Improve Through Improv: ComedySportz Can Improve Your Individual Skills

Anyone who has witnessed the shenanigans at an improv show could tell you how entertaining, charming and all around wacky the experience is. However, when you look further into the entire idea of these silly charades, what is revealed is a team dedicated to constantly supporting one another in the hopes that they can get a few laughs from the audience. Like I'm sure many have encountered, these attempts can be embarrassingly bad at times. Nevertheless, the series of intense ups and downs as a team has improved every team individual's ability to work together and to think quickly as a unit. Sounds like a good idea for the classroom right? In high school, I was a member of the Comedy Sportz High School League and had the pleasure to participate in such hilarious activities. Every week we met for practice, which only required us to play fun improv games for two hours, and about once a month we played with other local high schools that also had the program at their schools. Improv was a good way for me, as well as the others on my team, to improve not only individual skills, but also social skills. This week I decided to take a look at the ways including an Improv program in schools could enhance a child's education by improving both individual skills and social skills.

Upon researching, I stumbled upon several businesses that have included improv workshops in their office training for the same reasons I have purposed including them in the classroom. In addition to individual and social skill improvement, Microsoft Online points out that it can also help with constructive criticism. "It provides instant feedback on what you're doing right and what you need to improve on." I think this is also an important part because it gets a person used to rejection and criticism - it teaches about failure and how to cope. One of the hardest parts of growing up can be the judgment and cruelty of others. By placing students in a playful situation that involves these lessons, it may be easier to learn to deal with the harshness of others.

In Comedy Sportz, my coach always reinforced the principles of a successful scene: who (are you; relationships), what (is the conflict), where (are you located), and, the most important, to never say no. The notion behind the last principle is that saying no to a teammate could hinder the progress of the scene. Unlike acting, which primarily focuses on the self improvement of one's acting, improv is focused on the team's improvement of their ability to create a humorous scene. Therefore, the team is not only constantly remembering the principles to a successful scene, but also about supporting one another. For me personally, this juggling helped me become a quick and alert

thinker, which has become an important life skill. Especially for students that are not as quick to improvise, it will help them fix this.

The most gratifying part of the experience (besides the moment when the audience roars because of a joke YOU just told) is the overall playful environment it teaches you thrive in. It reminds you to try and take the little things lightly, and to focus on what's important to progress. It also reminds you that success requires a lot of hard, constant work for a good pay-off. These are all positive tools that could seriously benefit students in the classroom, because it will instill principles that are not just important in the silly scene, but also in life.

Wii Music and Guitar Hero: Music Lessons or Video Games?

You can learn just about anything in front of a screen these days. Whether it’s in front of a television or a computer, learning new trades has never been easier. While virtual lessons, such as traffic school or even typing, used to be novel advances in education, this day in age it is hard to beat the current trends in instructional gaming. In my very first post, I discussed groundbreaking curriculum (in that case, animation) that was sweeping through classrooms around the country. This made me wonder what other kinds of developments will pop up as we get further and further into a technological future. But what can apply as too outrageous to consider as classroom curriculum? My initial reaction to my original curiosity was the successful phenomena of Guitar Hero and subsequently Rock Band and Wii Music. As if rock-stardom wasn’t glorified enough through music videos, being a musician has never been cooler, or more fun for that matter. We all remember the hilarious episode of South Park where Stan’s father is labeled “uncool” (though, I believed the term they used was “gay”) for playing real guitar instead of Guitar Hero. The days of devoting hours to intense music theory are quickly fading at the click of a few colorful buttons. However, many people, especially those musicians who have devoted long hours to practice, are disheartened by this classification of Guitar Hero, Wii Music or Rock Band as music lessons because it lacks a majority of the technique and skill that comes with playing a real instrument. Strumming the little grey “string” switch while simultaneously striking the colored buttons cannot help you with pitch or note knowledge. The only assistance I believe it gives you is rhythm, but even then sometimes your guitar controller is slightly delayed causing you to get off beat. In a recent blog from Destructoid.com, a classically trained pianist and video game aficionado offers his opinions of the advantages and disadvantages of rhythm games. Similarly, in a recent gaming and technology blog on Gameplayer.com, Clint McCredie applauds Wii Music for its ability to help the understanding of real music.

Comment #1
"Music and Rhythm Games: A Classically-Trained Pianist's Perspective"

Thank you for your recent post about this issue of whether or not you believe these music and rhythm games are actual music lessons. I think you have a lot of well-written, well thought out points on both sides of the perspective. I thought your comparison to shooting video games was especially interesting – that while you are using a fake gun and simulation, it does not at all teach you how to properly hold a handgun – a point that I never considered. (Similarly, though on a completely different level, Dance Dance Revolution does not necessarily teach you how to dance well.) I agree with you in that it is a great way to improve finger strength and sheet music reading, as well as rhythm. However, I do not believe that these video games were created for the classroom, and that is why they do not necessarily teach you real skill. Rather, they are a way for normal, non-musical folk to rock out in a way they have never been able to, even if it’s just for a virtual audience. Nevertheless, as a musician myself and with my understanding of your music experience, I understand the frustration of people attempting to compare these games to real music lessons which require much more talent.

Comment #2
“Wii Music Review”

Hi, Clint – Thanks for your words on Nintendo’s newest Wii game, “Wii Music.” I appreciated your clarification on the differences between Guitar Hero/Rock Band and Wii Music, because I have not played the latter and was curious (and I admit, presumptuous) myself. Your post was very informative about the video game, however there were a few details I have to disagree with. Mainly, the part where you discuss the way the game can help a person understand music. I am not aware of your musical background, so I will be careful with my words, but I do believe that any musician would quickly reject the notion of these games teaching any real musical skill. Yes, it helps with rhythm and a few other basics; however, it doesn’t touch some of the hardest techniques to develop as a student of music, that many struggle to (no pun intended) fine-tune throughout their music careers. While I understand your post was more of a review of the successful product that Wii Music is rather than an opinionated blog, I think an important aspect to remember is the devotion and hard work that is required in really understanding music theory.

Educational Exploration of the Web: Helpful Sites For Teachers and Students

My last two blog entries consisted of close examination of recent phenomena in the field of art and education - the first, a look at an alternative lesson plan and the second, a critique of the Education platform in the current presidential campaigns of both John McCain and Barack Obama. This week, I have explored the web for resources similar to those used to research my last two blogs that could be helpful for any internet user, primarily students and teachers, when desiring more information about curriculum or current events in art education. Using the Webby and ISMA criteria to pick and choose the good from the bad, I have thoughtfully sorted out the top twenty most useful, interesting and creditable web sites, and placed them in the Linkroll on the right. Sites range from charity organizations, to foundation web sites, to resource forums, all hoping to facilitate educational progress. The first group of web sites I'll look at are the resourceful ones that generally exist to assist teachers in finding fun, creative lesson plans either about art or incorporating art. The first, Art Junction, is described on its website as a "collaborative art space for teachers and students." It is one of the most aesthetically pleasing web sites I encountered, as well as easy to use. The main aspect of this website that sets it apart from the other is the "ATC" page, in which it introduces and explains Artist Trading Cards, miniature works of art made on notecards and traded between artists. Other sites similar to Art Junction in the Linkroll are Draw Space, specifically for drawing lesson plans, Teaching Palette, and KinderArt, which offers lesson plans for younger folk.

Listed on these resource web sites are also blogs that discuss the topic of art education as well. In addition to these blogs, I only listed one or two other outside blogs because most that I tended to find were teachers posting their students' artwork via blog (though, I think that is a wonderful idea). However, I did include the blog from the Smithsonian called "Eye Level," which seems to keep up with interesting and current events in mostly just art, but also sometimes art and education. Another art education news feed I found in cyberspace was Art Edge, which is also simultaneously a place for teachers to find resources similar to the sites l listed above. The site is run through Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. While it was easy to find visual art plans on the web, it grew more and more difficult to find resources for performing arts teachers. After some careful research, I found links through random blogs to other organizations' websites that are especially for theatre, music and dance. These sites include Creative Drama and Theatre Education Resource Site, Drama-education.com, Dance in Education Services and the National Dance Education website to name a few. Most listed are just the foundation's website, but a site like Creative Drama and Theatre Education allows its visitor to access ideas for classroom activities, books to read, and plays to perform. Still, I had a lot of trouble finding resources for music programs, which I think may have to do with the fact that music teachers already have their lesson plans in the music they teach students to play. Nevertheless, I included the site School Music Matters, which emphasizes the importance of music programs in schools.

The last of my discoveries on the internet include sites that promote awareness of the importance and benefit of art in education, and even provide outlets (whether it's a extra curricular program or a college's program) for students wanting to get involved. The first site, ComedySportz LA, I chose because when I was in high school I was involved in this improv group. I found it to be extremely rewarding in not only the educational sense, but also in the growth of my self awareness and self confidence. ComedySportz is a national Improv organization, that caters to adult actors as well as college and high school-aged actors. For high school students looking to continue their art education, a website like Find Your Art School is there to narrow down what kind of art institution a student is looking for rather than having to be limited to art programs in regular universities. Overall, I found my research on the web to be very insightful, and the sites that I discovered are great indicators that art education awareness is increasing not only in the World Wide Web, but in our daily lives as well.

Enlivening Curriculum: Animation in the Classroom

What child does not enjoy an animated feature film? With the technological advancement of computer animation, quick production of these family films has never been easier. When I was a child, I anxiously anticipated each year's animated Disney release, but because of the tedious time it took to produce a hand-drawn picture, the company could only release few at a time. Fortunately for kids today, many more production companies release several of these pictures a month. Even luckier is that now educators are beginning to incorporate animation in curriculum in schools all around the nation.

This past weekend, over four hundred international teachers met in Shanghai, China for the Learning 2.0 conference, a two-day event focusing on the incorporation of technology in education. In addition to the event, the minds behind it have appropriately set up an online forum for participating educators to discuss topics about the conference, as well as access material from each educational session. Issues explored at the conference varied from Internet blogging to digital storytelling; but the session that excited me, as well as the other participants and online users, was the integration of animation into lesson plans. Understandably, the task may seem daunting to students who are less artistic; however, while this activity may seem limiting to those who are apt to use their creative right brains, there are several different forms of animation that are more encouraging to the average student. By including animation in coursework, students are able to apply their knowledge visually and manually - which ultimately engages them with the subject matter and makes it even more comprehensible.

Whether it is for social studies or science class, teachers can utilize animation with any content he or she feels it can be successfully executed. Take for example; if a science class is learning about protein synthesis, they can animate the cell receiving the message, the DNA molecule unwinding, Nucleotides moving along the exposed strand, and so on. However, teachers usually only have a small block of time for each designated subject. So, for a concept like protein synthesis, which would require a lot of tedious sketching of RNA and ribosomes and such, it would be most time efficient to do stop-motion animation. This is when you film or photograph an object moving in small amounts frame by frame, which gives the illusion that the object is moving. Projects such as Gumby or the 1930's version of King Kong are examples of stop-motion with claymation - it is the same technique.

For a class like social studies, students can form groups to sketch a historical scene. If the scene is the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the project would require them to storyboard, write a script, record voice overs, etc., all the while locking into their brains key information and figures involved in the event. And to top it all off, they are having fun and learning to work together as a team to produce a cohesive project. The story could be told

through a simple flip book, or there are programs available such as FrameThief - an application available for download online that automatically captures each frame

rather than having to capture each single frame.

While animation may not be the most time-friendly classroom project, it is undoubtedly rewarding to both student and teacher. Through the process, students have learned about subject material hands-on, and are challenged to take each other's contrasting ideas and make it into one united concept. The teachers are able to work side-by-side with the students, and most likely will take great pleasure and pride in the product. Additionally, the inclusion of storyboarding, writing and directing improves the students' writing as well as listening skills. For those students who are geared more towards artistic expression, it is a creative outlet that is lacking in a lot of curriculum in today's school system. On the other hand, for students who are not as artistic, the planning and execution of the project enables them to get involved as a leader even if they do not have the artistic capability to make the actual animation. The overall experience of animation in the classroom energizes the students and the teacher, and instigates teamwork, creativity and understanding.