Glow Meet

I have just had the pivilege of sitting in on our first fully blown Glow Meet. Glow is LTS's online learning portal for schools.

Today's "Meet" involved 16 Glasgow Primary Schools connecting to us online via Glow to view, what was essentially a live broadcast direct from the rehearsal room of Don't Start Me.



It was with some intrepidation that we waited to find out if all the schools could connect. Technology and bandwidth issues have been known to cause problems in the past. Fortunately all those we were expecting appeared online.

Angela Smith hosted; in her words, she was "Davina" for the hour's event. She did an amazing job of presenting, co-ordinating between all the schools and leading discussions. Davina would have been proud!



An introductory whip round the schools allowed the p3-4 pupils in each school, to cheer loudly in turn, to let us know they were online. The first sound of their voices sent delight round the rehearsal room as we realised we had a fully fledged audience.



After watching a clip of rehearsals (from earlier today) the pupils were able to ask the cast and Director questions via live chat and even speak to us from microphones at their schools. Hearing the pupils engage directly in this way, was definitely a highlight for everyone in the room.



We hope all the schools had as much fun as we did listening, watching and interacting via Glow.

Our next "Meet" will be this Thursday when pupils will get to chat with PC Geoff from Strathclyde Police.



Hx

Don't Start Me! Glow project kicks off

It's been a very exciting week for the TAG team as we have now started rehearsals for our production of Don't Start Me! TAG was chosen as one of only 10 arts companies in Scotland to run an innovative drama project using the new Scottish schools intranet system GLOW. We are working alongside Strathclyde Police to deliver a range of activities exploring the origins of criminal behaviour. We will be working with P3 and P4 pupils in Glasgow schools.



The cast arrived on Monday morning with only ideas and a skeleton of a storyline. The following 2 weeks will be spent fleshing out and then polishing until a full play has been created. We have 4 actors involved and they will all play different parts throughout the performance.

As well as rehearsals happening this week we have had two practice 'Glow Meets'. These are interactive video conferencing sessions on the Glow site. Teachers from our 20 primary schools all logged on at the same time and we could chat to each other, share information etc, and the teachers didn't even have to leave their classrooms!

The reason for these practice sessions was because on 18th January we are holding our first proper Glow Meet session as part of our project. Approximately 1000 pupils from all over Glasgow will log on to our Glow Meet and will get to see behind the scenes at the Citizens Theatre. The pupils will see the actors rehearsing and they will be able to ask them and the director questions about the play and about what it's like to work in a theatre. This session will allow the pupils to see a part of the theatre making process that they would never normally get to see.



We also have another Glow Meet happening on 20th January with PC Geoff Smith of Strathclyde Police making a presentation to the children. Again, the pupils will be able to ask PC Smith questions which he will answer live as the Glow Meet happens.

The tour of our theatre production starts on Monday 24th January. There will also be post-show drama workshops taking place and classroom activities and resources for teachers to access as part of the overall Don't Start Me project.

Angela