Will has helped FINDING THE WILL encourage tens of thousands of children to create what you will over the last 17 years. Finally, the power of creativity in evolving a fully rounded human looks set to be recognised.
A Complete Education
When I am not leading Shakespeare Interactive Workshops or Project Weeks for FINDING THE WILL, I have another life. I am a trainer, facilitator and Business Actor for the private and public sector. Currently I am working with Emergency Services delivering training on Leadership. Within this, I have come across Howard Gardner and his theory of multiple intelligences. The theory proposes that people are not born with all the intelligence they will ever have. Nor is there only one type of intelligence that only focuses on cognitive abilities. Gardner suggests that there are multiple intelligences which we all have to a lesser or greater degree.
In school and society in general, the emphasis is mainly on the logical-mathematical and linguistic intelligences, However, with FINDING THE WILL, there is huge scope to tap into all of the other intelligences in our workshops and Project Weeks. Our work encourages children to access their musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, spatial, naturalist intelligences, as well as logical-mathematical and linguistic. In this way children of all ages, abilities, talents, interests and strengths can shine, some quite unexpectedly!
A Rounded Human Being
Time and again we hear from teachers that they have seen a side to a child they had not been aware of prior to our workshop.
Macbeth Project Week
We saw some children really excel in performing and they were not always the children that we expected so that is to be commended.
Year 4 teacher, Montpelier Primary, Ealing
Macbeth Interactive Workshop
Even our most reluctant writers were able to create vivid descriptions such was the power of your work.
Assistant Head Teacher, St Mary’s Catholic Primary, Hornchurch
Romeo & Juliet/The Tempest Interactive Workshops
For us as teachers it was great watching the less confident children act and come out of themselves a little more, especially seeing some of our ASD children, who are usually hard to engage.
Year 5 Teacher, Westende Junior, Wokingham, Berks
Macbeth Project Week
I loved seeing them all engage and we got to see another side to some of the children, the confidence they showed and how dedicated they were to learning their lines. The sense of achievement afterwards gave them a real boost.
Year 5 Teacher, St Botolph’s Primary, Peterborough
Romeo & Juliet Project Week
A million thank yous for this week. The children gained so much from it and it was really lovely to see so many of them shine in an opportunity not always available to them.
Year 3 Teacher, Christ Church CofE School, Surbiton
How do we do it?
The fact that we introduce children to Shakespeare and his amazing plays is almost secondary to our work in helping children to find their own voices, raise their self-esteem and open up their creative minds. Of course, not all children will take to performing or speaking out loud, but they are encouraged to tap into other intelligences like:
Musical (playing instruments or dancing);
Spatial (designing posters);
Bodily-kinesthetic (Prop-making)
or simply answering questions.
During our Interactive Workshops, we ask the children to put themselves into the characters’ shoes. In this way, we tap into both Intrapersonal and Interpersonal skills – “If you were Juliet right now, how might you be feeling?”; “What might Lady Macbeth do next?”. Some questions are Logical e.g “What is the worst thing that can happen at sea?”; some are more Naturalist based e.g “Describe the island. What can you see? hear? smell?”. Needless to say one of the greatest proponents of the Linguistic intelligence is Will Shakespeare himself!
Looking Ahead
Unbelievably, we are already a month into the new school year, and FINDING THE WILL has gained some new schools to visit in Coventry. Plus we will be returning to some of our ‘old favourites’ in Essex, London and Lincolnshire where we will continue to enrich the lives of children by channelling the words of George Bernard Shaw:
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.”
― George Bernard Shaw
And with the help of our Patron, the wonderful Michael Rosen – a master of linguistic intelligence himself – we will continue to encourage and inspire.
