Happy Monday
Dear Students
So. We've met. (Most of us; most of us on time. It will be ALL of us on Thursday). No more dead Grannies. We pray.
Here are my, observations of what happened:
Group A. A lot of time taken up with talking about lateness. About not being there. But then we started. With a warm-up. We walked round the room in a number of ways. We changed direction at 90 degree angles. We tip-toed. We crawled. We made curved lines. We slithered. We tried to observe what other people were doing as we walked. To be observant. A little later we formed a circle, joined hands and sent a squeeze round the circle to make sure we were in contact as a group. The group very important. Focus very important.
We split into pairs and we had 3 minutes each to find out as much about the other person as we could. At the end of it we all got in a line against the wall and indiviuallly came out to speak. But as the person we'd been speaking to. Some boys were girls. Some girls grew babies. Some mothers were childless for a few minutes.
We made a circle and we went round in turn, each person saying one thing about BB. If you didn't want to say anything you said: Pass. Steve said YES or THANK YOU after each comment, but it wasn't meant that any one comment was 'correct' or 'better' than the next. Steve kept his own clear opinions to himself.
We then had to form into groups of about 4 people and perform a scene from 'an undiscovere Bertolt Brecht play' from the year 1930. The idea was to incorporate each group's IDEA of what such a play might contain. There was about 5 minutes allowed for the brainstorming and rehearsal of this. They were then performed in front of the rest of the group.
Steve asked us to then say what happened or what we SAW. To describe the events. Like a witness or a reporter. What went on. We then sat in a circle again and Steve asked us what was going on in 1930 in the world. We talked briefly of some of the events. Of what it might have been to have lived at that time. Talked of the First World War. Talked of The Great Depression. Wall Street Crash. This led to Steve asking if anyone in the group was a mother. And one person was. Sandra. Steve knew that already but didn't let on. Sandra was a student of his last year who had to drop out for a while.
Steve was pleased that Sandra was in the group. We had real experience to measure our discussions by.
We talked of the qualities needed to be a mother. Some spoke of being less selfish. Of thinking less of yourself. Taking care of another. Steve then said that we would be studying a Brecht play called The Mother. What would happen if it was the Depression and you didn't have any food for your baby? What would you be prepared to do? Beg? Steal? Prostitute yourself?
Sandra spoke strongly about her knowledge of women who'd been in such extreme states. Of women in Jamaica who would go out to earn a little rice or chicken for her babies. Our time came to an end. The two tasks for Thurs: to write our (B)log for the class and to research a bit more on the period leading up to 1930 in Europe, the climate in which BB was writing.
Group B
Very much the same as Group A but with these differences:
When I mentioned the question of Dead Grannies and how the Grannies stopped dying once the students at Mountview were threatened with losing good parts in next term's show, Nuria said that she had two children. What would happen if one of them was taken ill and had to go to hospital? That her father died two months ago in Spain.... Did the Dead Grannies Rule still apply? Steve said that he thought she already knew the answer.
We didn't do a physical warm up. It was now mid-morning.
Nuria was, of course, our real mother. We also had, in this section of the class, more time at the end to probe the idea of what would you do if your baby needed feeding and you had nothing to give it? We concretely asked the NI student (Hannah?). Ok. So. You've tried everything. But you can't find any money to feed the baby. And she's been crying all day. Now this lorry driver comes along (the student sitting next to me in the circle). He says he'll give you five rand if you sleep with him. What would you do? Hanna ? said she wouldn't do it? Steve asked her what would she do instead? There are loads of women in this town. None of them have any real work or money. Many of them would be happy to sleep with the lorry driver.
Even though it might mean another baby or - particularly in this country - a big risk of Aids. Hannah? then asked 'the lorry driver' if he would wear a condom and he refused. One student said she'd just kill her baby. A number of students insisted you'd do anything to protect the child, no matter what the 'morality' of the situation: stealing, deception, prostitution. Bread before morals. Nuria - the real mother in this group - kept saying you'd do anything, with similar intensity to that of Sandra in the first group. Our time came to an end and the tasks they had for Thursday were the same.
So. We've met. (Most of us; most of us on time. It will be ALL of us on Thursday). No more dead Grannies. We pray.
Here are my, observations of what happened:
Group A. A lot of time taken up with talking about lateness. About not being there. But then we started. With a warm-up. We walked round the room in a number of ways. We changed direction at 90 degree angles. We tip-toed. We crawled. We made curved lines. We slithered. We tried to observe what other people were doing as we walked. To be observant. A little later we formed a circle, joined hands and sent a squeeze round the circle to make sure we were in contact as a group. The group very important. Focus very important.
We split into pairs and we had 3 minutes each to find out as much about the other person as we could. At the end of it we all got in a line against the wall and indiviuallly came out to speak. But as the person we'd been speaking to. Some boys were girls. Some girls grew babies. Some mothers were childless for a few minutes.
We made a circle and we went round in turn, each person saying one thing about BB. If you didn't want to say anything you said: Pass. Steve said YES or THANK YOU after each comment, but it wasn't meant that any one comment was 'correct' or 'better' than the next. Steve kept his own clear opinions to himself.
We then had to form into groups of about 4 people and perform a scene from 'an undiscovere Bertolt Brecht play' from the year 1930. The idea was to incorporate each group's IDEA of what such a play might contain. There was about 5 minutes allowed for the brainstorming and rehearsal of this. They were then performed in front of the rest of the group.
Steve asked us to then say what happened or what we SAW. To describe the events. Like a witness or a reporter. What went on. We then sat in a circle again and Steve asked us what was going on in 1930 in the world. We talked briefly of some of the events. Of what it might have been to have lived at that time. Talked of the First World War. Talked of The Great Depression. Wall Street Crash. This led to Steve asking if anyone in the group was a mother. And one person was. Sandra. Steve knew that already but didn't let on. Sandra was a student of his last year who had to drop out for a while.
Steve was pleased that Sandra was in the group. We had real experience to measure our discussions by.
We talked of the qualities needed to be a mother. Some spoke of being less selfish. Of thinking less of yourself. Taking care of another. Steve then said that we would be studying a Brecht play called The Mother. What would happen if it was the Depression and you didn't have any food for your baby? What would you be prepared to do? Beg? Steal? Prostitute yourself?
Sandra spoke strongly about her knowledge of women who'd been in such extreme states. Of women in Jamaica who would go out to earn a little rice or chicken for her babies. Our time came to an end. The two tasks for Thurs: to write our (B)log for the class and to research a bit more on the period leading up to 1930 in Europe, the climate in which BB was writing.
Group B
Very much the same as Group A but with these differences:
When I mentioned the question of Dead Grannies and how the Grannies stopped dying once the students at Mountview were threatened with losing good parts in next term's show, Nuria said that she had two children. What would happen if one of them was taken ill and had to go to hospital? That her father died two months ago in Spain.... Did the Dead Grannies Rule still apply? Steve said that he thought she already knew the answer.
We didn't do a physical warm up. It was now mid-morning.
Nuria was, of course, our real mother. We also had, in this section of the class, more time at the end to probe the idea of what would you do if your baby needed feeding and you had nothing to give it? We concretely asked the NI student (Hannah?). Ok. So. You've tried everything. But you can't find any money to feed the baby. And she's been crying all day. Now this lorry driver comes along (the student sitting next to me in the circle). He says he'll give you five rand if you sleep with him. What would you do? Hanna ? said she wouldn't do it? Steve asked her what would she do instead? There are loads of women in this town. None of them have any real work or money. Many of them would be happy to sleep with the lorry driver.
Even though it might mean another baby or - particularly in this country - a big risk of Aids. Hannah? then asked 'the lorry driver' if he would wear a condom and he refused. One student said she'd just kill her baby. A number of students insisted you'd do anything to protect the child, no matter what the 'morality' of the situation: stealing, deception, prostitution. Bread before morals. Nuria - the real mother in this group - kept saying you'd do anything, with similar intensity to that of Sandra in the first group. Our time came to an end and the tasks they had for Thursday were the same.
posted by Steve at 10:24 PM
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