The Wisdom Givers

Friday, April 17, 2015

Discovering Wisdom Through Arts-In-Education

Thank you from EbzB Productions

Hello Clarkton School of Discovery 6th Grade Teachers,

Thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of your 2015 winter and spring semester with The Wisdom Givers residency. We simply fell in love with your students, the Clarkton School of Discovery, and the people of Clarkton.

In case it's not obvious to you in your everyday work, it's apparent to us that you've got a great school, great faculty & great staff there. And even though many of the students were unable to complete the interview process, we were humbled by every single student's initiative in any and all of the aspects of the residency in which they found a way to participate. They are all to be congratulated, particularly in light of the some of the discoveries made in the residency's process that several of the students noted on Friday. We hope they will share more in the blog, and we hope their lives have been enriched at least in some small way. Ours certainly have been in our brief experience there.

Many, many thanks to Jennifer Marlowe for arranging our time there, and much gratitude to each of you for your support during our visits.

All good wishes,

David zum Brunnen and Serena Ebhardt

EbzB Productions' Teaching Artists

www.ebzb.org

How The Wisdom Givers Arts-in-Education Residency Addresses NC Common Core State Standards for 6th Grade.

The Cast of The Wisdom Givers at Clarkton School of Discovery

Notes on how creating The Wisdom Givers addressed NC Common Core State Standards for 6th Graders.

Language Arts - Research, analysis, writing, publishing to Google Docs and Blogger.com, presentation, vocabulary, speaking and listening. Based on a concept from the 6th grade reading list: The Giver by Lois Lowry.

History/Social Studies - examining time frames, examining differing points of view, understanding the decline and emergence of civilizations.

Technology - Computer use for Word processing, using Google Docs, emailing, blogging, running Keynote software, running sound board, recording interviews and public service announcements, photographing interview subjects.

Math - using abstract reasoning, precision, using sequencing and patterns, measuring, understanding geometry and spacing.

Science - Environmental awareness issues in the text, recycling and reuse of found objects to create the set.

Healthful Living- Personal responsibility, interpersonal skills, reflection, respect, ethics, etiquette, self-discipline, teamwork.

Arts Education…

Music - Choral singing.
Dance - Movement, Gesture.
Visual Arts - Set Design.
Theatre Arts - The proper use of breath, body, eyes, face, and vocal tools for the actor; stage directions; memorization of lines, and muscle memory for movement.

Extra Credit - a greater understanding of the importance of wisdom from our elders in our approach to living.

It's Showtime...

Preparing The Stage

The Wisdom Givers Curtain Speech

Good Afternoon. We’d like to welcome you to Clarkton School of Discovery for our presentation of The Wisdom Givers. This production was completely created, researched, written, publicized, produced, and performed by the sixth graders of our school. A grassroots grant, made possible by the North Carolina Arts Council, allowed us to bring in professional teaching artists, Serena Ebhardt and David zum Brunnen from EbzB Productions to facilitate. (www.ebzb.org)

Inspired by an idea from a book on our 6th grade reading list, The Giver, Serena and David asked our students to interview and request the wisdom of older Bladen County citizens. The students documented the answers to these three questions...

1) What is wrong with our world?

2) What would you recommend we do to fix it?

3) What is right with our world?

The answers were compiled to create a script for today’s performance. We have incorporated popular music into the production and we welcome you to join us in singing and dancing through the final song. There will be a brief post-show discussion with the students and teaching artists, so get your questions ready.

And now, please enjoy The Wisdom Givers.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

The Wisdom Givers on CSD Facebook Page

Clarkton School of Discovery

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=874664015922130&id=167717099950162

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Wisdom Givers - Sample Interview for Script Material

My interview

by: Carlie West

name of person being interviewed: Cheryl West

1. Do you believe there something wrong with the world today?

“I believe the world is full of people who has let the things of the world overtake them”

2. If so, what is it, and why do you think so?

“ Majority of the people in this world are letting what other people have be the gauge for how successful they are. Because of that need for always wanting more drives them.”

3. is there a particular event in your life that has occurred that has made you believe this? What is it?

“ No particular event, just teaching school i see a great deal of unbalance or unhappiness based on what they have and what they don't have.”

4. What can we do about it? Or what might be the best solution to make it right?

“ We could be happy and thankful for what we have and happy for what other people have even though it may be more than what we have.

5. What is right with the world today?

“ That we have the freedom to do whatever we chose and have the ability to worship freely.”

Wisdom Givers - Actors Creating Gestures of Giving and Receiving

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

The Wisdom Givers Script

Access The Wisdom Givers script here...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B62Y77c2t_1yNlk3WXdwMFhyR0E&authuser=0

Listen to Karaoke Finale Song here...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B62Y77c2t_1yT0hOakREdjM4LVU/view?usp=sharing

Actors Tool Kit

Actors Tool Kit

Communicate Fully using

Breath
Body
Eyes
Face
Voice

Help to remember your lines https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_NZnEhA9AKupXptlVrU2LSLWeNPIVOx1dBqSNxN32oo/edit?usp=sharing

Imaginative learning
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1isNAnwPHqNbHNkalF3R2VhcWs&authuser=0

Monday, March 16, 2015

The Wisdom Givers - Reflections from Serena

Today I will be working on the script for The Wisdom Givers. It has been enlightening to read the interviews that the students transcribed from their elders. The concerns of the elders include the economy, education spiritual attention, technology, violence, international politics, domestic politics, and greed. Their wisdom on how to deal with these concerns is quite beautiful. It is essentially to be compassionate; to love, respect and help one another through the journey of life.

Last week while working with the students I witnessed sixth graders practicing these very acts of compassion through collaboration, volunteering, listening, offering, and physical labor. Together we created flyers, posters, invitations, commercials, sound, movement, collective breath and voice, set dressing, costumes, and partnerships. We shared and organized, we took turns and encouraged others, we cleaned and restored spaces. We laughed and found joy in the work.

At this point, I'm not quite sure who the Wisdom Givers are: the elders, or the youth? It's a good thing we have access to both.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Blog Post

Today it was fun. We got to make paper bracelets and more. The longer ones reminded me of a Chinese Dragon.We also wrote the wisdom we had to give on some of the strips. I wrote God is there when you need him most.

-Monserrat

EBZB TECH. CREW BY GARRETT

Today we made color chains to brighten the dull world of the giver. We first drew lines, and then cut them out on bright colored construction paper.We then created them chains out of the strips of paper. Then we connected them and hung them on trees as decoration. these two hours were very fun!!!!!

Kaleb Anders - Blog

Kaleb Anders

It was very fun it was cool.

Thank you for the class very much

blog by Jacob Priest from Tech Crew

Jacob Priest

Today, we split into groups and made really cool paper chains that will be used in the production. I was in the cutting columns group and we cut about 200 columns or more . It was lots of hard work but we had a lot of fun. I think this will be a very great performance and a good learning experience.

blog post by Jayson Baxter from tech crew

Jayson Baxter

Today, we were making paper chains. I was cutting the strips for the paper chains. I cut about 150 columns. Then I helped make the paper chains. It was very fun today.

blog - jtjunious

jtjunious

On our first day we made colorful wisdom chains. They are called wisdom chains because we write words of wisdom on the links. Some of them are really long and some of them are not as long. everyone worked hard and did their share.

Silly Wisdom

Words of Wisdom

Wisdom

Measure Twice

Creating Costume Pieces

Teamwork

Links to Wisdom

Creating Wisdom

Making The Set

Tech Crew

Sara Gargala: Blog Post

When the ebzb people came for the first time, they made us sit down and showed us the do's and don'ts for interviewing a person. After that, they made us write as much as could when they were showing us their play. Which was really hard and i barely got any. Then we read a letter written by a man in the military trying to contact his family. Then we were supposed to highlight the parts that we thought were important to us.

When we came in,they sat us down and told us about the book "The Giver". They split us up into different groups. I drew lines on paper so that another person could cut them out. It felt like I drew a thousand lines, which took forever but we got done.

Blog post

today we got into groups they were cuting puting them together and hanging them up. what we were making was paper chains. it was very fun i could have done it all day.

Blog post

The first time they came they show us the do's and don'ts of interviewing somebody. They then gave us a paper of a real story that somebody in the military that wrote to his family. We had to highlight what we thought was most interesting to us.

They came back and told us we have to make paper chains. We divided into groups to make them. I cut the paper and brought it to the groups that where making it. It took us forever, and cut over a thousand strips of different colored paper.

Kristen Pates Blog Post

In the first part of the class we attempted writing down every word in a scene of a play. I thought it was kinda hard but other people thought it was easy. Serena and David showed us the do's and don'ts of an interview. They gave us a letter written by a man in the military. He sent the letter to his daughter but it got ruined so she could barely read it. We highlighted the parts of the letter that were important to us.

Today we made paper chains. Some of the chains we wrote words of wisdom on. Serena told us some about the book The Giver. I made some things for the set and one of them were necklaces. We had to draw lines on paper and cut them out to make strips. Then we took the strips and taped them together to make a chain . After we finished today we had a lot of chains and props for the play

Thank you blog

I had a lot of fun today. Thank you for the chain making class and thank you for making me miss class

Lily Lin: Blog Post

The visiting artist showed us how to interview someone, the do's and don't s of an interview. Then we read a letter that a man in the military wrote to his daughter. We highlighted the parts of the letter that were important to us.

The visiting artist told us about the book "the giver". We made an assembly line. We split up into different groups that worked different assignments. We made paper chains. I cut strips of different colored paper then had to staple them together.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

heaven's 1st blog

today was a very lovely day learning more about how to act. I learned the 5 elements of acting and they are breath, face, body, eyes and voice. in breath you have to manage your breathing as an actor. in face your face is basically the moral point of your emotion.in body you show physical movement and emotion. in eyes the person that's watching should be able to see your soul.finally your voice has to be strong and loud for everyone to hear you.

Re: Blog Post

My name is Hannah Wheeless

Today was a great day to learn about the 5 tools of acting. They are breath, body, eyes, face, and voice. I think Mrs. Serena taught us a good lesson on these 5 tools by vocal exercises, breathing actives and focusing. This will be an excellent experience.

Blog number 2.

My name is Marley Fletcher and, Today we were asked to blog about our experience. We learned the "5 tools of acting".

Breath😫- when acting breath will affect the way people see you. For example when you breath deeply people might think you are out of breath.

Body🙌- the way you stand or act will define how you feel.

Eyes👀- the way you use your eyes, like when you role them says a lot about the way you feel too.

Face☺- is one of the ways you can express how you feel.

Voice- you need to pronunciat when you talk so that you can be heard.

Amelia's blog

Today was an interesting day full of knowledge and excitement. I learned many things to today. My knowledge was greatly expanded by the wonders of acting. We learned the five 'elements' of acting. They are Breath, Face, Body, Eye, and Voice.We did an activity for each element. For example when I imply anger I would breath heavily and roll my eyes. We did vocal activities where you make weird sounds and say the word ROCK!!! When saying rock you have to lower your pitch as you say it.

The activities we did today will lead me to great success I think. So, for now farewell!!

Blog post - Acting

It was interesting, i learned a lot. I learned vocal skills and other stuff. I learned about body, vocal, breathing, face and eyes. It was cool

Blog Post

Today was a great day to learn about the 5 tools of acting. They are breath, body, eyes, face, and voice. I think Mrs. Serena taught us a good lesson on these 5 tools by vocal exercises, breathing actives and focusing. This will be an excellent experience.

EBZB

i really like the program

Blog

The five tools for an actor to use are their body, face, eyes, breath and their voice. Today we learned about these tools and played games and did exercises to practice them. I liked the lesson today, everything went well and it was really fun. Ebzb did a really good job in teaching us and i appreciate that.

Re: EBZB

I really like the actors tool.they were eyes,face,body,breath,and voice.i really feel like this is going to help me in life because when i grow up i want to be a singer or actor. the ebzb people really help young people understand what they need to do and learn also and what it takes to be an actor

from island burden

5 senses

The 5 acting tools that I learned to use today was the eyes, face, breath, body, and voice. They demonstrated how you are supposed to use them. I really learned a lot from this section today. It was also very fun.

blog post

this is the five tools i learned today they are breath, voice, eyes, face, and body. that is all for now

i will be back later from your student Joi Kemp

EBZB

I really like the actor's tool. The five actor tools are: body,face,eyes,breath,and voice

Madison Bullard's blog post

Today we learned the five tools to acting. They were breath, body, eyes, face, and voice. Today we also learned some interesting exercises with the five tools. First we got flat on the ground and breathed. After that we found a focus point across the room and Mrs. Serina went around the room and tried to distract us. For each tool she did some different exercises and we also did some vocal warm ups with ba, ta, ga, and other sounds

Sammis blog post

Today we learned the 5 tools to use in acting. The 5 tools are body, eyes, breath, face, and voice.

We were showed how just by breathing we could show the audience what we were feeling. We did a game were we had to look at a focus point and not get distracted. We used our body and face to show if we were tired or happy or angry. Then finally we used our voice. We did some funny vocal warm ups.Then we pretended to throw rocks while using our voice from high to low to low to high. I had a lot of fun.