- Erica Halverson: Learning anything new
requires taking a risk.
You can't just say to somebody, "Okay, take a risk."
You have to do what's called scaffolding,
which simply means creating a structure
around the outside of something
that's designed to be peeled back over time.
- Carrie Bernards: Many times,
when a classroom teacher is saying,
"Hey, we're gonna write narratives
or we're gonna write a persuasive piece,"
we had a lot of students who were just like,
"You want me to write what?
And how do I do this?"
And there'd be a lot of shutting down of behaviors.
When Whoopensocker started to come in,
they were like, "Hey, we can get the kids to write."
And it was through play, it was through acting,
it was through generating ideas.
And now, an engaged writer will be like,
"Oh, my gosh, I have this great idea that I just thought of."
You can see the success, the feeling of pride
that the students are having now with writing.
- At Whoopensocker, we structure our entire program,
from beginning to end,
to scaffold kids into taking risks
with their bodies through movement,
with their ideas through storytelling,
and with one another through collaboration.
- Kailea Saplan: One thing that we do as teaching artists
that any teacher can learn is to say "Yes, and."
That's part of improv and theater.
And we very much take it to heart in Whoopensocker.
So when a student brings something to us
and shares their idea,
we immediately yes that idea with some excitement
or with just some affirmation.
- Aubrey Donaldson: So I'm thinking of a student this year,
who's newer to the country.
And I was looking through his notebook one day
and he had, like, a whole YouTube page spread
in his notebook.
And so his story was kind of like a YouTube page.
And it had, like, "like" and "subscribe,"
and it had all the little, like, bells and whistles.
It was obviously a story about, you know,
what was really relevant to him.
He was just so cute and just looked so empowered
and happy to share his ideas.
- Even if we as teachers need to shift the idea a little bit
or kind of redirect the idea,
the most important part is that "yes" at first,
and really affirming the contribution
that the student made, because it is a risky activity
to raise your hand and share something out loud.
- There's a few ways
that we imagine you using this collection in your classroom.
One is to treat the collection as a single residency day
as we would when we go into the classroom.
So we have a video series
which first introduces everyone to the world
of Whoopensocker City.
Then we have a series of warm-up game videos
that will allow you to work with your students
and with our Whoopensocker teaching artists via video
on a series of scaffolded warm-up games
that get kids comfortable working with their bodies,
working with one another, and working with their voices.
Moves on to a brainstorming,
and then ends with individual writing and sharing time.
Another way is to take it in pieces.
So, if you are looking for ways
to bring more arts-integrated practice into your classroom,
you could just use these warm-up games
as a daily or weekly activity when working with your students.
And, if you want to mix and match,
just connect your favorite warm-up games
with your favorite writing activities.
- I love inviting students into Whoopensocker City.
There's this theatrical element, this imaginative space
where we all create Whoopensocker City
with our minds and with our imagination.
We build Whoopensocker City with the brainstorm
that we create with the games that we play together,
but also, with this willingness to play pretend with each other.
- Kids are supposed to play.
That's where they do most of their learning.
The seamlessness between that time,
which you think is very silly and just not serious,
and then going back to their little tables
and getting their notebooks out
and there's just, like, this hush
that kind of comes over the classroom.
Such a magical time.
- I learned that Whoopensocker means something extraordinary.
And I really do think Whoopensocker is extraordinary.
It brings a lot of joy to a classroom.
And I think that that's the base of teaching.
If kids have joy and excitement, it really is an outlet for them
to have creativity and to show who they are
as a person and a learner,
and gives them so many other options
and paths to help guide them for in their future.