clear that the boys tended to dominate the technology. So in January we decided to split the Sparklers into two groups, the boy group for Wednesdays and the girl group for Thursdays. Wendy and I worked with Sparklers two days a week from 2-4 pm. During the second half of the year the new computer lab, five computers in one room created with the Fleet Bank grant to the Ark, really helped us concentrate. Working with fourth graders is very demanding because their tolerance for computer frustration is shorter and unless you can troubleshoot and solve problems right away you run the risk of loosing their participation. Therefore smaller groups are more effective. At the same time I've noticed that they can be much looser creatively than older students producing fantastic artwork. Over the course of the year doing the WYRED/Sparklers from 2-4 and then WYRED/Sparks from 4:30-6:30 twice a week became exhausting. Our planning/preparation/energy level suffered by having them back to back. When we started the Underground Railroad project in January we neglected to maintain a separate Sparkler section of the web site. I can't remember why it happened, I guess it was just easier in the short run to combine all the work onto one page. But in the long run, we lost the Sparkler identity in the web site. Looking back at the year now, this was not a good thing.
Thinking behind the project:
Ann:
The notion of rehearsal is very compelling to me. It promises that
there will always be another chance to improve, to make mistakes, to take
risks. Rehearsal expands the focus from the single event to include the
process that leads up and away from that moment. It invokes persistence.
Rehearsal embodies the notion that before you can change the world, you
must change yourself.
During rehearsals with the Sparklers the day of the November 1
pirate radio broadcast, Allegra was barely able to read her poem. We went a
couple rounds where she would just shake her head and not speak. Finally
around 3:45 she managed to read her poem. Then at 4:15 as the younger
Sparklers started rehearsing with the older Sparks, she was very vocal in
protesting her ability to read her poem. But when her turn came around,
she mumbled her poem. Then at 5:04 when it was her time during the live
radio broadcast, she spoke up in a clear voice and read her poem beautifully,
with more confidence than any other Sparkler. It was a moment I never
would have predicted. The rehearsal process throughout the day had served
her well.
Rehearsal time also provides crucial space for me to listen carefully to
the group and gauge their interest in the direction we are going. When working with autobiographical stories, there can be a shifting
line between what is private and public. Rehearsals give youth time to
sort out which parts of their story they will offer for public consumption.
Augusto Boal has proposed that rehearsing oppressive situations and
practicing different ways of reacting to these situations helps people learn
how to act in real world situations. This idea is echoed in some Indian
popular theater, "People do not need to be taught anything: they have to be
made to act upon what they already know about the conditions of life and
state of oppression." (Bharucha, p.225)
Looking ahead:
Ann: Rehearsal space is useful for adults as well as youth. The older people get the harder it is to take risks and plunge into situations where they might look ridiculous or incompetent. During a Boal workshop at the Pedagogy of the Oppressed conference in Omaha Nebraska through a random process I ended up playing a lead in an improvisation exercise. With zero theater experience it was horrifying to be asked to enact my role. But because the workshop had been defined as a space to play, I was able to take a stab at the improvisation. I am defining the entire media workshops in my dissertation research as rehearsal spaces to create these opportunities to experiment.
Return to Student Work
Description of the Process layer
Index of the Process pages