Where you at DTC Sr.?

*This post will summarize a couple of weeks worth of workshops with the students. Unfortunately, DTC Sr. hasn't shown up for the past two weeks; I accredit it to their still getting used to schedules and Daylight Savings. My hope is they will return after the break.

We've been having a great time with DTC Jr. though! La Señora Narsedahlia has come through and brought all the boys these past two weeks, and our hour workshop has flown by swimmingly.

Last week, we started our session by "passing the mic" around and allowing everyone present to help create a story. Just when I thought we were getting near to an end, someone came in and threw in another wrench and the plot would thicken once again. (Which affirmed they were enjoying the exercise!)

Giovanni is our big "techie" so I had him show us how to use the recorder on my office phone. The story probably could

have been captured a little more easily, but it was great to see him use that confidence and give it a try anyhow. I kept reminding our participants they could contribute any way they saw fit, but they needed to be original and use their own minds. A couple in our group seemed worried about getting "it right," so this was the perfect exercise for them, given there was not a right answer. We had a good laugh at the end of it and I would definitely say the exercise worked the way it was supposed to.

We were short Olegario and his brother Alejandro today, but we still made good use of the hour. We began by speaking a

little about the "Rules of Improvisation." We had played a game the week before (called "Jumps") that helped us dabble in "Improv," but I hadn't given them any rules. So today, we were able to discuss these rules to help us for the next time. I had hoped we could have gone into a little of it today, with another round of "Jumps," but I allowed them the choice of choosing their last game and they went with "Grandma's Footsteps," which we had played before.

I also was able to stump them with an exercise I've come to coin "The Dinglehopper," a phrase from "The Little Mermaid." The game itself was taught to me at the University. I

remember when I would use it with my cousins in Mexico, during summer vacation. I don't know I had ever tried it with this age group before, and we weren't able to master it this time, but I'm anxious for the next opportunity. It was great to see it start to click in their heads after a while.

Next week is "Turkey Day" break so we won't be meeting, given a lot of families make plans to go out of town. I know my family has done so. My hope is to still be around Tuesday evening, when the FWSH hosts it's version of "Turkey Day" for the whole community. Historically, this has also been a good time to recruit more students for our groups!