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To me Community arts is more than teaching a class outside the safety net of university, its about teaching people a very necessary skill, which is translatable into many other aspects of life aside from performing arts, with right kind of confidence one person will find daily life simply easier.
I aim to help my students find comfort and confidence through comedy, as it is one of the quickest way to create bonds with others and can always be relied on to keep everything and anything light-hearted.

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At the start of this lesson Bailey seemed quite confident and therefore i could not deduct what areas i could help and improve him. However the more the lesson progressed the more of Bailey's areas for improvement showed, these involved unwillingness to tell crude and vulgar jokes, this seems to stem from thinking that crud and vulgar jokes are socially unacceptable and shouldn't be told. To fix this way of thinking i introduced Bailey to Lenny Bruce's book How to talk dirty and influence people, this showed Bailey that there is no limit to how far one person can take crude and vulgar jokes, after reading a few parts of Lenny Bruce's book Bailey felt very reassured in telling crude and vulgar jokes.

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During the start of this class Devon seemed very nervous, not very confident and out of his comfort zone, these simple factors showed me many things about him. The fact that he was nervous showed me was quite new to idea of letting himself open to judgement, his lack of confidence meant he must of been an introvert and the fact that he is out of his comfort zone shows that he has the willingness to change himself. With this information in mind i had to quickly work on Devon to make him as comfortable as possible with myself and Bailey, as this would allow for the most progress and improvement from Devon. To help Devon overcome his nervousness, i had to show him there was no judgement in the class, to do this i had added a bizarre twist on the tasks i had planned to do in the ice breakers, this allowed everyone to the same thing and eliminated any chance of judgement.
Throughout the lesson Devon showed significant improvement, i believe this to be from the stress free and non judgemental environment.

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Q: how did you feel at the start of the session?
Bailey's answer: I was quite confident but I feel like I can learn something here
Devon's answer: I'm feeling quite nervous, not very sure how I'm going to do but I have high hopes for this class

Q: do you feel you learnt anything during this session?
Bailey's answer: yes
Devon's answer: yes

Q: if so what?
Bailey's answer: I feel I have learnt how to be more comfortable in telling more crude jokes, as before I didn’t realise how to differentiate between telling a crude joke and being crude
Devon's answer: I have gained a lot of confidence and realised that the jokes I tell is an actual style of jokes called Anti-Jokes

Q: how did you feel at the end of the session?
Bailey’s answer: I’m feeling much more confident in the idea of crude jokes and I have a new respect for people who put their lives on the line telling such jokes
Devon’s answer: I’m lots more confident as a person after Matthew’s class

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Analysation and evaluation of lesson content

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Analysation and evaluation of lesson content

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Intro (5 mins)
During this section of my lesson I greeted my students by giving my name and what we would be doing. Next I Iearnt the names of my students and finally I prepared them for the lesson I had by giving them a slight insight to the lesson ahead.

Name game (5 mins)
Although I had few students I decided to play the name game, this was to make sure that everyone knew each others name. This was also done to show how repetition can be used as a comical device.

Ice breakers (10 mins)
The ice breakers are a very useful part of any lesson, as Heathfield (2018) said, "An effective icebreaker will warm up the conversation in your training class or meeting, reinforce the topic of the session, and ensure that participants enjoy their interaction and the session", this created a bond between myself and students, allowing them to open up more and trust me. The first ice breaker was a game called Matthew says, this simple game was not meant to fully interest my students but was more of test to see how well the students respond to myself as a teacher, as Gill (2013) said, "Although it is not the teacher’s job to entertain students, it is vital to engage them in the learning process"
Next I asked my students to tell a joke of their choice, this was another test, this time it was to check how confident they were and how funny they can be, Bailey responded quite well to this, he was able to confidently tell his jokes and use a deliverance style that almost mirrors comedian Jimmy Carr, namely deadpan. On the other hand Devon was very nervous when it came to his turn to tell a joke, however with much encouragement  from myself and Bailey, Devon reluctantly told a joke. Devon had opted for an anti-joke, comical if deliverance is correct, however as Devon was still nervous I gave him a few examples of anti-joke which seemed to boost his confidence, overall it seemed Bailey was a naturally funny person and Devon would need some extra attention. But again this was another test of confidence, i did this to show myself where i had to focus my teaching.
Next i decided to introduce everyone to the Lenny Bruce book and read the first couple of sentences, this was done to lay out a base idea for jokes, Lenny Bruce's style of jokes are very graspable to anyone new into comedy as the basis for a Lenny Bruce is an abundance of profanity, this makes this style easy as it is in our nature as humans to swear and curse, "Traditionally, swearing was a form of invocation, a declaration of honest intent, wholehearted commitment", Saunders (2016).
For the final ice breaker i asked my students to sing the opening theme song for Two and a Half Men, this was done as a vocal warm up, an example of how repetition and randomness are used as a comedy devices, an introduction to musical comedy and silly ice breaker to get everyone more confident with each other, "Be goofy or be intense. When you are who you are, you share a part of that with the other person, creating a stronger bond" Thanh (2010), in singing this goofy song i had hopes that my student would be able to open up more with me and that's exactly what happened.

Warm up (5 mins)
Jogging on the spot, a simple exercise to physically warm up the body and prevent any injuries
Blitzing is simple and funny vocal and physical warm up, it is designed for heart raising and pronunciation, helps the students warm up voices by spelling and accompanied by a variety of different actions, loosens up the body for physical activity, preventing injury.

Content (20 mins)
For the main part of the lesson I had asked the students to prepare for a comedy showcase, in which they would use the skills they had learnt during the lesson to devise a 3-7 minute group performance or a 1-3 minute solo performance. However first I decided to teach a few more skills that I believed they would find useful, to do this I read through a very successful musical comedy song I wrote, during this process I explained and analysed all the content within, this included identifying the joke, whether it was fact or fiction or exaggeration, what inspired it, if no inspiration then how was it created, how it links with main theme and finally how it can be improved. After the final part of teaching, I gave my students five to ten minutes to brainstorm an idea for their comedy skit. In the end they had decided upon a mock the week style of showcase, this idea lacked originality but opened up a variety of ways to use the comical devices they had learnt in class, the showcase mostly hinges on the idea of “Things I would never say...”  and other variety of that saying, there was pretty use of crude language, improv, repetition, exaggeration, etc.

Cool down (5 mins)
As a cool down i decided to repeat my warm up however it was in reverse. This involved reverse blitzing, it was the same light hearted, comical activity it was during the warm up, but it was also done in reverse to show a form of literal comedy and the other cool down was singing the ending of Two and a Half Men, this was to test how much my students have changed since the start of the lesson and how much they were willing to push themselves, there was a big change in Devon's confidence and Bailey's willingness, "Anyone who's ever pushed themselves to get to the next level or accomplish something knows that when you really challenge yourself, you can turn up amazing results", Henry (2013).

Outro (5 mins)
After all the teaching was done, i decided to tell them what a good job they had done, "Reinforcement is a stimulus that follows and is contingent upon a behavior and increases the probability of a behavior being repeated", CEHD (2016). this positive reinforcement will help my students become confident that their previous actions were correct and will be repeated in future. However the improvement from starting to ending was deserving of positive reinforcement, constructive feedback is needed to fully insure that the mistakes at the start do not come back, "Feedback is an essential part of effective learning. It helps students understand the subject being studied and gives them clear guidance on how to improve their learning", Unknown (2013).

After feedback (5 mins)
Finally my students filled out a questionnaire, about their experience in my lesson, i believe this to be the best type of feedback for teachers, "This survey is more focused on finding the things I may need to improve in a personal way, because kids may not want to say those things in front of their peers", Davis (2015).

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Hazard           Tripping over chair | Falling off chair |

People  Myself, students | Myself, student |
at risk

Property to  Chair | Chair |
be damage

Hazard prevention Moved chairs | Ask permission |
in place

Risk assessment LOW  | HIGH |

Further action  Warn students | Help students on chair |

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Simtoco (2016)
https://hobbylark.com/performing-arts/Musical-Theatre-Building-Self-Confidence
Heathfield (2018)
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-an-ice-breaker-1918156
Gill (2013)
https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/5-types-of-classroom-teaching-styles/
Saunders (2016)
https://dragonintuitive.com/swearing-is-natural/
Thanh (2010)
https://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2010/02/11/building-relationships/
Henry (2013)
https://lifehacker.com/the-science-of-breaking-out-of-your-comfort-zone-and-w-656426705
Unknown (2013)
http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/engageinfeedback/Whyisfeedbackimportant/efb-WhyIsFeedbackImportant.aspx
Davis (2015)
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-feedback-improves-your-teaching-vicki-davis

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In a system of trial and error, attempting to find a way to make my lesson more relatable to my students, I researched until key areas of weak performances and rehearsals in experienced and inexperienced performing arts students. What I believe to be the main contribution to this is self confidence. “Fear is one of the major blocks to self confidence. Fear of making mistakes, fear of looking like a fool, fear of facing a crowd, fear of being judged, not being good enough and not being accepted.” Simtoco (2016). Simtoco is very correct in saying this, fear makes performers nervous and make mistakes, which in the end delivers poor rehearsals and performances, I personally believe there is only one to combat fear. Comedy is esstainal to beating fear, a prime example of comedy being used to beat fear is during Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban, in this film there is a scene in which Remus Lupin (David Thewlis) is teaching a class about how to fight a boggart using a spell named Riddikulos. A Boggart changes to into a persons worst fear, the Riddikulos spell is spell that fights a Boggart by making something ridiculous happen to it and laughter finishes off the Boggart. This is the exact process I go through whenever I have a fear before a rehearsal or performance. Acknowledge the fear, find something funny to distract me from the fear and go out to my performance fear free.

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Dear John
I am Matthew Bett and I am writing to you in hopes you would be willing to help me.
I would like to know if you can help me with one of my uni modules, it is named Community Arts and the basic idea is it involves me going out into the community and teaching a class on a chosen subject, the subject will be confidence in comedy. In more detail, the workshop will include between five and fifteen students, last approximately 1-2 hours, will involve some form of physical activity and minor profanity.
If this is at all possible or you would like to talk more in depth, get back to me as soon as possible
Many Thanks
Matthew Bett

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Group and venue workshop

Age range: 16+

Gender: Mixed

How many: 5-15

Venue: Cue world

Time and date: 2-4pm 24/04/2018

Length: 60-120 minutes

Previous experience: friendship, student forms

Objectives:

I will: I will be teaching my students how to write jokes and create comedy skits for their theatre group (Velocity theatre group), I will also be teaching my students about how comedy started and how it developed to be put in a performance, i will also be teaching my students how to use jokes to create a comical flow which will be then put into a 3-7 minute performance.

Students will: Students will have an understanding of where comedy started and how it has evolved through the years, students will also having an understanding to how create and write jokes for a designated audience, students will also be expected to perform a 3-7 minute stand up comedy act of their chosen (monologue, movement or musical).

Evaluation:

English, Maths, IT:

English embedded- communication skills, speaking and listening

Maths embedded- timing stand up act, problem solving

IT embedded- use phones or device to research

Procedure timing activity:

Welcome - intro /0-5mins

Name game /5-10mins

Ice breakers (3-4) /10-20mins

Warmup /20-25mins

Content - end show /25-45mins

Cool down /45-50mins

Outro /50-55mins

After feedback /55-60mins

Evaluation of students work during lesson:

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My community arts project will involve the idea of comedy