Introducing Our Newest Blogger!

Hi everyone, I'm Jareth! I'm 16 years old and I go to school at the Cooke Center Academy. I'm a new intern at Daytime Moon and I'm really excited to be working on the blog. Every week, I'm going to be helping write the blog. I'm going to go through the videos from each class and pick the ones that are really good. Then, I'm going to write about them and share them! When I'm not with Daytime Moon, I like to hang out with friends, watch movies, and have free time on the computer. 

I watched the videos from yesterday's class. They were really funny, really nice! The first game was called "Yes, And." In this game, everyone says a sentence to tell the story. They made four stories. There were two that I really liked. Here they are!

In this story, there's a kidnapped prince who's locked up in a closet. He's so mad. Then, he broke out to find some friends. He finds a friend and they go to a baseball game together.
 

I liked this story. This story might be like a fairy tale, imaginary.

In this story, they're putting on a Broadway show. One of the actors got so sick that he missed rehearsals. When he feels better, he comes back but they cut him from the show because he missed everything.

This story might happen to a Broadway show, so it's more realistic. But if I were sick and got cut from a show, I'd feel mad. It's my part!

After they played "Yes, And" the group made scenes. Some of the scenes were based on stories from "Yes, And" but not all of them were. I chose my two favorites and here they are!

In this scene, the prince is locked up. He feels sad, mad, and scared. One of his friends comes to save him because they have tickets for the baseball game!

I liked this scene. It was based on the story of the Prince that the group wrote earlier. I think they did a good job.

In this scene, two people were having a dance party at the library. Someone who was trying to study comes in and says they can't do that. She gets the librarian, who kicks them out.

I liked this scene. I thought it was funny because they were having a party in the library, maybe because they wanted to because they were bored. But that's not allowed in the library.

So that's this week's blog! I hope you enjoyed the movies. I had a lot of fun today.

See you next week!
Jareth

Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn

You know that age-old expression that goes something like, “I ended up learning more from them than they ever learned from me”?  Whoever said it first really nailed it – especially when it comes to working with Daytime Moon.  On the other hand, it’s not necessarily an outcome one intends or strives for as a teacher…

Let me explain.  I’ve been involved with DMC for two years, and every moment with our students and actors proves that old expression true and true again.  I firmly believe that our actors grow and learn so much in our short time together, but I always feel humbled by all the lessons they end up teaching us!  So as I geared up to start this year’s fall session at Cooke Academy (my first program as head teacher!), I thought to myself, “Well, hmm… I need to do Daytime Moon Creations and these actors proud and instill lots and lots of amazing things unto them” – since I would inevitably learn so much from them, I wanted to make sure to try extra hard!!

And so far, it’s been great: exploring new and old games, meeting new faces and catching up with our alumni, but it was all moving very fast.  As I walked home from our second class, my own nerves and huge desire to be the best teacher I could possibly be threatened to take over my thoughts, and as I started to think about the following week’s lesson plan, I started to get distracted by insecurities and those darn nerves.  So as is my wont to do, I caught up on a little neuroscience research, and made a couple of very important realizations about teaching.  We are intrinsically an exploring species.  And everything we do at Daytime Moon has always supported this: that we need to harness this wandering, this exploration, and create and play and make mistakes and learn from them.   We may sort of believe this to be the truth (that we should learn from our mistakes), but it’s usually easier said than done!  Most of us would rather just get it right the first time!  But we actually get way more out of everything if we do make mistakes – though we are only going to want to keep making mistakes if we are in an environment that makes it totally okay to do so. 

I realized this mistake-making needed to carry over to the teacher’s (my own) mentality as well.  If I was allowed to fail, I could really give it my all.  Though the chance for mistakes might be greater,  I wouldn’t watch myself, I wouldn’t be afraid, and I’d be demonstrating that the class needn’t be afraid either.  That it’s okay!  Teachers, of course, should be as prepared as best as he or she can be.  And I can be completely prepared and get the support I need from Jenna and from my assistant teacher Ella, but that after all the preparedness, I just needed to plunge in!  That it’s okay for me to learn and pick myself up and discover and learn and grow because I am enabling my students to do the same thing.  The way a teacher behaves has more impact on students than how much a teacher knows.  Daytime Moon’s mission seeks to create a joyful environment where we can play, where we can make mistakes – but here I was not affording that to myself!

Truly, the most important thing that we at Daytime Moon strive to keep in our classes is joy.  The brain rewards itself with joy after successes – which aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive with “The Destination.”  The process is sometimes more rewarding than the end goal itself!   And though many of us believe this to be true, it’s true neurologically as well.  We turn our energies to the things that are ours, the things we want to create, to learn, to move through the process of, to challenge, to overcome.   My students will begin to create and to write their own play next week.   And I am teaching those students.  We can own our own processes.

Maybe it’s not who learns the most.  Maybe it’s something we all experience together, helping each other in our discoveries.  It’s comforting to know that we are all in this process together, that we can grow together.   The following is something I hope to keep present in every class, but that I now know applies to my own teacher journey as well: “The joy of learning is indispensable in study as breathing is in running.”  How very true.

Michelle

Finding the Joy

Hello everyone!

From all of us here at Daytime Moon in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, I hope you and your family are safe and sound. I hope the impact was minimal and your personal recovery moves quickly. In times of great loss, I never cease to be amazed at the resilience and compassion shown in this city. I see kindness towards strangers, sharing of resources, and a determination to bounce back better, stronger, and a little more aware of those around us. In these times, when we can so easily feel overwhelmed with sadness, what I find most beautiful are the moments where people come together to create and share in joy. The Daytime Moon community is no different; we feel the pain that has been caused by Sandy, but we comfort ourselves knowing that our work is full of joy. So, despite a heart heavy with the images of my fellow New Yorkers in pain, I am choosing to look at the moments of bravery, of compassion, and of joy.  I hope you will join me as I share updates from Daytime Moon's fall program.

As many of you know, this fall finds Daytime Moon Creations back for our third program with the Cooke Center Academy SKILLS Program and Alumni Association, where we are working with a group of young adults to develop an original play! The program started 3 weeks ago and it's been amazing so far.

As Daytime Moon grows and expands, I've personally felt very lucky to see the caliber of volunteers and artists who want to work with us. You all have, I'm sure, seen the incredible work of Michelle Kuchuk, who has worked with Daytime Moon for two years now: first as a one-on-one buddy and most recently as my assistant teacher. I am overjoyed now to introduce her now as a head teacher! Michelle is teaching this program at SKILLS, and I'm excited to welcome Ella Metuki, also a former one-on-one buddy, as her assistant teacher.

I had the great pleasure of observing their class last week and had a blast! They have a lot of familiar faces in their class, but also a lot of students experiencing Daytime Moon's programming for the first time. It was exciting to watch as the returning students took on leadership roles in the room and the new students were so willing to explore their imaginations.

Check out some of the videos from class!

This clip is from a game of "ImaginAIR," where the group was exploring space. Here, Jorge is pretending to be an astronaut and encounters Emily the space creature!

In this clip, taken during a game of "Group Photo," a group of students works with Michelle to create a snapshot. Can you guess where the photo was taken?

In the live action follow-up to "Group Photo", Charlie, Emily and Michelle share a short skit with the group. Can you guess where they are?

The final show is scheduled for December 13th at 5PM at the Peoples Improv Theater. I don't know about you, but I'm already counting down the days!

Wishing you continued strength, calm, and JOY during the ongoing recovery,
Jenna

Introducing... "Difficult Lines"

Here it is... The final film from Daytime Moon's Film Class with Ben Sidoti!

"Difficult Lines" tells the story of two actresses working on a play who fight because one can't remember her lines. The director has to step in to help settle the dispute. "Difficult Lines" was written by the group--Safia, Samy and Jake--and created entirely by them. Safia and Samy each took a turn behind the camera, shooting two shots each and then switching to run sound. Jake consulted on the staging and camera placement, then portrayed the director. Emily and Courtney, two Daytime Moon volunteers, stepped in to play the fighting actresses. 

Check out the final movie:

Pretty amazing right?!?

Congrats to our whole cast and crew, and thanks to Ben for a great class!!

From the Archives--Superheroes and Songs!

November 15, 2010 

Hello!

So we’ve passed the halfway point in our program…hard to believe how fast time flies!! Only two more sessions before our FINAL PERFORMANCE!!!

Things at Daytime Moon have been going very well. We’ve created superheroes, banished monsters, played pretend with all sorts of emotions, and debuted a few more awesome songs–we promise there’s a CD coming! There are a lot of pretty big website updates coming, so stay tuned. But in the meantime, I thought I’d tease you with a few great pictures from our Saturday sessions:

Sean as Michael Jackson at our Halloween session

Christina and Jake pretending to be angry

 James and Teddy pretending to be Siskel and Ebert

Nick and Liz

from L-R Teddy, Sean, me, Jake and Nick

Cheers!
Jenna

From the Archives--Registration is OPEN!

September 10, 2010

Hello All!

Registration is officially OPEN for our fall camp. All of the information you could possibly need is on the “Our Programs” page of the website, but feel free to email information@daytimemooncreations.org if you have any questions about how to get your child enrolled in our program. Because we are capping enrollment at 10 children, Liz and I will be conducting family interviews as part of the application process. This gives us the ability to create a program tailored to the children participating–we can choose and train volunteers based on the specific needs of each individual child and put together a group that will be able to work well together.

We’re really excited that the ball is off and rolling, so take a look at the program description and let us know if you have any questions!!

Jenna

From the Archives--Daytime Moon Pilot Program

From September 8, 2010...

Hello Everyone!

Well, it’s finally happening. After all our hard work getting up and running, the time has finally come to take on the part of our work that we’ve been looking forward to from the beginning–welcoming a fantastic group of kids into our inaugural program!!! Our first offering begins this fall, an eight-week camp that will culminate in a performance on 42nd in the heart of TIMES SQUARE! Talk about a great theatrical debut for our budding stars.

The program begins on Saturday October 16th and will run from 12:30-2:30 every Saturday, excepting the Saturday after Thanksgiving, until our performance on December 11th. We’re capping registration at 10 children, which gives every child the experience of a small, safe place to play and grow. Every child will be partnered one-on-one with a typically developed adult buddy, and there will also be a director and a Daytime Moon playwright writing a play specifically for the children in the program. It’s an exciting format, and we’re thrilled to be offering it this fall! We’ll be beginning the registration process in the coming week, so keep checking back for more information.

There’s exciting stuff happening at Daytime Moon, so stay tuned!!

Cheers,

Jenna