Generation Bored
12-01-2019
We glibly talk about how the cycle of life brings us back to a childlike existence once we reach our dotage, but I had this brought home to me last week, through a very specific example.
I was on the phone to my elderly mother, and once we’d made arrangements to meet for lunch, she said, “Well, at least that’ll give me something to do.”
I asked her if she often found herself with nothing to do, or at a loose end, and she told me that these days she regularly got really bored.
Childcare Expo Article
22-09-2018
I wrote this blogpost for Childcare Expo. I'll be holding a workshop at their event next Saturday.
How Can We Use Creative and Performative Techniques in the Classroom?
On the surface, there may not seem to be a particularly obvious correlation between the working life of a professional performer and that of an EYFS practitioner, but the similarities are there. Our Statutory Framework lays down three different ways that children learn: playing and exploring; active learning; and creating and thinking critically - not just characteristics of effective teaching and learning, but essentials in the toolkit of any performer!
The Joy of the Storyboard
18-02-2017
Over my years of working in film and television, both in front of and behind the camera, I really came to learn the value of the storyboard.
When performing, it was an appreciated short cut through lots of words that enabled actor, director, cinematographer, art department…indeed the whole team to know what it was we were all aiming for.
Later on when I had moved into directing, despite struggling with the process of drafting my own storyboards (I’m not even slightly gifted in the drawing department) I was able to make myself sufficiently visually understood to achieve what was necessary.