Start listening at 07.17 to hear a bot more about what one of the organisations I work for does in schools, including a little bit from Andrew Cobson, chief exec of the British Humanist Association, who reinforces how important it is to be fully inclusive of people with non-religious beliefs in interfaith dialogue (and how well 3FF does this).
Enjoy!
Oh, and here's me on the day, with the BEST class I think I've ever taught for the 3FF - they were so good! And one boy (HILARIOUS) was obviously secretly trying to out-do another boy in the class by using long words and echoing some of my speech patterns, to try and look clever, and he said: 'I find her talk very voluptuous'. I have no idea what he was trying to say, but it was TOO FUNNY. 'Gifted and talented' and precocious, apparently... Voluptuous. He wasn't even trying to be sexually intimidating (which I did experience in a different boys Catholic school). The teacher and I had a private giggle at the end of the class. Mrs Malaprop o'clock.
I work hard for the money....If only I had more...(don't worry I'm not begging your sympathy, donations and food parcels. Although I'm a polite young lady and would never turn them away. Please email for my address.)
However, mumble-grumbling aside, I am feeling very lucky at the moment regarding work (amount of and quality of), and am still slightly reeling over my good fortune to be working with the groups and colleagues that I do.
'Who are they all?' I hear you ask, with an expression as eager as....my face looks a lot of the time. I'm a very eager person. Well, I shall reply by giving you The Break-Down. I tested my Dad on all my 8 (or something) jobs recently and he did pretty well, considering I can only remember all of them if I use my fingers. Don't worry, I won't be testing you, dear reader (to go a bit Charlotte Bronte), with some bizarre interactive blog-post version of Kim's Game. Although I would if I had the technical prowess.
So, in no particular order, these are Kate's jobs, clearly listed for your perusal:
Attic Theatre Company - jointly running weekly Drama workshops as part of Many Voices, one of Attic's outreach projects, working with young refugees/unaccompanied minors.
CoolTan Arts - Poetry Tutor for women who experience mental distress, for a community arts organisation who believe mental well-being is enhanced by the power of creativity.
Prendergast Vale College - Yr. 7 Drama teacher at a new comprehensive, co-ed. school in Lewisham, teaching a weekly Drama class.
Three Faiths Forum - inter-faith/inter-cultural facilitation in schools, both Drama-based for their School Linking programme, and as a facilitator for their Education team, delivering workshops/presentations in schools.
QUIT - Youth Presenter/Advisor for Quit Because, their youth programme, delivering smoking awareness workshops in schools and other youth settings.
Teen Boundaries, part of Family Lives - Outreach Worker, running workshops about sexualised bullying, sexual violence, the objectification of different genders, and other important issues like that. This is a new job I will be starting after Easter and I'm really excited, as I strongly believe that sex education in schools needs to develop its focus on emotional education and the complexities of sexual relationships (with any gender).
Diversity Role Models - 'Role Model'/speaker for DRM, working in schools to combat homophobic bullying by presenting 'real life' people to talk to them, of a spectrum of sexual identities. I've written about them on here a couple of times, so scroll to earlier blog posts if you are interested.
Ummm.... Is that it? Have I forgotten any? I'm on Cragrat's books as a freelancer, but haven't had any work yet. Oooh, and I'm sort of setting up a theatre company with my good friend Madelaine, but more on that soon (suspense, suspense)...
*I should put a little disclaimer to say that the title of this post is only referencing the fact that I'm working pretty damn hard, rather than any allusion to prostitution (haven't had to go down that road yet) which the song always seems to suggest to me.
So, I haven’t quite managed to enter the world of Twitter since my last post, but I have done something else or the first time, which is facilitate for the Three Faiths Forum’s education programme.I’ve worked for the 3FF a few times over the last year, running Drama workshops for their School Linking ‘Shared Futures’ projects, where they pair up two schools (they work with both faith and non-denominational schools), and the students get to know each other through joint activities throughout the year, giving pupils from different cultural and faith backgrounds opportunities to learn more about student who have beliefs and backgrounds different to their own.The first workshop I ran for students on this programme (I had previously worked with their teachers) was for ten 15 year old girls, five from a Muslim school and five from a Christian school.I remember vividly that when I arrived they were all sitting in a circle in painfully shy silence, in two distinct groups, and that by the time I left after lunch they were all sitting eating as one group, talking and laughing.It was amazing to see such a difference in such a small amount of time.I remember being struck by it, as although I have often seen how working together in the performing arts has broken down barriers, built confidence and inspired many different groups in a variety of projects – most notably working in HMP Winchester with Playing for Time Theatre Company, staging plays in the prison on nine week projects – it was the short amount of time this change in atmosphere had taken place in, and how dramatic the difference was in the girls' interactions with each other which was striking.My most recent workshop for young people taking part in a Shared Futures programme had a very different atmosphere; however this was because it was with 43 Yr.2s (6-7 year ols)!This time I was taken aback by how much they wanted to contribute (a lot!), and also how when I asked them to get into a circle they all held hands and walked backwards – which I can’t see happening with any of the other groups I work with!
Yesterday, however, I was not working for the Shared Futures programme, but for another section of the education department at the 3FF, and this time without my Drama hat on, but as one of their interfaith facilitators. I’d had a training day for this in September and observed a couple of sessions in different schools in the last few weeks in preparation, but these were the first 2 classes I had facilitated myself. The sessions I ran yesterday were called ‘Encountering Faiths and Beliefs’, and the format was that there were a panel of speakers – this time a Catholic, a Jewish, and a Humanist speaker – and they each spoke briefly about their own beliefs, and then I chaired a discussion with the audience. Although they were a bit Monday morning-y (that well-known adjective) at the start of the day, I think most of the students were really engaged, and they asked some really interesting and thoughtful questions. For me, the best thing was that I was learning lots too. I come from a non-religious background and, although I did do Religious Studies GCSE (although my over-riding memory of that was that in the exam they asked questions to which the answers could mostly be found in Christmas carols, like ‘Where was Jesus born?’, and that to ‘Who baptised Jesus?’ one of my very intelligent friends wrote Moses, another wrote Abraham, and another just wrote The Baptist) and learnt quite a lot about different religions at primary school, my knowledge of religion is very patchy. I was particularly interested to learn more about Humanism, and will definitely go away and read some more about it.
On another note, I also had my first Krispy Kreme doughnut, erected my first shower rail (once we’d been back to Homebase and asked the man there to show us how – stupid, vague instructions), did a yoga DVD with my housemate, and watched my first London firework display which wasn’t on Jools Holland.
