How DO We Express Ourselves?

Paper People  Your paper person needs help expressing themselves.  You must protect your paper person from harm, from bullying, or from prejudice.  Don’t let your paper person fall behind in class.

Names Who chose your name? What does your name mean? What nicknames do you have?

Banned Names? 

Banned Names?  Why might a government choose to ban a name?  How does this affect the children, the parents or communities?  What about people of different cultures?  Is it right to control how people name their children?  If you made the rules, what names (or what kinds of names) would you ban?

Express Yourself! Name Your Paper Person  What does their name say about their culture?  What does their name say about their family?  What does it say about their life? Name Yourself  Take a sticker and become someone new  Introduce yourself to another table  Can you guess why people chose the names they did?

Music affects our Emotions  On the back of your paper person, write down any emotions, ideas or memories you have when listening to the music in this clip. 

Soundtrack Music  What impact did the music have on changing the scene?

Shadow Dancing  Why do you think was this piece of music chosen?  Why did they choose shadows instead of just dancing?  What emotions were expressed? How did the music and movement convey these?

Music  What kind of music do you think this guy listens to?

Music  Or this guy?  What about these girls?

Music  Hands on heads for true, hands on bums for false:  I have avoided making friends with someone because they liked a band or artist that I hate.  If someone likes One Direction I think less of them.  If someone is into heavy metal music I worry that they are dangerous or depressed.  Modern music is better than music from ten or more years ago.  I listen to different music than my friends.  Music doesn’t really matter to me.  A song has changed the way I think or feel about the world.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Express Yourself  Choose a favourite song and band for your paper person. Do they play an instrument?  Are they in a music subculture? Do they dress a certain way?

How DO We Express Ourselves? PART 2

PERFECTLY TIMED?  Can you believe everything you see?

Is it moving?  Is this picture actually an animated.gif?  Why do you think your eyes are tricking you?

Missing dots  Watch the pink dots going round and you will see only pink dots.  But if you watch the centre you will begin to see a green dot going round.  And if you watch long enough, the pink dots will slowly fade. You’ll be left with a green dot that isn’t even there.  Can you believe your eyes? ots.gif

Optical Illusions  What is this picture of?  Can you see both pictures at once?

 Is this man looking forward or sideways?  Is this woman old or young?

DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ!

What can illusions tell us?  …about how we express ourselves?  …about how others might see us?  …about how we judge others?

How do we interpret others art?  Move around the tables to explore a little more about believing, trusting and feeling with our eyes.  Take your paper person with you!

Express Yourself  If you haven’t already, dress your paper person in their favourite clothes. What colours are important to them?  What emotion has your paper person been feeling lately? Help them express it in their face.  If your paper person could say one thing, what would it be?