# data[].attributes.body
Present a theory: Villains in fairytales

# data[].attributes.body
This week my workshop group were the first ones out for a presentation. We held the workshop for some students in Netherlands. We chose the theme: "How do fantasy characters affect children?"

It went good although the audience was quit small, but I also liked it since I felt we could communicate more "personal" with them.
We asked our little audience questions, and it was interesting to hear their opinions.
It was also interesting to work with the theme, that we chose. By reflecting about why I chose the character "Raya" from the movie "Raya and The Last Dragon", I learned something about myself.
What I realized that things that I have experienced when I grew up really affects which fantasy characters I like the most today. This is something we know, but not really think about since it comes from the subconscious. But really interesting to reflect about and hear the others in my group reflect about their chosen character too.

From the presentation:
Why did I choose this character?

I chose this character, because she is one of the few I can relate to when it comes to ethnicity and culture. Growing up there were not many disney princesses or other characters that represented southeast asian culture. And children sometimes like to see fictional characters that look familiar to them. I remember when I was young, growing up in a small village here in Norway, there were not many people that looked like me. And sometimes I felt a little bit different from the others because of that. I remember when I saw other fiction characters that had similar looks and traits as me,  it made me feel calm to think that there are a lot more people out there that were like me and it made me feel less “different”. I also think many minority children from different places all over the world can relate to that sometimes. When the kids can identify with the characters in a story, the character can become a role model for them. So when the character is doing something good or bad the children will also feel the same emotions as them. Luckily many children's stories have good morals, and can lead to it influencing positivity in the child’s mindset.

Yvonne

# data[].attributes.body
Hallènparken kindergarten (Reggio Emilia inspired)

This week I got to work at a kindergarten that is inspired by Reggio Emilia. In my experience it was like an ordinary kindergarten, like the others. The teachers at the unit I worked in told me that they had quit using the Reggio Emilia pedagogy a long time ago, because of the usual problems with understaffing. Which is unfortunatly a problem with most kindergartens here in Oslo.

Reggio Emilia Pedagogy
The pedagogy is based on: "the image of a child with strong potentialities for development and a subject with rights, who learns through the hundred languages belonging to all human beings, and grows in relations with others." (Sources: https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/)

The Reggio Emilia thinking is about having respect for the child. Because they believe that every child is born intelligent, and have a strong will to explore the world. They appreciate solidarity, partnership, and critical thinking as a starting point for a world with democratic values.
At the kindergarten, the teachers usually let the children be independent with their choices.

What I experience is that although they had quit the Reggio Emilia pedagogy, the pedagogy we use in Norway still have a lot of similarities, for instant: democracy, the respect of the child's independence and learning how to work with others (partnerships).
So it won't make it a big difference, but of course it would be exciting to experience a real Reggio Emilia kindergarten one day. :)

Sources:

http://www.reggioemilia.no/om-reggio-emilia.html

https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/

# data[].attributes.body
This week we talked about how to help children deal with problems through stories.
To get the children to get interested in a story, it is important that the child can identify with some of the characters. When a child can do that, he will get to feel the same emotions as if he was the character himself. This also makes the character in a story a role model for the child. When the moral in the story is a good one, the decisions that the character chooses to do, will mainly effect the child's emotions.

Reflection
But will this also affect the child's decisions in the real life?
As we heard many times: "Kids can't watch violent movies or play violent video games, because of the risk that the child will get directly effected by it."
Some people think that by watching violent movies, video games or even listen to a violent story, can directly effect the child to become violent in the real life.
As we have seen many places, there are some few cases that shows the example of that:
The case of two teenage girls, stabbing their friend after playing slender man: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/us/slender-man-stabbing-anissa-weier-released.html

In overall, the news will only document the bad side of this discussion. But there are many children in the world, and the violent scene are normally seen everywhere, not only on tv. And still many of these children, haven't committed any crimes by only watching it.
This comes back to if the good decision of the child's favourite character will affect them in real life too, my answer is no. I think it's important to analys the whole situation. A single story won't directly affect the child's decisions in the real life, there needs to be more triggers in other areas in life too.

That also comes back to my topic if you want to help the child to deal with their problem through stories, it is important to educate the child with it. Not only read or tell the story, but it's important to really have a conversation with the child about it. Make the child reflect about the situation, educate them to how to deal with the emotions in real life. Connect it with the story you just told:
"Why did you think the main character chose to tell their teacher about their problems at home? Is this possible to do in real life to? When to talk to when you experience difficulties at home or in general?"
In that way fairytales can be a good tool for dealing with emotional trauma.

Sources:
Haugen , T., & Skjerdingstad, K. (2018). Children and young people, aesthetics and special needs. I T. Haugen, Favouring the different - Oral fairy tales . Vidarforlaget .

# data[].attributes.body
Work with traumatized children

This week we had a lecture about work with traumatized children. It was really interesting and I learned a lot. As well it made me wondering about how you as teacher/therapist... can deal with so many sad stories. It made me think about the importance of self-care in social jobs. Self-care means to find ways to reduce stress. The aim is to stay healthy psychological as well as physical, doesn't matter what you face in your daily work life. It can also help you to get to know yourself better (which is alway important in social jobs). Because you need to think about yourself to figure out what helps you to stay healthy and reduce stress, you might learn about personal vulnerabilitys or general challenges for yourself. By knowing that you can look after yourself. What helps yoursel best, can be very individual. Sports and healthy food might be a good start. Furthermore taking time for things you enjoy might help. Also the social network can help to make you resilient, so it is worth to spent time with friends and family.
Doesn't matter which way each person might choose-looking out for ourself is really important and will also help the people we work with- for example traumatized children.

https://socialwork.buffalo.edu/resources/self-care-starter-kit/introduction-to-self-care.html

https://socialwork.buffalo.edu/resources/self-care-starter-kit/additional-self-care-resources/developing-your-support-system.html

# data[].attributes.body
Icebreakers in online workshops

For the international week we created an online workshop. By teaching theory, especially online, several things need to be considerd.  From our own experience we knew, that it is harder to motivate people to participate actively in an online setting.
Therefore we wanted to help them to feel more comfortable and thought about some ideas. Thats why I ended up with some research to "icebreakers" that I would like to share. Icebreaker help people to get to know each other. In the workshops for the international week were people from different countries are participating, so getting to know each other at least a little bit seemed important to us. This will also help people to feel more comfortable to participate later in the workshop. The feeling that you already gave a right answer (and even it is only your name or something else, related to your selfe), will motivate you participate again. Moreover it is a feeling of equaliy, if everybody gets to answer the same questions in the beginning.

https://bordercrossingux.com/why-an-icebreaker-is-key-to-great-workshop/

# data[].attributes.body
International week
This week we had to prepare an online workshop for students of universities of other countries on the occasion of the International week. The goal of this project was to exchange knowledge about what we are studying with students from other countries. My group prepared a workshop about heroes and villains. We chose this topic because we thought it could be interesting for future teachers to know why we have heroes and villains in stories and why especially children need them. We also wanted to show that sometimes is difficult to identify who is the hero and who is the villain in a story because it depends on our point of view and our values. Before choosing the activities of our workshop, we agreed on the goals.

Then we decided how to structure the project. We wanted to start by asking to draw a hero or a villain to deduce their characteristics with the students but also to let them participate in an active way.

Then we told them the fairytale of Jack and the beanstalk as an example of fairytale where is difficult to say who is the hero and who is the villain. We also explained them the theory we know about Bettelheim.

Thanks to this project I learned how to structure a workshop and I improved my skills

Moreover, it was very interesting to prepare a lecture for adults since I am used to do it only for children. I realised how similar it is for some aspects but also very different for others. For example the steps are the same because you have to start from the goals and then choose the activities to achieve them and you have to find a way to engage their attention especially at the beginning.

# data[].attributes.body
Traumatized children

This week we had a lecture about traumatized children in Palestine. It was the first time I had a lesson about this topic. As a future teacher I believe it is very important to know how to behave with children that faced traumatic experiences. Especially now that a war is happening very close to us and many traumatized children are hosted in schools in my country, I think teachers should receive a specific training about it.  A chronic trauma can cause serious problems with learning but

if we are able to identify the symptoms we can help the children.

There are many obstacles that the teacher has to face in order to help a traumatized child.

First of all, it can be very challenging to address a trauma because children often don’t express the distress they are feeling but they try to hide their emotions to teachers. Moreover, there are many ways to react to a traumatic experience and many times the symptoms are misdiagnosed as some of them can mimic other problems like ADHD.

Many times traumatized children struggle to form a bond with teachers because they don’t trust adults. So they push away the teacher that try to help them.

Traumatized children often have trouble in managing strong emotions so they tend to over react. As a consequence teachers often have a negative perception of these children and they tend to punish them rather than support them to control their emotions.

To connect with these children it is very important to give them positive attention, expressing kindness, warmth and patience even if it isn’t necessarily earned. In this way the teacher can form a positive relationship with these children and try to help them to restore the trust they lost in adults by showing them love.

References

https://childmind.org/article/how-trauma-affects-kids-school/

# data[].attributes.body
Gender roles in fairytales. Do they influence the children? Do they influence modern society? These were some questions me and my classmates were having. We decided to do some research and try and answer these questions in a workshop.
First we all did our own little research. We shared the information we found with each other.
We found out that fairytales are a tool and source of rules, codes, and cultural values. And that men and boys are almost always portrait as handsome brave and strong. Whereas women are almost always portrait as dependent, passive and beautiful. This causes stereotypes. For example: a lot of women still try to fit into the beauty standards, because they think they have to. During the years, fairy tales changed a lot. The original story of the little mermaid is very cruel. The little mermaid dies and does not have any power. In the Disney version, the little mermaid is also very brave and tries to fight the evil sea witch.
We used this information for our workshop. We also wanted to challenge the people who would listen to our workshop. We decided on an assignment where the people needed to discuss a certain fairytale with each other and how they can modernize it to the standards of todays society. So not a passive princess or an extremely brave prince.
https://edubirdie.com/examples/the-peculiarities-and-effects-of-gender-roles-and-stereotypes-in-fairy-tales/

# data[].attributes.body
Traumatized Children
This week we learned about traumatized children, and how to recognize it. This is very important to know as a teacher, so you can recognize it yourself in class and help the children who need it.
Trauma in children can be shown in different ways. In the moment it happens they can dissociate. This is a response of the body to protect you. Later on, they can have trouble focusing in school, demand positive or negative attention, or get headaches or stomach aches.
To help a child it is important to create a safe space where the child feels like they can express their emotions safely. This can be done by maintaining the usual routine. This shows the child, that life will go on and that they are safe.
It also helps to have a designated time and place for the child to talk about what happened. This will let the child know that it is okay to talk about their feelings.
https://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-programs/ms-in-early-childhood-studies/resource/how-trauma-affects-child-development-and-behavior
https://wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/u57/2013/child-trauma-toolkit.pdf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many early childhood education degree programs explore how trauma can damage a child's ability to learn and have successful relationships.

# data[].attributes.body
This week we visited a nature Kindergarten: Småtjern barnehage.

During the visit I took some pictures; at first I didn’t notice that in this photo there is a  chainsaw left on the ground close to the children. I would like to focus my attention on this detail because I think it says a lot about this kindergarten. Leaving a potentially dangerous object close to the children it means giving them trust. I don’t think that the chainsaw was left there by chance but probably the children know that they don’t have to touch it and that it is something  only for adults. When we give the children freedom and  simple shared rules we are giving them responsibilities. It means that we believe that they can handle the situation and that we trust them. In this way children are more responsible and it’s more probable that they will follow the rules.

Most of the time the problem is that we are afraid of giving  the children responsibilities. We are afraid that they can hurt themselves or we fear the reaction of the parents. I believe that to overcome this problem is very important to work on ourselves and with the families. If we share with the parents what we do, why we do it and we believe in it, they will support us. Only by sharing and supporting each other it is possible to build a reality like Småtjern barnehage.

# data[].attributes.body
At Småtjern kindergarten it is all about learning-by-doing. Allthough in the Netherlands I am used to this theory by John dewey, I have never seen something like this before. John Dewey's learning by doing theory is about practical problem solving and theoretical teaching should go hand in hand (pedagogy4change.or, 2022).
Småtjern kindergarten is completely outside. The children get a lot of trust and responsibilities from their teachers. They really learn by doing, and also by trial and error.
In the Netherlands we also follow the concept of learning-by-doing. This is mostly inside and the children do not get as much responsibilities as they get here. In the Netherlands we still try to safe the children from hurting themselves, while here, the children were allowed to climb trees, the sheds or even use a saw. This is unthinkable in the Netherlands.

references: https://www.pedagogy4change.org/john-dewey/

# data[].attributes.body
What would be the first thing that comes to your mind by looking at this picture?

To me the first thing coming in my mind probably woudn't be what it actually shows. This picture was taken at smatjern kindergarden, a nature kindergarten in a really steep area.

As we visited the nature kindergarten smatjern this week, I want to write more about the pedagogical approach of the kindergarden. In my profession the approach you show towards the kids you work with is the most important thing. Appreciation, holism and an individual view on every single person are main things in the approach of my profession. Still it isn't always easy to implement this in the daily worklife- kindergardens or schools have their own rules and curriculums, which make it hard to support individual needs. In my opinion Smatjern kindergarden shows how this can work:

There the kid and its development is the main focus-doesn't matter what ideas the teacher have or if other kindergardens focus structured things. This makes it easier to focus on individual needs. And still everybody will be challenged in a suitable way. The kids are not only encouraged to be autonomous, they actually get the space to do so. Therefore they will experience self-efficacy and the feeling of being appreciated and trusted. All of this is really important for ther development. The focus on movement supports this.

I think Smatjern shows in a fascinating way what kids are capable of, if you just put your trust into them. In my opinion it would be worth to discuss if our eduation system got stuck in to many rules, aims and in the effort to do the perfect thing. Maybe it would be helpfull to turn more to the view of kids, like smatjern kindergarden does.

https://www.barnehage.no/naturbarnehage-utdanning/til-denne-barnehagen-kommer-studenter-fra-hele-verden-for-a-laere/123373

https://bhponline.de/berufsbild/

# data[].attributes.body
Fantastic literature
This week we talked about fantastic literature. Fantastic literature is when there is a hesitation between a natural or supernatural explanation (T. Haugen, 2022) Some examples of this are: Harry Potter or Alice in Wonderland.
In class we watched Alice in Wonderland and shortly discussed how you could see fantastic literature happening in the movie. Right now, I am taking a deeper look into Harry Potter, and why this could be seen as fantastic literature.
Harry Potter is a boy who grew up with is aunt, uncle and cousin in the 'muggle world'. Muggle is the word wizards and witches use for people who can't do magic. Harry is not aware of the fact that he is a wizard until he is 11 years old. The Wizarding World exists in extreme secrecy. In the books they make it out as if the Wizarding World exists within the real world as we know it. This makes it fantastic literature. Since they pretend that it could be happening in our world. J.K. Rowling did not make up a new world, she created a world within ours.

T Haugen. 2022. Powerpoint: fantastic literature

# data[].attributes.body
Help children through narration

It is possible to help children that are dealing with difficult situations through stories. Narration can help them to give a meaning to what it is happening  and be reassured about the future.
According to Bettelheim fairytales are very important to help children in difficult situations because they don’t talk in an explicit way about problems but they speak to us in a language of symbols representing unconscious contents. He believed that the child needs to distance himself from the content of his unconscious and see it as something external to him to gain a mastery over it. The meaning of the fairytales doesn’t have to be explained by adults because it would overwhelm the child weakening the effect of the fairytale.
Many contemporary stories for children are more explicit in addressing a specific problematic situation.

This week we read a book called “Angry man”, it is meant for children with fathers that struggle with controlling their emotions and have violent behaviour. The story is presented from the point of view of a boy who is very scared and confused by the behaviour of his dad. It is clear that the purpose of the book is to reassure children by saying that nwhat is happening is not their fault and suggesting a happy ending.
I don’t know if for a child in this kind of situation would have more impact a story like “Angry man” or a fairytales like “Hansel and Gretel” that is also about children treated badly by their parents.
Even if I agree with Bettelheim about the importance of not explaining everything to a child about the meaning of a story, I think that also a more explicit story could help a child in a difficult time. By reading “Angry man” a child could understand that he is not alone in that situation, that it is not his fault and that a happy ending is possible.

References:
Bettelheim B. (1976), The uses of enchantment: the meaning and importance of fairy tales

# data[].attributes.body
The black horse
Did you know that in Norway there is a small village where a black restless horse is scaring people?
Nobody knows what happened but I talked with an old woman of the village and she told me the real story.
Check out my video to know the mysterious story of the black horse!

https://youtu.be/lq3r9HqqxZQ

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
psychodynamic Aspects of sleeping beauty

# data[].attributes.body
This week one of our tasks was to analyse a fairytal regarding to Freud and Bettelheim. The group I was part of, first thought about analysing sleeping beauty, but than decided to do snow white instead-this seemed easier to us. Still I got interested in possible interpretations of sleeping beauty and spent some thoughts and research on it. Sleeping beauty could be seen as a fairytale that deals with sexuality and adolescence:
Because of a curse sleeping beauty grows up overly protected by her parents. This keeps her from developing in an appropiate way. Nobody prepared her for being a women with sexuality. Therefore, by the time she reached an age where her sexuality naturally would start to become more present, she falls to sleep. Her long sleep can be interpretet as her inability to outgrow her parents, to become a women. It takes her 100 years to do so and only then the thorn hedge that kept her locked in removes and makes space for the prince.

https://www.maerchenbrause.de/maerchen/dornroeschen-interpretation

# data[].attributes.body
In this week we learned how to make stop motion video. We got different assignments, where the teacher challenged us to do fast. Later on we discussed what is good and bad in the videos we made. And also how we would do it if we were going to make it with children. Since a stop motions video contains a lot of pictures sat together to make the "object" in the video to move, there is a lot children can participate with.
Example:
Children can come up with a short story they want to tell about. Here they can choose different objects like: toys, milk carton, sticks that they can make a character out of. In my case I used a paper to fold into a bird. The next thing they can do is to take part of the picture/filming part. Afterwards instead of using "finished" sounds, the children can create their own sounds they want to use for the video.

But exactly why do children need to learn how to make stop motion videos in the kindergarten?

As it says in the norwegian "Rammeplanen for barnehagen" it mentions that the children should explore the possibilities that lies in tools and technology. Technology is a part of the society today, and will also be a big part of the children's lives for many many years to come. And also the feeling of the mastery the children gets after the product is finished. This can affect the children to have a positiv mindset when they get different assignments later on.

Sources:
https://www.udir.no/laring-og-trivsel/rammeplan-for-barnehagen/fagomrader/natur-miljo-teknologi/

https://www.uis.no/nb/forskning/barnehagebarn-lager-animasjonsfilm

# data[].attributes.body
This week we had drama with Kostas. He showed us different types of drama: puppets, how to improvise and how to create a story.
We also talked about why drama can be important for kids.

As we know drama is something everyone is doing in their everyday life. If we want to tell a story about a funny situation we had experienced, we often recreate the movements and also mimic the voices to visualize what really happened. (Guss, 2018, p. 47). This is what children are doing when they are playing. They usually dramatize spontaneous expressions or situations they have experienced. (Guss, 2018, p. 29-30). They can also dramatize a situation they wish they had the control of the outcome. In that case children can also use drama to process their inner emotions.

If we want to use drama as a subject in the kindergarten, it is important that the children gets to participate in the process. Kostas showed us how we together can create a story by drawing a map. The map is where the story takes place. Here the children gets to draw houses, trees and other things they think is important for the developing of the story. By drawing a map it's much more easier to imagine which characters they think they need for the story to be interesting. As we experienced in the class, it got so much easier and we really had a good time creating a story together. Which I think the children also will like.

But why can drama be important for children?

- It can be a way for the children to learn how to act in different situations, that you can bump into in the everyday life.
- They can also learn how to connect with their own emotions.
- It can help to expand the children's natural dramatic expression which it's important for the children's needs and their personal development.

Sources:

Guss, F. G. (2018). Barnekulturens Iscenesettelser 1 - Lekens dynamiske verdener. Cappelen Damm Akademisk.

https://ndla.no/subject:1:8c230faa-c1b1-4c16-b47a-490d8d7247cf/topic:3:195623/topic:2:47413/resource:1:47425

# data[].attributes.body
This documentary was made at the folkmuseum. It can be seen as an mix of a expository documentation (first part, with facts and pictures) and observing documentary (second part, where somebody was observed)

# data[].attributes.body
Stop motion video

This week we learned about stop motion videos. We had to make multiple, but I decided to share with you my first try at stop motion video.
When making a stop motion video there are some rules you need to be aware about. I already knew that you are not allowed to move the camera and that you have to move the stuff you are trying to take pictures of just a tiny little bit. What I did not realize before, is that you also have to pay attention to the shadows, are they not distracting from the work. Also are there different tactics on how to move the objects in the video. in this video, we first moved the car forwards on the paper. Later on we decided to keep the car in the same place and just move the road (a piece of paper) underneath it. If you pay attention to the video, you can see the moment we decided to change our method. We experienced that moving the piece of paper that is supposed to be the road, gives a much more realistic effect.
We also added sound effects. This gave our video a comedic effect.

# data[].attributes.body
This week we experienced process drama. Process drama, as the word says, it focuses on the process of creating and acting out a scene and not on the product. There is no written script but just a scenario created by the students and the teacher where they can improvise.

What impressed me is that processed drama can be presented everywhere, you don’t need a stage and costumes but just your imagination. In class, for example, we used a piece of fabric and some paper to create our land, we used post-it to mark different place on the map and step by step we created our own world. Everybody contributed in the process by adding some details to our map and to our story. We all “signed a contract” by playing this game and since we all believed in the same story it started to became alive. It was very easy and natural for me to start improvising about our story because it appeared real to me, I felt part of that scenario and I just followed the flow.

After this experience I understood how process drama can be a very useful tool for teachers to involve all students and work on their needs.

References:
https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/articles-and-how-tos/articles/educators/theater/process-drama-taking-a-walk-in-someone-elses-shoes/

# data[].attributes.body
Drama

This week we did several different exercises related to drama. We learned a lot about process drama. This is when you create drama together with a group, and at the start you don't know how the story will go.
At the end of the week we had to make little groups, and present a little theatre play. It could be about anything, but it was most important to use the things we learned in this weeks classes.
I will now describe how our creative process went.
In my group we first discussed what topic we wanted to talk about. We quickly decided on the topic 'homesickness and exploring', because this is something almost our whole class can relate to. Then we decided it would be fun to play pirates. This was the east part of our process. In our group there were a lot of different visions on how our story should go. We had too many small ideas and too little of a storyline. We did know we wanted to include process drama. So we wanted the audience to participate in our story.
After hours and hours of discussing, we finally decided on an idea. We succeeded in including the process drama. We also added the 'hot seat' in our theatre. This is when you place the character on a chair and let the audience fire questions at the character. This is also something we learned about this week.
During our long discussion I also thought about how you could use our pirate story in kindergarten. A process drama is a very good idea to do with young children, in my opinion. By including the children in the story and letting them participate, you make sure that they can keep paying attention longer and are really engaged in the story. Our story, the one with the pirates that we performed in class, could also be done in kindergarten. This is something I want to explore more, when I go home to The Netherlands, and work at my internship.

Juul

# data[].attributes.body
Process Drama

This week we got an insight in drama. Process Drama was on of the things we could experience. In the following I willl describe what we learned about it and offer some of my own ideas how it could be used in inclusive education. In process drama a theater/story is created with a group in different steps. We created a landscape for our story, a picture of a town, a newspaper with an article about the main theme and in the end we improvised little scenes. It was a very creative process and in the end the story was different from what we thought of in the start. During the process I experienced some things which could be interesting if you would use Process Drama in inclusive education:
First of all a story can be picked, which adresses the group. This could help to express personal topics.
Also Process Drama seems like a great opportunity to create a team. Everybody will be able to participate and the teacher can include everybody in creative ways. Kids/People who don't feel comfortable with talking in big groups etc. can easily participate (for instance by drawing a house on a map in a quiet moment), so out of m perspective Process Drama seems like a really good method to include everybody.

# data[].attributes.body
Odysseus And The Frozen Sea

In this week project we had radio theatre. We got divided into groups and had to choose which story we wanted to tell. My group chose to make up a story with different greek mythology characters.
In our story Odysseus meets the princess Chione, while he is sailing across the sea.

Our process of making the story went quite fast. Everyone was giving ideas, while one person was writing. In our radio we chose to use a "narrator", to make it easier to explain the back story of our plot to our listeners.
We made our own music. Fiona played the piano, and we found different melodies to use to the different characters and scenes. We wanted to find background music that matches the characters and the scenes, because since this is a radio theatre music is important. The reason for it importance is because it sets the tone for the story.

Example: When Odysseus pops up on the story, the background music sounds very "brave, upbeat and matcho", to match his energy in this story, while Chione's background music is more "light and feminine".
This helps the listeners to get an insight of which personality the different characters have.

- Yvonne

# data[].attributes.body
Three little piglets.

This week we created a radio theatre. We first had to decide on a story. Quickly we decided to choose for the story 'the three little piglets'. We found a very nice version of the story on the internet and decided to base our radio theatre on this story. At first we wanted to create a very nice and sweet story. In this version, all the little piglets survived and the wolf survived as well. But later we read in the Bettelheim book, that in every fairytale there needs to happen something that is not perfect and nice. That was the moment we decided to change our beginning. At first we wrote that the mother send the fighting piglets away, to build a house together to learn to work together. We changed the beginning to the parents both being eaten by wolfs. The three little piglets needed to survive on their own.
Our story also gives a message. It tells you that sometimes, the quickest way is not necessarily the best way. The two youngest piglets both build their houses very quickly, they were not steady and safe. The eldest piglet took more time to build his house, but he was safe from the wolf.
After deciding how the story had to go, we were ready for the next step; adding sound effects!
We started discussing at what moments in the play we could add sound effects, and also what kind of sounds. We used some music instruments, our voices and even some sounds from nature.
I had to be the voice of 2 little piglets. To make sure it was not confusing for the listeners, I tried to change my voice a lot in both piglets.
All these different factors combined, resulted in our radio theatre of 'the three little piglets'.

Juul

# data[].attributes.body
Once upon a time... 5 girls got together to create a radiotheatre.

How could they bring a story to life without giving the audience anything to look at?

In this radiotheatre we tell the story of Charlie, a poor baker who attempts to win a baking competition organized by the king. By using the building blocks 'speech, sound effects, music and silence', the story is made interesting for the audience to listen to. The way the different characters are expressed through their voices shape an image of them to make the story even more real.

Now sit back, close your eyes (if you want to), and enjoy...

Charlie and the baking competition radiotheatre.mov - Google Drive

# data[].attributes.body
The Sound of Music

Our project for this week was to create a radiotheater. Here you can listen to the radiotheater I was part of:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yEPW9VPBvVrmULcWVcAHxr_GjYu_N1-B/view

During the process  I could experience closely how important music is as an support. As we talked in class only shortly about this I did some more research about the musictheory.

In our radio theater we used music only once on purpose to create tension. You can hear it in the beginning when the cruel master is thinking about his bad plan. To create tension we simply used a minor second, played on the piano. Hearing those dissonant notes at the same time makes you feeling uneasy.  While editing the radiotheater we could experiece a big difference of the scene with and without the dissonance in the background.

This is only one way to create tension with music.
Furthermore it is possible to create tension by syncopation (a rhytmical shift), a chord that breaks out of a repetiton or change of dynamics (for example going from silence to loudness).  All those things create an uneasy feeling because they don't fit a familiar pattern (for example rhythmical shifts or dissonances) and/or because of the release we experience once it is over (for example the silence after the loudest part in a cresendo is reached).

Good feelings on the other hand, can be created by major intervalls. They sound brighter, which creates a feeling of joy.
In our radio theater we could have used this for example for the kings excitement.

Like you can see music can be used in many different ways to support storys. This short text only explains a little part of it. Anyway it shows that our radiotheate still could be improved by using more musical elements in a proessional way.

# data[].attributes.body
In this video you can see how a person is being transformed into something completely different.

We were inspired by Sagazan's performance transfiguration but we also took some inspiration from “Nøkken", a creature from Scandinavian folklore. The Nøkken is described as shapeshifter and it is associated with the element of water because it usually lives in lakes. Sometimes the Nøkken gets out of the lake and it turns into a beautiful creature to lure people into the lake and kill them.

We called this video “Many faces” and we chose a background with different faces to represent the various shapes a Nøkken can have. However, in our video we reverse the roles because a beautiful woman is being turned into an awful Nøkken and not the other way around. The meaning of this choice is open for different interpretations. It could mean that we don’t have to trust apparence because a beautiful face could hide an evil person.

To transform the look of the woman we used different natural material such as clay, branches and leafs to recall the origins of Nøkken, who comes from nature and mud.

https://piratejewellery.com/norse-mythology/nokken-the-water-spirit-of-norse-mythology/

Juul, Lea, Sofia, Yvonne

# data[].attributes.body
In this picture you see a nøkken during their transformation. You can see the face is not perfect, and she still has a tail (not visible in the picture). You can also see she has beautiful hair, but there are still some leafs in it. She is coming from the water.

Juul, Lea, Sofia, Yvonne

# data[].attributes.body
How to tell a good story

Last week, we sat down a campfire and shared stories with each other. Stories about trees or princesses. We sat there for a couple of hours, listening to all the different kind of stories, from all the different kind of storytellers. I sat there, thinking to myself; what makes a story interesting? How do you keep the listeners interested in your story? I did some research, and this is what I found out!

Some tips for a good storytelling I found are:
1. Think about what interests your target audience and make a story around that.
2. Tell the story from a future point of view, that sounds more interesting than telling the story from a present point of view.
3. Take the listeners with you on your journey. Tell them how you are feeling and what the emotions in the story are.
4. Use examples in the story, don't be vague.
5. Make it personal, use anekdotes from your own experiences.
6. Make sure the listeners know why this story is relevant for them.
7. Describe the future, what will happen.

These tips I found on the website;
https://www.storytellingpeople.nl/storytelling-blog/zeven-tips-om-aansprekend-te-vertellen/

I personally believe, these tips are not all useful for the way we used storytelling during the campfire. To me, if you tell a story about a princess, it is not necessary to tell me about your own personal experiences. But some of the tips might help you tell an interesting story!

Juul

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1 Verscherp doelgroep en kernboodschap

3 Beschrijf de spannende toekomst

4 Licht samenhang en betekenis toe

5 Deel ervaring en gevoel

6 Benadruk met persoonlijke anekdotes

7 Gebruik pakkende voorbeelden

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Versterk je presentatie met 7 praktische storytelling tips

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
1 Verscherp doelgroep en kernboodschap 3 Beschrijf de spannende toekomst 4 Licht samenhang en betekenis toe 5 Deel ervaring en gevoel 6 Benadruk met persoonlijke anekdotes 7 Gebruik pakkende voorbeelden

# data[].attributes.body
The effect of storytelling

As we could experienced this week a really nice evening with storytellig around a campfire, I did some research on effects of storytelling. Listening to a story can mean to forget the world around for a few seconds and experience new things. Different areas of the brain are activated while listening to a story. Research even showed that brain waves of storyteller and listener can start to synchronize.
Furthermore listening to a story can increase the ability to see situations from another perspective, as you will think about the people and their Intentions in the story. That can be like apractice for daily life. Also stories cna help to change things in your own life- when you can relate to a charcter in a story, who has for example a healthy lifestyle, you might be more likely to try that yourself. (Renken, 2020)
So as you see, storytelling not only means fun and a nice evening. It can also have positive effects on your daily life.

References:
Renken (2020). How stories connect and persuade us:Unleashing the brain power of narrative. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/11/815573198/how-stories-connect-and-persuade-us-unleashing-the-brain-power-of-narrative

# data[].attributes.body
This week we went in the woods and we shared stories around the bonfire in the night. This experience inspired me to think about the relation between the discovery of fire and the birth of storytelling. The ability to control fire changed human life one million years ago, it had profound effects on human survival, anatomy and subsistence but little is known about its cultural effects. Likely the tradition of telling stories is linked to the discovery of fire because people started gathering around the campfire to warm up and eat together and probably they started telling stories to pass the time. The anthropologist Polly Wiessner argued that gathering around the fire may actually have helped the development of our communication skills.
She made also a research that demonstrates how conversations change from daily time to night. She compared 122 day and 52 nighttime conversations collected among Ju/'hoan hunter-gatherers in southern Africa.
She found that, whereas 75% of the Ju/’hoansi’s daytime talk was focused on practical work-related issues, complaints and gossip, by night over 80% of exchanges were devoted to stories and intimate conversation.
She said that “Stories told by firelight put listeners on the same emotional wavelength and elicited understanding, trust and sympathy”.
This quote explains how I felt sharing stories around the bonfire, telling stories in that moment was something natural and intimate that gathered us, as it did in ancient time.

Don’t you think that we should do the same with children? Gather around a campfire to experience how our ancestors started telling stories and how they felt. It could also be a way to work with children on communication skills, understanding and respect of others.

Resources:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/did-fire-spark-storytelling_b_7128872
https://eldvarm.com/stories-by-the-fire/how-stories-were-born-around-the-fire/

# data[].attributes.body
Arethusa is a nymph who is under protection of Artemis, the Godess of hunting. One day after a hunt, Arethusa decided to take a bath in a beautiful river. The river changed into a big wave, that started forming around her. The river turned into a man, a god, called Alpheus, son of the God of the ocean.
Arethusa got scared and tried to run away. She ran to the island of Oritigia in Syracuse. She begged Artemis for help. Artemis then turned her into a spring to protect her.
Alpheus was so in love with Arethusa that he asked Zeus to help him get to Arethusa. Zeus turned Alpheus into a river that flows underground from Greece to the spring of Arethusa. This way, they could be together forever.
Nowadays, people still believe the spring can give couples the power of love, joy and firtility when they touch the water.

___________________

We presented this story in class this week and we discussed how the story still affects daily live and society today.
Our findings were that this story is very romanticized. When we read it this week, we felt bad for Arethusa because she didn't manage to get away from Alpheus. But still, the fountain is believed it can give you; love, joy and fertility.
Women nowadays are more independent. They don't have to end up with anyone and are free to go wherever they want to. In contradiction to this story, where Arethusa never got away from the man that scared her so much.

In this week blog we will be describing myths from our own countries.

Lea, Sofia, Yvonne, Juul

# data[].attributes.body
Why ancient myths are still relevant in our modern world?

Ancient myths are still around us, we can  find many references to them for example in art, psychology and literature. Why? How can ancient myths describe our society?
These questions don’t  have an univocal answer, there are different points of view depending on the field of analysis. In the course we said that myths are stories made up to exemplify abstract things through metaphor and give an explanation of how the world works. Since the struggle of finding a meaning in life and trying to answer to existential question has never changed,  myths can be contemporary because they try to answer these eternal matters.
Another explanation is given by Jung. He believed that myths and dreams were expressions of the collective unconscious, they express universal concerns that are part of society as a hole.
There are pattern of thought in myths and dreams, called archetype, that are universal because they were encoded in human species in prehistory.
This can also explain why myths from different parts of the world are similar.

References
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Classical_Mythology/Jungian_psychology

Sofia

# data[].attributes.body
Norwegian myth: Draugen

As a child, my dad used to tell me a story about the dangerous "ghost" that people used to see at the ocean before they died. He used to be a fisherman, he would always tell me whenever I played near the water to be "careful of the Draugen! If you see him, it means you're going to get into an accident and die!" Draugen has no head, and he sits on a wrecked boat. Whenever you see him, it means he came to warn you that you might get involved in an accident and you will end up dying.

This myth was very popular around the coast of Norway. As I understood as a child that grew up in the coast with a family background that has a close connection to the sea, this is a myth that went popular due to hard labor and very often death of the fisherman.

Why did Draugen became a myth?
One of the reasons why myth exist is because, people always need explanation of why things happens as they do. In the old days, it was very usual for fisherman to die while working in the sea. And the dear ones used to wait for them, and many of their husbands/fathers/brothers etc. never came back home. Many family members used this myth to warn the men to be careful when they are going out to work. Also to scare the children of how dangerous the ocean is.

Extra sources:

https://nordligefolk.no/sjosamene/fortellinger-sagn-og-myter/draugen/

https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draug_(vesen)

Yvonne

# data[].attributes.body
Das Hornberer Schießen (eng. the shooting of Hornberg)

A long time ago a little town in the black forest was really excited, because a duke was about to visit the town. Together all the citizens prepared a big feast. To welcome the duke they arranged a welcoming commitee and planned to fire some gunshots from the castle hill. The day the duke was about to arrive was a hot day and the duke had a big delay. Eventually the citizens could see the first sign of Riders far away. Glad that the feast was about to start they cheered and startet the feast right away. The people at the guns on the hill took the cheering crowd as a sign to start the welcoming shoots. They took a lot of effort in it and used all of the gunpowder. Just when there was no more powder left an envoy was running towards them shouting "don't stop the shooting this was only the vanguard".
But as there was no more gunpowder and the whole town already startet the feast in the back of the town, it was akwardly quiet and there was no beer left when the duke actually arrived.

_____________
Nowadays in the blackforest-area this story is still used to express that you missed something because you put too much effort and excitement in it or that you were really excited about something and in the end is wasn't the big than expected. Every year in summer time, this story is performed by citizens of the town. The connection to the present could be a sing that the story above is a myth, as mentioned in class. Still there are several definitions of myth (Morales, 2007, p.2). According to Segel (2004, p. 6) myth can be "a story, which can of course express a conviction, be held tenaciously by adherents. But I leave open-ended whether the story must in fact be true." If the knowledge that you will miss out if you are too excited about something, is considered as the conviction of this sotry, than the story could be seen as a myth. Still in my personal opinion and with other definitions, it is not quite clear to me if everybody would consider this story as a myth or rather a ledgend.

Lea

# data[].attributes.body
A long time ago, a small village called 'Westenschouwen' in The Netherlands was famous for his big and rich harbor. The arrogant fishermen from Westenschouwen sailed further and further into the North sea. One day the arrogant fishermen managed to catch a beautiful mermaid and they took her back to their village 'Westenschouwen'. Her husband cried and begged the fishermen to bring her back to the sea, because she wouldn't survive out there on land. The fishermen refused and kept her with them. This caused the mermaid to die a very tragic death, while the fishermen stood there laughing at her.
Her husband took it upon himself to punish the fishermen. He casted a curse over the small village.
He said the famous words: 'Westenschouwen, u shall feel sorry, that you stole my wife from me. Westenschouwen shall disappear, only the tower will be here'.
A big storm appeared and destroyed the big and beautiful harbor of the small village 'Westenschouwen'. The fishermen were forced to leave their beloved village 'Westenschouwen'.
______________________

In Class we learned that myths don't have to be true or false. But they do try to explain some daily life things. For example; in this story. The story tries to explain why the village of Westenschouwen disappeared. Because that did happen in real life.
The Netherlands don't have real myths. We don't have stories about god/half gods. What we do have are a lot of Folk stories. The story I described to you is one of those Folk stories.
Juul

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

# data[].attributes.body
In week 35 we could experience a mix of fairytales, circus, puppetmaking and nature during an overnightstay at Oslofjord. The following posts will show how you can use puppets and nature in your work with kids. We got the chance to experience a way of puppetmaking and opportunities about how to use it together with children. By doing the task on ourself we could see how you can create storys regarding puppets in a group. In this way you are able to provide space for special topics kids might have.

See in the following posts how loneliness can be expressed in a story by puppets.

Yvonne, Sofia, Lea and Juul

# data[].attributes.body
Introduction of the puppet "Tolle":
Meet the guardian puppet of Strandheim, named Tolle. He used to be a happy father of four, but one night. He heard a sound coming from the ocean. And suddenly he saw a beautiful girl, with a tale. The beautiful girl walked carefully towards were Tolle and his wife and children were sleeping. And in the blink of the eye, she took his wife and his children. Drag them to the ocean. And from that night, he never saw them again.

When we were divided into groups, the teacher started randomly to talk about that he heard some sounds and whispers around the place. And that's how the conversation started, us talking about mystical creatures lurking around there and us hearing the sounds and whisperings.
This is how improvising in the drama subject works. The way we answered him when he invited us into his world, was us "accepting" the invitation, and that's how the improvising started. This is how it works in the children's play too. The natural "flow" of children communicating to reality and into the fantasy.

# data[].attributes.body
Be careful! Because right now you are looking at Rocky. Rocky is a very strong, tiny creature. I met Rocky during my stay in Strandheim. I had to approach him very carefully, because he is very protective of his family. Rocky told me some things about his family and he told me that I could share his story with some other people he can trust. So that is why I am telling you this now!

Rumour has it, that a long, long time ago someone cursed the small forest of Strandheim. A lot of the creatures started to feel lonely and the king even turned into stone!
Rocky managed to protect his family from this terrible spell.
Everyday, Rocky sits on this exact spot, with the perfect view over the pathway that leads to his family. If he sees someone acting suspicious, he will attack! He refused to tell me what his secret ability was, so unfortunately, I am not able to tell you that. When the night falls, Rocky goes back to the forest to spend his nights with his family.
______________________

During the lesson at Strandheim we were wondering how you could use puppets and these kind of stories in your lessons at school. This story could be used for different kind of things. The things I came up with or we discussed are;
- expanding the vocabulary of young children
- a lesson about emotions
- storytelling (what could his secret ability be?)

You could also make a whole creative lesson about this. Young children have a very rich fantasy. After telling the story of Rocky you could have the children draw or create in any other way their own creature. And they can make up themselves what kind of ability their creature has and what their name is.
For the children who you can challenge a bit more, you could also have them make up a small tale about why they live in the woods.

Juul

# data[].attributes.body
Every day at sunrise this little creature climbs up to his favourite view point to watch the ocean. It was a good spot. Warm and sunny at nice days and wind-protected and dry at rainy days.

He loves to watch the little waves and the change of colors, but at the same time he gets a little sad. Many, many years ago he not only watched the ocean, he even went down the cliffs for a swim. Together with his good friend he felt save enough to do it, but one day he woke up and were alone. His friend was gone and the little creature did'nt know why. Nobody knows what had happend. On their own it was to dangerous for little creatures like him to go for a swim and so he tried to be happy with the view instead.

Anyway there was nothing he wished more for, than having his friend and the opportunity to go for a swim.....
______________________________________

This story was made up spontaneously during the practice at Strandheim. Below a short discussion wether and if yes how you can use it in your work with children. According to Bettelheim (1975, p.31) children benefit from stories where topics of the unconscious are mentioned through images.  Especially strong feelings could be to much for a child to deal with  consciously (Bettelheim, 1975, p. 30). Lonelyness or the feeling of being alone could be such a strong feeling. However lonelyness is quite clearly mentioned in the story above. Does that mean the story is to direct to help children? According to Bettelheim especially " [...]the gentle, indirect, undemanding [...]" (1975, p. 34) way personal topics are mentioned in fairytales is important and helpfull. Still in our discussion in Strandheim, we agreed that kids possibly could respond to the stories of our puppets and the topic of lonelyness. Discussing the feelings of the magical creature might be a way to deal with the topic of lonelyness without getting to personal. Still it would be a more directive way than mentioned by Bettelheim.

Lea

# data[].attributes.body
“I don’t remember the last time that I saw the sea, it’s been so long… but in this spot I can feel the sound of waves and the warmth of the sun. One day, long time ago, I was walking by the sea collecting shells when suddenly I heard a terrible sound. I don’t know what happened but since then I lost my sight. I’m sitting on this rock since then because I am too afraid of getting lost in the woods since I can’t see. I hope that someone of my friend would come to help me to reach the sea but nobody came. Now I am worried that they forgot about me… do you know where they are? Can you help me?”

During the Strandheim trip we experienced a way of using storytelling and puppetmaking with children.
My idea with this story was to involve children, so that they would feel active and part of the story. They could help Lila in different ways such as creating some friends for her or bringing her close to the sea.
Knowing how to create puppets and how to use them with children can be very useful for teachers. Puppets making puts children in the position of creator, they can use their creativity and express themselves. They have a control over their puppet that can give them a sense of satisfaction. Storytelling with puppets can also help children to express their emotions by using a mediator so that they don’t feel exposed.

# data[].attributes.body
This Blog will show learning outcomes and Contents of the course fairytales and creativitys in fall 2022. Fairytales, nordic myths, storytelling, music, arts and drama will be discussed and experienced in the course. Below the four students who provide this blog, will be introduced.

Yvonne studies at OsloMet - university, and she has interest for pedagogy for younger children. She chose this course, because she wants to develop her knowledge on how to use fairytales, literature and creative subject on children's learning methods on kindergarten or schools.

Sofia studies primary education and she has a passion for literature and psychology. This course is an opportunity for her to discover more about fairy tales and legends of western culture  and their psychological implications so that she can use storytelling with more awareness with children.

Juul studies teacher training - primary education and has therefore a special interest in the different ways of storytelling. She would like to learn a lot about the different ways of storytelling, so she could use those ways into her own teaching methods.

Lea studies inclusive education and has therefore special interests in working with children/people who need special support (due to disabylity, illness, mental health problems, developmental delay...) in participating in everyday life.

Yvonne, Sofia, Juul, Lea

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Helleristningene ved Sjømannsskolen, made by hunters in the Mesolithic period. 

# data[].attributes.body
In this picture you can see some lines, to us they look like a deer. Since it was made a very long time ago, we can not say for sure what the meaning of the carving is.
We believe it is part of a very ancient communication system, or that it may has a religious background. It could also be a lucky charm for the hunters.
The lines used to be white but later they were painted red, to make it more visible to people nowadays, so we can get some knowledge about the past.
It could be related to a story, or to human history. It could also be an element in a story someone nowadays makes up, because you can make up a story about anything. The pictures could be used as inspiration to storytellers.

Yvonne, Sofia, Lea and Juul

# data[].attributes.body
In the picture you can see a bear on a ball.  It looks man-made and was probaly put on the house for a reason. Anything else might already be connotation. To me it looks like a polar bear standing on a globe. Following that thought the sign could represent global warming and climate change. In the past the polar bear was often used in this context. Maybe the sign was created by a company etc. related to that topic. If so, it might be on the house to represent the company or to show that the company is part of the house. This would make it easier to find them or could be a way of advertisement. Also it could be a message to be more ecology-minded. Still there can be several other meanings. People who aren't related to the topic climate change might think of something else if they see the sign for the first time. Even the creator could have made it for something completely different. In this way the sing could be part of many different storys.

Lea

# data[].attributes.body
This sign is placed on every manhole cover in Oslo. I am very interested in finding out what it represents because I’ve never seen this kind of sign on manhole cover in other cities. The creator of the sign could be an Institution like the Municipality of Oslo that has decided to place this sign on manhole covers to show that the waterworks belong to the city of Oslo. Although I think this sign could be very ancient and related to something religious or traditional.

The sign is part of a system because it is a seal and it has a particular meaning for citizens of Oslo. On the seal there are different signs, for example the star, the lion and the arrow and they could be part of a religious symbolic system.

The seal could be used in several contexts and placed on different objects like flags, coins or precious objects of the royal family.

The man on the coat of arms is probably a saint, maybe the city’s patron saint. I think this sign is very emblematic and it could be a good inspiration to make up a story about  its meaning.

# data[].attributes.body
I do not know who placed this sign. It could be placed by the forester, or it could be placed by the township.
It is placed for all the people who visit this forest, but especially for horseback riders. This sign tells you, that it is allowed to ride your horse on this lane. It tells other people, that you could expect horseback riders on this lane and in this area.
This sign is part of a system. All the signs you find next to a road, helps you to be a part of traffic in a safe way.
This exact sign is attached to a tree and does not seem altered in any way. So I would not know if someone used it in any other way than wat it is made for.  I could happen, if someone made art around it or on it by using graffiti.
This sign could be used in a story made up by passengers. The sign sends out a message, which is also a story the sign is telling.

Juul

# data[].attributes.body
As I already know is that the creator of the sign is «statens vegvesen.» A source from the state, that is protecting the traffic in this country. We all know that the meaning of this sign, but for children it can interpreters differently. With childrens imaginary, the sign can be seen as something playful, for example the game «floor as lava». The white stripes is safe, but if you step outside the white stripes you loose. Or maybe it can also be the footsteps of a very big creature? Maybe the sign can be interpreted as if a big creature tried to cross the road, and the creature were so big that the cars stopped. That’s why we humans learned that if a person walks on that sign, it means that the cars have to stop.