Amazing Akala! Black History Month 2015 In Akala's Words

I found the event  last week with Akala  very fascinating and educational. The subjects he covered  were the origins of Christianity, politics, Africa (he talked about Egypt a lot). I feel that I gained a lot from, the event. The things Akala talked about included  many other interesting historical subjects. In my opinion this is what  Black History Month should really be about.
 Zaynab


Last week we saw Akala talk about Black History Month in different parts of Africa(mostly about Egypt). He told us a wide range of information that most schools wouldn't tell us when it comes to Black History Month. He explained Black History Month in different countries and how it was different from others ☺
Thea


Last week we saw AKALA talk about black history month he told us about the African spread nose he also read one of his poems what he said changed my perception of black peoples life .☻☺
GIANAH MODEST #


At Akala last week, his words were really inspirational and he would get his point across well as what he wants people to think predominantly through his poems. I found his information quite surprising like when Christopher Columbus had never set foot on America.
Parsa

The event last week changed my perspectives on life. It was controversial and increased my knowledge on life socialistic views through history. The event was extremely fascinating in terms of general knowledge and helped me understand more on life during the Egyptian era.  As well as the experience from Akala's lecture, I now have visualized  myself, 4 years from now through out University. Aria. ☺☺☺.
 

Othello Unbound at Cambian Oaks

Using beautiful gold inks at Cambian Oaks during the  #othellounbound project. 

We talked about publishing a book of prose and poetry created during the workshops and the possibility of extending the work to other residential spaces run by the Cambian Oaks group.

These Arts and Health workshops are part of the Othello Unbound Project which is a creative exploration of Shakespeare’s Othello. This Destinations Arts initiative is supported by Sheffield Hallam University and funded by Arts Council England.

Using the Makey Makey Interface to Create Music Out of Paper!

Reader Project students have just finished creating unique musical instruments using the creative controller interface – MakeyMakey.

Each instrument had both software and hardware elements. Students used MIT’s SCRATCH programming environment to create a program script that allowed their physical instruments to trigger sounds in the computers. Using paper, graphite, copper sticky tape (slug barrier tape) and aluminum foil, participants created final working versions of their instruments.

“I like that we are able to create our own images and touch them and sound comes out, and we can get a character to move across the screen in a game.”

“We learned certain materials were better at conducting than others – I learned that the better conductors produced faster graphics and sounds.”


“Its a fun way to sneak physics into our after school club and a great way of getting both girls and boys involved in coding and the Maker movement.”

Find out more at the Destinations Arts website

February Half Term Challenge 2015 is here!

This years Theme: 3D Art Evolution

From the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th February from 10am until 3.30pm at Sheffield Hallam Univeristy.

READER GROUP GROUND RULES

    ☺The Ground Rules☺



LISTEN

FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS

KEEP ON TASK

IF YOU WORK HARD YOU WILL GET A PRIZE AT THE END OF TEARM

SHARE IDEAS

RESPECT OTHERS

Wakey Makey Makey, GalleryCamp14 Derby QUAD

I've come across this funky little circuit board before but this was my first hands on and it was quite a delightful experience  my dear!

I was attending the Makey Makey workshop at the GalleryCamp14 Unconference at QUAD this year. 

Your connect it via USB to your computer then use wires ending in croc clips to connect the board to any electrically conductive object, and away you go. 

And I do mean ANY electrically conductive object.

 From bananas to pencil graphite to squidgy sweets and play dough, it all works fella.  "You can even hook up a row of students and bang their bonces like a drum machine"

Dialup the makeymakey website and then got to the 'how to' section. You can control games and music making software and basically anything that requires a controller. 

The computer sees the board as a control input interface and  this is why the magic happens - when you add software like Scratch you not only create your own game, you create how its controlled.

If you already know scratch you'll soon be up and running, jumping, shooting and banging in no time, just check out the tutorials abound on the Makey Makey website.

£40 from Maplin. Bargain. Go play.

Summer School 24th July

What we did today.....

we were acting out our play scripts
playinng ninja with  anger
Giannah

we were acting out the play scrips that we wrote on wednesday and tuesday. Purely based on real WW1 and WW2 hero's storys. We also played fun warm up games, eg. 'here is a pen' and 'ninja'. Thandie

We developed our plays and learnt all of our scripts .We also did a fun activity with Raquel that made us think about mime and freeze frames. Zaynab. 

We have built on our performances about ww1. Our performances were built on Indra Lal roy a second lieutenant in the war and we have based it in the trenches. Aria.

We developed on our performance and played ninga.  Parsa

Summer School 2014

Reader Project Summer School at Sheffield Hallam Univeristy

We are a group of young people who meet Sheffield Hallam University to do a bunch of creaitve activities with local artists!

This is our blog about our summer school

What we've done so far!!


22nd July

Yesterday we did a variety of things like the warm up. We started with a warm up then we moved onto acting. In the afternoon we looked at world war one and our hero.   Parsa

On the first day of the summer challenge we were introduced to the theme of the project which was history specifically the First World War and the BME soldiers who fought in it.We also briefly began to start a new type of drama called mime. Zaynab.




23rd July 
Today we chose a world war one hero to create a play about and we used the ipads to develop our scripts. Zaynab


Today we  were  practising our role play  at practising whatv we were going to say .and then we peformed it infront of the audiunce
Fatimah

Today we were acting out the stripts we had wrote, about the heores in WW1 and WW2 was Noor Inayat Khan, how she was a british woman spy in WW1. Thandie

Our Ideas for the Routes to Roots

Today we began a Youth Consultation on a  project called Routes to Roots in which we will find out the journey we make through our heritage.

I think  this project  will be quite interesting because we get to meet and interview a whole range of people and find out what their life was like back in their homeland also  what they think of life in England and how they adapted to the english life style. Zaynab.

In this project I'd like to learn about different livestlyes of people who have immagrated from cara bean, asia ect. to  England.While doing so, I would like to have fun , use technology and arts in combanation into interviewing immagates.Thandie.

In this project  I would like about how the environment changed for the last  10 years and the different life styles. I would also like to learn how it has impacted on people whoi live here. Aria...


I would like to know the experiences of the older generation many years ago and I thing the project i
ow it was interesting because we find out how it was before.   Parsa

I want to do Filming Art Acting Story telling   i find this project intresting beacuse were learning new things about our heratige Gianah

The plan for today.

In our Reader Project Session today we are planning on learning some new robot like dance moves that link in with our idea of technology , to place in each of our individual ideas , as transitions to and from each idea or maybe just as a whole dance sequence.


We have had several ideas for our performance with maxwell about the environment.One of which is that we explore whst the world would be like withought plants and we each had our own little scenario showing what would happen in different situations without plants.Zaynab.


As a group we decided to ask a few people to come into the sessions to teach us dance moves and drama tips which we have done for the past 2 weeks.Zaynab.

We have done work on our robot performances, also our 'A world without trees' delima;Alot actingdone this week.Thandie.

Making Movements ...

A lot of our stories contain robots!

I have learned a variety of things that has helped me in my story ( tour in the future). Like our finishing dance and our scripts.  Aria

I have learnt some robot moves. Gianah

I have learnt different types of actions as well as dance moves such as the robot to help with my story. Parsa

I learnt all the different things that I  need to think about when produving my individual idea and I also learnt some new dance moves which are connected to our theme of technology.Zaynab.

I have been learning about creating a scipt to help oragnise my story (The Caveman) and some dance moves to help with other children's storys and scripts.I enjoyed it. Thandie.

Reader Group - What We've Been thinking...

 3/6/14

Over the last few weeks we have been thinking and planning our project about technology and in that time so far we have created a timeline of where each of our individual ideas are going to fit into the performance ,  who is going to do what and what their role is in the performance, the roles are narrators , actors,  prop makers and organisers.


After planning our project, we will present all this by a series of presentations like drama, dances, posters and speeches and we are all doing this to get across what we think about the future.we are going to include our ideas for the performance such as gianah's idea about robots arias about the future.

This entry was written by Zaynab, Aria, Thea, Parsa and Gianah.

We'll post some more info soon!

Reader Project - Project Timeline

Half Term Challenge, February 2014

February Half-Term Challenge 2014

Over the past few days we have been learning about DNA , genetic engineering and synthetic biology.

I have enjoyed working as a group ,  dancing  and making a rap.I thought the quizzes and , learning about the bacteria was interesting. 
Parsa

My favourite part was doing the rap and the voice exercises, and I also liked it when we had to guess the answers for the quizzes. 
Fatimah

I learnt the many uses genetic engineering has which I  found interesting , and learning in more detail about synthetic biology even though we have done it at school . Learning the rap a making up our own dances was fun. 
Zaynab


I loved dancing and performing in the show and watching the videos

I want to do more dancing and using computers and more performance.
Makahi

It's a Wrap!

Well we've successfully completed our February 2014 Half-Term Challenge! Following our previous creative explorations of DNA, this years challenge explored the principle ideas behind bio engineering and synthetic biology. 

Over three days young people worked alongside local Artists and created dance and music and a script reading inspired by bio engineering!

Special thanks goes to the all the tech crew who helped to document events and then produced a fantastic film showing all our hard work! 

Thanks to Angga from Hantu collective for helping participants to shape their performance and to local artiste JKAS for helping the group deliver a genetics themed rap! 

Of course our challenge would not have been possible without the support of parents and Maxine Greaves MBE, Equality and Community Engagement Business Support manager at Sheffield Hallam University for hosting and facilitating the project.

Our next challenge will be in the summer.

The Reader Project strikes again!!!!!

                                   
                         The Reader Project strikes again!!!!


At the start of the Reader Project ( Technology)we began to plan out our ideas for our project for example the cavemen(and how we have developed from them), blood transfusions and flight(various inventions that have been created by humans through out the years and examples of how technology has changed and developed.Further information from previous weeks are as follow:

Week 1:
 Our project was based on timelines like the past and the future and at the end of that session, we agreed on Technology.Then we got the homework for something that ocurred with Technology.

Week 2: 
Been given was to research technology in different places around the world.
We talked about our own ideas for the project, we also drew a hand with things that we did in the past and the things we want to do in the future. The homework had

Week 3:
We gave in our homework, created a story board based on our homework and presented our work as a short drama piece, the rest of our group had to guess what we were acting out.

Week 4:
We produced a script of how our ideas would be presented, and we were given homework to type on the subject then email.We also did a short drama piece based on our scripts, we had various ideas. Eg. how we adapted, how cars were made ect.

Summer Challenge 2013

How have we worked together and what have we created?

Hi everyone 

Welcome to the second day of Summer Challenge 2013 at Sheffield Hallam University!

Use the blog comments box to explore your group work and tell us  about what you have made!

Movie Making Resources

Free Movie Making Resources!

StoryMaker Flow Chart

It can be the hardest thing to come up with an idea for a movie script! By selecting colourful blocks in each section, the StoryMaker Flow Chart will help you assemble the key points in your films' plot to create your own story!

Brain Storm Template

Once you have your idea the next stage is to plan your movie. This Brainstorm template helps you to plan and begin writing your script!

Storyboard Template

Okay so you've got a great idea and want to write a script. This Storyboard Template will help you to see what your movie will look like, scene by scene and shot by shot.

Video Logging Sheet

After you have shot your film its important to log your video footage. This easy to use template will help you choose your good shots and leave out the not so great ones!

Why all our kids should be taught how to code

Why all our kids should be taught how to code another Guardian article calling on the powers that be to  invest in our kids futures.

Scratch 2.0 Has arrived!

Its here... Scratch 2.0

Building on the success of 1.4 This version offers so much more.

We've been testing it out during the after school club at the University and its pretty good!

New programming interface and program software is now web-based

Its now web-based and offers a multitude of new programming functions and you still need an account.  

Now its web-based it comes with some obvious benefits - you don't need to download software and then install, you just surf and go!

The clever bods at MIT might also develop a stand alone player so watch this space!

The Random Excuse Generator App

The Create Project 2013 Presents the .....

The App we have all been waiting for!! Created using MIT App Inventor - a great tool for rapid prototyping!

In April during workshops at Sheffield Hallam University, Jenson Grant worked with a group of Y11 secondary school students to build the worlds most useful Mobile Phone App!

Design View of our App in MIT App Inventor

During our design process we developed a design brief and thought about the user mechanics of the App. 

Why the user would want the App and what the user was going to get out of the experience.

Blocks view shows you all the programming logic . You need the latest version of JAVA on your computer to run this! 

During the design and building process we; 

- thought about what we needed in our lives - what would make us excited!

- sketched some designs and opened MIT App Inventor accounts. 

- designed an interface

- built the programming block

- tested and packaged the APP!

Our completed prototype ready for soft testing and distribution to our mobile device!

MIT App Inventor is a quick and easy to learn tool for rapid prototyping and we would need to make lots of changes to our app if we ever wanted to bring it to Market but as a quick and easy introduction - it was faultless!

The create project is an initiative supported by Maxine Greaves at Sheffield Hallam University, to encourage young people to creatively engage in digital technologies.