November Residency Week posted by Caroline Small

Mrs Elstone's Y6

Inspired by the 'documentary soundtrack' music created in one of the Opera North workshops Lorraine and I (with Judith's full support!) decided to be really ambitious with this group and actually get them to make a documentary film which would bring together the various strands they've been working on (i.e. 'scientific research'; news story of the alleged killing of a human by a Jabberwock; interviews with experts; persuasive writing arguing either for the destruction or the preservation of all Jabberwocks).

My first session with this group focused on developing ideas for the content of the documentary. We began by exploring the news story which 'triggers' the documentary, i.e. the alleged killing of a human by a Jabberwock:

• Who is the dead man (they've called him Fred)
• How exactly did he die?

The children wrote 'eye-witness' accounts in role as Fred's family and friends. A detailed story began to emerge.

Next we explored:

• What is a documentary?
• What will be the focus of our documentary?
• What will be the content of the documentary?
• What have we already created in terms of content? (e.g. research findings; interviews with experts; persuasive speeches; protest songs; soundtrack etc)
• What techniques could we use to present the information?
• Who will appear in the film?

The children came up with some fantastic ideas including:

• 'News desk' style presentations
• Studio interviews
• Studio debate - experts and questions from audience
• Live coverage of events e.g. a protest march
• Wildlife documentary footage about the Jabberwocks' life and habitat - filmed on location in the woods (nature area)
• Reconstructions as in 'Crimewatch'
• Footage from CCTV cameras
• Footage taken from the dead man's own camera
• 'Vox Pop' opinions and eye-witness accounts
• Experiments in a laboratory examining a Jabberwock's egg and Jabberwock droppings
• I collated all the ideas and came up with a 'three-act structure' for the documentary:
  
  Act One - Focus: The Death of Fred
  
  - news bulletins
  - footage from Fred's camera
  - CCTV footage (with commentary from presenter)
  - eye-witness accounts
  - interview with Fred's family
  
  Act Two - Focus: Background information on Jabberwocky
  
  - 'wildlife documentary' footage:
  
  the Tulgey Wood;
  borogoves and slithy toves;
  examining Jabberwocky droppings;
  scientists in laboratory examining eggs etc.
  
  - includes interviews with Jabberwocky experts
  
  Act Three - Focus: What should be done?
  
  - presentation of arguments for and against the destruction of all Jabberwocks
  - video clips of 'protest march'
  - possible studio debate
  
  Close
  
  - closing words from studio presenters
  - ? Let the audience decide - text vote?

Later in the week, I supported Kate in a session during which the children recorded the soundtrack music for the documentary.

The next step will be to organise all the pre-production planning, scripting and prop-making and for the group to work with Lorraine on a storyboarding the film.

Mrs Parker's Y4/5

The focus of my work this week was to develop an 'epic poem' which will become the narration for the dance/drama/music piece this class are going to create in collaboration with Phoenix Dance, Opera North and myself.

Originally I'd thought of writing either a 'saga' (along the lines of Beowulf!) or a ballad. After discussions with Kate, Tracy and Pauline we decided to go for the ballad form thinking the style would be more accessible to the children. The rhythm will help them to devise and perform their movement and they can also work with Kate to set some or all of the ballad to music.

During three sessions with this class I:

• Introduced them to several ballads in the traditional style (Robin Hood and the Widow's Sons, Bedd Gelert and Growltiger's Last Stand). Interestingly the one they really engaged with was Bedd Gelert which is the most difficult both in language and in its 'tough' themes of revenge and guilt.
• Used verses from these poems to analyse rhythmic patterns and rhyme schemes.
• Did lots of oral and movement-based work to get the children to feel and sustain rhythm.
• Got the children to create a Rhyme Bank which encouraged them to understand that it's the sound that counts, not necessarily the spelling.
• Looked at half-rhymes.
• Showed them verses with words missing and asked them to predict what those words were using rhythm and rhyme scheme as clues.
• Did various collaborative writing exercises to encourage the children to write using rhythm and rhyme. The most successful of these was a simple verse about food using my example as a pattern:

I like ice-cream, I like jam,
I like sandwiches filled with ham;
I like butter on my toast
But the best meal of all is a Sunday roast

Later I used Robin Hood and the Widow's Sons to show them how to 'map' the story of a ballad.

Finally we developed the content for our own ballad - The Tragic History of Jabberwocky and the Green Knight. One of the ideas which had emerged from the drama they created in the first residency was that Jabberwocky and the Green Knight had known each other - and been rivals - all their lives. I asked them to map out a series of incidents from birth to adulthood. In small groups they storyboarded each section then collaboratively made decisions about the ending - which 'dovetails' neatly into the original Jabberwocky poem. The ending they came up with is a tragic one and makes direct thematic references to the story in Bedd Gelert. I'm really pleased that this work has enabled them to talk about 'big', difficult emotions.

My plan is to outline the ballad leaving gaps for the children to complete.


Mr Barber's Y5/6

One of the projects this class are doing with Terry is to make puppets using mostly plastic rubbish. This tied in neatly with my idea of creating the myths and legends of the Jabberwock's world (an idea inspired, incidentally, by a Jabberwocky 'creation myth', told spontaneously by a member of Judith's class).

I told three 'Tales of How and Why' to the class:

Six Suns (or How the Cockerel got its Comb) - traditional Chinese tale
How Coyote Gave Fire to the People - traditional Native American tale
How the Camel Got His Hump by Rudyard Kipling

After introducing the 'Rubbish Puppets' we started to explore who these 'intruders' were and how they came to be in the Jabberwocks' world. This will lead to story writing and will also feed ideas into the puppet making session.

The plan is to animate the puppets and to tell their story in some way, perhaps as part of the final event in the trail.

Mrs Tricklebank's Y3/4 and Miss Monk's Y3

Both classes had a storytelling session using the same three stories as above. The Chinese tale and the Kipling story are particularly good for encouraging audience participation!

Miss Monk's class followed up the storytelling by writing their own 'How and Why' stories based on the snake-like creatures they've made with Terry and which will eventually live in the trees of the Tulgey Wood (i.e. the trail!)

Titles they came up with were:

Why the snakes hide in the trees
How the snakes got their legs/wings/three heads
How the snakes found their voices
How the bad snakes became good
How the snakes came to the Tulgey Wood

I gave them opening and closing lines to frame their stories:

"Long ago, when the world was young…"

"And that is why…"


Mrs Tricklebank's class tied the stories in with their own 'epic story' which tells of a journey into the Tulgey Wood. They have just reached the point where their characters meet a Bandersnatch and they all wanted to know what a Bandersnatch was like.

The best way to find out was to interview a Bandersnatch so I asked the children to think of the questions they would ask. Then in pairs they worked on conversations between a child and a Bandersnatch. Some lovely ideas emerged. I particularly liked the idea that the Bandersnatch might not want answer all the questions, might be evasive or might not tell the truth.