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SOCIAL INCLUSION AGENDA AND EDUCATIONAL
OUTCOMES ASSOCIATED WITH Jago JA WORKSHOPS
You might be wondering what kind of benefits or educational
outcomes you could expect from Jago JA workshops in 'Juggling
and Circus', 'Samba' or 'African Hand Drumming'. Or you may
be looking for a way to express things you already know in
a funding application to pay for our work. In either case,
here are some ideas drawn from our experience:
1. Concentration skills - both drumming and juggling involve
a considerable degree of concentration to practise. Our experience
is that most workshop participants (including those with normally
short attention spans) achieve this very easily and are often
surprised to find that they have been focussed for several
hours without realising it.
2. Engaging 'socially excluded' and 'hard to reach' people
- our experience as qualified and practicing 'Youth' and 'Development'
Workers is that the energy and themes of our workshops are
a uniquely powerful way of engaging people who don't usually
participate in arts activities.
3. Teaching / learning skills - our juggling workshops use
structures which lead to participants teaching and learning
from each other. This experience encourages communication
skills (including listening!), patience and is a powerful
confidence building experience.
4. Communication skills – Jago JA workshops often
involve participants in explaining ideas, negotiating with
other group members, making joint decisions, listening and
even teaching others. In a fun way, all of this means communicating
and is a great arena for participants to develop skills in
a relaxed environment.negotiating with other group members,
making joint decisions, listening and even teaching others.
In a fun way, all of this means communicating and is a great
arena for participants to develop skills in a relaxed environment.
5. Creativity / self expression - what better way to find
an outlet to our thoughts and feelings than through art forms
that have very few preconceived conventions. Drumming is clearly
a wonderful expressive outlet but you may also be surprised
how much modern juggling techniques reflect creative dance,
movement and comedy than just pure skill acquisition.
6. Developing confidence and self-esteem - discovering hidden
skills and achieving feats that were hitherto thought impossible
can have a very positive impact on participants' views of
themselves. Also, drumming and juggling are not as hard as
most people think, so a little effort usually brings great
results!
7. Developing relations between different groups / family
members / young people and adults / communities. Our fun learning
environments are a great place to build links between different
individuals, groups or families. Workshops that lead to public
performances are also excellent ways of bringing communities
together or raising a positive profile of young people in
places where there may be difficulties between young people
and adults in a community.
8. Linking right and left brain hemispheres - much scientific
research suggests that the co-ordination involved in juggling
and drumming builds strong links between left and right brain
hemispheres. This has been linked to reduced anxiety, increased
brain function and all round good health!
9. Physical co-ordination – it’s that rubbing
your stomach and patting your head thing! Our workshops involve
a large amount of physical co-ordination practice which can
be applied to all sorts of other things. HOWEVER our sessions
are all about finding appropriate challenges for whatever
your level of ability and co-ordination-a-phobes (!) are very
welcome.
10. Team building - imagine the feeling of knocking out your
first carnival samba tune or even putting a whole performance
together. In order to do this, any group will have had to
made plans, come to joint decisions, supported each other
and built a sense of group motivation. These are great skills
and experiences to take away from a Jago JA workshop.
11. New experiences - whilst you may have seen performers
around, actually being involved in modern juggling or drumming
is a new and exciting experience for most people. You never
know, you may discover a hidden talent? - or become hooked,
like us!
NOTE: All Jago JA workshops are led by trained
and experienced facilitators who create a safe space and supportive
learning environment. Many of our trainers hold nationally
recognised 'Youth and Community Worker' qualifications and
all are CRB cleared.
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