{"id":48301,"date":"2017-12-06T14:49:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T19:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=48301"},"modified":"2017-12-06T14:53:09","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T19:53:09","slug":"acting-exercise-helps-prepare-co-op-students-for-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2017\/12\/acting-exercise-helps-prepare-co-op-students-for-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Acting exercise helps prepare co-op students for workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"

From small talk at the water cooler to encounters with testy photocopiers, students embarking on co-op work-terms never quite know the situations they may experience in their new workplace.<\/span><\/p>\n

To help lessen stress and increase comfort heading into a new environment, Brock Dramatic Arts students recently visited their co-op peers to share some scenarios they may be faced with.<\/span><\/p>\n

Comprised primarily of Dramatic Arts students under the direction of Joe Norris, Dramatic Arts Chair and Professor of Drama in Education and Applied Theatre, Mirror Theatre spent time in three Co-op Education classes over the past few weeks to provide guidance and reassurance by acting out scenes in Sean O\u2019Sullivan Theatre.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Dramatic

Co-op students Daniel O\u2019Leary, left, and Marsel Avdic, right, play tug of war with fourth-year Dramatic Arts student and Mirror Theatre member Sumer Seth during an \u2018Awkward Elevator\u2019 scene.<\/p><\/div>\n

The group write and present interactive scenes on a variety of social issues, with the latest art-based research project exploring the interpersonal dynamics of work placements from entry to exit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using applied theatre, experiential and problem-based learning theories and techniques, the students present scenes that address worker safety, on-site learning, asking for help, dealing with unreasonable demands and degree of personal sharing and assessment. Audience members redirect the scenes from their seat and, at times, come on stage to try to act out their thoughts through role-play.<\/span><\/p>\n

The initiative was intended to generate discussion amongst the co-op students on a variety of work-related topics in the 0N90 class.<\/span><\/p>\n

Students were asked to put themselves in the actors\u2019 shoes in order to understand how they would handle each of the given situations in real life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would recommend this type of interactive learning in future classes,\u201d said second-year Public Health co-op student Micaela Snow following the exercise. \u201cI feel like the presentation gave us a deeper understanding of expectations and work etiquette rather than if we just listened to the professor talking about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Julia Zhu, Brock\u2019s Associate Director of Co-op Education, hoped the experience helped to \u201cfacilitate \u2018a rehearsal for life\u2019 by offering an opportunity for students to safely test out their approach to impromptu social, ethical and culture situations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Course facilitator <\/span>Ashley Haroutunian said she was impressed by the level of engagement students displayed as they watched the vignettes and participated in the discussions and re-enactments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>They demonstrated a keen ability to reflect and contribute thoughtful observations and suggestions to help the players navigate the challenging workplace scenarios and conflicts,\u201d she said. \u201cProfessor Norris and his students did an excellent job of supporting their learning by inviting, encouraging and involving students in the process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mirror Theatre has previously worked with Brock\u2019s English as a Second Language Services in addressing academic integrity issues; Student Health, examining mental health and drinking issues; Health and Safety, discussing violence in the workplace; a Health Sciences class, articulating challenges of patient care; and the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation\u2019s TA training sessions. The group\u2019s members are heading to New York in April to present their arts-based research at the American Educational Research Association. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mirror Theatre members who participated in the recent co-op exercises include fourth-year Con-Ed Dramatic Arts students Mike Metz and Lindsey Abrams, third-year Psychology and Dramatic Arts student Nadia Ganesh, fourth-year Dramatic Arts and Education student Aaron Drake, fourth-year Con-Ed student Abby Rollo, second-year Con-Ed Dramatic Arts student Dani Shae Barkley, fourth-year Dramatic Arts student Sumer Seth and first-year Dramatic Arts student Dawson Strangway.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From small talk at the water cooler to encounters with testy photocopiers, students embarking on co-op work-terms never quite know the situations they may experience in their new workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":48302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,37,1,4],"tags":[6082,656,804,6083,548],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48301"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48308,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48301\/revisions\/48308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}