Arts in Education Strategies

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Warm Ups:

PASS-THE-BALL NAME GAME
There are many games to help a group start to get to know and to trust one another and to do that a good first step is for them to be able to call each other by name. This is a good one if your group/ class is still a little reticent to jump into a physically involving activity such as Improv work. It is a great follow-up to "Introductions in Pairs" featured in the last newsletter.
Arrange the class in circles of about 8 to 12 students (the exact number is not important... this just seems to be a manageable size).
Round 1 (and 2):
Hand a tennis ball (or stuffed animal or crumpled piece of recycled paper about that size) to one of the participants. Each participant is to say their first name clearly ("loud and proud") and to pass the ball to the person on their left. Each person follows suit until the ball reaches the starting point in the circle. The ball is then passed around to the right in the same manner until it gets back to the start.
Round 3:
Now the starting person passes the ball to a person across the circle, saying his name first followed by her name, in this manner: "John to Maria." The recipient then passes the ball to someone else, saying their name first followed by the new recipients name, e.g. "Maria to Samantha." It is important that students walk the ball across the circle and pass it, not throw it. It is also best to model once, and then watch to make sure participants are doing this correctly.
Once each circle has done at least half a dozen passes, they are to keep the ball going, while you introduce a second ball into the circle: they are to pass that one too, in the same manner. Eventually, introduce up to five balls, one at a time.
If a person wants to pass the ball to someone whose name they have forgotten, they can ask for a prompt, e.g. "Kim to ...?" and wait for the recipient to help by telling their name.
By the time five balls are in play, the recipients are usually laughing and relaxed. Once they have gotten this far, stop the game and ask for a participant to volunteer to say everyone's name in the circle. Applaud their efforts and ask for another one.

(More strategies are found in the book "Teaching Curriculum Through the Arts," available at http://www.creativeeducationalsystems.com/web_files/TeachingCurriculum.html )



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