CCY 2300-Conference Report
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Arts Humanities
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Jan 9, 2024
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CCY 2300: Conference Report
In this report I will be reflecting on the relations between the Children, Youth and Performance
conference with relevance to this course. The conference showcased many aspects of play
through drama, emotion and engaging dialogue. The conference provided a platform for sharing
innovative research that serves to create a brighter future for children and youth through us, as
future educators. In my report, I will be drawing on examples from several presentations that I
attended and connecting these sessions to key concepts from our course. As we know, children’s
play is a vital aspect of their development which fosters them cognitively, socially and
emotionally; this report will be divided into three sections that focus on children’s imagination
and creativity, physical activity and well-being as well as, language and communication skills.
Children’s Imagination and Creativity:
Through these presentations we see how all three of these aspects have on major impact
on children and youth when it comes to play. Especially when it comes to their imagination and
creativity. Many of the sessions incorporated this concept in their presentations which connects
back to a lot of the course content. For example, in the first interactive workshop titled
“The
Thing’s the Play”,
we were divided into groups and among each group there were a series of
objects given; and with those objects’ groups were instructed to create a story line without
talking. My group was given a lid, a tinfoil ball, and glasses. When they first came around, I had
no clue what kind of story I was going to making with these objects because my imagination
isn’t as great as it was when I was a child. But my group ended making up a cooking scenario
with taste testers, cooks and dish clearers. It goes to show that, creating these opportunities to
fantasize allow children and adults create make believe scenarios, creative expression and
reimagine folklore characters. As soon as we started this cooking scenario the first thing that I
thought of was the cooking rat, Ratatouille. The connections between imagination, creativity and
play also connect to Article 31 of the UNCRC which recognizes children’s right to play and
participate in the arts.
In addition, the fifth case study of the case studies I attended titled
“By Youth for Youth”
discussed her experience coming from a musical, arts, dancing and comedian background.
Khadijah Salawu study focused on the African American diasporic literature. She presented
music and her DJ experience ways to engage in play. Music is used as a form of play through the
act of engaging with music in a playful and creative manner. There are various ways of
expressing musical activities through singing, dancing, playing instruments and improvising.
Interestingly, she mentioned in the presentation that youth are able to come together as
themselves and helps youth develop socially and developmentally. Khadijah Salawu’s study
demonstrates the ways music stimulates imagination and creativity and the ways people explore
different sounds and experiment with musical ideas.
Physical activity and well-being:
Another theme throughout the conference was the idea of physical activity and well-
being as a form of play. In another case study I attended titled “
Commedia Dell’ Arte as the
Foundation for Devising New Plays
” talks about the commedia performance through physical
work and physical choices. This study that was conducted by Mike Griffin which demonstrates
significant freedom and creativity in character work. Mike used Shakespeare as an example, he
stated that he would get his students to read the play at home and try to comprehend the context
of the novel. Then he would get his students to translate what they got from the play and make it
their own through their own lingo. This presentation opened my eyes to new ways play and the
ways in which it can be made into your own. As mentioned in McDonnell’s article, kids don’t
always have a goal by playing the narrative, sometimes it is just for pleasure. She also mentioned
the idea of how children create their own play or make their own play through history
(McDonnell, 1994, page. 25). The presentation also noted that new play creates opportunities for
improvisation, collaboration and ownership.
In the workshop,
“Acts of black Liberation in the classroom: Rest, Meditation and
Affirmations”
presented by Tashara Gavin-Moorehead. This was personally my favourite
because we sat 45 minutes relaxing in deep thought. She had the group lay on our backs and try
to find one instrument that was being used in the song to develop a sense of focuses and
awareness. Not only did we become one with ourself but this presentation helps individuals to
overcome challenges they may be facing, develops a sense of self, as well as becoming more
optimistic. During this presentation we sat saying affirmations, did yoga poses to relax our
bodies and mind but also recognizing who we are and becoming the best versions ourself. Not
only does this enhance the play experience but allows children to be more mindful when it comes
to play, reduces stress levels and enhances creativity. Small mentions in the article that adults
believe playing is useless, wastes time, and it does not impact a child’s development. She also
mentions that games don’t always have to be active; sometimes, simple activities such as saying
affirmations and setting goals are both powerful practices the complement and create the play
experience through many factors such as a positive mindset, intention and focus, growth and
development as well as manifestation and self reflection. This presentation portrays play as
purposeful and intentional allowing individuals to make the most of their play experiences which
promote a positive mindset towards play.
In another case study titled, “
Knowing it Directly”
presented by Melinda Marks talked
about role playing and the aspects language, costume and social interaction play a major role
when it comes to play. Similarly, to the other presentation, she talked about rein acting and
recreating the storyline from novel and adapting to the ‘new way’. She focused on building
knowledge through context and while having an audience understand you better than you can
understand yourself. This case study relates our reading about the lived culture of consumers that
essentially talked about children playing games that have been played for a very long time, but as
newer generations play the same game, they add their own touch to it that fits their definition of
what the game entails. The influence can come from different forms of media, things they
learned in school, or ways peers have told them to play it. Which is also known as a “Long-
standing” games that are played with adjustments, variations, or twists allow games to be played
in all types of settings for educational and play purposes, which can teach kids valuable skills
and lessons while simutaoulsy having fun and enjoying what they are learning.
Language and Communication skills:
As presented in another case study titled,
“Literacy in the round
” presented by Harrison
Campbell spoke a lot about engaging in classrooms through language, community and creating
safe spaces; which is a key factor when it comes to play. This case study demonstrates creativity
by reading a text and bringing it to life in class through a mask and role play. His study was more
of an observational study that allowed students to read books and in a way interpret that book by
creating a craft (which was a mask) then used role play to interpret what they have read but also
by incorporating that creativity aspect as well. He stated that students had to create a mask and
justify what it meant to them and why but also to give the characters from the novels agency. For
example, come of the women or children that were not really focused on but were mentioned. As
mentioned in Smalls article, she mentioned that children's media- referenced games the lived
culture of consumer texts on school playground. Which means that things such as novels or tv
shows that are brought to live have more of an impact on children and their learning. Children
often engage in play through communication and language because it allows them opportunities
for social interaction and navigate social dynamics.
Overall, I enjoyed the conference because of how interactive it was but I also left with a lot more
knowledge than what I came in with. The conference fostered and environment of innovation,
growth and challenging existing norms around play and explore new possibilities for future
educators.
Word Count:1605
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Works Cited
McDonnell, Kathleen. Kid Culture: Children & Adults & Popular Culture. 1947. Second
Story Press, 1 Jan.
1994. Accessed 6 June 2023.
Small, C. (2016). Children’s Fan-Play, Folklore and Participatory Culture: Harry Potter
Costumes, Role-Play
and Spells. Ethnologies, 38 (1-2), 255–289.
Johnson, Amy (2023, June 17
th
).The Thing’s the Play:Igniting the Devisiing Process with
objects [workshop]. The Ada Slaight Stage. Children, Youth, and Performance Conference,
Toronto, Canada
Gavin-Moorehead Tashara (2023,June 17
th
) Acts of Black Liberation in the Classroom:
Rest, Mediation and Affirmations [workshop]. The Ada Slaight Stage. Children, Youth, and
Performance Conference, Toronto, Canada
Griffin, Mike (2023,June 17
th
) Commedia Dell’Arte as the Foundation for Devising New
Plays [Case study]. 161 Frederick Street. Children, Youth, and Performance Conference,
Toronto, Canada
Marks, Melinda (2023,June 17
th
) Knowing Directly:Teaching Language and Collboration
through Adaptation [Case study]. 161 Frederick Street. Children, Youth, and Performance
Conference, Toronto, Canada
Campbell, Harrison (2023, June 17
th
). Literacy In- the- Round: Building Literacy Skills
on Stage [Case Study]. 161 Fredrick Street. Children, Youth, and Performance Conference,
Toronto, Canada
Salawu,Khadijah (2023,June 17
th
) By Youth for Youth:Collective Creation with the Now
Generation [Case Study]. 161 Fredrick Street. . Children, Youth, and Performance Conference,
Toronto, Canada