Performance as a Way of Organizing Camp Activities
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In the Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex, educational activities are organized according to the educational calendar. Although our educational calendar is the main guide for all the EduComplex teachers, and the educational projects are planned according to this calendar, each teacher is free to choose a project and the way of organizing project work. The more unexpected and interesting the project is, the more distinguished and interesting the final product will be. According to our educational calendar, the whole academic year is divided into four educational periods, the two of which are educational camps. And these two periods are my favorite ones. Let me tell you why.
For me, it is important that our EduComplex has been and remains a school for individuals with a variety of educational activities, with an annually reviewed and updated educational calendar providing the teachers and students with a wide range of elective activities.
However, the projects of the educational calendar are kind of "mandatory"; there remains very little time in the classroom to "do what you want". This is where the camps come to the rescue, as a means of revealing the learner's and the teacher’s personality, the learner's personality.
I may say that compiling camp projects and organizing camp activities is not an easy task. If you have more or less an idea of what to do with the projects offered by the educational calendar, in most cases those projects are annual and were tested in previous years, camp activities are more difficult to organize, as the proposed project must be:
- attractive for the learners so that they may wish to join in.
What does this mean? This year, campus groups of the students’ choice were formed at the Middle School, and the projects of all the teachers were sent to the students. Any student could voluntarily choose the project in which he/she wanted to participate. In this respect, the projects of all the teachers appeared in the "competition field". It was clear that a project had to be made that was "competitive" and attractive. It was important that the project should:
• Include activities that ensure the learner's diverse occupation without tiring him or her;
• ensure a visible, tangible result;
• be interesting and inspiring for the teacher as well.
I may say that the last term is important for me. The project should be attractive and inspiring for me. I know it from my own experience. What doesn’t inspire me, is unlikely to inspire the student. It is already two years that I have had a wish to make a theatrical performance with my students. Knowing them well, I know that only my wish means little to them. They should also wish. Those who have worked in the Middle School, know that at this age students are stubborn, with complexes and have their own interests. Not all the projects are attractive for them. Would the theatrical performance attract them?
How we started
Last year during the winter camp, when I decided to present a theatrical project, I had a vague idea of what awaited me. However, I compiled the project and introduced it to my students. At first, the initial appearance of the project was very incomprehensible to me. It was only clear that, in the end, a performance would be made, but it was not decided yet what kind of performance it would be and what working process it would have. We had to decide everything with the students. I thought that the form of a shadow performance would be the most convenient for us as my students wouldn’t like to go on stage. But, in fact, I was mistaken. Some of my students turned down my suggestion as it turned out that they really wanted to play on the stage.
There were also students who, instead of not participating at all, agreed to play from behind the veil. I was very happy! Do not think that it is so easy to persuade children of that age to go on stage. Sometimes it takes a few days of hard work. They often agree, the next day they refuse, then they agree again ․․․
The next stage was the selection of the characters and the writing of the script. Since Ddmaton-Pumpkin Holiday was coming, we decided to connect our performance with the pumpkin and compiled the script.
The Procedure
When you already know what to do, it seems that the process will be very easy. But we came across some difficulties at this stage. In a free environment, especially on stage, the students’ behavior changes completely. They feel at ease and so excited that sometimes it is not easy to control them. But after a few days, when the stage becomes more "ordinary", they start to organize themselves, decide how to play and offer interesting, unexpected solutions. Most importantly, your students are starting to show some hidden traits. I would never imagine that Ellen who was usually quiet and tacit in the classroom, and stubborn Stella would play the main characters at their suggestion, Rafael would agree to play the role of a pumpkin, David, Narek and Martin would become animals on stage. Here is what the environment can do.
We also began preparatory work by making decorations, costumes and pastry for treatment.
The preparations inspire the students more, after each work they seem to get closer to the final result of the performance.
The result
When the costumes and decorations were ready, the day and time of the performance were known, we invited everybody to our performance with a video-announcement. How excited and confused were they! They understood that the long-awaited day was approaching ․․․
On the day of the performance, everyone was restless and excited. You would have understood this if you had seen their faces behind the scene, when the audience were taking their seats. It seemed to me that they would leave the stage and ruin the performance. Anyway, here is the result ․
After each performance, we state that the process and preparations are much more interesting and inspiring than the actual performance. At the end of the camp activities, we gathered all the works in one package and presented them to the "Santa Claus" award.
We got very happy when Santa Claus noticed and evaluated our work.
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