Adobe Youth Voices (AYV)

Bangalore Workshop Overview

Held at the Association of People with Disabilities (APD)

November 19 & 20, 2008

10am-4pm

Planned & Implemented by Chandan Nallal & Meera Sinha,

The American India Foundation

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/meerasinha/AYVEducatorWorkshop

Day One: AYV Overview

Day One began with introductions. Educators had the chance to get up out of their seats, bringing some immediate energy to the workshop. In pairs, the educators got to know one another and then introduced each other to the group as a whole.

Introductions were followed by an activity focused on AYV’s mission. Each educator underlined two words from the mission that stood out to him or her. Then, going around in a circle, each educator said his or her word aloud. The words were continuous so that one word immediately followed the other, immersing the workshop participants in the language of AYV. The activity ended with a discussion on patterns that the educators noticed; for example, “empower” and “real-world” came up frequently, while “youth” was only mentioned by two educators.

Next was an “Agree or Disagree” activity. Educators were given statements and had to decide to what extent they agreed or disagreed with them. Based on their decisions, they stood closer to a wall marked “Agree” or the opposite wall marked “Disagree.” With statements such as “Discipline in the classroom leads to better learning” and “Process is more important than the final product,” heated discussion ensued.

The workshop continued with a power point presentation focused on AYV’s vision and goals. Chandan and Meera aimed to tell a concrete story to support each goal. For example, Chandan told a story about how a past AYV site was so inspired by its project that it held a rally focused on its documentary’s subject. To illustrate empowerment, Meera screened a video spot about her former employer, Free Spirit Media, a youth media production organization in Chicago.

Next, the educators did an exercise on inquiry and research. Using AYV’s Inquiry Process visual, groups of educators came up with sample questions for a theoretical documentary about pollution.

After lunch, Meera ran a session on pre-production and production. The session began with a screening of a sample documentary that Chandan and Meera had made about remedial teaching methods. Meera explained the planning and script-writing process that she and Chandan went through to produce this film. She also went over some basic shot composition and interview tips, again using the remedial teaching film as an example.

The day ended with a session on editing run by an Adobe employee.

Day Two: Storytelling Workshop

Day Two was the real highlight of the workshop. Prakash, a local painter, came in and ran three hands-on activities with the educators. He focused on storytelling methods.

Before starting the activities, Prakash led the educators in a quick ice-breaker. He had them all close their eyes, and the goal was to count to ten without any voice overlap. The activity set a tone of both focus and humor for the day.

Activity One: Framing the Story around Characters

Prakash began by splitting the thirty educators into six groups. Then, he handed each group five handmade puppets. The puppets ranged from a robot to Ganesh to a mango tree. The educators had to build a story around the characters they were given. Afterwards, they presented their “puppet show” to the rest of the group.

Activity Two: Storyboards

The activity began as Prakash gave each group a set of storyboards (he gave each group the same set). The storyboards already had images on them, but characters’ talking bubbles were empty. The images – abstract and open-ended – all related to the environment and pollution. For example, there was a picture of a crying bird flying over a set of skyscrapers. There was also a greedy-looking man hunched over a scoop of ice-cream that happened to be a globe. Using visuals as such, the educators filled in the talking bubbles. Later, the completed storyboards were hung in the training room for the educators to read.

Activity Three: Framing the Story around a Theme

For the final activity, each group was given a different theme: friendship, man & nature, communication, childhood, life, or empowerment. The groups went around APD’s campus and took photos using their theme as inspiration. When they were finished, they chose ten of their photos to turn into a photo essay and wrote out simple captions for each photo. Each group projected and presented their essay.

The day concluded with hearty thank-yous to Prakash and enthusiastic praise from the educators about the engaging nature of the day. Since then, several of the educators have reported back saying that the hands-on, creative activities were not only exciting, but also educational and applicable to their work with AYV youth.