Student Number: 1122132

Applied Project evaluation

For our Applied Project, we decided to dedicate our workshop to a dissimilar target group that we believed would benefit from the ideas we had originally discussed and the research we had chosen to put into practice. The client group that we decided to incorporate our ideas upon were initially a group of 15, year 8 Secondary School peer mentors from Hounslow School for girls in Tottenham; however this location became unavailable for us to visit after a short period of time. The School that we promptly chose to complete our workshop at was Bexleyheath Academy in Kent, which was my previous secondary school. We discovered that the peer mentors within this secondary school, in years 12 and 13, had knowledge of the theoretical aspect of peer mentoring, although they had not been given the opportunity to use the mentoring skills they had gained and conduct a piece of practical work using these skills. In this project evaluation Im going to be summarising our entire process; including our objectives, our workshop ideas, what I have learnt personally from the whole process and what we hoped the client group would gain and evidently achieved from our workshop. Our leading objectives to create a suitable workshop for our target group were to involve theatrical games that would keep our teenage clients entertained. We expected this to keep them captivated throughout and also enable them to communicate with each other and enhance their team work skills, which I believe is central when positioning yourself as a peer mentor. The aims of our workshops came about from exploring what previous training the peer mentors had from Bexleyheath Academy, as well as the age of our clients and the number of pupils we would be working with. We exchanged emails and phone calls with the Head Teacher at the school and we suggested for 15-20 pupils to participate in our workshop and he confirmed that this would be an encouraging amount. This gave us a positive outlook on the process, as the workshops that we generated for them would be suitable for this number of pupils and our completely innovative ideas would optimistically keep them fixated. We decided to work with this particular age group as our desire was to enlighten elder teenagers in school who were at an advanced level and able to make decisions, whilst focusing on the tasks that they needed to complete during the workshop plan. We hoped by sharing our dramaturgical strategies with them, this would give them the opportunity to explore a new area of practical work and prepare them for further education by hopefully enhancing their communications skills, team building skills and confidence. Unexpectedly, our highest concern was introducing ourselves to our client group without coming across too daunting, as we were unfamiliar faces. We believed that the best way to open our workshop would be for one of us to briefly disclose our names, where we had come from and why we had chosen to share our workshop with this particular group of pupils. This followed directly into our first warm up
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exercise which Asha and i had participated in plenty of times, but had never led ourselves. This exercise gave us the opportunity to overcome the nerves that we encountered, as this was the first workshop we had both run ourselves. This evidently created a relationship between us and the peer mentors and furthermore allowed us to recognize some individual personalities in the room. It was exciting to find out which of the pupils were instantly captivated by our presence, opposed to the ones that required more attention from us to become more comfortable and involved. Our strategy was to involve ourselves in the next warm up exercise that we organized which was also familiar to us, The Knot game. It was extremely challenging when deciding which exercises we were going to begin our workshop with, as we needed to carefully consider the age group that we were working with. Ultimately, we distinctly chose The Knot game as one of our warm ups, simply because it wasnt too serious and we wanted them to save their focus for our central exercise involving Forum Theatre. When considering this exercise we come across a problematic situation that it would be particularly demanding to bring the pupils energy levels down after participating in this active exercise. If this were to happen, we planned to sit down for 5 minutes to allow our client group to calm down before beginning the focus exercises. Although this wasnt part of our initial wo rkshop plan, it may be beneficial for us to take into account. We decided to partake in this exercise so that we had more control over our client group which positively led to a much more composed focus exercise. Our Client group became competitive during this exercise as we were split into two teams which encouraged them to feel comfortable around us and each other. We kindly requested a few things from the head teacher at Bexleyheath Academy which involved the space we would need to carry out our workshop and what we needed in the space. We needed a considerable amount of space for our focus exercise, as it consisted of walking around the room at a steady pace, then we took it in turns to shout out numbers between 1 and 10, 1 being walk slow and 10 being speed walk without being at a dangerous speed. We needed to project the numbers loudly and energetically to ensure the pupils would hear us and also share our enthusiasm with them so they felt comfortable with the exercise. We gained our idea from Augusto Boals idea of Game of wrythm and movement which is found in his book Games for Actors and Non-actors. It was exceedingly encouraging to perceive such a positive attitude from all of our clients throughout, although we were debating whether to carry out a less physical exercise to compose a serene atmosphere. Conversely, we opted for the opposite approach to preserve the childrens eagerness to participate and as a result, I believe this was the correct decision. When we first came together as a group, the topic of discussion was originated around Augusto Boals theory of Forum Theatre. As one of our objectives was to allow our client group to become familiar with practical approaches, we needed to find a way of experimenting Forum Theatre with this group of pupils, taking into consideration that they were around the age of 16 and one of our main aims were to
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keep them focused and engrossed with the workshops we had planned. Using Forum Theatre as a central idea we developed our main exercise, which was a range of scenarios based on situations that our clients may have encountered before. This allowed our client group to relate to situations, letting them enliven events that may have occurred during their role as a peer mentor and furthermore if they decided in the future to persevere with their role as a peer mentor, facing these circumstances could be supportive. We divided the peer mentors into groups of 4, giving a different written scenario to each group and asked them to discuss what advice they would give to someone who wanted guidance for the situation they were involved with. Asha and i then each rotated around the groups to explain in more depth what the scenario could relate too, how different people may react in that certain situation and asking them questions about what they think would be best to do if they were involved in a similar situation . Our main focus was to inform our clients that they do not have to deal with difficult situations on their own and encourage them to use the support around them from members of staff at their school or work place in the future. Our aim was to use the scenarios and our experience to guide them down the right path of what to do in a comparable situation, which they may encounter in the future or may have already been faced with and was unsure of how to handle it. When moving from group to group, I encountered a pupil that asked me some difficult questions as they were concerned with the scenario that they were given. They told me that they were troubled with the thought of going away to University. To prepare ourselves for this position, we discussed different questions, prior to the workshop, that they could possibly ask us and practiced answering them. We decided that in this particular circumstance, we would explain how being a Peer Mentor allows you to learn how to deal with common problems that occur in life and that may arouse in the future. I also illuminated the fact that the role of a peer mentor makes you a stronger person and also a considerate individual which people enjoy spending time with. Whilst examining what to say if we were asked a strenuous question, it reminded me of how afraid I was when leaving home and going to University. Personally, my main aim of our workshop rapidly changed and had reformed and improved at this moment during our workshop. My main objective was now to prepare the children for University, whilst uplifting the importance and beneficial aspects of being a peer mentor. The scenarios that we gave to the pupils to work with are included in Appendix A. For our final part, we chose to complete our workshop with another practical based exercise called Park Bench. For this, we needed to prepare different character objectives to give to 2 volunteers from the client group we were working with. The objectives we generated are incorporated in Appendix C. When giving the volunteers an objective, we each then encouraged them to sit on a bench together and create a conversation, without knowing each others aims. We hoped that this would end the workshop on a positive note as well as allowing me to see the growth of confidence that had occurred in these volunteers throughout the workshop, which lasted an
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hour. We used a few of our objectives to add characters onto the park bench and I believe that this was the best exercise we could have chosen to end our experience with. Every pupil was amused by the characters that 4 of them had undertaken, and the objectives were beneficial in preparing them for upcoming experiences which each of them may face. One member was given the objective A religious person who tries to persuade the other person that alcohol is not the answer. The character that the female pupil formed from this aim that she was given was persuasive and consistent, which enabled her to give a constructive piece of advice; an objective that Asha and I had set ourselves when preparing the workshop. This proves that as well as them achieving their objective, we had succeeded in ours by witnessing the progression that our client group had made from the beginning of our workshop to the end. To show our appreciation to our client group for attending our workshop, we asked everyone to sit down at the end of our final exercise. We had previously prepared a few questions to ask them including how did our workshop benefit you as a peer mentor? It was surprising and overwhelming to see such an eager response from a few members of the group. Our client group gave us the opportunity to put into practice a workshop that we had professionally generated which was a pleasurable experience for us and evidently our clients too. To ensure we correctly established their views on our workshop before leaving the school, we asked for them to provide feedback for the head teacher to pass on to us at a later date. We have spoken to the Head Teacher at the school several times since the workshop, and he has given us positive feedback from all the pupils that participated. He also has asked us to return to the school to share further practical exercises with the same pupils. The email that is provided in Appendix B contains the email that we first sent to the head teacher to share our interest with Bexleyheath Academy. Throughout the process, I have firstly learnt how to construct a beneficial workshop for a specific target audience that we had chosen as a team. This type of development was entirely new for me as I had not prepared a workshop plan in the past, although I have been involved in many. It was stimulating to study how to approach a project like this, as we needed to consider various different aspects before conclusively coming to a final plan which we then needed to disclose to our selected school. The process itself made me realise the significance of preparation before sharing a practical project with a particular client group, as the outcomes of each exercise are unpredictable. This has taught me that when planning a workshop you need to deliberate all the possible problems that may occur when dealing with your client group and study ways to resolve them before the workshop has taken place, so that youre prepared for any circumstance. I have also realized that working in a team should involve intense cooperation and I feel that our team, at the beginning, could have discovered a better understanding of this. Ive learnt that it is important within a team to discuss and approve concepts amongst all members before undertaking them. This was a slight problem within our group; however this
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did not affect the experience for me as the whole process and end result was generally constructive. Evidently, the skills that I have learnt from this process will be valuable for my future prospects as the communication skills I have learnt will grant me a great place within a team of work people, allowing me to feel confident when expressing my ideas to the company I will be involved with. This whole process has expanded my knowledge of the role of Peer Mentors and how they work, and also composed an interest that I now have of working in a school which I did not have before completing this practice. I have also extended my knowledge of how Augusto Boel works and exploring his dramaturgical strategies has gave me great interest in Forum Theatre which I will continue to explore and perhaps use to construct another workshop or piece of theatre in further education. I gained confidence and felt a sense of achievement knowing that we had accomplished our aim and the client group obtained a positive attitude towards the practical work we had produced. The overall process has been a great experience for me personally as I have not only learnt how to deal with problematic teamwork situations but also found ways to manage a particular age group, in a certain environment, simply from the research and discussions we had all undertaken during our process throughout.

Student Number: 1122132

Appendix A Scenarios Exercise 3

Ive just left home and Im living at University. I feel really home sick and feel like I dont fit in. Ive lost contact with my friends back home as they are too busy with their new lives, what do I do? My friends are all trying out different drugs and I feel pressured into trying them just so I would fit in. They are all close friends so I dont want to lose them, what do I do?

Ive been with my boyfriend/girlfriend for 2 years, Ive moved to University and Im always busy with work. Its putting a strain on our relationship. I feel like I have to choose my relationship or my work, what do I do? I feel like there are a lot of strong personalities at my work place/ University and Im struggling to find the confidence to voice my opinion, what do I do ?

Ive started university and have decided that university isnt the right path for me but my parents really want me to stay. Im finding it hard to be motivated and Im only staying at University to make my parents proud. What do I do?

Student Number: 1122132

Appendix B Email sent to Head Teacher at Bexleyheath Academy. Hi Mr Wakefield, Myself (Lucinda Howes) and my colleague Asha Chaudhari are extremely keen to work with the peer mentoring students at Bexleyheath Academy, as this was my secondary school from 2003-2008. We are 2nd year students from Brunel university studying BA hons Theatre. As an assessment for one of our modules (Applied theatre), we are given the opportunity to form our own company, select any public institution (school, prison, care homes, etc) and apply theatrical based workshops (that we create ourselves) as a means to put theatre into practice. As we were both peer mentors during our school days, we believe that we can provide an innovative and dynamic practical approach to peer mentoring that will tackle modern day issues that students may face. We seek to lead workshop sessions for 15 students. Our company Face2Face seeks to work with peer mentors through a series of theatrical games and exercises. For example, we would use Forum theatre to re-enact certain situations that the mentors may come across whilst fulfilling the role of a peer-mentor. Through these theatre-based games and exercises, we seek to enable students to adopt a practical approach when dealing with various scenarios/issues that may arise in a teenagers life today. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind Regards, Lucinda Howes and Asha Chaudhari.

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Appendix C Objectives used in park bench exercise. Drug dealer trying to get another person on the park bench to do drugs. On your way to freshers party and have not yet made friends. An alcoholic who confesses their addiction to another person on the park bench. A religious person who tries to persuade the other person that alcohol is not the answer.